Creating Collaborative Advantages through Coordination of Regional

- Abstract-Based on the increasing importance of networking and use of participatory approaches in the regional development practice, some indications exist that local and regional development theory could move from the concept of competitive advantages towards collaborative advantages. Such move implies that a redefinition of inter- and intra-institutional relations of the public and private sector is necessary, and therefore, calls for defining new forms of governance. The exploration of collaboration might contribute to a better understanding of the relations between the European concepts of competition and cohesion. As networking in various forms and creation of collaborative advantages requires significant “coordination ” of multiple development actors and activities across different territorial levels, a broad spectrum of research questions can be opened. This research paper is primarily focussed on the problem of coordination from a governance perspective, as it is often mentioned as one of the main problems of local and regional development management. Before any development activity can be coordinated, some preconditions have to be fulfilled, namely development actors have to be willing to communicate and to cooperate. Only then collaboration in the implementation of concrete development activities might occur. This process involves formal and informal institutional relationships, as well as multi-level governance. The main goal of this research paper is to explain and define the concept o