From August 26-30, 2024, UR-DATA team members actively participated in the 63rd ERSA Congress, held on Terceira Island in the Azores, Portugal. This prestigious event, known for being the largest academic conference in regional science worldwide, brought together approximately 800 participants, including academicians, professionals, and experts from around the globe.
This year’s congress, themed Regional Science Dialogues for Peace and Sustainable Development, featured a diverse range of topics related to sustainable development, regional development, entrepreneurship, socio-economic issues, regional-urban economics, and local governance. It provided an unparalleled platform for participants to present their research, receive valuable feedback, and engage in knowledge exchange with peers.
The opening of the congress was marked by welcome speeches from Tomás Ponce Dentinho, Chair of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Roberta Capello, President of ERSA, and a keynote address by European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, chaired by Andrés Rodríguez-Pose. These introductory remarks set the stage for an engaging and thought-provoking event.
Keynote presentations were a highlight of the congress, including a talk by Lewis Dijkstra from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, who discussed What can we learn from an emerging global definition of urbanisation. His insights provided a fresh perspective on urbanization trends and their implications for regional development. Another significant event was the OECD Roundtable on The Multi-Level Governance of Disaster-Risk Management, featuring speakers Dr. Alexandru Banica, Dr. Kamila Borsekova, Mr. Alberto Giacometti, Prof. Marco Modica, and Prof. Andrés Rodriguez-Pose, moderated by Miquel Vidal Bover. The roundtable brought together experts to explore the challenges and strategies related to disaster-risk management in a multi-level governance context.
A special event included insights from Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman and distinguished experts like Robin Wells from Princeton University, USA, and Carlos Moreno from Sorbonne University, France, on the topic of Proximity in the New Economic Geography: Smiling and Crying Cities.
In addition, the congress featured presentations from distinguished keynote speakers such as Mário Centeno (Governor of the Bank of Portugal), Leïla Kebir (University of Lausanne), Michael Fritsch (Friedrich Schiller University Jena), David Audretsch (Indiana University), Joaquim Oliveira Martins (EU & Centre Etudes Prospectives et Informations Internationales), Ricardo Serrão Santos (University of the Azores) and Simona Iammarino (University of Cagliari & London School of Economics).
The UR-DATA team contributed to the session titled Networks in Resilience and Vulnerability, where they presented their research on Resilience, Connectivity and Spatial Effects in Sweden. The paper, authored by Jelena Stankovic, John Östh, Umut Türk, Marija Dzunic, Marina Stanojevic, Ivana Marjanović, and Aura Reggiani, explored critical aspects of resilience and connectivity in the Swedish context.
