ERRIN second Annual General Event: Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth in Europe’ s Regions
On 7 March, ERRIN, the European Regions Research and Innovation Network, is organising its second Annual General Event at the Brussels Parliament. This will be an opportunity to celebrate the Network’s two successful years of activities and a starting point for the future collaboration. Mrs Danuta H?bner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, will deliver the keynote speech on how the Structural Funds can promote research and innovation and support sustainable regional development. The following speakers will give examples of how ERRIN has supported concrete actions and suggest how regions could be further engaged in reaching the Lisbon goals. The European Research Area is being constructed in Europe’s regions. By creating regional frameworks for research and innovation, regions facilitate the partnerships and infrastructure that drive competitiveness and growth. The re-launch of the Lisbon Agenda specifies for the first time that regional and local actors are key agents in making Europe a leading knowledge economy. Research and innovation are at the heart of this drive. Regions are placing research and innovation at the centre of their economic development policies and strategies and want to further this work at a European level. However, many have found the complexity of the European dimension difficult to engage with. The regions have been largely absent from the first five years of the Lisbon Strategy and have found the challenge of reaching the targets set by the Barcelona Council demanding. The European Commission has therefore proposed an increased coherence between the different policies for the forthcoming period 2007-2013. The synergies between Regional Cohesion policies and Research and Innovation policies have been dedicated considerable attention and the new Structural Funds will strongly support the research and innovation capacity in all European regions. The proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research also includes specific instruments to further enhance regional actors in developing the research capacity of their region and to support projects focused on regional research-driven clusters. The welcome speach will be given by Mr Benoit Cerexhe, Minister of the Government of Brussels Capital Region, Responsible for Research, Employment and Economy followed by the keynote speech from Mrs Danuta Hubner, Commissioner for Regional Policy. Mr. Attilio Martinetti, Director of EIC 351, Milan Chamber of Commerce Special Agency, will highlight in his speech how ERRIN has facilitated the development of his project, “Net Bio CluE”. In the final speech, Mr. Pascal Goergen, Member of the ERRIN Management Board, and representative of Brussels Capital Region will summarise the two years of ERRIN activities while charting the future course for the ERRIN Network. The European Regions and Innovation Network (ERRIN) is a Brussels based community designated to facilitate a greater engagement of regional actors in the European Research Area and supporting the Lisbon Agenda. ERRIN currently represents 190 European regions. ERRIN is co-financed by the European Commission DG Research through the “Regions of Knowledge” Pilot Action.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom