Brussels, 12 Feb 2003
An international conference on the subject 'foresight in the enlarged European research and innovation area' will take place on 15 and 16 May in Ioannina, Greece.
The main aim of the conference is to provide policy makers, as well as foresight practitioners, promoters, stakeholders and experts from industry, and academics, and researchers from the whole of Europe, with a platform where they can discuss experiences and best practices on foresight exercises at European, national or regional levels, and their impact on enlargement.
Speakers will include representatives from the Greek Ministry for Research and Technology, regional authorities, the Greek parliament, and EU institutions.
Some of the topics under discussion at the conference include:
- foresight and enlargement: a challenge for the EU, the candidate countries and foresight practitioners;
- towards an assessment and monitoring model for foresight exercises;
- managing the foresight knowledge pool;
- improving the relationships with social and societal actors;
- improving higher education/research relations and foresight based research;
- foresight cooperation and European Research Area (ERA): opportunities, challenges and limitations in cooperation;
- towards a European foresight area.
It is hoped that the conference will result in approving the 'Ioannina manifesto for cooperation in foresight'.
The Hellenic general secretariat for research and technology, under the aegis of the Greek presidency of the European Union, is organising the event. Sponsors of the event include the European Commission and several national and international organisations.
For further information, please contact the conference coordinator:
Dr Vassilios Laopodis
Tel: +30 210 7714462
Fax: +30 210 77114
http://medlab.cs.uoi.gr/conf2003/main.ht m