Both technical and political, the work of CEMR is focused around different committees made up of experts as well as elected representatives appointed by their national association.

The Committees and working groups are organised around three political forums, in the aim of assuring CEMR's political visibility and the direct participation of elected officials in one of the following forums:
- Sustainable Development
- Cohesion Policy
- The Lisbon Agenda
Each forum will meet once a year for a broader policy debate, prepared and followed up by the existing committees and working groups.

Following through the logic of European Governance debate, CEMR has sought to build strategic partnerships with other relevant local and regional government associations, such as CRPM and EUROCITIES.

Finally, increased project involvement through EU funded research projects should help generate new policy input over the coming years.

CEMR has a key role in the dissemination of the results of the Regional Competence project. However, also during the development of the project CEMR seeks to test the methodology and the outcomes by organising "sounding boards" within its members. Discussions with the wider range of local and regional authorities allows to see what kind of paths should be chosen in the project.

The first sounding board event was organised in connection with the CEMR employment and social issues committee on 23rd of October 2002. The meeting aimed to assess and adjust the actual dissemination activities. Especially the benefits of the project and the future proposals were discussed.

Mapping individual skill should provide a basis for driving human resource development within a region, and for supporting the networking balance between companies within regions and with other regions of the EU (particularly SMEs in the high tech sector). No clear picture yet exists of competences within any given region. Regional Competence project will provide this information for regional development agencies, and for local and regional authorities.

Since the project is studying and facilitating the structural change from industrial society towards the knowledge based one, the real implications and outcomes of the project will come in 5 or 10 years. The project has produced some immediate results, which include the facilitation of general computer literacy and promotion of local products in Slovenia, and the exchange of employees between companies in Sweden.

Ms Pirita Lindholm
Project Manager
Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)
T: +32 2 500 0538
F: +32 2 511 0949
E: plindholm@bxl-ccre.org