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The creation of a Regional Development Agency is a complex and challenging task. Often, various actors with diverse and sometimes conflicting goals are involved in the creation of an RDA. Negotiations between them may lead to a compromise that, quite literally, generates a compromised RDA.

The design of an RDA should involve a certain degree of focus at the com-mon good, rather than the exclusive pursuance of short-term particular in-terests. The actors involved in an RDA need to take informed decisions re-garding the various dilemmas and trade-offs involved in the design of an RDA. The design process should be driven by deductive reasoning, includ-ing an assessment of existing experiences with RDAs that had to confront similar challenges, rather than inductive reasoning, i.e. a process where re-gional stakeholders behave as if they were the first ever to confront the challenge of designing an RDA.