Urban Knowledge Arenas and Active Intermediaries Research and Policy Workshop
SURF is hosting a 3-day research and policy workshop entitled ‘Urban Knowledge Arenas and Active Intermediaries’. It will take place at the Midland Hotel on the 11th - 13th June 2009.
This workshop will bring together academics from multiple disciplines, policymakers from different sectors, professional practitioners within public authorities and the lay public in an Urban Knowledge Arena (UKA). Funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), the purpose of the UKA is to address the demand for new types of competences and skills in urban knowledge.
The event involves up to 70 invited researchers and policy officials (from 21 countries) from across Europe. It is part of a series of events being organised through the ‘Smart City Futures’ initiative, which is an academic coalition of The Universities of Salford, Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan that has been formed to work in partnership with civic leaders, professionals and citizens in the Greater Manchester Region. Its aim is to forge stronger relationships between academics, businesses and the community. The workshop itself has a set format, but on the afternoon of Thursday 11th June, there is an opportunity to undertake a Manchester site visit to showcase Manchester as an innovative knowledge capital.
This event contributes to a series of long term national and international programmes of work focusing on the development of a critical understanding of the limits and opportunities of interdisciplinary urban knowledge; the role and impact of Higher Education Institutions in regional and urban economic development, as well as processes for knowledge exchange for policy, practice and innovation and the role of knowledge arenas and what we have termed ‘active intermediaries’. Examples of our work in this area include: Science Cities, Greater Manchester Urban Knowledge Arena, Knowledge Transfer Between University and Health Sectors, The Embedded University, Business and the Knowledge Based Region and Sustainable Urban Development.