ECRN Online News

ECRN has welcomed its 21st member region

2010-03-03

The ECRN continues to grow: At its latest General Assembly meeting on 26th February 2010 in Brussels, the network officially welcomed its 21st member region, Yorkshire & The Humber from the UK. The ECRN consequently is on its way to represent the great majority of chemical regions from the European Union. From now on, the single ECRN voice will be even more strengthened and joint efforts and activities will be even more effective on the European political arena. The network therefore looks forward to an intensive dialogue and joint projects and initiatives with the European institutions and other European chemical stakeholders in 2010.

ECRN Parliamentary Evening on 18th November 2009 in Brussels

2009-11-18

Opening of the MEP evening by Hans H.
Stein, Director of the Representation
of North Rhine-Westphalia

In a period of important political and structural changes on the European arena after the Parliamential elections in June this year and shortly before the coming into power of the Lisbon Treaty, this year’s second Parliamentary Evening of the European Chemical Regions took place on 18th November 2009 in Brussels and was hosted by ECRN member region North Rhine-Westphalia.

After a welcome from Hans H. Stein, the Director of the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU and a short presentation of the ECRN’s aims and expectations towards MEP Herbert Reul, Chairman of
the ITRE Committee, spoke about the role
of the chemical industry in EuropeEuropean policymakers by ECRN Vice-President and Director of Industrial Policy Department in the Ministry for Economic Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia, Karl-Uwe Bütof, political tendencies and approaches as well as role and practical needs concerning the chemical industry sector were presented by the Chairman of the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament Mr. Herbert Reul, and by Dr. Alfred Oberholz, formerly Evonik Industries. The presentations were well received by the audience as they showed a common understanding of how important the chemical sector is for Europe and its regions.

In constant dialogue: ECRN, the chemical
industry and European policymakers

After the speeches, MEPs and participants from public and private organisations had the opportunity for intensive dialogue and exchange of opinion and experience on how European policymakers currently meet the regional needs and interests.

European chemical regions discussed innovation opportunities and challenges at the 7th Congress of the European Chemical Regions in Liège – ECRN declaration on innovation adopted

2009-11-06

Opening panel of the 7th ECRN Congress

Chemical stakeholders from all over Europe representing regional, national and European institutions, industry, science and associations got together in Liège on 6th November 2009 at the occasion of the 7th Congress of the European Chemical Regions to discuss in what ways the European regions are moving forward to implement innovative and sustainable ways to ensure competitiveness of the chemical sector.

This year’s Congress was organized by the ECRN and its member region Wallonia. After the opening of the Congress by the Minister of Economy and Vice-President of the Walloon Government, Jean-Claude Marcourt, and by ECRN President and Minister of Economy and Labour of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr. Reiner Haseloff, high-class speakers from chemical associations, European and regional institutions, industry and universities presented ECRN Director Michael Hack with Jean-Claude
Marcourt, Vice-Minister of the Walloon
Government and Walloon Minister of Economytheir expert views and experiences on innovative processes and solutions on the regional level and discussed them with the participants. ECRN Executive Board members also adopted a joint Congress Declaration with their positions on how to meet the current economic challenges which will be communicated to European policymakers and other chemical stakeholders.

In order to access the agenda of the day, the ECRN Congress Declaration and other information on the 7th ECRN Congress, please click here.

Who-is-who of the European Chemical Regions 2009 – available online!

2009-11-04

The latest update of the who-is-who of the European Chemical regions is available now and can be downloaded here. As usual, it compiles comprehensive information about the chemical industry in the current ECRN regions and about their key players for economic development at regional level.

The who-is-who is meant to be a tool to widen the knowledge about chemical regions in Europe and to allow closer co-operation between regional actors in the future. Therefore, the ECRN warmly invites all members and other interested chemical stakeholders to actively make us of it.

ECRN contributes at Europe Innova Annual Partnering Event

2009-09-22

ECRN Director Michael Hack was invited to the Europe Innova Partnering Event to contribute to the panel discussion “Promoting new forms of clusters” in September 2009. He highlighted the various cluster initiatives which exist in the ECRN regions and referred to the Interreg IVC application "ChemClust" of several ECRN member regions. Since innovation is one of the network’s strategic topics, the Europe Innova event was an excellent opportunity to present the ECRN activities to European stakeholders and especially to the European Commission. Especially the idea of a feedback process of the regions towards the European Commission received positive acknowledgement. ECRN will develop a dedicated questionnaire in this field. For more information on Europe Innova, please check www.europe-innova.eu.

Successful ECRN Seminar on Innovation and guided visit to “Living tomorrow” exhibition on 17th September 2009

2009-09-18

On the afternoon of the 17th September 2009, with its seminar on innovation in chemical regions the ECRN started into the new season after the summer break. Speakers from the chemical industry, clusters, regional agencies and European networks discussed with the participants cross-innovation, innovation networks and open innovation in chemical regions and the main challenges which lie ahead. After the seminar participants had the chance to continue discussions and exchange of experience in an informal setting. The seminar took place in a process to share project examples, methods and best-practices in the field of innovation, one of the ECRN strategic fields of activity. The ECRN thanks all speakers and participants for their active contributions, and its member regions Catalonia and Saxony-Anhalt for hosting the event in Brussels! In the morning of the same day, essenscia Wallonia had invited ECRN members to a guided visit to the "Living Tomorrow" exhibition project in Vilvoorde, where it was demonstrated impressively how sustainable living and working could look like in the future and how our daily life is dependent on chemicals. The exhibition focuses on attracting young people to jobs in the chemical sector and can be seen as a best-practice of how to visualize the importance of chemicals as well as how to attract youngsters to the chemical branch. ECRN thanks essenscia Wallonia for this interesting event. For more information on this exhibition project, visit www.livingtomorrow.be

Successful regional conference on HLG implementation in Saxony – Anhalt

2009-07-08T14:31:25+02:00

On 8th July 2009, in Leuna/ Saxony-Anhalt, representatives from the chemical sector coming from industry, public sector and academia discussed the regional dimension of the HLG recommendations for Saxony-Anhalt and how the implementation of these recommendations can be undertaken most successfully under the specific regional conditions of Saxony-Anhalt in the future. Among the topics discussed were innovation, strategic alliances and logistics. Concerning chemical logistics, Minister of Economy and Labour of Saxony-Anhalt and ECRN President, Dr. Reiner Haseloff, pointed to the transnational chemical logistics project ChemLog and also stressed the role of the ECRN network in strengthening the chemical logistics in Central and Eastern Europe in the near future.

In order to access the press release and media coverage of the event, please click here.

ECRN President and Minister of Economy and Labour of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr. Reiner Haseloff, reports on ECRN and HLG results at latest Conference of the Ministers of Economy of the German Länder in June 2009

2009-06-19T14:31:25+02:00

On the latest meeting of the Ministers of Economy of the German Länder on 18th/19th June 2009, ECRN President and Minister of Economy and Labour of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr. Reiner Haseloff, reported on the High Level Group on Chemistry and the role of the ECRN and on the HLG - Follow-up process which has just begun and in which the ECRN has taken the lead by organizing the first follow-up conference in April in cooperation with member region Ústí and under patronage of the European Commission and the Czech EU Presidency.

The participating Ministers welcomed the report and the HLG final recommendations and stressed their will to actively support these recommendations. The Ministers furthermore welcomed the fact that not only the Czech EU Presidency has put the HLG results on the agenda of the latest Competitiveness Council where a roadmap process with a first evaluation in 2010 has just been proposed, but that also the Spanish and Belgian governments have taken the HLG and the Follow-up process during their EU Presidencies in 2010 in consideration. The Ministers also invited the German government to actively support the roadmap process proposed by the Competitiveness Council.

In order to access the final statement of the Ministers on the ECRN, please click here

Competitiveness Council on 28^th May 2009 called on all stakeholders involved to implement the HLG recommendations - first evaluation report in 2010

2009-05-28T14:31:25+02:00

The Competitiveness Council which met on 28^th May 2009 called on the European Commission and all other relevant stakeholders to implement the HLG recommendations, as they are crucial for the future success of the chemical sector in Europe. The Council furthermore invited the European Commission to “closely and regularly monitor the competitiveness of the industry and progress made in the implementation of the HLG conclusions” and also to present the first evaluation report of the implementation by the end of 2010, in close consultation with the stakeholders (p. 9 of the Council Conclusions). In order to access the original document, please click here

ECRN disseminates High Level Group results in its regions: Successful High Level Group Follow up Conference in Ústí nad Labem on 16^th/17^th April 2009 - Final Report available now!

2009-04-17T14:31:25+02:00

Participants of the High Level
Group Follow up Conference
in Ústí nad Labem

The High Level Group (HLG) Follow-up Conference “Delivering the HLG results in the regions” which took place on 16^th/17^th April 2009 in Ústí nad Labem/ Czech Republic was a big success for the ECRN and its member region Ústí, who had been organizers for this event under the patronage of the European Commission and the Czech Presidency: Over 120 participants and high-level speakers from all over Europe representing regional, national and European institutions, industry, academia and associations had assembled in Ústí to discuss the HLG results and how these results can now implemented. Furthermore, the ECRN Executive Board formally adopted a joint congress declaration with the title “A competitiveness agenda for a sustainable chemical industry in Europe - Implementing the HLG recommendations with the chemical regions in Europe” which was distributed among the participants and which will be also addressed to European policymakers.

High Level Group Follow up Conference
in Ústí nad Labem

The final Conference Report is available now and can be accessed here. In order to access the ECRN Conference Declaration and the presentations given by the different speakers, please click here.”

ECRN partner project ChemLog organises 1^st Dissemination Conference on 24^th of June in Prague

2009-06-24T14:31:25+02:00

The ChemLog project celebrates its first Dissemination Conference on the 24^th of June in Prague. Representatives from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Italy will discuss challenges for chemical logistics in Central and Eastern Europe. During the conference, the results of the ChemLog SWOT Analysis will be presented and discussed with experts from the chemical industry. The results of this discussion will then be used to identify future joint action concerning chemical logistics. All interested stakeholders are warmly invited to join this undertaking. The ChemLog partners are looking forward to a fruitful discussion.

In order to download the conference agenda and for other information please click here

Implementation of HLG results in the ECRN regions: Conference on „Chemical industry and competitiveness“ in Düsseldorf on 29^th April 2009

2009-04-29T14:31:25+02:00

Lombardy region and North Rhine-Westphalia
exchanging experience and opinion.

The ECRN continues to implement actively the High Level Group results in its member regions: On 29th April 2009, the first implementation event after the Ústí conference took place in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia. Under the heading "Chemical industry and competitiveness - Recommendations of the High Level Group on the Chemical Industry" about 100 participants and speakers Düsseldorf on 29th April 2009" width="200" border="0">
Conference participants in
Düsseldorf on 29th April 2009 exchanged views and developed concepts for effective implementation of the HLG recommendations in North Rhine-Westphalia. Among the speakers were Christa Thoben, Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Gwenole Cozigou, Director of the Directorate Chemical Industry, DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, Massimo Buscemi, ECRN Vice-President and Minister of Nets, Public Utilities and Sustainable Development of Lombardy and Dr Utz Tillmann, Managing Director of the VCI.

This conference was a further step of the HLG implementation process in the European chemical regions. Further events will follow and will be published on the ECRN website.

Latest ECRN Newsletter has been published and is also available online!

2009-04-17

The latest ECRN Newsletter print edition (Newsletter No. 9, April 2009) has just been published. It contains a number of interesting articles from ECRN member regions and other contributors and the region profiles of the two new ECRN members Wallonia and Bavaria. The Newsletter is also available as pdf-document on the ECRN website under http://www.ecrn.net/communication/newsletter.php (or via "Communication" - "Newsletter"). The next edition of the Newsletter is scheduled for October 2009.