Rona Michie and Fiona Wishlade were invited speakers at 'Think Local' week (11-15 November), organised by the UK Government Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). The presentation entitled Bottom up or head first? Approaches to regional and local development in England and Europe began by reviewing long-term changes to policy in England. It then took a wider view, drawing on the EoRPA research, comparing England to other parts of the UK as well as other European countries, focusing particularly on those where there is a 'bottom up' strand to regional development policy.