EPRC staff also contribute regularly to academic and policy conferences and seminars across Europe. In addition, the Centre is a co-organiser of the West Coast Seminar Series and Strathclyde Interdepartmental Regional Studies Group.  

News items from major conferences and seminars are listed below. A full list of EPRC participation in conferences is available here.

Divergent trajectories in regional policy: EPRC hosts 32nd European regional policy conference

The diverging trajectories of regional policy in Europe was one of the main themes of the 32nd Conference of the European Regional Policy Research Consortium (EoRPA) here. held at Ross Priory, Loch Lomondside, on 2-4 October 2011. The Conference, chaired by John Bachtler, brought together senior regional policymakers from across Europe to debate the current state of regional policy, EU Competition policy control of State aid, and the reform of EU Cohesion policy. Professor Danuta Hübner, Chair of the European Parliament's REGI Committee, was the Guest Speaker on the subject of the European Parliament's role in the reform of Cohesion policy. The Conference sessions were based on research reports and presentations prepared by EPRC, based on research conducted in 29 European countries during 2011. A strategic perspective on regional disparities, the territorial impact of the economic crisis and the main policy trends was presented by David Charles and Martin Ferry. This was followed by a more detailed assessment of how the management and implementation of policy is changing – conducted by Frederike Gross and Stefan Kah – and a detailed discussion of the importance of peripherality as a focus of regional policy intervention based on a paper by Sara Davies and Rona Michie. Shifting the focus of the debate, two papers were presented on policy reforms at EU level, first on the subject of prospective changes to the EU Regional Aid Guidelines by Fiona Wishlade, and then an assessment of reforms to EU Cohesion policy in the 2014-2020 period by Carlos Mendez, John Bachtler and Fiona Wishlade. Managed by EPRC, EoRPA is a research programme funded by government departments from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Contact: John Bachtler or  Fiona Wishlade or  Heidi Vironen

Science cities workshop, Glasgow, 4 November 2011

Continuing a series of events in our research programme on regional innovation, the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) at the University of Strathclyde is organising a workshop as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, on the theme ‘Science city strategies: lessons for Scotland’, to be held on Friday 4th November at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute in Glasgow. This workshop will provide insights into experiences from science city strategies in England, Singapore, Spain, Australia and Canada in order to stimulate discussions on how Scotland can better utilise its science infrastructure. There is no fee for attending the workshop but places are limited, so please register by completing the registration form.

Contact: Alyson Ross

EPRC~UK IRC workshop: Innovation policy challenges in Europe’s regions

The European Policies Research Centre co-hosted a workshop with the UK Innovation Research Centre, based at Cambridge University and Imperial College London, on the theme ‘Innovation policy challenges in the regions of Europe’ on 16th September 2011 at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute in Glasgow. It was attended by over 50 people from the fields of public policy, innovation research and business consultancy, who were welcomed to the workshop by university principal, Professor Jim McDonald. Keynote speaker, Fergus Ewing MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, emphasised importance of innovation for the Scottish economy, not only in fields such as energy and engineering but also in terms of new business models and approaches to cooperation. A series of very interesting presentations were the made by Marion Frenz, Knut Senneseth, David Charles, Colin Mason, Michael Kitson, David Connell, Graham Gudgin, Mickaël Vaillant, Ruth Sime and Ian McCoull. The speakers’ presentations and a copy of the workshop programme can be found here.

Contact: Sara Davies

EPRC Seminar: Going NUTS? Europeanization, Legacies and the Politics of Developmentalism in Hungary

On 7 September, EPRC hosted a seminar by Dr. Umut Korkut from Glasgow Caledonian University. Umut’s presentation, based on research carried out jointly with Áron Buzogány from the German Research Institute for Public Administration Speyer, assessed the interaction of Europeanisation processes and domestic policy traditions and agendas on the evolution of regional policy in Hungary. Drawing on theories of Europeanisation, new regionalism and the ‘developmental state’, processes of centralisation in regional policy design and delivery are explained by the domestic political context and the historical narratives of developmentalism of the conservative and leftist liberal parties. The link to the paper is available here.

Contact: Umut Korkut

Innovation Workshop, Glasgow, 16 September 2011

As part of our research programme on regional innovation, the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) at the University of Strathclyde is organising a joint workshop together with the UK Innovation Research Centre, based at Cambridge University and Imperial College London, on the theme ‘Innovation policy challenges in Europe’, to be held on Friday 16th September at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute in Glasgow. The workshop will bring together leading researchers and practitioners from across the UK and other parts of Europe, and provide a forum for discussing new research findings and to exchange experience on best practice in innovation policy. A copy of the programme can be viewed here. There is no fee for attending the workshop but places are limited, so please register by completing the linked form.

Contact: Alyson Ross

IQ-Net Conference, Swansea, 20-22 June

IQ-Net partners from 15 EU countries, together with representatives of DG Regio and DG Emploi of the European Commission, met at the 30th IQ-Net conference in Swansea, Wales on 20-22 June 2011. The conference was hosted by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO). The conference opened with a welcome and introduction from the hosts, given by Damien O’Brien, Director of WEFO. The main focus of the conference was on the interactions between EU funds, and the meeting gave IQ-Net partners the opportunity to discuss their experiences with the coordination of EU Funds under the mono-Fund approach introduced for the 2007-13 period, supported by a research paper presented by Dr Sara Davies of EPRC. Rachel Lancy from DG Regio and Jeroen Jutte from DG Emploi provided the Commission perspective on the theme. Discussions also focused on current programme implementation issues, including programme communications, financial engineering, audit and evaluation, supported by a presentation by Rona Michie of EPRC and on the Network's developments, illustrated by Frederike Gross, IQ-Net Network manager. During the individual sessions, partners from Flanders, France, Finland, Lower Austria and Portugal presented their own experiences. During the conference, partners visited the SA1 Waterfront Development in Swansea, an ambitious urban regeneration project which has received Structural Funds resources. Delegates then visited Swansea University, where two projects were presented – Software Alliance Wales, an ESF-funded project which supports innovation and growth in the ICT and software sector, and the Institute of Life Sciences, a purpose-built medical research facility which has received funding from the ERDF.

Contact: Frederike Gross

EPRC Seminar: Broadband in Scotland: New Technologies, Market Returns and Social Inclusion

On 11 May, EPRC hosted a seminar by Jason Whalley of the Department of Management Science at the University of Strathclyde. Jason presented his current research on broadband within Scotland and placed its availability and adoption within the broader context of the UK telecommunications market. Through doing so, he revealed a series of challenges. Regulatory and commercial issues influence where and when operators invest, encouraging them to invest preferentially in densely populated areas and at a pace that is slower than many commentators feel is needed. The result is a ‘patchwork quilt’ of coverage in the UK. The switch to fibre in which operators are now beginning to engage is likely to exacerbate the differences that exist. Jason specifically looked at the position of Scotland, which presents lower uptake than many other parts of the UK, and where the trend of stagnating broadband uptake presents a challenge to catching-up.

Contact: Jason Whalley

EPRC Seminar: Human Capital and Entrepreneurial Activity in UK City Regions

On 4 May, EPRC hosted a seminar by Jonathan Levie of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde. Jonathan presented his current research on entrepreneurial activity in UK city regions. Together with Mark Hart from Aston Business School, he looked at how general and specific human capital can explain much of the regional variance in entrepreneurial activity. He uses data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which has been measuring entrepreneurial activity of individuals through large scale surveys across the UK since 1999. Using a combined database for the 2003 to 2009 period, he could estimate entrepreneurial activity rates in 27 city regions across the UK. Human capital varies widely across these city regions. City regions with healthy, educated and commercial populations tend to pull in more entrepreneurial individuals from elsewhere, perpetuating differences in entrepreneurship rates. Jonathan concluded with an outlook on the next steps of their research, which will amongst other things involve an increase of the number of cities in the sample and a multi-level analysis of an individual’s propensity to engage in new business activity in city regions. The presentation slides of the seminar are available here.

Contact: Jonathan Levie

EPRC Seminar: Changing economic development policy, structures and resources in England

On 30 March, EPRC hosted a seminar by Richard Cairns and Craig Renney of the Audit Commission. The presentation focused on the changes currently taking place in economic development policy, structures and resources in England. It described the radical departure taking place from the previous Labour Government’s ‘market failures’ model of regional development, with the Coalition Government cutting back spending and areas of intervention, and promoting supply-side reforms over demand-side oriented policy. The presentation discussed the new government policies for growth, the structural changes being made and the potential distributional impact of reduced resources. The presentation was followed by a lively discussion of the issues and challenges, with discussion of the potential implications for economic development policy in Scotland. The presentation slides from the seminar are available here.

Contact: Craig Renney

EPRC Seminar: What is wrong with Cohesion policy? A political explanation

Dr Simona Milio, Associate Director of the Economic Social Cohesion Observatory at the London School of Economics, presented a paper on the achievements of Cohesion policy and the key issues that should be addressed as part of the reform of the policy for the 2014-2020 period. Taking a political science approach, the paper argues that the main challenge for Cohesion policy is not how many resources are allocated to Cohesion policy, but rather how the Cohesion and Structural Funds are distributed between Member States and between priorities, and the alignment between ERDF and ESF interventions. Dr. Milio's presentation can be accessed here: Cohesion_Policy_a_political explanation_ Simona_Milio_March2011.pdf

Contact: Simona Milio