Competitiveness of the Regions of the European Union in a Sustainable Knowledge-Based Economy
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The novelty of this paper lies in the level of spatial disaggregation, within the scope of the knowledge-based economy. The rest of the article is very descriptive. For this reason, it is suggested to the authors that, after the great effort made to analyze different spatial levels, they place greater emphasis and highlight the results provided by spatial analysis, this being one of the main contributions (it should be clearer and more overwhelming).
Some questions for the authors are:
Have you tried to implement cultural and creative capital variables in the study? A review of the literature on the importance of this capital on competitiveness and sustainable development is missing.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions that allowed us to improve our article. We corrected the manuscript according to all of them. Below please find our responses to each point. The changes and fragments added to manuscript are marked in yellow.
- The novelty of this paper lies in the level of spatial disaggregation, within the scope of the knowledge-based economy. The rest of the article is very descriptive. For this reason, it is suggested to the authors that, after the great effort made to analyze different spatial levels, they place greater emphasis and highlight the results provided by spatial analysis, this being one of the main contributions (it should be clearer and more overwhelming).
Answer:
The text clearly emphasizes the importance of application of spatial analysis at different levels of aggregation (lines 551-558 and 682-689)
- Have you tried to implement cultural and creative capital variables in the study? A review of the literature on the importance of this capital on competitiveness and sustainable development is missing.
Answer:
Due to the lack of comparable data at all levels of aggregation, variables relating to cultural and creative capital were not included in the study. On the other hand, in the literature review, an excerpt about the meaning of culture and creative capitals was added (lines 157-184).
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is well-written and clear in its presentation.
The authors should highlight the paper's purpose at the beginning of the introduction paragraph. This will then set the scene for the study and help justify its findings.
There are no assumptions made. This indicates that the paper is exploratory. In that case, you could write a line in the introduction about it.
In addition, possible spatial interactions or neighborhood impacts (particularly with respect to regions) could be mentioned as indicators of indirect effects. Maybe in the section on methods.
Paragraph 4. The discussion is somewhat lengthy. I would suggest reducing the text and making it more concise.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions that allowed us to improve our article. We corrected the manuscript according to all of them. Below please find our responses to each point. The changes and fragments added to manuscript are marked in yellow.
- The paper is well-written and clear in its presentation. The authors should highlight the paper's purpose at the beginning of the introduction paragraph. This will then set the scene for the study and help justify its findings.
Answer:
The purpose of the work was added to the introduction.
- There are no assumptions made. This indicates that the paper is exploratory. In that case, you could write a line in the introduction about it.
Answer:
In the introduction, the research nature of the article was highlighted.
- In addition, possible spatial interactions or neighbourhood impacts (particularly with respect to regions) could be mentioned as indicators of indirect effects. Maybe in the section on methods.
Answer:
Due to the purpose of the article, the study was limited to the analysis of the KBE level. The text clearly emphasizes the importance of using spatial analysis at different levels of aggregation (lines 551-558 and 682-689). We would like to thank the reviewer for pointing out new research directions related to a detailed analysis of spatial interactions.
- Paragraph 4. The discussion is somewhat lengthy. I would suggest reducing the text and making it more concise.
Answer:
As suggested by the reviewer, the discussion was shortened.
The article has been additionally checked for linguistic correctness.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This is a well-structured article that should be published.
Author Response
Thank you for the positive review of the article.
