Partners
09.09.2010
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03.08.2010

So, on the global scale 0-1 and taking account of life expectancy, life expectancy at birth, measures of education and GDP per person, what scores would you expect for the Baltic Sea countries?

Cliff's BLOG: Well-being and ecological footprints in the Baltic Sea Region

Although economists and politicians usually concentrate on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of well-being there are in fact two other widely used measures that can give us a better insight of how our countries are performing. The first of these is the Human Development Index (HDI). It looks at the average picture in a country across three key fields – health and life expectancy, knowledge and standards of living. These are then combined statistically to give an index figure that will be between 0 (very poor) and 1 (very good). Like all index figures therefore it is a way of comparing rather than a measure of an absolute amount of something.

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14.06.2010

Cliff Hague's BLOG

How will Europe’s recovery plan affect us?

Europe 2020 is the EU’s strategic response to the economic crisis. Ten years ago the Lisbon Agenda set the target that the EU would becomes the world’s leading knowledge economy by 2010. That did not happen. Average growth rates were actually lower than those of global competitors. Then the economic crisis wiped out the growth that had been achieved. Europe 2020 tries to set out the road to follow for the coming decade. Though it says that we must ‘escape the reflex of trying to return to the pre-crisis situation’, its main prescriptions echo those of the Lisbon Agenda with a rhetoric about globalization and innovation. What’s new is that it contains seven ‘flagship initiatives’ to point the way ahead. These are:

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30.04.2010

How might the places in the Innovation Circle change over the next two decades? Cliff Hague explores some scenarios.

Scenarios for the Rural Baltic Sea Regions

Let’s start with a trend scenario that tries to look ahead to 2030. This sees Europe’s economic growth continuing to lag behind that of its global competitors, most notably those from Asia. Within the Baltic Sea Region recovery from economic crisis was slow and uneven in the period 2010-2015. Norway with its natural resource base and sustained investment in infrastructure and education remained very prosperous. Russia, also blessed with abundant energy supplies at a time of steadily increasing energy prices also rode out the recession and became an increasingly sought-after ally by the EU. In Sweden, recovery was more uneven, with more and more questions being asked about the costs to the taxpayer of supporting the very sparsely populated regions in the north of the country.

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23.03.2010

Cliff Hague's blog:

Narratives of rural change and development in the Baltic Sea Region

How are rural regions changing? What are the implications for regional branding and development policies? These questions are central to the Trans-in-Form INTERREG project, but also of wider relevance. A recent workshop in London on links between INERREG and the ESPON programme (European Observatory Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion) identified ways in which research in ESPON can deepen understanding amongst INTERREG partners.
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16.02.2010

Cliff Hague's blog

Disgrace

The movie Disgrace is based on a prize-winning novel by J.M.Coetzee. It is set in post-apartheid South Africa, but a South Africa that is split into very different urban and rural worlds. The two are connected by 52-year old David Lurie (played by John Malkovich), a white professor teaching classes at university in Cape Town about 19th century British Romantic poets. He abuses his authority by obliging a female student to have an affair with him. She is Cape Coloured, and her black boyfriend and her family take action in different ways against him.
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27.01.2010

Cliff's BLOG

China

The World Expo will be held in Shanghai later this year. Its theme is “Better City, Better Life”. It is expected to lead up to a Summit Forum on 31 October that focuses on “Urban innovation and sustainable development”. As part of the preparations for this I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at one of regional events that have been held around China in preparation for the Expo.
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08.12.2009

Cliff's BLOG

Climate change – the view from the Caribbean

How do other parts of the world view the climate change meeting in Copenhagen? We know that 15,000 or more politicians, diplomats, scientists and campaigners are in the capital of Denmark to try to reach an agreement. However, the media here in Europe gives us a European slant on the negotiations. I was in Trinidad last month at a major Commonwealth meeting. Climate change was high on the agenda, and the views of governments in the Caribbean were put over strongly. The question in Copenhagen is whether agreement can be reached on measures to deliver cuts in emissions that will keep the rise in temperatures below 2 degrees. In the Caribbean the call is for a more stringent target.
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12.11.2009

Cliff's BLOG

Three days in an African Mega City

I arrived in Lagos in the sultry heat of early morning, on a flight from dark, chill Northern winter. It is places like this rapidly growing mega-city that the history of the coming decades is being made. Lagos is home to maybe 18 million today. Research that I have been doing that will be presented to a Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad later this month found that the urban population of Nigeria is expected to double by 2050. While the Baltic States and rural Scandinavia are challenged by population decline, it is rapid urbanisation and the urbanisation of poverty that will define the trajectory of places like Nigeria.
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13.10.2009

Cliff’s Blog

Challenges for the Trans-in-Form INTERREG project

The success of the proposal for a new INTERREG project, Trans-in-form (TiF), is great news. Congratulations to the Innovation Circle network, and to the project partners in particular, especially those from Notodden who did the hard work as Lead Partner. However, as we all know, this is only the beginning. The challenge now is to make the new project a success, like its predecessors, PIPE and the Innovation Circle (IC) itself.
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Cliff's BLOG

Morecambe

This blog has been delayed a bit because I have been away on holiday. Of course if, like me, you are professionally interested in what makes places attractive, then the line between work and holiday is difficult to draw. I cannot make a journey or visit a town without thinking and evaluating what I am seeing.