Amsterdam, Netherlands - SEO Economisch Onderzoek

to increase the interaction between public and private investment in R&D as a means to raise thegeneral level of innovative output in the Amsterdam metropolitan area.7.4.2 Two scenario’s for future actionThe question is how to reach this goal. This section develops different strategies for action. Thestrategies reflect that the future is not given. The challenges for the region depend on differentcontingencies which are best addressed in terms of scenario’s. This study profits from thescenario’s developed by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) whichform a common standard of reference in Dutch policy analysis. The box below gives the keyinformation on the CPB-scenario’s for the period to 2040. We focus in this report on globalcompetition and regional communities as the two base scenario’s for our action plans, becausethey emphasize the distinction between public and private responsibilities. Global competitionsignifies an international playing field with intensive competition, placing emphasis on the needto make optimal use of market-driven incentives. In this environment private investment will bethe leading actor, as the fruits of public investment are likely to be either misdirected orineffective due to the fact that direct and indirect economic gains will leak away to other regionsand possibly nations. In regional communities there is more scope for public driven action. Heremarket driven incentives are much weaker developed than in the global competition scenario.Market failures are likely to result in a suboptimal allocation of investment funds, calling forcorrective actions by the government.The scenario’s therefore support different strategies. But there are a few common starting pointsfor both options. These are first that investment is not a unidirectional goal as the capital stock tobe invested in consists of different dimensions. The standard notion of investment in productivecapital (labor and capital) supports a narrow interpretation of economic well-being, generallyexpressed in term of economic added value (GDP). The stakeholders in the Amsterdam regionsupport a broader conception of economic well-being which extends our view of the capital stockto the areas of social, cultural and environmental development. Secondly, the focus of thestakeholders in the Amsterdam metropolitan area is never exclusively limited to the region. Incontrast, even now the knowledge institutes as well as the business community in this areastrongly focus on the opportunities arising in the national and international economy, even thoughthey recognize the link between a strong and dynamic regional innovation system and success inthe national and international arena.133