Economic Development Resources

How cohesion policy delivers the Lisbon strategy

2007-12-13T18:05:00.000+07:00

In a Communication adopted on 11 December, Danuta Hübner and Vladimír Špidla make clear that the new cohesion policy programmes for the 2007-2013 period meet the main policy objective of "delivering the Lisbon strategy" in EU Member States and regions. The data now available for more than 400 national and regional programmes from all Member States, show for instance that more than € 85 million (25% of the total budget of cohesion policy) are planned to be invested in knowledge and innovation.

More information here.
Access the communication here.
Power point presentation here.

New issue of Regional Studies Volume: 41 Issue 9

2007-12-13T17:26:00.000+07:00

The new issue of the journal 'Regional Studies' (Volume 41 Issue 9) is now available for paid subscribers at the Informaworld's website . This issue contains the following articles:

Editorial: Whither Regional Studies?
Regions and Regional Uneven Development Forever? Some Reflective Comments upon Theory and Practice
Beyond the Territorial Fix: Regional Assemblages, Politics and Power
Territorial, Scalar, Networked, Connected: In What Sense a 'Regional World'?
The Accident of the Region: A Strategic Relational Perspective on the Construction of the Region's Significance
Observational Equivalence? Regional Studies and Regional Science
Power in Firm Networks: What it Means for Regional Innovation Systems
The Polycentric State: New Spaces of Empowerment and Engagement?
What Kind of Local and Regional Development and for Whom?

Access this issue in Informaworld's website.

The Treaty of Lisbon to be signed today in Lisbon at 11h30

2007-12-13T16:43:00.000+07:00

The ceremony of the signature of the Treaty of Lisbon, scheduled for 13 December, at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, will be transmitted live through the site of the Portuguese presidency of the EU – www.eu2007.pt and the Euronews television network. The ceremony, where the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union will be present, starts at 11h30 and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and the president of the European Council, José Sócrates, will all deliver speeches. The signature of the Treaty of Lisbon is scheduled for 12h15 and approximately one hour later the European leaders will meet for the traditional family photo. The ceremony ends with a lunch at Museu dos Coches, offered by the Portuguese president of the republic.

Call open: Funding regional research

2007-12-11T18:35:00.000+07:00

More than EUR 10 million of funding is available through two calls open until 14 of March 2008 as part of the European Union’s Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The two recent calls concern "Facilitating the emergence of new regional research driven by clusters and mutual exchange of information" and "Providing evaluation facilities for research entities in the EU´s convergence regions and outermost regions"

More information on Regions of Knowledge here.
More information on Research Potential of Convergence Regions here.

The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership: Joint Africa-EU Strategy and Action Plan

2007-12-10T16:58:00.000+07:00

The Lisbon Summit, which brought together the European Union and Africa in Lisbon during the past weekend, has offered a unique opportunity to address the common contemporary challenges for both continents, in the year that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the European integration and the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the independence of Africa. The results of the summit come under a Joint Strategy and Action Plan. The purpose of this Joint Strategy is to take the Africa-EU relationship to a new, strategic level with a strengthened political partnership and enhanced cooperation at all levels.

Access the Joint Strategy and Action Plan here.

Waterfront Developments - Council for European Urbanism - Lisbon, December 7th, 2007

2007-12-06T16:36:00.000+07:00

The Council for European Urbanism is organising a symposium on Waterfronts Developments to be held in Lisbon on December 7th. The symposium will address the urgent issues raised by the Lisbon waterfront projects in the context of the C.E.U. Charter. It will debate a wide range of strategies for developing waterfronts drawing on examples of notable European projects. After a morning of expert presentations and discussion with participants, the afternoon will comprise themed workshops in which participants will have an opportunity to explore the issues raised in depth. It will close the formal sessions with a short plenary to feed back the ideas from the workshops, as a basis for constructing a Declaration on Waterfront Developments according to the principles of the C.E.U. Charter. Participants are then invited to join the C.E.U. Board and the Academy of Urbanism for a drinks reception.

More information here.
Programme here.

Urban Land Institute European Student Urban Design Competition

2007-12-06T16:32:00.000+07:00

The Urban Land Institute European Student Urban Design Competition is accepting applications for the 2008 Competition until December 17. This graduate-level competition is intended to provide an interdisciplinary learning experience for real estate and design students in Europe. Self-formed student teams are asked to provide an urban design and a financial feasibility strategy for a large-scale real life site that ULI has identified somewhere in Europe. Through the formation of multidisciplinary teams, the program encourages cooperation and teamwork among future real estate professionals and the many allied professions, such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, engineering, real estate development, finance, psychology, law, and others. The winning team receives €35,000 and the finalist teams receive €7,000 each.

More information here.

GAPMINDER

2007-12-05T17:44:00.000+07:00

Gapminder is a non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualise human development. This is done in collaboration with universities, UN organisations, public agencies and non-governmental organisations. It was founded by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling on 25 February 2005, in Stockholm. This is a amazing project, indeed. In its website you can access different powerful tools and resources which demonstrate the power of statistics and counter established dogmas:

The Gapminder World 2006 enables you to explore the changing world from your own computer. Moving graphics show how the development of all countries by the indicators you choose;
You can also watch videos from of lectures and Gapcasts;
You can also choose to watch interactive presentations or download pdf-format world maps on different themes.

A must see and a truly meritorious endeavour.

Final text of the reform treaty

2007-12-04T16:39:00.000+07:00

The final text of the European Union reform treaty, which will be signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007, is now available on the website of the Council of the European Union.

Australia's new government ratifies Kyoto pact

2007-12-03T20:19:00.001+07:00

Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, took the oath of office on Monday and immediately signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, ending his country's long-held opposition to the global climate agreement. The move isolates the United States, which will now be the only developed nation not to ratify the agreement which sets binding limits on developed countries to curb the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. The former conservative government refused to ratify Kyoto, saying it would unfairly hurt the Australian economy with its heavy reliance on coal for energy and export income, while countries like India and China were not bound by targets. The prime minister also said his government would do everything within its power to meet the Kyoto obligations, and had set a long-term target of cutting carbon emissions by 60 percent of 2000 levels by 2050.

Seminar on «Heritage and Society» - Lisbon, 5 and 6 December

2007-12-03T17:40:00.000+07:00

The Portuguese Presidency of the European Union will be holding a seminar on "Heritage and Society" in Lisbon on the 5th and 6th December. Considering that all policies and interventions should contribute to an improvement in people's quality of life and that Cultural Heritage must be regarded in its social dimension, current political and economic constraints constitute new challenges in the process of building and reinforcing Identity, Education and sustainable Development through Cultural Heritage. The aim of this Seminar is to encourage debate and reflection on the social dimension of heritage today, as new responsibilities in managing and enhancing it may be regarded as contributions for social and economic sustainability.

More information and programme here.

Commissioner Danuta Hübner signs memorandum on regional policy cooperation with Brazil

2007-11-30T17:10:00.000+07:00

Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, will today in Brasilia sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Brazilian Ministry of National Integration to set up a structured dialogue on regional policy. At the invitation of Mr Geddel Vieira Lima, Minister of National Integration, she will also open an EU-Brazil seminar on regional policy. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the European Commission and the Brazilian Ministry of National Integration, initiates cooperation such as:

Setting up technical working groups and cooperation between regions on both sides; organisation of meetings (seminars, conferences) with experts, politicians, officials, private companies and
Support from the European Union for reinforcing local structures and regional development agencies in Brazil;
Exchanges of views on issues such as: multi-level partnership (involving regional and local actors, the private sector and civil society), strategic planning and evaluation of regional policy, development of administrative capacity;
Information exchange on classification and definition of regions.

More information here.

Regions delivering innovation

2007-11-29T17:34:00.000+07:00

A Staff Working Document 'Regions Delivering Innovation through Cohesion Policy' has been finalised for the Informal meeting of regional policy ministers in the Azores on 23-24 November providing an analysis of how innovation as a central feature in the 2007-2013 cohesion policy programmes has increased. Innovation is defined as encompassing four groups of spending categories - RTDI, entrepreneurship, innovative ICT and human resources. The analysis – also broken down by country - shows that the planned EU investment for innovation in 2007-2013 will be above EUR 85 billion - a sum equivalent to 25% of the total new envelope for the 27 Member States. This value is more than 3 times higher than in 2000-2006. The paper concludes that the positive results of the programming phase require the commitment of all partners for successful delivery.

Access the working document here.

2007/2008 Human Development Report: Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world

2007-11-27T19:53:00.000+07:00

The 2007/2008 Human Development Report entitled Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world will be launched later today in Brasilia, Brazil. According to the report, Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and most vulnerable citizens will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed least to the problem. The most polluting countries in 2004 were the USA and China. In what concerns human development, Iceland, Norway and Australia are the countries which present better indicators. At the bottom, we can still find countries such as Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, which still have a long way to go in improving most human development indicators.

Access the full report here.
Access the summary here.
More on the Human Development Report here.

Tourism Pilot Project - European Destinations of Excellence

2007-11-27T18:18:00.000+07:00

The European Commission launched, in 2006, the first phase of the pilot project "European Destinations of Excellence". The broad aim of this initiative is twofold:

to draw attention to the value, diversity and shared characteristics of European tourist destinations;
to promote destinations where the economic growth objective is pursued in such a way as to ensure the social, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism.

For the year 2006, the theme of the pilot project was related to rural tourism. The subtitle of the award for this specific year was “Best Emerging Rural Destinations”. Eligible destinations are those which have implemented in any of the last 3 years initiatives that have contributed to the promotion of the local tourist offer through a better appreciation of the rural natural and cultural heritage. Moreover, each participating Country has outlined more specific criteria of eligibility. The European Commission has recently launched the second phase of the project with the new theme "tourism and local intangible heritage". Those destinations which have developed a new tourism offer based on the appreciation of their specific local intangible heritage will have the possibility to compete at national level and be selected as 2007 destination of excellence. 18 countries will be participating in the project this time.

More on the pilot project here.
Visit the 2006 winning destinations here.

COMEDIA: thinking about creative cities

2007-11-27T17:25:00.000+07:00

COMEDIA, founded by Charles Landry in 1978, is linked to the idea of 'The Creative City' and now the notion of ‘The Art of City Making’ and how people and cities can make the most of their possibilities. ‘The Intercultural City’ adds another concept and focuses on how cities can live well with their multicultural diversity. The questions the team tries to answer are:

How we create the pre-conditions for decision makers at all levels to think, plan and act with imagination and in an integrated way;
How we develop a common language across professional disciplines concerned with city making;
How we combine an understanding of hard - physical - as well as soft - cultural, social and economic infrastructure;
How we encourage people to think differently, so they do things differently and do different things;
How do we identify, harness, promote and sustain the creative, cultural resources that are present in every human settlement if we look deeply enough.

You can order some of the team's publications or access free a growing number of texts (after registering)

EU ministers agree to set up European Institute of Innovation and Technology

2007-11-27T17:02:00.000+07:00

EU research ministers agreed Friday to set up a European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and to create four private-public sector partnerships in the field of technology as part of a drive to bridge the bloc's competitive gap with the United States. The political agreement should allow to start implementation of the EIT regulation as from Spring 2008. The EIT will have a governing body, a director and an executive committee, but will not be a new institute as such. Rather, it will network and pool resources from Europe's universities and will initially seek to focus research into three broad areas: energy, climate change and information technology. The EU has earmarked 308.7 million euros for the functioning of the EIT for a period of six years.

Press release of the council meeting here.

Manufuture Conference 2007 - Constructing a Sustainably Competitive Europe, Porto 2nd and 4th December

2007-11-27T16:50:00.000+07:00

Bringing together a vast majority of the relevant stakeholders of European manufacturing, the Manufuture 2007 Conference, being held in Porto, Portugal from the 2nd to the 4th of December, will address new concerns related to the sustainability of manufacturing activities and operations in Europe and the global positioning of European manufacturing companies for the years to come. The financing of strategic R&D activities, the Asian perspective on some of the problems with which companies are being confronted in global manufacturing operations, and support services and the transformation of the European research and innovation infrastructure in manufacturing are some themes being approached at the conference. Finally, the main outcome of the work undertaken within the scope of Manufuture, namely the result of the road mapping activities undertaken for 25 different industry sectors, will also be presented.

More information and programme here.

Informal Ministerial Meeting on territorial cohesion and regional policy: conclusions of the presidency on regional policy

2007-11-26T16:57:00.000+07:00

At the invitation of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, an Informal Ministerial Meeting on Territorial Cohesion and Regional Policy took place in Ponta Delgada, Azores, on 23 and 24 November 2007. Amongst the Presidency conclusions, one should underline the following:

The conclusions of the Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion stressed that the EU as a whole has not reached yet a sufficiently harmonious development of all its territories, in spite of the significant progress achieved. Disparities in economic performances, social indicators and education levels persist. These are remaining challenges both to the development of the EU territories and to its Cohesion Policy.
Future discussions on regional policy could reflect, among other themes, a set of issues which takes into account some ideas on Cohesion Policy that were debated at the Cohesion Forum, like strategic integration, coherence and effectiveness, multi-level governance, visibility to the European citizens and contributions from Cohesion Policy to ongoing challenges such as globalisation, energy, climate change and demography.

Access the Conclusions of the Presidency on regional policy here.

European Commission 2006 Annual Reports for Regional Policy

2007-11-26T16:49:00.000+07:00

In accordance with Community regulations, the Commission recently published three annual reports for 2006 on the Structural Funds, Cohesion Funds and the pre-accession instrument ISPA. The reports review budgetary implementation, the way in which programmes were carried out and the major projects adopted during the year.

Annual Report on the Cohesion Fund here.
Annual Report on the Structural Funds here.
Annual Report on ISPA here.

2007 AIDS epidemic update + What should be the world's top priorities?

2007-11-23T16:43:00.000+07:00

Out last week, the UN 2007 AIDS epidemic update lowered the UNAIDS and the World Health Organization estimates of how many people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. According to the report, about 33 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, compared with an estimate of nearly 40 million in 2006. The U.N. bodies said that better methods of data collection and increased data availability from countries show that HIV/AIDS is not quite as widespread as previously thought. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most seriously affected region, with AIDS remaining the leading cause of death there. Downward trends in HIV prevalence are occurring in a number of countries, where prevention efforts aimed at reducing new HIV infections since 2000 and 2001 are showing results. In most of sub-Saharan Africa, national HIV prevalence has either stabilized or is showing signs of a decline (Figure 2). Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe have all seen declines in national prevalence, continuing earlier trends. In South-East Asia, the epidemics in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand all show declines in HIV prevalence.

Access the report and further documentation here.

When global warming has become the world's top priority, others are starting to question whether it should be the world's top priority, in opposition to fighting hunger, poverty and/or HIV. Although when can question his conclusions, economist Bjorn Lomborg makes a persuasive case for prioritizing the world's biggest problems, asking "If we had $50 billion to spend over the next four years to do good in the world, where should we spend it?" His recommendations - based on the findings of the 2004 Copenhagen Consensus - controversially place global warming at the bottom of the list (and AIDS prevention at the top).

Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity

2007-11-22T16:57:00.000+07:00

The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Ontario and mandated to share its research findings directly with the public, that deepens public understanding of macro and microeconomic factors behind Ontario’s economic progress. The Our Work section includes research on Ontario’s and Canada's competitiveness, productivity, and economic progress. The Links section contains external news and resources from other institutions.

The European Commission proposes new options to reinforce development of micro-credit in Europe

2007-11-22T16:45:00.000+07:00

Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner presented yesterday an initiative which seeks to improve access to finance for small businesses and for socially excluded people, also ethnic minorities, who want to become self-employed. This initiative, in line with the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, aims to make small loans, or micro-credit, more widely available in Europe to satisfy unmet demand. The main aspects of the initiative are:

it invites Member States to adapt their national institutional, legal and commercial frameworks needed to promote a more favourable environment for the development of micro-credit. This should include making changes to their National Reform Programmes under the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth, in order to set themselves meaningful targets in this field.
it recommends setting up a new European-level facility with staff to provide expertise and support for the development of non-bank micro-finance institutions in Member States. This would equip micro-financers to offer not just a loan, but a service mentoring the borrower to help develop and ensure the success of their business. This kind of accompaniment is the key to the success of micro-credit operations.

More information here.

Informal Ministerial Meeting on Territorial Cohesion and Regional Policy, Azores 22-25 November

2007-11-21T17:38:00.000+07:00

A reminder for the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Territorial Cohesion and Regional Policy, being held in Azores (Portugal) form the 22th to the 25th November. The working sessions will be dedicated to the discussion and adoption of the First Action Programme for the implementation of the Territorial Agenda of the European Union, thus carrying out the commitment assumed by Portugal during the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Urban Development and Territorial Cohesion held in Leipzig in May 2007. The second day of the Meeting, November 24, will focus on Regional Policy issues. The EU Regional Policy contribution to the delivering of Lisbon goals, concerning particularly Innovation related issues, will be discussed. At the same time, as a follow-up of the Cohesion Forum that was held on the September 27-28, an open and informal discussion on the future of EU Regional Policy will be promoted.

More information here.

Communicating together on Cohesion Policy: Survey launched

2007-11-21T16:49:00.000+07:00

In the run-up to the conference on "Telling the Story: Communicating Cohesion Policy together" on 26 and 27 November in Brussels the Regional Policy DG of the European Commission has launched a short term survey. The objective of the survey is to find out how the new requirementsa of a new and more transparent approach concerning information about the programmes and projects co-financed by the structural and cohesion funds will be put into practice by the national and regional managing authorities. Results of the survey will be presented during the conference.

More on communicating policy for 2007-2013 here.
Access the survey here.
Telling the Story conference here.

New issue of Higher Education Research & Development: Volume 27 Issue 1

2007-11-21T16:44:00.000+07:00

The new issue of the journal 'Higher Education Research & Development' (Volume 27 Issue 1) is now available for paid subscribers at the Informaworld's website. This issue contains the following articles:

Facing and managing dilemmas as a clinical educator
Qualitatively different ways of experiencing student self-assessment
Bridging the implementation gap: a teacher-as-learner approach to teaching and learning policy
University student anonymity in the summative assessment of
The quality of guidance and feedback to students
Evaluating an earlybird scheme: encouraging early assignment writing and revising
Innovation in PhD completion: the hardy shall succeed (and be happy!)

Access this issue in Informaworld's website.

The City of Tomorrow, Week of the City, Brussels 19-25 November

2007-11-19T23:51:00.000+07:00

Based on the initiative of Charles Picqué, Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, the aim of the Week of the City is to enable Brussels to think about its future as a City-Region covering the themes of governance and policy territoriality. Globalisation, urban diversity, territorial discrimination, urban marketing, innovation and sustainable management, structuring urban projects, governance, the role of the State, the Regions and private sector stakeholders, etc. are just some of the key issues which now require fundamental, far-reaching analysis in the context of the city’s future.

More information and programme here.

U.N. Science Panel Sees Faster Warming of Earth

2007-11-19T17:38:00.000+07:00

Global warming is "unequivocal" and carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere commits the world to an average rise in sea levels of up to 4.6 feet, the world's top climate experts warned Saturday in their most authoritative report to date. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore this year, released its final report Saturday at the end of the group's conference in Valencia, Spain. The report includes data and findings from three IPCC working groups on climate change and offers dozens of measures for avoiding the worst catastrophes if taken together — at a cost of less than 0.12 percent of the global economy annually until 2050. They range from switching to nuclear and gas-fired power stations, developing hybrid cars, using more efficient electrical appliances and managing cropland to store more carbon.

You can access the working groups reports on the IPCC website.

Back from the Dead - The Economist article on the regeneration of industrial American cities

2007-11-15T16:44:00.000+07:00

The October 27th edition of The Economis presents an interesting account of the resurgence of two America's industrial cities, Flint (the birthplace of General Motors) and Cleveland. At least two interesting regeneration schemes can be identified in this news report:

a land bank that acquires abandoned buildings though foreclosure, then readies them to be sold in the market and returned to the the tax rolls. The bank claims to have increased property values by more than $112m so far;
a tax-sharing scheme to split taxes from businesses that move within the Cleveland area, thus sharing revenue and rationalising services (Cleveland provides water services to the surrounding towns;

However, as the article puts it, these cities will not recover overnight.

Access the article here.

Information Day of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Lisbon November 30

2007-11-15T16:38:00.000+07:00

The European Commission and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education are organising an Information Day of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), to be hled in Lisbon on November 30. At the Information Day participants from the scientific, political and corporate world will discuss the cooperation between the JRC and Portuguese research organisations, centred on the main themes: Agriculture and Food products, Energy and Safety, Maritime Affairs, Environment and ERAWATCH.

More information here.
Access the programme here.

New issue of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

2007-11-15T16:31:00.000+07:00

The new issue of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development: An International Journal, Volume 19 Issue 6, is available for paid subscribers at the informaworld website. This issue contains the following articles:

Editorial
'Entrepreneuring' as a conceptual attractor? A review of process theories in 20 years of entrepreneurship studies
The moral space in entrepreneurship: an exploration of ethical imperatives and the moral legitimacy of being enterprising
Entrepreneurship, discourses and conscientization in processes of regional development
Interstanding the industrial district: contrasting conceptual images as a road to insight

Access the the issue table of contents here.

Barcelona Strategic Plan for Culture

2007-11-14T18:16:00.000+07:00

The city of Barcelona has been in the last decade promoting itself and making its own path as a European capital of culture, by situating culture as one of the principal elements in the development and projection of the city, through the running of municipal facilities and cultural services and by promoting and facilitating the emergence and consolidation of the numerous private-sector cultural platforms and projects in the city. This central objective is based on the Strategic Plan for the city's culture sector and is embodied in the following specific actions:

To consolidate culture as a basic strategy in the development of the city of knowledge
To assist Barcelona in becoming a centre for the production of cultural content
To support popular and traditional culture, and the activities of Barcelona's cultural associations
To complete and remodel the city's network of heritage facilities and improve the effectiveness of these
To promote the educational dimension of culture
To facilitate the incorporation of the cultural sectors into the flows of the digital age
To articulate metropolitan strategies in the field of culture
To implement the libraries plan approved by Barcelona City Council
To articulate actions to improve cultural provision in the districts and neighbourhoods of the city

Access the Barcelona Strategic Plan for Culture here.

Community Development Foundation

2007-11-13T16:53:00.000+07:00

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) was organized in 1948 by community leaders who saw the need for a unified effort to coordinate the economic and community development activities of the region and has been characterized by many as an organization that is at the center of innovation, as well as the most significant creative force in rural American economic and community development. The CDF has been undertaking diverse actions in promoting the socio-economic development of the Tupelo-Lee County region, such as:

marketing the region to business, industry and professional leaders;
developing a ten year strategy plan, an annual program of work designed to enhance agricultural, business, educational, industrial, private/public partnership and support efforts such as skills and technology enhancement, improved transportation and health care;
establishing and/or supporting agencies that meet the needs of the community;
establishment, in collaboration with government of nine industrial parks located in the area.

Visit the Community Development Foundation website here.

Business and Biodiversity: Specialists and Entrepreneurs meet today in Lisbon

2007-11-12T21:54:00.000+07:00

Under the Portuguese Presidency, business leaders, biodiversity experts, NGOs and policy makers, return today and tomorrow to Lisbon to explore how European business can improve performance through biodiversity responsibility during the EU High Level Conference on Business & Biodiversity.

Conference brochure here.
Conference background paper here.

27th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Valencia, 12-17 November

2007-11-12T18:49:00.000+07:00

About 140 countries will be represented in the 27th Session of the IPCC, scheduled for 12 -17 November 2007 in Valencia- Spain and which will focus on the adoption of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The IPCC is currently finalizing its Fourth Assessment Report entitled Climate Change 2007. The reports by the three Working Groups provide a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the current state of knowledge on climate change.

More information on the session and agenda here.

Will Money Solve Africa's Development Problems?

2007-11-12T17:14:00.000+07:00

The John Templeton Foundation is conducting the second in a series of conversations about the "Big Questions" and has called on leading scientists and scholars to answer the question 'Will Money Solve Africa's Development Problems?'. The essays are available online at the Foundation's website.

Free Online Access to all SAGE Journals until November 30, 2007

2007-11-12T17:05:00.000+07:00

SAGE Publications is offering free online access to all SAGE Journals until November 30, 2007: All one needs to is to register in order to be able to access online more than 460 journals, including European Urban and Regional Studies, the Journal of Planning Education and Research and Urban Studies, amongst other. A wealth of information freely available until the end of the month.

Read more and register here.

People-to-people lending

2007-11-12T16:47:00.000+07:00

The recent credit-crunch affecting present and prospective homeowners, especially in the USA, is reinforcing the role of social-lending (or people-to-people lending) as opposed to mainstream credit markets. Social lending has been offering borrowers cheaper credit than they could get elsewhere, as lenders in this credit model are not seeking solely to maximise returns. Intriguing is that social lending firms have been capable of assessing risk better than they mainstream counterparts, presenting default rates lower than the major banks.

Visit these social firms: Prosper and Zopa.

SmartManuakau - Towards a Knowledge Society Strategy for Manukau

2007-11-08T17:01:00.000+07:00

Manukau, a city in the Auckland region of New Zealand, adopted in 2002 the SmartManukau initiative, which aims at transforming Manukau City into a ‘knowledge city’ that adopts new technologies, educates its youth and generates knowledge-led economic growth. Manukau City thus achieves sustained economic growth and improves well-being by:

Developing opportunities for all citizens to attain the highest possible level of training, education and lifelong learning;
Attracting and growing knowledge-based entreprises;
Demonstrating exemplary practice in the application of knowledge strategies in business and community activities.

Access the SmartManukau strategy here.

The Economis article on the European Treaty

2007-11-08T16:38:00.000+07:00

The October 25th edition of The Economist brings a critical reading of the lack of democratic legitimacy and accountability of the new Lisbon Reform Treaty of the European Union, which was agreed on October19th and is to be signed by the leaders of the 27 member states on December 13th. The British - and The Economist too - have always been very Eurosceptics, but the article does raise some pertinent questions on how the EU leaders have abandoned the 'European Constitution' term and adopted the 'Reform Treaty' term - keeping some 90% of the old document and increasing its opacity - in order to avoid democratic - and possibly negative - referendums by national voters. In the words of the writer of the article, 'Whatever your views on the treaty, this is a farce—and it has consequences stretching far beyond Europe'. A good article, whatever one's opinion on the treaty is.

Access the article here.

European Development Days, Lisbon 7-9 November

2007-11-07T21:13:00.000+07:00

The European Development Days will take place in Lisbon, from 7 to 9 November 2007. The subject of this edition will focus on «climate changes and development», highlighting the strategies and activities of cooperation for the development of the EU. This Forum's debates will focus on various issues related to partnerships for development and questions on global regulation for the environment, concentrating especially on matters such as the vulnerability of developing countries, the protection of the world public heritage, the impact on populations and spaces, as well as the adaptation and opportunities for developing countries.

More information here.
Programme here.

Documentation of the Seminar «Cultural and Creative sectors at the Lisbon Agenda» available

2007-11-07T21:06:00.000+07:00

Documentation of the Seminar «Cultural and Creative sectors at the Lisbon Agenda» held in Lisbon on the 31st October and 1st November is now available in the website of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union. The seminar had three objectives: to create research and policy agendas for the sector, capable of being efficiently articulated; to explore new employment opportunities, either offered by the sector or being offered to the sector; to reflect on how the sector can grow into a sustainable development factor in the different EU countries.

Access the documentation here.

World Development Report (WDR) 2008

2007-11-07T16:50:00.000+07:00

The World Bank's 2008 'World Development Report' (WDR), the 30th in the series, underlines the role of agriculture as a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction and provides guidance to governments and the international community on designing and implementing agriculture-for-development agendas that can make a difference in the lives of hundreds of millions of rural poor. The report thus addresses three main questions:

What can agriculture do for development?
What are effective instruments in using agriculture for development?
How can agriculture-for-development agendas best be implemented?

Access the full report here.

More than 710 US mayors have now signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement

2007-11-05T20:50:00.000+07:00

As disclosed on November 1st during the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Summit, Orlando, FL, has recently became the 700th signatory of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, an initiative launched in February 16th by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to advance the goals of the Kyoto Protocol through leadership and action in American cities. Collectively, the 710 signatories represent 25% of the total population in the United States. On the final day of the summit, the US Mayors have also called for federal partnerships on climate protection.

Access the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement here.
More information on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Summit here.

Creative Partnerships

2007-11-02T18:38:00.000+07:00

Creative Partnerships is the English Government’s flagship creativity programme for schools and young people. It aims to develop:

the creativity of young people, raising their aspirations and achievements;
the skills of teachers and their ability to work with creative practitioners;
schools' approaches to culture, creativity and partnership working; and;
the skills, capacity and sustainability of the creative industries.

More information here.

A Global Comparison of National Biodiesel Production Potentials

2007-11-02T17:43:00.000+07:00

Matt Johnston and Tracey Holloway of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin—Madison have developed a a consistent, national-level evaluation of potential biodiesel volumes and prices, replicated across 226 countries, territories and protectorates. The results show an upper-limit worldwide volume potential of 51 billion liters from 119 countries; 47 billion of which could be produced profitably at today’s import prices. The study also argues that Malaysia and Indonesia stand out above the remaining countries, making up almost 75% of the potential volumes from increased yields.

Read the draft document here.
More information on the research and country results here.

Zaragossa Towards Knowledge City

2007-11-02T17:07:00.000+07:00

Launched in 2003, Zaragoza Ciudad del Conocimiento (Zaragossa Towards Knowledge City) is the Zaragossa municipal government's strategy for the economic promotion of the city and its advance towards the Knowledge Society. Focusing mainly on ICT and digital networks, the action plan has the following main objectives:

Carry out the establishment of innovating companies, to boost economic growth and the creation of skilled jobs.
Use of new technologies to give more efficient public services.
Guarantee to every citizen, entity, company and institution the full exercise of the right of access to communication networks.
Take advantage of the technological change to develop a new urbanism to consolidate the city and create economic opportunities.
Turn Saragossa into a national and international reference thanks to its attitude facing the phenomenon of innovation and new technologies.

More information here (in English) and here (in Spanish).

London: Cultural Capital - Realising the potential of a world class city

2007-10-31T16:58:00.000+07:00

Launched in April 2004, the City of London Mayor's Culture Strategy 'London: Cultural Capital - Realising the potential of a world class city' is a ten-year plan to develop London as a centre of cultural excellence and creativity which includes arts, sport, heritage and creative industries in London. The Culture Strategy has four key objectives focused on: excellence, creativity, access and value. Underpinning each of these objectives is the principle of diversity. The recognition that the excellence and quality of culture in London will only be achieved by ensuring that London’s diverse communities are reflected, and active, in the cultural life of the city.

Culture Strategy highlights PDF here.
Full Strategy here.
Other documentation here.

Creative Tampere

2007-10-31T16:50:00.000+07:00

Creative Tampere is the City of Tampere's business development policy programme, for implementation in 2006–2011. The practical implementation of the Creative Tampere programme is performed in three selected theme areas: the cultural industry, service innovations, and creative structures. The programme has three central targets, which support one another. These goals are based on the selected theme areas: strengthening the cultural industry; creating new service innovations; and improving the pillars on which creativity is built.

More information here.

New issue of the journal 'Higher Education Research & Development'

2007-10-30T17:02:00.000+07:00

The Journal of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia 'Higher Education Research & Development''s Volume 26 Issue 4 is now available for paying subscribers at the Informaworld website. The new issue contains the following articles:

A quantitative approach to assessment of work-based learning outcomes: an urban planning application
Lifelong learning: beyond the rhetoric of retention
Deconstructing the skills training debate in doctoral education
Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: a framework for students becoming researchers
Negotiating the university research culture: collaborative voices of new academics
Show me the money! An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia

Access the issue's table of contents here.

C3P and NASA Technical Workshop "Partnering for Energy and Environmental Stewardship", November 7,8 & 9, 2007, Peniche Portugal

2007-10-30T16:45:00.000+07:00

The Centro Para Prevenção da Poluição (C3P) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are hosting their 5th annual workshop on the environment and energy, "Energy and Environmental Stewardship", to be held in November 7,8 & 9, 2007, in Peniche, Portugal. The three-day workshop will provide up-to-date information on environmental and energy concerns that are common to Portuguese, European and U.S. Industries, as well as information on ongoing and future projects. Of particular emphasis will be an entire day devoted to the planned environmental and energy improvements planned for the Berlengas Island. This workshop will be free to attendees, but space is limited.

More information and agenda here.
Registration here.

How do you feel about European policy toward the outermost regions?

2007-10-30T16:38:00.000+07:00

As announced when the Commission’s “Strategy for the Outermost Regions: Achievements and Future Prospects” communication was adopted last September, a public consultation has been opened on the Inforegio website. It is intended for European institutions, Member States, the regions and all other parties interested in the future of the outermost regions (local players, association representatives, unions, academics and researchers…). The consultation will close on 31 March 2008.

Take part in the debate here.

2nd Call for Abstracts for PECSRL Conference “Landscapes, Identities and Development”

2007-10-26T16:13:00.000+07:00

The 2^nd Call for Abstracts for PECSRL Conference “Landscapes, Identities and Development”, to be held from the 1st to the 5th September 2008, in Lisbon and Óbidos , Portugal , has been posted at the TERCUD - Territory, Culture and Development Research Centre's website.

More information on abstract submission, programme and registration here.

U.S. Green Building Council

2007-10-26T15:31:00.000+07:00

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. Amongst other, membership of the council offers discounts on different resources, such as the References Guides for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and other publications, and educational programs and resources related to green building. Without membership, one can also access a list of LEED® Initiatives in Governments and Schools in US or a summary of Government LEED Incentives.

Provisional dates for call for proposals in Environment Programme of FP7

2007-10-25T22:35:00.000+07:00

If all goes according to planned, the second FP7 call for proposals in the Environment programme is expect to be published in the Official Journal on November 30th. The deadline for receipt of proposals will likely be February 25th 2008, but it may be a week earlier. Evaluations are currently scheduled to start on March 10th. These are provisional dates subject to change, but they may work as pointers for those planning on applying for FP7 funding.

More information on FP7 here.

Conference "Telling the story: Communicating Cohesion Policy together", Brussels 26-27 November

2007-10-25T19:38:00.000+07:00

Registration is open for the conference "Telling the story: Communicating Cohesion Policy together" to be held on 26-27 November in Brussels. The conferences’s goal is to initiate a discussion on forms of communication around European Regional Funds. Communication officers from national and regional managing authorities, representatives of news agencies covering Europe and the media are invited to register online. Under the new European regulation, citizens must be better informed about the Funds’ activities everywhere in Europe.

More information and registration here.
Draft programme here.

Recruitment of PhD candidates at ITC: Using spatial information infrastructure in urban governance networks

2007-10-25T18:10:00.000+07:00

The Dept of Planning and Geo-information Management, at the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in the Netherlands is looking for candidates for 2 still vacant PhD positions at ITC for a research program titled: Using spatial information infrastructure in urban governance networks: reducing urban deprivations in Indian cities? The program is funded by the Dutch Science Foundation & ITC and funds a total of 3 PhDs and one post-doc. Deadline for for submission of applications is November 15, 2007.

The two PhD vacancies are advertised here.

International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy

2007-10-25T17:33:00.000+07:00

The International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE) aims at providing best practice advice, support and practical solutions to help local authorities increase national eParticipation rates. Amongst a numerous resources included in the centre's website, one can find some interesting documents, namely:

'Reach out with Local eDemocracy' is an easy-to-follow guide for local authorities focusing on how to promote democtaic participation through ICT tools;
'VOICE Local Authority Administrators’ Guidebook' is a guide which explains how VOICE (a national web service offered by ICELE, primarily aimed at Local Authorities. It is based on a bespoke software development by the DCLG for community groups and the third sectores) works, how to set-up a portal and describes each of the system functions and features.

Regional Studies Association Conference "City Regions: Balancing Growth with Sustainability", Manchester 6th December

2007-10-25T15:53:00.000+07:00

Registrations are open for the Regional Studies Association Conference "City Regions: Balancing Growth with Sustainability", to be held Thursday 6th December at the University of Manchester, UK. This conference brings together some of the leading experts, academics, researchers and practitioners to discuss how city-regions should be managed and what actions need to be undertaken to balance growing prosperity with sustainable development.

More information here.
Register here.

Biomass Program Multi-Year Program Plan

2007-10-24T19:21:00.000+07:00

The US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released earler this month its Biomass Program Multi-Year Program Plan, which aims at developing cost-competitive biomass technologies to enable the production of biofuels nationwide and reduce dependence on oil through the creation of a new domestic bioindustry, thus supporting President Bush’s goal to reduce gasoline use 20 percent by 2017. With an holistic perspective, the programme focus both on developing biofuel, bioproduct and biopower technologies which can enhance the economic potential of biomass and on overcoming barriers to end-user appropriation of biomass-based products.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - STRATCULT-REGIO.net

2007-10-23T15:43:00.000+07:00

The region of Upper Asutria, is looking for cultural departments of European territorial authorities (especially from the UK, Germany and Baltic States) to be partners in the STRATCULT-REGIO.net project, which aims at fully integrating all cultural development potentials into the Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas of the European Union, with a special focus on the related regional and rural development policies in the frame-work of EU Structural Funds. The project's expected outcomes are fourfold: better know-how of administrations involved; more cultural projects implemented in European regions and cities; improvement of dynamic of related discussion on policy level; and the implementation of results of applied research on regional/local level based on Europe wide research results.

More information and contact details here.

The URBAN / URBACT Conference, 4th-6th November, Berlin

2007-10-22T16:07:00.000+07:00

Registration is open for the URBAN / URBACT Conference, which will be held from the 4th to the 6th November in Berlin. It represents the final conference of both the URBACT I Programme and the URBAN Programme and the launching event of the new URBACT II programme. The shift of the URBAN Programme to the mainstream and the impact of Regions for Economic Change on the local implementation of the European policy will be among the issues tackled during the conference. The results of both the URBACT and URBAN programmes will be presented and the new call for projects for URBACT II will also be presented by the URBACT Secretariat.

More information and conference programme here.
Register online here.

Enhancing Urban Safety and Security - Global Report on Human Settlements 2007

2007-10-22T15:50:00.000+07:00

The United Nations agency responsible for human settlements, UN-Habitat, has launched in September the first in-depth examination of a broad range of urban security issues, focusing on three key aspects of urban safety and security: crime and violence; security of tenure and protection against forced eviction; and natural and human-made disasters. The most alarming parts of the report relate to increasing urban violence and crime, urban redevelopment-related evictions of disadvantaged groups and, above all, the increased vulnerability of cities due to climate change. The report stresses that the number of natural disasters affecting urban populations has risen four-fold since 1975 and is likely to keep rising. A must have for urban planners.

Order the report here.
Foreword and introduction here.

INTERREG IVC project idea - Managing the Industrial territory in the Knowledge Era

2007-10-19T18:59:00.000+07:00

The Sociedad para la Promoción y Reconversión Industrial (SPRI), In Spain, is searching for regional authorities and managing bodies of business areas and industrial parks to be partners in their INTERREG IVC project, Managing the Industrial territory in the Knowledge Era. The project aims at designing and testing new models of managing Business Areas and Industrial Parks facing the challenges of the knowledge economy and sustainability demanded by SMEs and its expected outputs are: a new range of proximity knowledge intensive services available for SMEs; increased sustainability of Business Areas and Industrial Parks; and new skills and capacity building for managers of Business Areas and Industrial Parks.

More information and contact details here.

Agreement on the EU Reform Treaty

2007-10-19T18:22:00.000+07:00

The leaders of the 27 EU member states have today in Lisbon reached an agreement on the EU Reform Treaty, culminating a process initiated in June, when the 27 members agreed on the main guidelines for the treaty. The final text is to be signed in Lisbon on the 13th December at 11h00 am. As the president of the Council of the European Union, José Sócrates puts it, "The new Treaty of Lisbon was born today. This is a European victory".

More information here.
Draft Reform Treaty here.

Lisbon Informal Summit / Session of the Intergovernmental Conference, Lisbon 18-19 November

2007-10-18T16:00:00.000+07:00

Today and tomorrow, delegations - including heads of state and government - from 27 member countries of the European Union will be gathering in Lisbon mainly to discuss the project of the Reform Treaty and attempt to further advance the European integration process. Although some of the Draft Reform Treaty's points are questionable and doubts have been raised by some European countries, such as Poland and Italy, the institutional and legislative reform is a necessary step to further advance the European project. The Portuguese Presidency has show its resolve in being the host of the final agreement and reach a win-win situation for all member countries and respective populations.

More on the meeting here.
More on the Draft Reform Treaty here.

Europe's environment — The fourth assessment

2007-10-17T19:46:00.000+07:00

The latest in a series of assessments of the pan-European environment published over the past 15 years by the European Environment Agency, the report 'Europe's environment — The fourth assessment' evaluates environmental progress in 53 countries from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA), South Eastern Europe (SEE), as well as Western and Central Europe (WCE). The report analyses trends in different areas, such as: environment-related health concerns (issues related to air quality, inland waters, soil, hazardous chemicals); climate change; biodiversity loss; overuse of marine resources; the current patterns of production and consumption; and pressures caused by economic activities (agriculture, tourism, transport, energy).

Full report and executive summaries in different languages here.
Presentation with the key messages here.

Social capital and job creation in rural Europe, 8 - 9 November 2007, Lisbon, Portugal

2007-10-17T17:02:00.000+07:00

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in cooperation with the European Commission’s Leader+ Observatory; the Leader+ Portuguese Network; and the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is organisaing the conference 'Social capital and job creation in rural Europe', to be held in lisbon, Portugal on the 8th and 9th November 2007. The aim of the conference is to identify strategies or job creation in rural Europe through social capital initiatives. Practitioners, researchers and policy-makers will participate in the conference and participation is by invitation only.

Draft programme here.

Innovation to Connect the Lisbon Strategy to People: Launch of the 2nd wave of the European Network of Living Labs - Brussels 17th October

2007-10-17T15:43:00.000+07:00

In a Portuguese Presidency event, to be held October 17 in Brussels, the European Network of Living Labs announces the enrollment of 32 new members, expanding the network from from 19 to 51 members. Living Lab is a new concept for R&D and innovation to boost the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth in Europe, engaging the stakeholders in the innovation process, including companies, citizens, researchers and public institutions. Through this engagement, open innovation is possible, resulting from the interaction between, for instance, the needs of consumers and the development of new technical possibilities. Small and medium enterprises are engaged in these communities, as well as large corporations, such as Nokia, IBM and SAP.

Press release and programme here.
More on the European Network of Living Labs here.

The World Food Day - numbers and facts

2007-10-16T18:56:00.000+07:00

We are celebrating today the World Food Day, with 150 countries around the world organizing special events, conferences, contests, sports activities and a global candlelight vigil on this year's theme, “The Right to Food”. However, some numbers and some facts demonstrate how nutrition and food are still a great challenge (source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations):

- our planet produces enough food to feed its entire population, but there are still 854 million undernourished people in the world, of which 820 million in developing countries, 25 million in countries in transition and 9 million in industrialized countries;
- of these people, 400 million of them are hungry children whose lives will be forever blighted by lack of nutrition in their first months;
- fifty-five percent of the 12 million child deaths each year are related to malnutrition;
- to reach the World Food Summit goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015, the number of hungry people needs to fall by 22 million a year. Currently it is falling by only 6 million a year;

More information on the World Food Day here.
The FAO Hunger Map here.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - Wine Tourism

2007-10-16T16:42:00.000+07:00

The Municipiality of Ribadavia, in Spain, is looking for wine routes associations or municipalities who which to be partners in the INTERREG IVC project Wine Tourism. The project aims at creating new tourism-related enterprises in wine routes and the expected outcomes are: standard management quality system for creating enterprises; trainers and counsellings in enterprises skills courses standard business plan; and an established enterprise incubator.

More information and contact details here.

Bourse Nationale d'Opportunités Artisanales (BNOA)

2007-10-16T16:26:00.000+07:00

The Bourse Nationale d'Opportunités Artisanales (BNOA) is a French national virtual marketplace for buyers and sellers of enterprises in the craft industry, which was created by the French Chambers of Trade with the support of the European Social Fund. Many entrepreneurs prefer starting a firm rather than taking over one, despite the obvious advantages of taking over an established firm, such as an existing production structure, a customer network and an established name. At the same time, the chances of survival for transfers are higher than for start-ups. As so, the facilitation of SMEs transfer should be a continuous effort of national and regional policy-makers. The advisers of the chambers of trade network make an evaluation (check-up) of the companies of the sellers. The offers are then disseminated on the national enterprise exchange for craft enterprises BNOA (www.bnoa.net). The advisers of the network organise the first meeting between buyers and sellers, provide support, and accompany the transition phase and follow-up through the transfer process.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - Campus Entrepreneurship

2007-10-15T17:49:00.000+07:00

The Lahti University of Applied Sciences in Finlend is searching for European partners involved in entrepreneurship promotion for the Campus Entrepreneurship project. The project aims at promoting entrepreneurship and raising the entrepreneurial spirit in Higher Eduction Institutions, thus utilising their full entrepreneurial potential. Increased amount of entrepreneurs and increased amount of students becoming entrepreneurs are the project's expected outcome.

More information and contact details here.

Feed me Better School Dinners

2007-10-15T17:33:00.000+07:00

In 2005, British chef Jamie Olivier has launched the Feed me Better School Dinners campaign to ban the junk in school meals and get kids eating fresh, tasty nutritious food instead. The campaign manifesto asked for five things: Guarantee that children receive a proper, nutritionally balanced meal on their plates; Introduce nutritional standards and ban junk food from school meals; Invest in dinner ladies: give them better kitchens more hours and loads of support and training to get them cooking again; Teach kids about food and get cookery back on the curriculum; Commit long-term funding to improve school food. The consequent web petition had, after four weeks, over 270,000 signatures. PM Tony Blair then announced he was taking immediate action to set up a School Food Trust and pledged £280 million to improve school meals. Since then, school meals have to contain a basic level of nutrients and schools are forbidden to sell junk food. A grass-roots campaign with a big impact on pupils health!!

More info on the campaign here.

ENTRE project - transition towards entrepreneurship Closing Seminar, Aveiro 17th October

2007-10-15T15:47:00.000+07:00

The ENTRE project - transition towards entrepreneurship - started in September 2005 and has for objective to advance the professional insertion of most vulnerable people in the labour market through small business creation. The project closing seminar - entitled entrepreneurial support for starters - will be held in the University of Aveiro, Portugal, on the 17th October and will discuss national and transnational projects dealing with business creation and entrepreneurship support in less-favoured areas, rural areas and academic world.

Full programme here.
More information on the ENTRE project here.

European Week of Regions and Cities-OPEN DAYS 2007 speaker presentations

2007-10-12T15:27:00.000+07:00

You can now access in the Inforegio website to the European Week of Regions and Cities-OPEN DAYS 2007 speaker presentations. These are grouped into 6 themes:

- Attracting investors: Regions and cities show how it works
- Proximity matters: Clusters and regional development
- Spending it wisely: Public-private partnerships and financial engineering
- Crossing borders: Networking and best practice supporting growth and jobs
- Checking delivery: How the new programmes are implemented
- The International Dimension of Regional Policy (for the first time ever, the OPEN DAYS seminars welcomed delegations from China, Russia and Brazil, who have expressed an interest in European Cohesion Policy).

CIDA City Campus

2007-10-11T16:49:00.000+07:00

In 2000 Mr. Taddy Blecher and three partners formed the CIDA City CAmpus, a Johannesburg-based almost-free business school for students who cannot afford mainstream higher education. Charging students only a 21$ a month fee, CIDA now collects income from notable sponsors, such as Dell, JPMorgan, Richard Branson and Oprah Winfrey. Students help to run the school and many teachers offer their services for free. Students are also required to volunteer for community work when they go back home during the holidays. In a country where good education is still an illusion for most poor South Africans, this is the kind of initiative that can have profound positive impacts on the communities and Mr. Blecher is now a local heroe.

More information on the CIDA here.

6th European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion - Ponta Delgada, 16th and 17th October

2007-10-11T16:17:00.001+07:00

The Portuguese Presidency of the European Union is organising the 6th European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion, to be held in Ponta Delgada, Azores, on the 16th and 17th October. This discussion forum, which will be open to national and local public authorities, European institutions, NGO's and academics, will discuss the importance of minimum social standards as a key element of strategies for overcoming poverty and exclusion, bearing in mind the need to adapt it to the realities and options of each country. Poverty combat and social exclusion is another controversial issue in the European Union, to which major differences in both national policies and inequality levels at local and national levels have to be considered. It is, however, a a fundamental policy area if we are to promote full European integration.

More information here.
Programme here.

Peer-to-Patent Project

2007-10-11T03:58:00.000+07:00

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Britain's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the European Patent Office have launched the pilot scheme Peer-toPatent, a radical approach to reforming the complex international patent system. The scheme will open 250 pending patent applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security to internet-based collaboration, soliciting comments and applying a system of peer review, in contrast to the one-examiner-per-patent process approach. The efficency of a patent system is critical to innovation, but there is still fierce debate surrounding the patenting of software, businesses processes and especially human and animal genes. The outcomes of the project are uncertain, but it can also show the way for other kind of e-Democracy projects.

More info on the porject here.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - Local authorities for businesses

2007-10-10T16:05:00.000+07:00

The Agency for Economy of the Flemish Government is looking for regional development agencies platform organisations of local authorities and intermediary business organisations to be partners in the 'Local authorities for businesses' project. The project has a three-fold objective: create a business friendly environment; create a business friendly mindset within local authorities; and strengthen links between businesses and local authorities. Benchmark, best practices and scoreboard of entrepreneurship friendliness of local authorities are some of the expected outcomes.

More information and contact details here.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - Developing Rural Entrepreneurship

2007-10-10T15:52:00.000+07:00

As the first INTERREG IVC call for proposals are open by now and the deadline for project submission is 15th January 2008, I will be posting some project ideas which one can access in the INTERREG IVC Project idea database and which seem interesting.

ProAgria Kainuu, the leading agricultural expert organisation in Finland, is searching for partners from the Rural & Business Development sector with experience of interregional EU-projects for the 'Developing Rural Entrepreneurship' project. The project aims at diversifying rural economy and introduce knowledge-based business approaches and at finding innovative ways of utilizing local nature resources and enhance technology transfer to small business. The project is a follow-up for the TOOLS-project, financed by the Interreg IIIC for the years of 2005-2007.

Details and contact information here.

Microcredit Summit Campaign

2007-10-10T15:32:00.000+07:00

The Microcredit Summit Campaign is a 2006 re-launched campaign which objective is two-fold: to ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest families can have access to credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the end of 2015; and that 100 million families rise above the US$1 a day threshold, between 1990 and 2015. The original campaign was launched in 1999 and reach is 9 years-goal by 2006. The campaign website has numerous resources for those involved in microcredit. However, the 2006 State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report is a must-read, as are some of the papers commissioned by the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 2006.

Campaign to Protect Rural England

2007-10-09T16:22:00.000+07:00

The Campaign for Rural England (CPRE) has been campaigning for 80 years for a sustainable future for the English countryside, a vital but undervalued environmental, economic and social asset to the English nation. In the Campaigns section one can confirm the dynamic of this lobby group and the Library section provides resources on different themes, such as development, planning, farming and food and environment.

Seminar ''The Cultural and Creative Sector – Lisbon Agenda'' - Lisbon, October 31st - November 1st

2007-10-09T15:55:00.000+07:00

Building on the KEA Report “The Economy of Culture in Europe”, the seminar ''The Cultural and Creative Sector – Lisbon Agenda'', to be held in Lisbon on October 31st and November 1st, aims at creating research and policy agendas for the sector, capable of being efficiently articulated; exploring new employment opportunities, either offered by the sector or being offered to the sector; and reflecting on how the sector can grow into a sustainable development factor in the different EU countries.

More information here.
Provisional programme (in Portuguese) here.
The Economy of Culture in Europe report here.

Conference on «Employment in Europe: Prospects and Priorities» Lisbon 8-9 October

2007-10-09T01:44:00.000+07:00

The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the two day conference on «Employment in Europe: Prospects and Priorities» which will discuss a decade of implementation of the European Employment Strategy, launched in the Luxembourg Jobs Summit in November 1997. The aniversary should be a critical time for Europe to reflect and evaluate the instruments and policy approaches and their contribution to human development. It is also an opportunity to look ahead and consider the challenges employment policy will face, such as an ageing society and further deepening of global integration.

More on the conference here.
Conference programme here.
More on the European Employment Strategy here.

Swiss cheese and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

2007-10-08T20:01:00.000+07:00

Switzerland has in its premium cheeses Gruyère and Emmental an example for the European Union on how agricultural-related activities can compete globally by focusing production on quality, heritage and new markets, decoupling subsidies from production, thus shifting from subsidising production to direct payment for looking after the countryside, and reducing import barriers on foreign products. A good example for the urgent reform of the CAP.

Read the full story here.

Text of the EU Reform Treaty available

2007-10-08T19:53:00.000+07:00

The project of the Reform Treaty resulting from technical negotiations is now available on the Portuguese Presidency of the EU website.

Imagine a Toronto... Strategies for a Creative City

2007-10-03T17:48:00.000+07:00

The "Imagine a Toronto... Strategies for a Creative City" research projects aimed at developing a strategy that addresses the current needs of Toronto's creative economy, The project built on empirical evidence from 6 six: Toronto, New York, San Francisco, London, Barcelona and Berlin (coming soon). For the purposes of the report, the research team has grouped the areas of study into five broad categories (people, enterprise, space, connectivity and vision & voice) and analyzed Toronto’s strengths and weaknesses in each of the first four categories above, identifying strategic opportunities for action and sugesting policy actions for those four areas.

Full report here.

Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities

2007-10-03T16:15:00.000+07:00

The Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities is a cultural research and development centre based at Simon Fraser University’s Vancouver campus and it conducts research and brings together academia, policy, and practice in four areas: the state of cultural infrastructure in Canadian cities and communities; culture as the fourth pillar of community sustainability; culture in communities: cultural systems and local planning; the impacts of cultural infrastructure and activity in cities and communities. The Publications and Bibliographies sections include valuable resources on these themes. The Culture and Cities Research Directory contains links to research projects and the Cultural Indicators Research Directory includes some initiatives relevant to Cultural Indicators.

High Level Conference on Business & Biodiversity, Lisbon 12-13 November

2007-10-03T15:35:00.000+07:00

The Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council and European Commission will organise the High Level Conference on Business & Biodiversity on the 12-12 November in Lisbon. Business leaders, biodiversity experts, NGOs and policy makers, will gather in Lisbon to explore how European business can improve performance through biodiversity responsibility. The conference aims at contributing to an improved understanding of the competitive advantages gained from conserving biodiversity and using biiological resources sustainably and, more importantly, it is expected that the conference will provide guidance to the European Commission’s new initiative on business and biodiversity.

Conference programme here.
Conference brochure here.

Speeches of the Fourth European Cohesion Forum

2007-10-02T16:43:00.000+07:00

Some of the speeches of the Fourth European Cohesion Forum are already available on the forum website. Some of these speeches are in French, but most of them are in English. Don't miss the European Commission President's speech on the future of cohesion policy and the concluding remarks by Commissioner Danuta Hubner.

Debate on the future of regional policy - Public consultation

2007-10-02T16:34:00.000+07:00

The public consultation on the future of EU cohesion policy, launched by Commissioner Danuta Hübner on 27 September 2007 during the "Fourth European Forum on Cohesion", aims at collecting ideas and contributions on the question of how the Union's cohesion policy should adapt to new challenges and how its delivery can be improved in order to maximise its impact in the future. The consultation is open until 31 January 2008 and should be based on a number of questions which were published in the European Commission's Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion and which are listed here. A report on this consultation will be presented in spring 2008, together with the Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion. This is another chance - but also a duty - for European citizens to participate in the European construction.

Policy Research Initiative

2007-10-02T16:20:00.000+07:00

The Policy Research Initiative conducts research in support of the Government of Canada’s medium term agenda on emerging horizontal issues such as population aging, poverty and exclusion, sustainable development, multicultural Canada and youth. the Publications sections include numerous working papers, reports, briefings and journals on these issues and more.

The Intercultural City - planning for diversity advantage

2007-10-02T15:43:00.000+07:00

The Intercultural City project aims at investigating to what urban cultural diversity is a source of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship which brings advantage to cities and at providing advice and practical tools for cities seeking to benefit from the diversity dividends. The research themes include changes in conceptual and policy aspects of cultural diversity, individuals or groups who are intercultural innovators and the development of new practical indicators. The case studies are structured around three areas of research: city case studies, thematic studies and intercultural innovators. Some research documents are freely for download.

CLOE - A European Network of Excellence for Cluster Experience, Management, Matching and Promotion

2007-10-01T16:55:00.000+07:00

The Interreg III C Project Clusters Linked Over Europe - CLOE is a co-operation project between seven European regions which aims at exchanging experience and information concerning the management and development of successful clusters. The project website serves as a competence platform giving access to information on the competences of cluster companies and participating regions, as well as being the main information source concerning all CLOE activities. The Cluster Competecence Finder provides the opportunity to search for competences, products and services within the CLOE-network and its more than 25 connected clusters and the Cluster Links section provides links to sector-based clusters. The Cluster Management Guide is a must-read document for those interested in cluster-based innovation policy.

Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming

2007-10-01T16:11:00.000+07:00

Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level and advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. The Projects and Campaigns section and the searchable Publications section provide some interesting resources for those interested in sustainable food production and consumption. The alliance also produces a number of quarterly magazines.

The Cohesion Report in 8 minutes

2007-10-01T15:51:00.000+07:00

The fourth report on economic and social cohesion was adopted by the European Commission last May and served as the basis for the debates held on 27 and 28 September in Brussels at the European Cohesion Forum. You can now watch this video which, in a straightforward and easy-understanding language, sums up the report's main findings, illustrated with examples of projects in the Member States.

Building green is getting cheaper and more popular

2007-09-28T23:17:00.000+07:00

"A study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that some 90% of home-builders are now using green ideas. In 2005 the study found a 20% increase in the number of new homes that were environmentally responsible: water-efficient, energy-efficient, built of nature-friendly materials. Last year, the figures were up another 30%. Green building has become big business. Banks such as Bank of America are adding more green financing packages. Shops selling green building supplies are springing up, as are giant shows (...) lower building costs are helping the movement. It used to cost at least 15% more to build using eco-friendly ideas and products, but today they add only 1-3% to the cost of construction (...)"

Source: adapted from http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9804157

Conference 'Employability and Entrepreneurship - Gender Stereotypes' - Lisbon 3-4 October

2007-09-28T16:05:00.001+07:00

The conference 'Employability and Entrepreneurship - Gender Stereotypes' will be held in Lisbon in the 3rd and 4th of October in the framework of the Portuguese EU Presidency. It aims at giving a contribution to mainstreaming the gender dimension in the Lisbon Strategy in particular in the framework of the preparation of the guidelines for the new cycle 2008-2011. It will also focus on the link between gender stereotypes and women’s employability and entrepreneurship in order to, on the one hand, overcome the barriers affecting women’s employability and entrepreneurship and, on the other hand, to empower men in family life for the promotion of economic growth and social cohesion.

More info here.
Conference programme here.

Municipal Excellence Network

2007-09-28T16:05:00.000+07:00

The Municipal Excellence Network provides web-based access to information on business/operational practices in the areas of municipal governance, administration, human resources, financial management, infrastructure services, development services, safety services and community services. The Municipal Excellence Network operates primarily by sharing knowledge, cataloging practices as well as acknowledging and building excellence in local government. The resources section has invaluable material for practitioners.