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A new EU management generation – collaboration vs. turf

January 22, 2010

I apologise for my long absence from this blog. Recently I have, of course, followed the Commission hearings, at least for those of the new Commissioners that are most interesting from a regional research and innovation viewpoint. Clearly, this was a great moment for the European Parliament and for European democracy. One MEP quoted by… » read more

energy efficiency, Energy Supply, English, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU programmes, Innovation and Growth, regional development, Research, Structural Funds

Dear Dirk

December 10, 2009

Last week, we were told by journalists that Dirk Ahner, the Commission’s Director-General for regional policy, had apparently sent a letter to the members of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control committee, criticising Open Europe’s 50 examples o…

31513, English, environment, EU budget, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU waste, European Commission, Financial Services, Structural Funds

The EU’s budget is unmanageable

November 13, 2009

On EUobserver today, Open Europe spells out in some more detail what we consider to be wrong with the EU’s budget and how it should be reformed. The piece is a response to Commissioner Siim Kallas’ article on the same site a few days ago. We argue,The …

English, EU budget, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU waste, regional funding, Structural Funds, Taxation

Making sense of the insensible

October 23, 2009

A paper floated by the Commission proposes to give the EU budget a more sensible focus – away from the current Byzantine arrangement in which subsidies are dished out to farmers and non-farmers alike and a range of ludacrious projects in richer member…

English, EU budget, EU Priorities and Opinion, EU waste, European Commission, Financial Services, Structural Funds, Taxation

Public procurement – a lifeline for death valley?

June 20, 2009

I got my crash-course in public procurement this week at a DG INFSO workshop on “Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)”. Now while this sound like a boring bureaucratic nightmare, it’s actually really exciting stuff, at least if you are interested in boosting research and innovation and making Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, which… » read more

English, EU programmes, EU projects, ICT, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds

News from the EIT – Will the force be with us?

December 4, 2008

Yesterday I had the pleasure to listen to EIT Board Member Prof Karen Maex, vice-rector of KU Leuven, at an event on the Eindhoven High-Tech Campus and today we had an ERRIN policy briefing with Thomas Sanders of the EIT Task Force in DG EDUC, who briefed ERRIN members on the state of play of… » read more

education, EU Institutions, EU programmes, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Structural Funds

EU freezes aid to Bulgaria – time to rethink the system?

November 29, 2008

This week, finally, and for the first time in EU history, has the EU taken the bold step (according to EU standards) to freeze Structural Funds payments to a country on grounds of rampant corruption. The laggard identified, named and shamed was Bulgaria. Altogether 560 million Euros have been withheld, which are a relatively small… » read more

EU Institutions, Innovation and Growth, Structural Funds

EU freezes aid to Bulgaria – time to redesign the system?

EU Institutions, Innovation and Growth, Structural Funds

Territorial Cohesion – lame duck with lack of ambition?

November 28, 2008

European Cohesion Policy is becoming ever more important in strengthening competitiveness and innovation capacity in our regions. Compared to other important instruments such as the Research Framework Programme or the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme it does not only have ‘critical mass’ in terms of budget allocation, but it is also crucial in aligning national and… » read more

EU Institutions, EU programmes, EU projects, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds

European Cluster Policy – What’s in it for the regions?

November 25, 2008

Clusters are attracting more and more attention from policymakers in their quest to improve regional competitiveness. The development of world-class clusters has now also become an EU policy priority as illustrated recently by the European Commission`s Communication on “Powerful clusters: Main drivers of Europe’s competitiveness”, published on 17 October 2008. The attractiveness of the cluster… » read more

EU Institutions, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds

Europe needs to reward risk and innovation

November 8, 2008

I had the pleasure of participating at one of the meetings of the „Zukunftssalon: Forum of the Future“. The Zukunftssalon is the brainchild of the dynamic and outspoken Anne Mettler, who leads the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based innovation think tank. The Lisbon Council has just celebrated its fifth anniversary. Through its events and publications it… » read more

innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Structural Funds

Europe needs to reward risk-taking and innovation

I had the pleasure and rather considerable honour last week to participate at one of the meetings of the „Zukunftssalon: Forum of the Future“, an exclusive gathering of forward thinkers. The Zukunftssalon is the brainchild of the dynamic and outspoken Anne Mettler, who leads the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based innovation think tank. The Lisbon Council… » read more

innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Structural Funds

Europe needs to rewarding risk-taking and innovation

innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Structural Funds

Putting innovation at the top of the EU’s agenda

November 2, 2008

Last week we met with Roland Strauss, the initiator and coordinator of Knowledge4Innovation, a great initiative that ERRIN supports. Knowledge4Innovation aims at engaging policy makers, the business and science communities and related networks in a dialogue on the future of innovation in Europe to promote the adoption of adequate policies, programmes and budget allocations. To… » read more

EU Institutions, EU programmes, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Structural Funds

My articles of the week selection

November 1, 2008

Hi there. I would like to share with you some interesting articles on innovation and regional development published this week in the Herald Tribune. Broader financial turmoil threatens biotech’s innovation and cash A biotech crash, if it comes, could threaten an industry that plays a vital role in turning scientific advances into usable medicines… Bulgaria… » read more

Energy, innovation, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, regional development, Structural Funds

Some reflections on regional cooperation, consultants, the usual suspects, effective project PR, bloggers and TRUST 2.0

October 28, 2008

Just came back from the INTERREG IVC Forum in Lille. The immense and increasing popularity of this funding mechanism for interregional cooperation was graphically demonstrated by the first call of this programme, resulting in piles of project applications. More than 400 applications mobilising nearly 5000 actors across Europe were received and the programme Secretariat in… » read more

communication, Communications, EU programmes, EU projects, Knowledge, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds, Uncategorized

Not just another regional development exhibition

October 16, 2008

Today I received a pre-event newsletter of the Euregia 2008 that is running from 27 to 29 October 2008 in Leipzig, Germany. According to its organisers, Euregia is “Europe’s largest communication and benchmarking forum on regional development and territorial cooperation”. While this is certainly a bit of hyperbole, since the Open Days are clearly larger… » read more

EU projects, Knowledge, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds, Uncategorized

Just another cooperation event?

Today I received a pre-event newsletter of the Euregia 2008 that is running from 27 to 29 October 2008. According to its organisers, Euregia is “Europe’s largest communication and benchmarking forum on regional development and territorial cooperation”. While this is certainly a bit of hyperbole, since the Open Days are clearly larger in terms of… » read more

EU projects, Knowledge, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds, Uncategorized

If you can google (or wordle) it, it’s real!

October 10, 2008

Thank god it’s Friday and the Open Days are over. But I don’t want to go into the weekend before having posted my report on our great Web 2.0. and Knowledge Management seminar yesterday. I start with the bad news: Those who were not there missed a great seminar, some excellent speakers and a really… » read more

communication, EU programmes, EU projects, ICT, InfoSociety, Innovation and Growth, Knowledge, Regional cooperation, regional development, Structural Funds