FoRLED 2017

Second Western Balkans Forum on Regional and Local Economic Development
Vlore, Albania – November 30-December 2, 2017

“To go far, go together”.

“What future for Western Balkans? A vision from local and regional perspective”

Decentralization and division of powers are essential elements for democracy. Sub-national governments (communes, counties, intermediary authorities and regions) forms backbones of the political and administrative structure of our states; here citizens and all actors present in the territory such as the academic world, research centers, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial organizations, development agencies and civil society can influence how their communities can governed and play an active role in the society..

The aim
The long-term development paths of cities and regions are shaped by a never – ending process of restructuring, with some cities and regions achieving fast growth over long period while others lock into a trajectory of relative and sometimes absolute decline. Nonetheless, in some cases, some lagging regions and cities find renewed growth and previously vibrant cities and regions may lose momentum. It appears that from the economic restructuring benefit some cities and regions and puts others at a disadvantage.

The Forum aim to foster the exchange of ideas, reflections and prospects encouraging academics to get more comprehensive information on “real world” issues and policy makers using what emerges from the academic debate. In other words, the basic idea is to promote dialogue with people from different points of view dealing with the same issues and seeking innovative, effective and efficient policy solutions.

The aim of the forum is to bring together scholars and the policy makers from Western Balkans in order to create for exchange of knowledge and discussions of the issues that surround regional and local economic development research and policy , to challenge the existing models and discourses of regional and local economic development, to address current policy challenges and to offer the solutions for better utilization of human mobility. Although the regional focus is on the Western Balkans, we encourage the submissions and participation by scholars and practitioners working in others regions as well, since their experience may be very beneficial for our region and our region will be more attractive.

In the morning of the day before the Forum Workshop will be held a public lecture on the sustainable development of cities and regions, accompanied by the emergence of a documentary on global warming.

In the afternoon, representatives from the Western Balkans and other countries will visit the cultural and historic heritage sites in the Municipality of Vlora.

The forum will start with the Plenary session, keynote speeches by distinguished scholars in regional development studies. The rest of the forum will be composed of series of thematic panels, with several research papers presentations, one presentation by invited practitioner (government institutions, NGO, international organizations, experts) followed by a discussion of the issues raised at a panel.

The official languages of the forum are English and Albanian.

The forum has a multidisciplinary approach and intends to bring together, every year, scholars from abroad range of disciplines including anthropology, demography, economics, law, psychology, sociology, geography, development studies, innovation, health sciences, political science, international relations and other related disciplines with a focus on regional economic development. Inter- disciplinary research and comparative perspectives are particularly encouraged.

Possible topics include:

New Local Development Tools: The Effect of Digital Infrastructure on Creating Self-employment.
Co-Creating Sustainable Cities.
City & Regional Policies for the New Economy
Environmentality, Sustainability, & New Forms of Ecological Resilience.
Sustainable Local Development Policies (Smart City, Smart Community,Smart Land).
Better administrative capacity at regional and local level to improve economic governance.
Universities as agents of change in regions and cities
Communities as change agents: local development in the EU beyond 2020
The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development
The role of media in promoting of territorial values and regional development.

PARTICIPANTS

Participation in the Forum is open to public officials on different levels: local, regional, and national level, in Western Balkan Bodies and Institutions, in the EU, international organizations, diplomats, entrepreneurs and organizations of entrepreneurs, the public and private regional development agencies, academics, experts and civil society from different countries as well as other interested persons on the themes of Regional and Local Economic Development. The Second Forum on Regional and Local Economic Development is organized by the Center for European Policy Studies for Regional and Local Development in cooperation with the European Academy of Regions, the University Ismail Qemali of Vlora, the Regional Council of Vlora Region, Vlora Municipality, Regional Youth Center of Vlora and will be under the auspices, support and strategic cooperation of many international, European and Western Balkan Organizations as such as OECD, ALDA (to be confirmed), Ersa, Western Balkans Network etc. The 2017 edition is supported by the Government of Flandres and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, under the auspices of the Minister Mr. Damian Gjiknuri..

WESTERN BALKANS FORUM STATES

Albania (hosting country)- Bosnia/Herzegovina – FYROM – Kosovo – Montenegro – Serbia.

WHY ATTEND?

Officials, Executives, cabinet Ministers, prominent business and financial leaders are invited to take part in a constructive dialogue aiming to improve the bilateral and multilateral relations, the cross-border economic cooperation and sustainable development between the Western Balkans and European Union and other part of the world, under regional and local perspective.

1) Listen to first class speakers on challenges and opportunities in the Western Balkans and particularly in Albania.
2) Gain knowledge on how the region is planning to future proof its economy, institutional strengthening and rule of law.
3) Sharpen the Saw and meet experts and influencers face to face.
4) Full access to the Forum, offered only to the delegates of the event.
5) For some activities, like Public lecture, the participation in Forum is free.

Authors are invited to submit abstracts, relating to the conference theme or the various topics. http://regionaleconomicdevelopmentforum.org/

Key dates

Submission process The calls for papers are now open. Submission of papers are welcome from scholars, experts, policy makers and PhD students carrying out research in the field of regional and local economic development.

Please submit an abstract in of 300-350 word in MS Word format to sekretariaFoRLEd@crlds.org , no later than 10 November for the new researchers and 15/11/2017 for others.

The selection committee will review
There is no fee for participation in the Forum. Full access to the Forum’s work is only available to pre-registered delegates, by sending an email to: secretariatFoRLEd@crlds.org or by completing the on-line forum form for participation in the forum.

Note
Who will not have papers to introduce is free to attend the forum and ask questions about programmed speakers. Always the registration on the forum page by completing the form or sending the email to: secretaryFoRLED@crlds.org is mandatory.

Draft Axhenda