RAPIDE project holds its final conference

The final RAPIDE project conference took place on 15 and 16 June 2010 in Brussels, during which the RAPIDE partnership looked to the future and identified a number of new innovative ideas, which can be only implemented within a dynamic European wide partnership. Specific workshops were held and in particular, two new project ideas were discussed which are of interest for the entire partnership:

- Innovative Public Procurement: Mainstreaming Pre-Commercial Procurement

- Digital Storytelling to bring innovators to finance: European Patent Auction

The partnership believes that these ideas are not only of interest for the RAPIDE partners but also should be discussed within the European Commission and especially within other innovative European regions.

The SWRDA-led RAPIDE partnership also had the opportunity to present the first concrete results from the project to Johannes Hahn, the new EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, at a ceremony organised during the Regions for Economic Change Conference on 25 May 2010. The photograph below shows Sir Harry Studholme, Chairman of the South West Regional Development Agency, at the signing ceremony with Johannes Hahn.