Development patterns and their sources of competitiveness in the EUSALP macro-region

The European Union has been adopting so-called macro-regional strategies since 2009. Its final goal is to develop an integrated framework to address common challenges and opportunities of particular transnational areas. This paper aims to identify such growth opportunities in the most recently established macro-area: the European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP). It does so by identifying how to increase efficiency in the exploitation of growth assets, taking into consideration that EUSALP is characterized by a wide productive diversity. This is defined in terms of regional development patterns, conceptualized and empirically detected making use of an original database. The results show that EUSALP can gain greater competitiveness through a better use of existing resources, especially in the touristic development pattern. Further research on cooperation and integration policies for a more effective exploitation of existing abundant resources is suggested.