Competitiveness of EU Member States Regarding the Implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy Assumptions

The Europe 2020 Strategy occupies a prominent place in the European Union's (EU) cohesion policy as a long-term programme for social and economic advancement. The main objective of the strategy is to implement the idea of smart, sustainable and inclusive development. An important priority implemented by EU countries in the context of implementing the assumptions of the Europe 2020 strategy is smart growth, i.e., the development of an economy based on knowledge and innovation. This requires significant spending on research and development and the use of mechanisms that enable the rapid transfer of theoretical knowledge into economic practice. The Europe 2020 strategy has set new targets for increasing competitiveness and accelerating the development of EU regions and countries. For all regions, including the economically weakest ones, the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals has been an important stimulus for the development and increase in competitiveness of EU regions. The decade just ending justifies carrying out assessments that must be intricately linked to the analysis of indicators set by the European Commission within the framework of the strategy's three priorities, i.e., smart, sustainable and inclusive development. The aim of the article is to assess the degree of implementation of the assumptions of the Europe 2020 Strategy in EU Member States. With the use of a synthetic indicator calculated using a multidimensional comparative analysis based on the Hellwig method, a ranking of EU countries, in terms of implementing the Europe 2020 Strategy assumptions, was established. The main indicators proposed by Eurostat for monitoring the Europe 2020 Strategy were applied for the assessment. As a result of the conducted research, conclusions were formulated regarding the importance of the Europe 2020 Strategy in the implementation of the cohesion policy principles in EU Member States. The research results show that the countries that have achieved the best results in the implementation of the assumptions of the Europe 2020 Strategy are also leaders in the ranking of competitiveness taking GDP per capita into account published by the European Commission.

Transformation Management Office as a Vehicle to Accelerate Digital Transformation

ADNOC has identified digital technology as a key enabler of sustainable value creation as it delivers its 2030 smart growth strategy. The Transformation Management Office (TMO) has been established to accelerate delivery of ADNOC's digital transformation, actively manage its digital portfolio, build digital capabilities, lead the digital empowerment of local talent and institute a ‘new way to operate’. By doing so, it supports ADNOC's ambition to be a data-driven organization, adopting new ways of working, and delivering greater value, while adapting swiftly to competitive threats to its core business. ADNOC's digital transformation is changing the way the organization operates. The adoption of digital technologies, including big data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and robotics will optimize production, improve efficiency, reduce risk and de-risk multibillion dollar projects. To achieve this requires a change of company culture across the full value chain. The decision to establish the Transformation Management Office was a recognition that ADNOC must evolve to meet the realities of the new energy era by adopting advanced digital technologies to ensure we remain resilient and agile, by making the most of our resources, enhancing our performance, empowering our people and delivering greater value for our shareholders, Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

Technological landscape of the Russian agroindustry: how to make right digital infrastructure?

The relevance of the topic of the study is due to the strategic importance of increasing the productivity of the agro-industrial complex of Russia to ensure national food security and implementation of the policy of food import substitution, as well as overcoming the technological gap in comparison with the world leaders of agrobusiness and the soonest way to sustainable intensive growth. There is a significant technological gap in the agro-industrial complex in terms of ensuring smart growth of agribusinesses based on digital technologies and solutions, which negatively affects its production, export potential and financial condition. The purpose of the research is to study the problems and prospects of the development of digital infrastructure in the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation. The study considers the conceptual apparatus, conducted a statistical study of activity in the digitalization of agriculture by agribusiness, priority business models of agriculture in the digital economy; the assessment of investment activity with regard to the formation of digital infrastructure, the priorities for the development of digital services and solutions. The conclusion of the scientific research identifies the main problems in the formation of digital infrastructure in the agro-industrial complex.

The influence of the cooperation between the military-Industrial complex and agro-industrial on the environment in the Russian Federation

The relevance of the research topic is due to the strategic importance of the transition of Russian agro-industrial complex to innovative development path, which involves the formation of cooperative ties with the military-industrial complex as a driver of new technological solutions. Statement of the problem. The agro-industrial complex has a significant technological lag in terms of technological competitiveness. Statement of the problem. There is a significant technological gap in the agro-industrial complex in terms of smart growth of agribusiness based on digital technologies and solutions, which negatively affects its production, export potential and financial condition. The aim of the research is to study the development of inter-firm cooperation of military-industrial and agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation which makes its influence on the environment. The study considers domestic and foreign experience in the implementation of inter-firm cooperation of industries, an analytical review of the main indicators of development and results of cooperation between the military-industrial complex and agro-industrial complex is given. The conclusion of the scientific research identifies the main problems and prospects for the development of cooperative links of industries, taking into account the external challenges and threats to the global economy.

The Innovative Response of Cultural and Creative Industries to Major European Societal Challenges: Toward a Knowledge and Competence Base

In this paper we highlight the importance of culture, cultural heritage and creative industries (CCI) in current European policies in relation to a number of societal challenges, and how the CCI are called to innovatively respond to such challenges. We distinguish four main societal challenges to which the CCI can strategically respond and significantly unlock the potential for innovation and smart growth in the EU. These societal challenges are addressed by four main pillars of the CCI, namely: (1) Europeans’ creativity, cultural diversity and values; (2) European identity and cohesion; (3) European employment, economic resilience and smart growth; and (4) Europe’s external relations. We address each societal challenge from the CCI perspective, indicating how the CCI can provide innovative responses to such challenges and enable strategic crossovers through networking and collaboration, but also referring to some criticalities. We further discuss how this CCI capacity needs public support and provide an overview of how this is undertaken via the main EU, national and international policies, with a focus on the latest trends.

Morphing of soft tubes by anisotropic growth

We present a study of smart growth in layered cylindrical structures. We start from the characterization of a compatible growth field in an anisotropic growing tube with the aim to show a small perturbation in the compatible growth field that may produce a controlled deprivation of compatibility and localization of elastic energy storage in a composite structure made up of anisotropic growing tubes.

Investigation of Climate and Land Use Change Impacts on Stream Flow of Guder Catchment, Ethiopia

Climate change (CC) and land use/cover change (LUCC) are the main drivers of streamflow change. In this paper, we investigate the impact of climate and LULC change impact on stream flow of Guder catchment by using Soil and Water Assessment model (SWAT). The scenarios were designed in a way that LULC was changed while climate conditions remain constant; LULC was then held constant under a changing climate and combined effect of both. The result shows that, the combined impacts of climate change and LULC dynamics can be rather different from the effects that follow-on from LULC or climate change alone. Streamflow would be more sensitive to climate change than to the LULC changes scenario, even though changes in LULC have far-reaching influences on streamflow in the study region. A comprehensive strategy of low impact developments, smart growth, and open space is critical to handle future changes to streamflow systems.

The Evolution of the Urban Residential Space Structure and Driving Forces in the Megacity—A Case Study of Shenyang City

For megacities, they are in a period of transformation from extensive development to smart growth. Recognizing new characteristics and new changes of the residential space in megacities under the backdrop of new development has great practical significance for realizing the sustainable development of the city. As the only megacity in Northeast China, Shenyang was selected to be the research object, with 1989–2018 as the research period. The research comprehensively used multiple spatial representation methods and statistical methods to study the residential space pattern and driving factors in Shenyang City. The results showed that: (1) Residential space expansion can be divided into four stages: slow development, rapid expansion, speedy expansion, and stable extension. (2) The residential space structure presented a spatial evolution characteristic of overall expansion, forming multiple secondary core density centers. The east-west direction had a larger extension range than the northeast-southwest direction. There was an axisymmetric zonal distribution on both sides of the Hun River. (3) The agglomeration of different residential forms was obvious, and the spatial heterogeneity was increasingly stronger. (4) Urban planning measures and economic strength were the main driving forces of residential space expansion.