Industrial Development, Cooperatives, and the Ecological Transition: Basque Country and Beyond
YSI – EAEPE Parallel Session
EAEPE Annual Conference 2024
University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain
Dates: 4–6 September 2024
Format: Panel discussion + Young Scholar sessions
Overview
The Basque Country has long been recognized for its distinctive trajectory of industrial development. Within Spain, it is the region with the second highest GDP per capita and maintains a strong manufacturing base, accounting for 21.2% of GDP in 2022. Historically shaped by mineral resources and a strategic location, the region underwent a remarkable structural transformation during the 1970s and 1980s by fostering knowledge-intensive industries and accumulating technological capabilities that remain central to its contemporary economy.
This development path was shaped by a set of characteristics that make the Basque experience both unique and instructive for broader debates on social and ecological economic development.
Perhaps the most well-known feature is the prevalence of worker cooperatives, with the Mondragon Corporation as its flagship example, and the associated emphasis on inclusive economic development. Beyond cooperatives, the region is also known for cluster-based industrial policies, decentralized decision-making, and active public–private coordination.
These cluster policies evolved through multiple stages of implementation, supporting the development of technological capabilities via continuous processes of knowledge generation, learning, adaptation, and change. This resulted in the emergence of a heterogeneous industrial structure including household appliances, machine tools, automotive industries, electronics and ICT, maritime industries, and energy (Konstantynova, 2017).
Against this background, the objective of this session is to discuss the Basque model of industrial organization as a successful historical process and to explore how its lessons might inform responses to the contemporary ecological crisis. By placing the Basque experience in dialogue with other organizational and territorial models, the session aims to critically examine current challenges of industrial development under ecological constraints and assess whether — and how — cooperative and coordinated industrial structures can contribute to a just ecological transition.
Topics
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Structural change
- Green and ecological transitions
- Cooperatives and alternative ownership models
- Industrial development and territorial organization
Format
The event is organized as a parallel session of the EAEPE 2024 Conference and includes:
- One main invited speaker session
- Two Young Scholar sessions
Selected participants will present their research to peer colleagues, followed by discussion and collective reflection.
Young scholars from the Global South are especially encouraged to apply.
How to apply
Interested participants were invited to submit abstracts via an online application form.
- Application deadline: 10 June 2024
- Notification of acceptance: 20 June 2024
Local partners
- University of the Basque Country
- European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE)
This event was hosted as part of the YSI Working Group on Economic Development.