12. Branding a Cluster of Regions: The Eastern Poland Macro-region Case Study

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse and provisionally evaluate the Programme of Economic Promotion of Eastern Poland, implemented within the framework of the EU funds in the territory of a macro-region of five regions in Eastern Poland in 2009–2015. The Programme of Economic Promotion of Eastern Poland is the first programme to present in a systematic and coherent way the economic potential of the entire area of five regions among the least developed in Poland. Its main goal is to increase interest in the Eastern Poland new brand and its economic offer and subsequently to boost the rate of its social and economic development. In this chapter, the authors will make an attempt to evaluate the validity of the entire idea of joint economic promotion of regions which compete with each other in many aspects but at the same time present similar offers and have limited resources to promote themselves separately. The authors also try to provide an answer to the question if the midterm synergy effect has been achieved after the programme’s implementation.