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Anchoring means finding or building sustainable institutional
arrangements for the running and maintenance of innovative projects.
Probably obligatory, innovative projects have to emerge first before
they can get anchored. We have observed that a specific experimental
environment is necessary to let new ideas develop. So, the main
recommendation here is to provide the basis for such “local innovation
systems” - the Berlin neighbourhood funds system can be a model here. In
this model, a residents' jury was given the responsibility for a certain
budget. It could be shown that the selection was careful and sensitive
and secured high acceptance in the neighbourhood, even more: in this
environment ideas could emerge which wouldn't have had a chance of
implementation in a departmentally organized mainstream funding system.
For such innovative projects, the question of anchoring is important:
how is their maintenance secured in the future? We have shown that
possible institutional arrangements include public ownership, private
ownership and partnerships. However, if a private partner is sought to
take over or step in, he has to be attracted by incentives or “gains”.
Across our cases we have identified four potential “gains”, which can be
offered from the public sector to private partners:
- a planning gain in terms of more flexible handling of
regulations in certain areas,
- a monetary gain like grant schemes or shared responsibility; but
also: income through the creation and establishment of new markets.
For example, there is evidence that newly developed training
schemes, which were designed within neighbourhood management
projects, carried on self-financed by the fees of attendants;
- a critical mass gain and
- a public domain as the project will be known and positively
connotated.
In other words, the resources which can be offered in exchange for
responsibility and finances taken over by non-public actors are land,
labour force, a market for products, PR value and not least a stable
operating environment.
Local Level
For decision-makers at local level we recommend that every project
decision should include an exit strategy. Whilst it can be sensitive to
carry out a project as an experimental one-off activity in its own right
– like e.g. a festival -, other projects can show market-based,
network-based, public sector based or third sector based exit
strategies. These have to be developed at a single case level, but they
should be elaborated right from the start. On basis of such a strategy,
appropriate incentives can be sought timely.
National and European level
European funding and national funding and legislation - as the
framework for action - should allow projects to generate income, which
is a necessity for any market-oriented exit strategy.
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