Structural Fund Managers walk on water

Walking across the (frozen) water of the Gulf of Ostrobothnia on the coast of Western Finland provided an appropriate metaphor for the themes discussed at the 15th IQ-Net meeting which took place in Oulu, Finland on 25-27 April, 2004. With the issue of n+2 over the past year, Structural Fund programme managers may have felt at times that they were skating on thin ice. However, there have been significant achievements in the widespread meeting of commitment and expenditure targets as well as the demands of the performance reserve, the mid-term evaluations, re-programming following the mid-term review and also responding to the EC reform proposals in the Third Cohesion Report. These issues provided the agenda for the Oulu IQ-Net meeting. As programmes move into their latter phase, it was an opportune moment to take stock of progress and performance among programmes and draw out the commonalities and contrasts.<p> With the involvement of regional hosts the Council of Oulu Region, the City of Oulu, the Ministry of the Interior and the Western Finland Objective 2 programme, the conference programme started with a warm welcome, giving a real impression of the historic, economic and culinary roots of the region.<p> The main conference day began with a review of recent developments in programme implementation. A brief overview paper was presented by EPRC considering issues including financial progress, results of the mid-term evaluations, the mid-term review proposals and performance reserve allocations. <p> The next session examined the strategic and operational perspectives of programme managers on future programming, with the key question of how programme management can optimise programming effectiveness and efficiency over the remainder of the programming period. Three case studies were presented:<p> - Improving business processes in the English Structural Fund programmes (Ben Stoneman, ODPM) - The use of monitoring data in to inform choices about resource allocation (Antje Reimers, Sachsen Anhalt Ministry of Economy and Technology) - Integrated Projects for Local Development and the Tuscan Objective 2 SPD (Monica Bartolini, Regione Toscana, DG Economic Development)<p> An assessment of the implications of the Third Cohesion Report was also provided by EPRC. During this session, Professor Roberto Pasca di Magliano of the Ministry of Productive Activities presented some notes on the Italian position towards the reform of EU cohesion policy.<p> Picking up on the programme management theme, the Study Tour visited Technopolis, a major Finnish Company specialising in the provision of high-tech operating environments, development services and programmes. Several presentations were made here highlighting Oulu's strategy towards regional economic development. These included the Oulu Growth Agreement which is based on a cluster approach to business development; Smart Oulu, an Information Society programme used to market the region's know-how; and, the Octopus Program which used Structural Funds to provide a testing platform for new and innovative mobile applications and services which, as well as having an economic impact, affect the well-being of local citizens.