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Located in the state of Western Australia, the Pilbara is a large region and one of the least densely populated within the OECD. The Pilbara's mining sector is a top supplier of iron ore in the world, which has fuelled the economic growth of both the state and the country. While Pilbara’s industrialisation is relatively recent, dating back to the 1960s, First Nations peoples have inhabited the region for approximately 50 000 years. Despite the wealth generated by mining and extractive industries, the Pilbara faces important challenges to improve its attractiveness and well-being standards, especially for First Nations and non-mining workers. Well-being challenges also stifle growth opportunities and responsible mining investments in the region. The green transition presents the Pilbara with an opportunity to diversify its economy and improve well-being conditions of its communities, while becoming a strategic player in the global shift towards more sustainable mining. This study offers guidance on how the Pilbara can shape a more inclusive and sustainable development model that supports economic diversification and prioritises improving the living conditions of its communities, particularly First Nations.

Antofagasta is a world leader in copper and lithium production, with strategic importance for the global energy transition and for the economic development of Chile. Located in north Chile, Antofagasta is carved by the natural contours of the Atacama Desert and home to diverse Indigenous communities. Despite the wealth brought by mining, communities in Antofagasta lag on a number of well-being dimensions. At the same time, Antofagasta’s mining industry is entering a new phase of development, driven by the expected surge in global demand for its minerals and the imperative to adapt to the green and digital transitions. Against this backdrop, a new development vision with a long-term strategy is warranted in the region to leverage mining benefits to improve well-being standards and take advantage of the opportunities brought by the digital and green transition in mining. This study presents the diagnosis, rationale and building blocks for a new mining strategy in the region of Antofagasta, Chile that prioritises well-being standards and opportunities for local communities. This medium and long-term strategy aims to create a new pact amongst different societal stakeholders to build trust and unite efforts for more inclusive and sustainable growth in the region.

Over the last two decades, regional inequalities have remained significant, and have grown within many OECD countries. Impacts of recent shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and megatrends, threaten to widen these gaps between regions, deepening the longstanding geography of inequalities. This report, Regional Outlook 2023 – The Longstanding Geography of Inequalities, provides novel evidence on the evolution of inequalities between OECD regions across several dimensions (including income and access to services) over the past twenty years. It sheds light on the role of productivity to address regional inequalities. It also looks at the costs of regional inequalities, which can weaken the economic, social, and political fabric, and lead to a geography of discontent. Furthermore, the report explores forward-looking scenarios for regions as part of ongoing reflections to future-proof regional development policy and secure social cohesion. Finally, it provides a policy roadmap to guide governments’ efforts to reduce persistent regional inequalities now and in the future.

This report builds on work presented in the OECD’s 2019 report Regions in Industrial Transition: Policies for People and Places. It considers industrial transition as a complex and enduring challenge in regional development that traditional policy levers have not always been able to satisfactorily address. Beginning with an overview of how to characterise these regions, it then explores why they require tailored policy approaches and posits whether adopting a more experimental path in governance arrangements and policy initiatives could make inroads in meeting industrial transition objectives. The report shares findings emanating from the experiences of eight regions and two countries that designed and implemented experimental initiatives to advance their industrial transition process and Smart Specialisation Strategies, with the support of the European Commission. It features a framework of governance and policy areas that influence industrial transition, and applicable to experimentation. Combining this with insights from each experiment studied, the report presents a toolkit of policy levers for policy makers grappling with industrial transition, and a checklist for those wishing to apply an experimental approach to industrial transition initiatives. Finally, the report contains a synopsis of the initiatives designed and implemented by the regions and countries participating in this project.

Produced as part of the OECD Global Action on Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument, this paper provides a framework to clarify the core notions of the social and solidarity economy, along with social economy, social enterprise, social innovation and other related notions. The objective is to explain what they are and understand how these notions have evolved in recent decades. It also aims to capture and document the great diversity within social and solidarity economy organisations in terms of purposes, legal entities, business models and practices to help better characterise the 'population' of social and solidarity economy entities.

Scotland (UK) is a strong innovator, ranking among the top 20% of economies among European regions, with strengths in university-firm collaborations and skills for innovation. With close to two-thirds of all growth in productivity from 2010 to 2018 coming from better use of resources in remote rural areas, rural areas are critical to economic prosperity. In addition to the valuable heritage that they offer, rural areas in Scotland have had remarkable achievements over the past decade in terms of economic growth, social innovation and progress for climate mitigation. Unlike the demographic decline perceived in OECD countries, the decline in rural areas of Scotland is much slower. In the case of accessible rural areas, the population is still growing. In part, much of the progress of ensuring well-being in rural areas, is supported by mechanisms to link entrepreneurs with researchers, regional support for entrepreneurs and an established system of social entrepreneurship. This report sets the scene, reviews main policies and programmes impacting rural innovation, and explores the importance of social innovation in rural areas. It provides recommendations to reinforce some of the good practices in Scotland, which is particularly important as the government implements the new National Innovation Strategy.

This working paper examines the role of networks and rural-urban linkages to absorb and enhance innovation in rural regions, placing a special focus on the distinctive characteristics of rural areas that drive the different ways they adopt and diffuse innovation. After a review of the literature on innovation and innovation adoption through networks and linkages for rural areas, three enablers of innovation absorption and diffusion through networks and linkages are discussed: place-based networks focusing on digital infrastructure; linkages between people via migration flows; and firm-based networks including university-industry linkages, international trade and foreign ownership, and clusters. It also provides some policy-takeaways.

Building on strong local roots to address local development challenges, many social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities are increasingly extending their operations internationally. By responding to international social and environmental challenges, SSE entities can help make global value chains more inclusive and sustainable. With the pursuit of a social mission and participatory governance at the core of their operations, SSE entities adopt specific approaches to internationalise their presence. Some internationalise to scale their impact to reach more people and areas, while some do so to deepen their impact on existing target groups by leveraging resources internationally. This paper analyses what SSE internationalisation involves and its specific drivers (chapter 1), trends in SSE internationalisation (chapter 2), competitive advantages and barriers of the SSE for internationalisation (chapter 3), and actionable areas for policy makers to promote its internationalisation (chapter 4).