| WELCOME to our ninth quarterly newsletter, rounding up the latest news and events from UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. We explore the push and pull of international development: innovation through science and entrepreneurship, and governance through public policy analysis. | ||
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Major Call: Innovation & Governance in Development What is the future for innovation and governance in development? To mark a quarter century of UNU in Maastricht, and to provide an outlook for the next 25 years, UNU-MERIT will hold an international conference from 26-28 November 2014. The conference will feature a plenary programme with speakers who have played a key role in the evolution of our institute. To help shape this event, please send your proposal by 30 April. Read on... |
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Summer School: Human Capital Impact Assessment Human capital is a hot topic, key to the pursuit of economic growth and at the heart of major public policies, from the UN's Millennium Development Goals to the EU's 2020 Strategy. Our summer school, running from 14-18 July 2014, will give participants the skills to conduct impact assessments in various national settings. It will focus on several techniques to measure the impact of public policies on human capital. Please apply by 1 June. Read on... |
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European Conference: Improving Innovation Systems What are the links between growth, innovation and patents? How should we handle copyright enforcement? And how is gender a major issue for intellectual property? These are among the topics of the 9th annual conference of the European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) association. The event will be co-hosted with the European Commission in Brussels, from 4-5 September 2014, under the banner: "Improving Innovation Systems". Early bird registration ends on 18 July. Read on... |
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New UNU Institute Set for Senegal On 4 March 2014, UN University Rector David M. Malone signed the Host Country Agreement for a new UNU Institute with Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye. This is a further step in a long-term process between UNU-MERIT in Maastricht and CRES in Dakar. Set to become a key UNU hub in Francophone Africa, the centre will work on sustainable growth and development with a particular focus on innovation and structural transformation. Read on... |
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European Innovation Union Scoreboard 2014 Europe is closing the innovation gap with the USA and Japan, but there are big performance differences between EU Member States. At regional level, the innovation gap is widening, with performance worsening in almost a fifth of EU regions. These are the main results of the latest Innovation Union and Regional Innovation Scoreboards, prepared by researchers at UNU-MERIT and published on 4 March in a joint press conference by three EU Commissioners. Read on... |
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Report on Maximizing Innovation Potential A new report written by Dr. René Wintjes for the EU's "Business Innovation Observatory" looks at a range of new business organizational and production models. These include successful new ways in which companies organize themselves, produce goods and services, and create new markets. Based on 12 case studies, the report highlights common issues and major trends before giving a raft of policy recommendations. Read on... |
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EU Grants 1m Euros for Innovative Teaching & Learning A consortium led by our School of Governance has won a million euros to manage an EU project for "Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies" (INOTLES). Running from 2014-2016 under the TEMPUS umbrella, the project aims to modernize higher education in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. INOTLES will connect Eastern partners with EU centres of excellence in e-learning, problem-based learning and simulations, to create flexible resources for European Studies courses. Read on... |
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Master's Degree Tops Dutch Rankings Our MSc in Public Policy and Human Development ranks number one in the category of Political Science and Public Administration, according to the 2014 "Keuzegids Masters". Published by the Dutch Higher Education Information Centre, this annual ranking evaluates and compares higher education programmes on several criteria including academic success, weekly contact hours, student and expert evaluations, etc. Read on... |
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Eco-innovation in Developing Countries: New Policy Forum At a high-level conference in Berlin, in late January, Prof. René Kemp set out various strategies to support eco-innovation in emerging economies. He explained how eco-innovation can have a double win effect: one for the environment and one for the economy. Other topics included how to support the market for renewable energy technology and how to assist energy efficiency initiatives, particularly in agriculture and industry. Read on... |
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Migration Group Roundup Our migration group released a new policy brief in late February, based on the final conference of the IS Academy project. Our researchers also helped launch a new UNU portal on migration and development, which is being coordinated by UNU's new institute in Barcelona. Additionally, the latest round of our Migration Management Diploma Programme welcomed practitioners and students from around the world. |
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Be Our Next Visiting Researcher UNU-MERIT has openings for visiting researchers and professors in Innovation, Governance and Development. These are available at all levels after completion of a PhD, and for periods of between one and six months. Proven prior research experience in a relevant theme (as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications) is a strict requirement. There is no deadline for submissions. Apply now... |
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Meantime Media Until next time, in early July, please keep an eye on our media channels below. Recent highlights include a dynamic lecture by MIT Prof. César A. Hidalgo, a controversial interview on poverty targets, and a range of testimonials from our part-time PhD programme. We also featured blogs on rural entrepreneurship in Africa, the semantics of diasporas, and transatlantic "policy games". YOUTUBE video channel BLOG ideas channel |
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