INNOVATION AND EDUCATION GROUP

 

ANNUAL REPORT  2006-2007

 

The  NSC General Assembly

 22nd June 2007

 

 

 

 

1.       Introduction

The aim of this report is to summarise the work of the North Sea Commission’s thematic group “Innovation and Education Group”  (IEG).

 

2.       IEG Chair, Vice-Chairs and Co-ordinator 

-          Chair: Cllr. Alan Livingstone (Perth and Kinross Council, Scotland)

-          Vice-Chairs:

·         Cllr. Stella Duneufjardin (Region of Nor pas de Calais, France)

·         Cllr. Ole B. Sørensen (Region North Jutland, Denmark)

-          Adviser: Erik Lindboe (Rogaland County Council, Norway)

 

Due to the Scottish elections in spring 2007, there is now a vacant position as chair of the IEG.

 

3.       Background

The NSC General Assembly in June 2006 in Aviemore, Scotland, decided to merge the Education and Research and the Economic Development groups into one new group: “The Innovation and Education Group”. Politicians and officers of the two groups got together during the Aviemore event to line out the work towards the new group. It was decided to have a joint planning meeting in September in Holland. 

 

The co-ordinators of the two groups, Ms. Ann Brown and Mr. Erik Lindboe, had planning meetings in Stansted Airport in April and September to go through the work plans of the two groups to identify key areas of mutual interest, to develop fields of co-operation between the groups, and to prepare the Innovation and Education Group planning meeting in Haarlem (Noord-Holland) in September between the chairs, vice-chairs, co-ordinators and supporting officers of the two groups. The co-ordinators made a draft Terms of Reference and a draft Work Plan to be presented in the Haarlem meeting.

 

The planning meeting 13th September in Haarlem went through and developed further the draft documents presented by the co-ordinators. The draft Terms of Reference and Work Plan was presented to the NSC Executive Committee meeting 20th October. The ExCom meeting also elected office bearers of the new group, i.e. chair, vice-chairs and co-ordinator.

 

The IEG’s Strategic Group (i.e. chair, vice-chairs, co-ordinator and supporting officers) met in Nor pas de Calais’ offices in Brussels in December 2006 and January 2007 to go through the Terms of Reference and Work Plan, and to prepare the very first group meeting – the kick-off seminar.

The Strategic Group intends to get together whenever necessary to follow up the intentions as stated in The Terms of Reference and the Work Plan, as well as decisions made by the NSC ExCom and General Assembly.

 

 

 

 

4.       The kick-off seminar

11th – 12th February 2007:

The kick-off seminar in Perth, Scotland, hosted by Perth and Kinross Council, was very well attended, around 30 group members joined the event, also the vice president of NSC, Cllr. Audrey Findlay.

 
Some of the conclusions:

• There is support for a food project and the strategic group will move ahead and work with the ideas generated at the kick-off meeting. This may be a joint project between NSC thematic groups.

• There is an opportunity for a media industry project as proposed by Julie Craik at TayScreen.

• There was a call for partners for a Passive House project. We also identified a possible project which would develop a common set of standards for a passive house – “The North Sea House”. The Strategic Group will work on the idea.

• The North Sea Schools' Sustainability Network project is moving ahead:

Provisional Aims

“Learning to live with Climate Change”

-          To form a Network of schools in each country around the North Sea

-          To explore issues of sustainability in the context of climate and environmental changes

-          To share good practice and promote sustainability in education and in personal or lifestyle choices

-          To promote the participation of pupils and students in the democratic process

Schools involved

-          Saxmundham Middle School, Suffolk, England (Lead partner)

-          Collège Curie, Liéven, Pas de Calais, France

-          Nordsee-Gymnasium, Büsum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

-          Teinå Skole, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway

-          Kannik School, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway

-          Donibristle Primary School, Fife, Scotland

-          Inverkeithing High School, Fife, Scotland

 

5.       Co-operation

The IEG will co-operate with other thematic groups to identify topics of mutual interest.

For instance, there are already talks about a joint conference in 2008 on Energy, led by the Sustainable Development Group.

The advisers of the Culture and Tourism Group and the Innovation and Education Group have started planning a follow-up event on Food, looking into the possibilities of developing an Interreg IV B program on Food.

And finally, the Innovation and Education Group will establish contact with the Baltic Sea Commission to find out what can be of common future interest for the North Sea / Baltic Sea regions.

 

6. Future IEG meetings

• June 2007:  The Strategic Group/Innovation and Education Group will meet on Thursday 21st June in the Brunstad Conference Centre in connection with the North Sea Commission/Interreg joint event.  The Strategic Group will line out the future work, and ways of working.

• October 2007:  Group meeting 30th October in Lille, France.

• February 2008: Group meeting 12th February 2008 in Ålborg, Denmark.