This paper examines interactions between the presence of top-ranked universities and other conditions that encourage regional competitiveness. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was conducted to assess the combined effect of the conditions. The analysis yields several noteworthy conclusions. First, no single condition is necessary for a region to be competitive. Second, R&D expenditure is important for regional competitiveness. Third, different configurations of conditions are sufficient for high competitiveness in different regional clusters. Furthermore, some of these configurations do not include the presence of top-ranked universities. A 'magic recipe' consists of the combination of a private research system, an inter-firm collaboration network and high levels of human capital. The analysis shows that university excellence is valuable. However, in terms of its contribution to regional development, it is not crucial and must always be contextualized. This conclusion is important for smart strategic planning of local knowledge systems.

Public concerns about food-related health risks and suitable sanitary standards have been rising in many regions, particularly in EU  Aflatoxin (AF) standards are a common reason for trade disagreement and import notifications in the RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed)  Few empirical analyses have identified the influencing factors in implementing Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), specifically a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measure  This study examines the factors influencing border controls of AF, based on political economy considerations, in a highly problematic group of products : Nuts Natural AF contamination of nuts is unavoidable, yet it poses a major challenge for nut safety and quality  Contamination can occur at any stage of the value chain especially when storage and drying facilities are inappropriate  AFs affect 4.5 billion people worldwide, with chronic exposure leading to various forms of cancer and even death (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004; Emmott, 2012) The most toxic and common AF is B1 and affects generally groundnuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio and walnuts

Determinants of agri-food firms' participation in public funded

COVID-19 has highlighted the fragility of the global economic system. In just a few months, the consequences of the pandemic have left their mark on the affected countries at all levels and without exception. This article analyses the profile of food safety notifications reported by European countries in the first five months of 2020. The aim was to detect possible changes in food safety regulations imposed by control authorities that could aggravate the economic impacts of the pandemic. While COVID-19 does not appear to be a foodborne disease, some outbreaks have been linked to imported food, which might have affected the food control behaviour of importing countries. In this study, contingency tables and clustering were used to assess differences between years and notification characteristics and to detect homogeneous groups to help identify how the reported notifications might have changed. In the period considered in this study, the volume of notifications on most imported foodstuffs decreased considerably. This decrease was a direct consequence of the fall in international trade, which might have increased countries’ reliance on domestic sources. The COVID-19 crisis has not caused a substantial change in the profile of European countries’ in terms of the characteristics of reported notifications (product category and risk decision). However, the worst affected countries have replaced border rejections with alerts, which may indicate greater reliance on intra-EU markets.

A key element of regional growth is its ability to transform knowledge into innovation. This research combines a group of indicators which define innovative regions with a rurality versus urbanization typology, in order to formulate guidelines to facilitate the emergence of higher levels of organizational innovation. Three main findings stem from this work. First, rurality does not appear prohibitive to the achievement of organizational innovation. Second, in regions with low levels of tertiary education, a combination of high levels of collaboration among small-and mediumsized enterprises, and public investment in research and development facilitates significant rates of organizational innovation. Third, in general, collaboration among firms promotes organizational innovation. The results of this research are in line with those from other studies in the sense that regions with internal and external networks show enhanced growth and innovation capacities.