The focal point of the programme is the interdependence of the regional economy and business and industry. The programme has a dual perspective, with two main focus areas in knowledge creation.
One area involves ensuring strong regional development in terms of economic performance as part of a fertile environment for business and industry. Market development is associated with underlying factors of economic growth, revealing the strategic importance of specific markets in different parts of the world. In that respect it is also essential to enable empirical identification of such factors.
The second area thoroughly analyses how to develop markets through specific design of policies and strategies that can help ensure such strong development, i.e. regional business and development strategies.
Both areas are associated with firms' location choice and market access, involving questions like: What are the determinants of firm location choice? How should firms use differences in regional settings in their choice of locating in different parts of the world? Furthermore, in some contexts, locating must take into account both the potential in a given region and the advantages or disadvantages of adjacent regions, i.e. factor endowment or the potential of markets must also be taken into account when locating an enterprise.