Laura Polverari of EPRC took part in a high profile mission to Brazil, organised by the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional Policy, and by the Brazilian Ministry for National Integration in the framework of the activities implemented under the Memorandum of Understanding on Regional Policy Cooperation between the EU and Brazil.
In addition to Laura, the European delegation comprised: Professor Grzegorz Gorzelak, Director of EUROREG, University of Warsaw (Poland); Dr. Josep Vilalta, Executive Secretary of the Association of Public Universities of Cataluna (Spain); and, from the European Commission, Raphael Goulet, Head of the B1 Unit in DG Regio (Communication, Information, Relations with third countries) and Ramon Lopez-Sanchez, of the same Unit.
The mission entailed two meetings, in Rio and Brasilia. In Rio, the European delegation met academics from the IPPUR Department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The Department is one of the leading higher education centres in Brazil specialising in urban and regional development research and teaching. The meeting also entailed a study visit to a technology-oriented incubator facility and to a deep water testing centre, both attached to the University. In Brasilia, the delegation took part in a workshop on the contribution of the academic community to Brazilian regional policy. The latter was attended by professors from academic departments specialising in regional policy from across Brazil and by representatives of the Federal Ministry of National Integration. On both occasions, Laura presented the European Policies Research Centre, its activities and funding model, and also contributed to a debate on the evolving Cohesion policy paradigm.