Europe

The European Association of Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) recently organised a round table of practitioners in economic development in Brussels (April 26th and 27th).

Under the programme 'Centres for innovation competence. Creating excellence - ensuring talent' the government of Germany will fund six centres of excellence. They are located in Dresden, Leipzig, Greifswald, Rostock, Jena and Ilmenau, all cities in the former DDR.

On the 4th February, Chris Inglis, Executive Director of Forestry and Timber Association in Scotland spoke at a conference on Timber Markets and Marketing attended by 140 representatives of Scotland’s forestry community. He said that : “Cooperation, information, and commitment is what is required from Scotland’s forest owners if they want consolidation in the market and a future for their growing resource.”

The E-Finance Lab in Germany is a research consultancy that develops effective management procedures/structures within the financial service industry. Working in partnership with many large corporations (Deutsche Bank, Accenture, Siemens, Microsoft), researchers from Darmstadt University and J.W. Goethe University state that their “goal is to contribute methods and views to the realignment of the financial supply chain." Professor Dr. Mark Wahrenburg is leading a research-based project that is attempting to illustrate the future picture of the credit businesses in Germany and Europe.

The Services Group, Inc. (TSG), an international economic development consulting firm and member of TCI is trying to locate a few European sector specialists who may provide consulting to a large multi-year cluster competitiveness project in The Balkans. The projects will focus on the Tourism, Agribusiness and Wood Processing sectors.

New publication by the European Tourism Research Institute in Sweden, focusing on tourism clustering.

With their induction into the EU nearing, Latvia presents a great opportunity for the implementation and development of cluster policy. Being located between Scandinavia, Russia and large EU economies (Germany, Poland), Latvia is in an enviable position; one that should put them at the crossroads of increased trade for several years to come.

With strong support and investment from the government, Linkoping University has helped spawn the high tech and growing cluster of Scientific and Media Visualization in Sweden.

Michael Porter addressed 'oneLondon' recently, on how to provide practical solutions for deprived areas in the UK's capital. OneLondon is an organization dedicated to innovation and inclusion. It is formed by members from both private and public sectors of business.

The EU has been researching ways to alleviate problems within the Northern European Trade Axis (NETA), running through six countries: Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Poland.