Knowledge as a development factor

The fourth in a series of seven transnational seminars organised by the European Commission as part of a consultation process on the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) will be held in Manchester, United Kingdom, on 17 and 18 September 1998. The ESDP is a strategy document aimed at coordinating different sectoral policies to achieve a more balanced development in Europe.

The Manchester seminar intends to illustrate the change in the nature of productive processes with the emergence of knowledge as a key competitive factor. It aims to clarify the economic and institutional mechanisms that govern scientific and technological policies and their impacts on the distribution of innovative capabilities.

The aim of the seminar is to open the debate on ESDP to regional and national authorities responsible for policies such as RTD, innovation and education and to provide ideas for improving the ESDP in view of its final adoption in spring 1999.

The seminar will be divided into three plenary sessions under the following headings:

- The current picture, covering competitiveness and the innovation process and the geography of knowledge and innovation;
- Policies for innovation: learning from recent experiences;
- Towards a spatially integrated approach.

These will be followed by two parallel workshops presenting the EU's INTERREG programme for border development, cross border cooperation and selected energy networks from a local and regional perspective, and the operational aspects of the ESDP programme.
For further information, please contact:

European Commission
DG XVI - Regional policy and cohesion
Mr. Nicola de Michelis
200 rue de la Loi
B-1049 Brussels
Tel +32-2-2955230; Fax +32-2-2966229
E-mail: "Nicola.De Michelis"@dg16.cec.be