EmailCOMPETE - Competitive Cities
The "COMPETE - European Network for City-Region Competitiveness" project, partly financed by the EU joint initiative Interreg IIIC, was planned to run for three years (it was approved in July 2004) and builds on the results of a European study on the competitiveness of European cities, carried out in 2003 by Professor Michael Parkinson of Liverpool John Moores University. Dortmund was included in this study. The focal question addressed by the COMPETE project is how to strengthen the performance and profile of large cities and their regions so as to fully develop their potential as a driving force for structural change and economic competitiveness.
The participating European cities are looking for workable models of a successful city-region competitiveness. Project activities include an event consisting of eight conferences and workshops, some scheduled for Dortmund, as well as an IT-based knowledge platform called the "Knowledge Resource Centre" where ideas for developing city competitiveness can be exchanged.
The project partner cities are: Sheffield, along with seven other UK cities from the Core Cities network (Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle), Helsinki (Finland), Barcelona (Spain), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Lyons (France) and Munich. The project will be supervised by and receive funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in London.
COMPETE Conference in Dortmund
28-30 September 2005: Human Resources - The Driving Force of City-Region Competitiveness
More than 100 participants, of which 40 had travelled from outside the Dortmund region or from other countries, met up in Dortmund. The Discussion Paper developed for the conference summarizes the main findings of the event.
On 28 September 2005, four tours took participants to visit a number of Dortmund companies and institutions. The following subjects were addressed in detail:
- How medium-sized companies are improving their competitiveness through human resource development
- Job opportunities in emerging industries - training and further education in Microtechnology
- From apprenticeship to life-long learning - innovative labour market projects
- Labour research - how research and science can distinguish a location
The tour itinerary is published in the brochure Sharing Experiences - Projects. The following conference day at Dortmund Townhall produced a wealth of information from European, British and German viewpoints.
To the speakers' contributions:
- Prof. Michael Parkinson - COMPETE and competitive city-regions
- Dr. Axel Bürger - Employment policy in city-regions
- Paul Hildreth ODPM - UK employment policy
- Prof. Dr. Rolf Reppel - Fit for Europe
- Dr. David Etherington - Economic competitiveness and social inclusive labour market policies
- Dr. David Etherington PAPER
- Klaus Müller - The European employment strategy and its relevance within the Lisbon process
On the second afternoon, 16 projects were presented and then discussed in closer detail by working groups for the following subject areas:
- Expertise and Cluster Development
- Young People - From School to Work
- Training and Employability
- Modern Medium-Sized Enterprises
- Lifelong Learning
The projects are described in the brochure entitled Sharing Experiences - Projects. The concluding discussion on the final day was opened with a technical paper by a German scientist. The Discussion Paper features the most important elements of the discussion.
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