CAENTI general objective

CAENTI, Coordination Action of the European Network of Territorial Intelligence, as a general objective, aims to integrate current research projects on tools of territorial intelligence so as to give them a European dimension.

Since the European Council of GÖTEBORG in June 2001, the sustainable development approach, as an attempt “to resolve the needs of the populations without compromising the capacity of the future generations to answer in theirs” (R. BRUNTLAND, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, “Our Common Future”, 1987) was recognized as one of the main priorities of the European Union for the years to come. It now constitutes the basic framework from which the principles of good governance are defined, which every community policy, as well as the local projects financed by the European Union, must conform to by respecting:

• The participation of the citizens.
• The global approach of territories and communities, characterised by an adequate balance between the economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions.
• The partnership of the territorial actors.

If methods and scientific tools adapted to these principles are fully available for the experts, nevertheless territorial actors do not have at their disposal simple, economical and friendly tools to elaborate their of action projects, then to follow, observe and estimate them, even transfer them, while respecting the fundamental rules of a sustainable development approach. The partners of CAENTI, which cooperate in the very spirit of EU guidelines, have acquired the conviction that the development and the evaluation of such instruments imply jointly, on the one hand, the fundamental and technological research which will guarantee their quality and, on the other hand, the validation of the territorial actors who have experienced these tools to improve them and increase their accessibility in specific territorial, institutional and professional contexts.

On this basis, the CAENTI project gathers eight research teams and seven territorial actors who conceived, realised and tested such types of tools in specific local contexts and on miscellaneous problems. These participants belong to seven European countries, among which two lately entered the Union, as well as a EU candidate country plus a Taiwanese team. In spite of their variety, they developed and used tools, methodologies, and similar research protocols, and they ended in the constitution of sets with comparable data.

At this stage, the main objective of CAENTI is to compare these tools, methodologies, research designs and data sets to determine their common or homogeneous features at a European level, and thus enable their dissemination in the countries of the Union as well as outside.