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.