Official launch event of UNICREDS project in Truro
The official launch of UNICREDS, University Collaboration in Regional Development Spaces, took place in Truro on 27 April 2010.
UNICREDS, a €2million project looking at how different models of higher education can benefit regional economic development, is part funded by the INTERREG IVC Programme. Cornwall Council is leading UNICREDS which is majority funded by the EU in addition to co-financing from each of the 15 partners from countries including Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary.
UNICREDS is a three year project which aims to demonstrate how collaboration between universities, industry and the public sector can help transform deprived or peripheral regions into centres of excellence in research and innovation. Partners will share knowledge and experiences with a view to driving forward economic development and ultimately to develop this ‘triple helix’ approach for future education and regional development programmes into a transferable model that can be adopted by the European Commission.
More than 50 delegates attended the UNICREDS launch event at New County Hall in Truro. Presentations were made by each of the UNICREDS partners in addition speakers including Dr Denis Gartside of University College Falmouth; Carolyn Rule, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration, Cornwall Council; Nicolas Wallet, Project Manager for UNICREDS; Zoltán Karácsonyi, Director of Centre for Environmental Management and Policy at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
During her introduction to UNICREDS, Carolyn Rule, said: “UNICREDS is all about sharing information between European countries to help drive forward the role of universities in boosting regional economies. It is an exciting and important programme for both Cornwall and Europe.”
Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) is a UNICREDS partner and one of the project’s best practice models of a decentralised, multi-campus approach to delivering higher education. Following the launch event, a selection of delegates were taken on a tour showcasing the Tremough Campus near Falmouth.
Commenting on what CUC hopes to learn during the UNICREDS project, Dr Sue Brownlow, CUC Director, said: “Thanks to EU investment through Objective one and Convergence, Cornwall has pioneered a radical new approach to university education over the past decade, with the specific aim of using higher education to drive economic regeneration. We have learned a great deal along the way, but we are still navigating uncharted territory, so the opportunity to look in detail at how others have tackled similar challenges is very welcome. I am particularly looking forward to sharing experiences of how universities and colleges can play a key role in supporting small businesses, which is an area where we have made progress but would like to achieve far more.”
