On the 10th and 11th of May, CEDRU attended a workshop on the theme “Stimulating Growth in EMU´s Periphery: Identifying Measures for Immediate Resolve" organized by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation. The workshop focused on debating the processes of economic transformation that has occurred in Central and Western Europe so that it is be possible to find mechanisms to combat the economic and financial crisis in the European peripheral countries.

Last May 8, CEDRU presented the "Evaluation of the Start-Up Project" report to the members of RIERC - Incubation and Entrepreneurship Network of the Centro Region. The meeting was held at Biocant Park, in Cantanhede, where the main conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.  

Last May 3, CEDRU attended the working meeting between the MPH - Association of Cities with World Heritage Monasteries and the Managing Authority of Mais Centro, held in Coimbra. This meeting took place in order to establish a status report on the "Strategic Programme of the World Heritage Portuguese Monasteries" co-financed by the Mais Centro, and to identify the bottlenecks affecting the implementation of the scheduled projects.

CEDRU has recently completed the Socioeconomic Diagnosis Study of the South Slope of Odivelas, for the Municipality of Odivelas. The study aimed at characterizing the business environment of the territory, which comprises the districts of Vale do Forno, Encosta da Luz, Quinta do Zé Luís, Serra da Luz and Quinta das Arrombas. The presentation of the study results will be held on May 29, at 6pm, at the Exhibition Centre of the Municipality of Odivelas.

CEDRU was at the meeting "From World Heritage to Local Heritage: protect and manage change," held on April 18, in Lisbon, organized by IGESPAR, IP and ICOMOS Portugal, and framed within the celebrations of the International Day for Monuments and Sites (Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon).

CEDRU attended the seminar on "Diversity and equity in education", held on April 17, in Lisbon, jointly organized by the CNE (National Council of Education), the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the Alliance of Civilizations. The seminar aimed at informing about policies of positive discrimination and that facilitate inclusion, which have allowed the development of new organizational and pedagogical practices. The meeting also promoted reflection on the challenges of democratization facing school in multicultural societies.

In the course of the Public Discussion on the Faial Island Coastline Management Plan (POOC), it will be held a public session for the Plan’s proposal presentation, on April 17, at 7.30pm, at Fábrica da Baleia, in the city of Horta.

CEDRU is part of the European consortium headed by Ecorys and Ranboll, which submitted last March a proposal related with the tender launched by DG Regio, called "Provision of impact assessment related to new developments of Cohesion Policy, provision of assessment of the impacts of other Union policies on economic, social and territorial cohesion, provision of studies related to the development of future Cohesion Policy and provision of studies on administrative costs and IT systems, preparation and provision of training activities related to Cohesion Policy."

Following the work developed in 2010 and 2011, once again CEDRU is representing Portugal in the Expert Evaluation Network delivering Cohesion Policy Analysis, created by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional Policy.

The current edition of this project started with a meeting, held in March 26, at the DG Regio headquarters, in Brussels. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the methodology to be followed for the development of a policy paper on the use of financial engineering in ERDF programmes in the 2007-2013 period. By DG Regio initiative, another meeting was held with the national experts and the heads of unit and desk officers responsible for the Member States. The objective of this second meeting was to discuss the difficulties found by the experts in the production of the 2010 and 2011 reports on cohesion policy achievements and, on another hand, to identify relevant issues, which should be addressed by the experts in this year’s edition of the project.

CEDRU replied to the invitation launched by the United Nations delegation, in Nairobi (UNON), to submit a proposal for the elaboration of the Sustainable Urban Planning and Development in Mozambique (Phase 1: Nampula – Nacala). This invitation to CEDRU resulted from the company’s experience in similar works within the planning and urban and regional development scope. The main objective of the study focuses on the promotion of sustainable urban development integrated policies for Nacala and Nampula (Mozambique), through the implementation of an action plan for the 2012-2015 period, aligned with the strategy of the United Nations delegation, based in Nairobi.

CEDRU integrated the Price Waterhouse Coopers/Augusto Mateus & Associados consortium constituted for the elaboration of the “Evaluation of the Strategy and Implementation Procedure of the “EEC – Clusters Typologies” proposal. This evaluation’s main purpose is to contribute to the strategic monitoring of the EEC – Clusters public policy, which includes the sub-typologies called “Technology and Competitiveness Poles” and “Other Clusters”. The study will comprise the effectiveness and strategy evaluation, the expected supports implementation, the EEC´s progress, achievements and first results cross-cutting analysis and, lastly, the good practices international benchmarking in terms of national policies on Clusters. 

CEDRU was recently awarded the “Elaboration of the Diagnosis/Application of the Training Needs in the Agro-Industry Sector”, for the partners’ consortium of the AgriTraining Project (University of Beira Interior,, Polytechnic Institutes of Viana do Castelo, Castelo Branco, Coimbra and Guarda, and InovCluster – Association of the Centre’s Agro-industry Cluster). The main purpose of this study is to provide a training profile adequate to the workers of the agro-industry sector companies, from the NUTS II Norte, Centro and Alentejo, by surveying their competences, levels of training and interests. 

Ordinance No. 85/2012, published in the “Diário da República” (No. 64, Series I, March 29, 2012) amends the delimitation of the National Ecological Reserve (REN) of the municipality of Albufeira, framed within the elaboration of the Intervention Plan in Rural Area of Escarpão (PIER-Escarpão).

The proposed Coastal Zone Management Plan for Faial Island will be in public discussion between March 29 and May 9, 2012.

On March 22, it was held the 2nd Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Land Management Plan of the Watershed Lagoons of Fogo, Congro, São Brás and Serra Devassa (POBH), in the city of Ponta Delgada. The meeting aimed at the presentation and discussion of the reports regarding "Phase A - Characterization and Foresight Diagnosis" and "Phase B - Preliminary Study", which were approved.

Ponta Delgada, 22nd of March, 2012

On the past 6^th of March, the 3^rd Meeting of the Monitoring Committee (CA) preparing the Coastal Zone Management Plan for Faial Island  was held in the city of Horta. The Meeting had the objectives of presenting and discussing documents related to "Phase 3 – Plan Proposal", which was approved. The next phase, "POOC´s Final Version" includes the Public Discussion of the Plan.

Sérgio Barroso was one of the invited speakers of the conference "Public Administration and Territory Policies in the Labour Market? New Challenges and Professional Skills", held on February 29, under the event “iJob Party 2012 - Interactive Fair on Employment and Entrepreneurship, promoted by the Institute of Social and Political Sciences.

Past February 22, the 2^nd Meeting of the Monitoring Committee (CA) for the elaboration of the review of the Ovar-Marinha Grande Coastal Zone Management Plan was held at the Town Hall of Figueira da Foz. This meeting aimed at the presentation and discussion of the Second Report (Phase I - Characterization and Prospective Diagnosis) and the programming of the agenda for Phase 2 - Plan Proposal.

On February 7, 2012, the Municipality of Albufeira unanimously adopted the proposed Detailed Plan of Escarpão - Intervention Plan in Rural Area (PIER) and the Territorial Action Programme (PAT). The Plans focus on an area of ​​326 hectares located in the Parish of Paderne, county of Albufeira.

The Detailed Plan of Escarpão takes the form of Intervention Plan in Rural Area, with a spatial extent confined to the mining area and the spaces occupied or in the process of occupation by associated economic activities. The approval of PIER was conditioned on the establishment of a Territorial Action Programme, which is based on a diagnosis on the trends of transformation in that area, defines the objectives to be achieved during its duration period, specifies the actions to be performed by entities interested in them scaling down the timing of investment. Its implementation is assured by a contract between the municipality of Albufeira and the Complementary Grouping of Companies of Escarpão.

For 2011 the network of experts produced for every Member State a report on the achievements of cohesion policy and a policy paper on  renewable energy and energy efficiency in residential housing. The network also identified examples of good practice in evaluation. The main findings from all country reports are summarized in the synthesis reports which contain comparative analysis and trends across the EU. The Portuguese report was elaborated by CEDRU.

You can find the reports at the following link:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/evaluations/index_en.cfm#1

CEDRU was awarded the 2011 Excellence SME status. It is a business ranking status created by IAPMEI in partnership with the Tourism of Portugal, Barclays Bank, Espirito Santo Bank, Azores Espirito Santo Bank, BPI Bank, CGD, Millennium BCP and Santander Totta to outline the merits of small and medium enterprises that reveal the best performance among national Leader SMEs .

On the 7th and 8th of November three Technical Working Meetings were held at the University of Aveiro, promoted by the team responsible for reviewing POOC OMG and by INAG. These meetings were attended by approximately 90 technicians and local elected officials, representing the entities that comprise the Monitoring Committee and other institutions relevant to the issues of Coastal Erosion and Climate Change, Ocean Economy and Enhancement of Beaches and Urban Fronts. The sessions took place to present the preliminary results of the diagnosis of the Plan area, to discuss results and collect assessments and to articulate the standpoints from each sector.

On the 8th November 2011, the Municipality of Idanha-a-Nova and CEDRU, as consultant, introduced a presentation to the Secretary of State for Forestry and Rural Development, Eng.º Daniel Campelo, within the scope of investments in agro-industry of alcohol and biomass production expected for Idanha-a-Nova municipality, supported at experiment, sustainable production and energy cultures transformation.

Created in 1986 to respond to the new challenges within the scope of territorial, economic, and regional development, resultant from Portugal’s integration in the Economic European Community, CEDRU celebrates 25 years of activity in 2011. CEDRU has contributed to the promotion of national, regional, and local development by elaborating analysis, writing strategies and conceiving projects, produced in close collaboration with decision-makers according to principles of demand, rigor, and excellence.

The third Expert Evaluation Meeting happened on the 25th and 26th October, at the auditorium of DG Regio, in Brussels, where CEDRU was the Portuguese participant. The reports elaborated by the 27 member states have the objective of shaping policies at national and regional level and defining the contribution of the cohesion policy. In 2011, the selected policy areas were renewable energy and energy efficiency of residential housing.

The Evaluation of the Mais Centro Communication Plan - Regional Operational Programme of the Centro, carried out by CEDRU, was completed in September 2011. The Mais Centro Communication Plan takes as its main objective "to define and outline the communication strategy to be followed by the Managing Authority during the period of the Regional Operational Programme."

The Report 1 - Review of the Implementation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (POOC) Ovar-Marinha Grande, under the review process on POOC Ovar-Marinha Grande was approved in August 2011 by INAG - Instituto da Água, IP. This is the first document produced by the Technical Team of POOC (CEDRU - University of Aveiro Consortium) and constitutes a first step towards developing the "Characterization and Diagnosis of the Reference Situation", to be introduced by the end of Phase 1.

The international Consortium consisting of CEDRU and RegioPlus will carry out the mid-term evaluation of the Southwest European Area Transnational Cooperation OP (SUDOE 2007-2013). SUDOE is a community initiative that supports regional development by co-funding transnational projects through the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) for the 2007-2013 period, covering the whole Spanish territory (except the Canary Islands), the Portuguese mainland, the six regions of southwest France and Gibraltar.

CEDRU joins an international consortium that recently introduced a tender named "Request for Pre- Qualification Data: Sub-Regional Plan and Structural Plan, Jeddah Municipality", in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. CEDRU aims at consolidating its internationalization with this tender.

On the 25 May, a round-table discussion happened in Coimbra for introducing and debating the main results already gathered. This initiative is promoted by the European Commission and aims at identifying new guidelines under the community funds programming for the 2014-2019 period, especially regarding urban development integrated approaches.

The second Expert Evaluation Meeting happened on the 16th June, at the auditorium of DG Regio, in Brussels, where CEDRU was the Portuguese participant. The reports elaborated by the 27 member states have the objective of shaping policies at national and regional level and defining the contribution of the cohesion policy. In 2011, the selected policy areas were renewable energy and energy efficiency of residential housing.

CEDRU elaborated the Strategic Programme of World Heritage Monasteries Network introduced to the Regional Operational Programme of the Centro – Mais Centro, under the announcement of the tender “Instrument of Cities Policy – Urban Networks for Competitiveness and Innovation”. The Programme resulted from a cooperation process between the municipalities of Alcobaça, Batalha, Lisbon and Tomar together with IGESPAR – Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico (Institute for Archaeological and Architectural Heritage Management) and the Turismo de Portugal, I.P., with an investment amount of 15 million Euros.

On the 24th February 2011, the Municipality of Idanha-a-Nova and CEDRU, as consultant, introduced a presentation to the Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Dr. António Serrano, within the scope of investments in agro-industry of alcohol and biomass production expected for Idanha-a-Nova municipality, supported at experiment, sustainable production and energy cultures transformation.