The Transdanubian Research Institute celebrated the 60th anniversary of its foundation in 2003. It is an institute of the Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences that has carried out researches in the South Transdanubian region from the beginning and that emphasised the necessity of regional co-operation and decentralisation at a time when the politicians did not even know what regionalism meant.

More than a decade after the systemic change and just one year before the accession to the European Union, the importance of regionalism is not questioned any longer. Following the enactment of the Act on Regional Development and Spatial Planning in 1996, the decentralised institutions of spatial development were built out all over Hungary, development programmes were made and a conscious region-building activity started, financed from national and European resources. Over the past few years, the self-governments and the economic and non-governmental organisations have learnt to think in regional scale and harmonise their own interests with the common intereses of their regions.

South Transdanubia has been the forerunner among the regions of Hungary in the co-operation. The first formalised Hungarian regional co-operation was established in this region in 1993, with the creation of the South Transdanubian Regional Development Foundation. The creation of the Foundation was initiated by the Transdanubian Research Institute, and the first development concept of the region was made by the Institute, too.

The accession to the European Union is both a signifícant modernisation challenge and an enormous opportunity for South Transdanubia. I am convinced that the academic background available for the decisionmakers is an advantage that can contribute to the successful implementation of our development aims.

Hereby congratulate on the birthday and recommend this volume to the readers. The chapters of the book introducing South Transdanubia from all perspectives were written by the researchers of the Transdanubian Research Institute, this is their present for the new-born South Transdanubian region.

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