A regionális fejlesztési ügynökségek története és kilátásai - a jövő versenyképességének gátjai vagy zálogai? = The history and the outlook of the regional development agencies - barriers or keys to future competitiveness?

Even though the regional development agencies have been an essential tool for the territorial development policy in the past seven decades, the changing paradigm of the European regional policy is questioning the need of the traditional tools. Countries like Hungary has already decided to run the 2014–2020 EU budgetary period with a much more centralized development institutionalized setup, which also meant to put an end to the two-decade long history of its regional development agencies. The study attempts to question the effectiveness and capabilities of such centralized institutional systems by highlighting the historical adaptation ability of the agencies and their current potential regarding the knowledge-based economy. It draws the attention to the fact that in nowadays knowledge-based economy only those governments are able to boost competitiveness that maintain flexible institutions enabling adaptability and knowledge transfer