European and External Relations Committee
Meeting date: Thursday, November 1, 2012
Official Report
382KB pdf
Committee of the Regions (Open Days Events)
Item 3 is a report on the Committee of the Regions open days events, which I attended on 8 and 9 October. Members have quite a lot of papers on that subject, along with all the presentations. I felt that handing out the presentations would be a much better way of letting members see some of the points that were raised.
It was a whirlwind visit. I went straight from the airport to the reception, and then straight into a meeting with some of the Committee of the Regions people who were over there. First thing next morning, I was back in for the presentations. At the end of the day, before heading back to the airport, I took advantage of the visit to have a good 45-minute chat with Scotland Europa. I spoke to Ian Campbell on the Scottish Government side too, and got an update on where we are with horizon 2020 and some of the other issues that are of interest to the committee.
The main presentations were hosted by Stewart Maxwell MSP, which I had not realised because I had only an outline of the event before I went over. There were two important presentations: one from KU Leuven, by Professor Koenraad Debackere, and one from Mr Gorka Espiau Idoiaga. They both come from small emerging areas that see themselves as economic drivers. They have already had connections with Scotland, and the work that they are doing in generating their horizon 2020 programmes is very close to the work that this committee did at the beginning of the year in our deliberations and recommendations to the Commission on horizon 2020.
I have included a wee overview of what they each said and a wee opinion piece from me on how that impacted on what we could get involved in. I will leave that with the committee. As you can see, it would have been easy to go into pages and pages of detail, because both those gentlemen’s presentations were so interesting. I have highlighted the main points and those that chimed with the committee’s work programme. I am happy to answer any questions or hear any ideas on how to take it forward.
I have one small point. You did not give yourself a lot of time. Sometimes you need flexibility, particularly when you are meeting people to discuss issues off the record. That is important, in terms of networking. It is important to press palms, meet people face to face and exchange ideas, and for that you need a little flexibility. Perhaps you could consider that element and build it into your next visit.
Yes, absolutely. As Helen Eadie said, we always need to be cognisant of how much these things cost. I had a very limited budget, which meant that I had only one overnight stay, and that is why we packed so much into it. The flights are a bit odd as well, as I got over in the late afternoon. It was pretty tough, but your point is well made and is noted.