2009 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
39th Annual Johns Hopkins International Urban Fellows Conference
Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies
Bologna, Italy
June 13-17, 2009
MID-SIZED CITIES IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies is delighted to announce that Lorenzo Ciapetti, who was an international urban fellow in Baltimore in 2004-05, will host the 39th annual conference in Bologna, Italy. Ciapetti is the director of Antares, a research think tank on local development linked with the University of Bologna. He and the Institute for Policy Studies invite all former fellows and friends to join us for the conference, which will begin on the evening of Saturday, June 13, and conclude at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.
In the Italian context, Bologna (pop. 372,000) is an affluent city located in an affluent region (Emilia Romagna). The City of Bologna has lost eight percent of its population from 1992 to 2007; the provincial area has gained population by five percent in the same period. The development of the city of Bologna has historically hinged upon two critical factors: 1) the entrepreneurial shift from agriculture to industry, thanks to the technical knowledge of people who have enabled this area to become one of the "industrial valleys" in Italy (thanks to the packaging industry); and 2) the presence of the oldest university in Europe that has allowed Bologna to become a world-renowned city of knowledge and culture.
Over the last ten years, in a difficult competitive scenario for Italian economy, the Bologna economy has shown good signs of resilience, thanks to its traditional specialization in the mechanical sector and particularly the diverse and dynamic composition of its medium-to-low tech firm clusters.
The current debate on local economic development at the regional level is centered on the role of the University system as a vital actor. The Emilia Romagna region has just launched a multi-year program aimed at creating a network of Technopoles in the region. So far this program has produced 27 centers of industrial research, 24 centers for innovation, and six parks for innovation. The whole system operates around seven key sectors: mechatronic, environment and energy, food industry, construction, life sciences, organizational innovation, and ICT (information and communications technologies).
It is by design that the 2009 conference is being held in Bologna, where 10 years ago the Bologna Declaration was signed by 29 European ministers of higher education. What is now called the Bologna Process aims to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) based on international cooperation and academic exchange that is attractive to European students and staff as well as to students and staff from other parts of the world. From the website, “the envisaged European Higher Education Area will 1) facilitate mobility of students, graduates and higher education staff; 2) prepare students for their future careers and for life as active citizens in democratic societies, and support their personal development; 3) offer broad access to high-quality higher education, based on democratic principles and academic freedom…Today, the Process unites 46 countries - all party to the European Cultural Convention and committed to the goals of the European Higher Education Area.”
Confirmed speakers and discussion leaders at the conference include:
Mario Calderini, President of Finpiemonte, the region Piemonte’s primary public financing company for support of research and tech-based innovation. Calderini is also a professor at the Polytecnic of Turin
David Charles, Director of KITE (research center on Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise), David Goldman Chair of Business Innovation, Newcastle University, UK
Klaus Kunzmann, Jean Monnet Professor of European Spatial Planning, School of Planning, Universität Dortmund, Germany and honorary professor at University of Cardiff, Wales, UK
Patrick Le Galès, Research Director, Centre de Recherches Politiques, Sciences Po, Paris, France
The conference will also feature a roundtable on cleantech urban policy and energy abatement strategies at the urban level led by the International Urban Fellows and selected guests.
For more information, visit the conference website at http://www.visible-cities.net/index.html.
