REPORTS

Report Title: Maximising the Economic Impact of Airports in the BMW Region 1.1mb (pdf)
Date: December 2009
Description: Airports represent a strategic asset to a region and are making a considerable contribution to the local and regional economy in the Border, Midland and Western Region. The success of any airport is linked with the economic well-being of the region it serves, while the degree of connectivity of a region forms the foundation for economic competitiveness. This research report examines the extent to which airports within the BMW Region are achieving their economic potential.

Report Title: The Future of EU Cohesion Policy and its Implications for Irish Regional Policy 220kb (pdf)

Date: September 2009

Description: This paper reviews the many factors that drive consideration of EU regional policy reform at EU, national and regional level, with particular reference to the implications of this for Irish regional policy. It is argued that the EU agenda for reform will be driven by budgetary considerations, the renewed emphasis on EU-wide objectives relating to the Lisbon and Gothenberg Agendas, the debate on the rationale for regional programming in non-objective 1 (convergence) regions and addressing future challenges such as globalisation, climate change, the energy challenge and demographic shifts.

Report Title: Quality of Life in Gateways, Regions, Counties, Cities and Towns 320kb (pdf)
Date: Spring - Summer 2009
Description: April saw the launch of a new initiative to assess quality of life and development in the nine Gateway centres identified by the National Spatial Strategy. The Gateway Development Index, prepared by the Border Midland and Western (BMW) and Southern and Eastern (S&E) Regional Assemblies, is designed to measure the extent to which each Gateway is progressing in driving economic development and improving quality of life in their area.

Report Title: The Collaborative Research and Innovation Strategy for the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Region 335kb (pdf)
Date: July 2009
Description: This Líonra Collaborative Research and Innovation Strategy for the Border, Midlands and Western Region (BMW) has been produced in response to the need for a co-ordinated approach to Research, Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) across the region.

Report Title: Evaluation of the BMW Regional Programme of Innovative Actions 4.6mb (pdf)
Date: June 2009
Description: This is the Final Report for the Evaluation of the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Regional Programme of Innovative Actions 2006-08. The evaluation has been undertaken on behalf of the BMW Regional Assembly by Fitzpatrick Associates and WESTBIC.

Report Title: Responding to the Recession: the challenge for Ireland's regions - Public Affairs Ireland Journal 332kb (pdf)

Date: March 2009

Description: The focus on Ireland’s economic performance over the boom years of the Celtic Tiger years has been marked by a general lack of coverage of the disparate performances of Ireland’s regional economies despite the introduction of the National Spatial Strategy in 2002. As we now face into what is likely to be a sustained period of negative economic growth, it is timely to consider the early indicators of how Ireland’s regions are performing in this new economic reality and the implications of this for public policy in the medium term.

Report Title: DRAFT OPINION of the Committee of the Regions on "THINK SMALL FIRST" - A "SMALL BUSINESS ACT" FOR EUROPE 209kb (pdf)

Date: February 2009

Description: THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS welcomes the Commission’s communication on a "Small Business Act (SBA) for Europe" and endorses the policy agenda being pursued which strives to provide a breakthrough for EU SME policy by delivering a framework to facilitate the promotion of entrepreneurship and SME-friendly legislation while enabling the growth of small and medium sized enterprises across Europe through the application of the "Think Small First" principle;

Report Title: Gateway Development Index (GDI) 7,660kb (pdf)
Date: February 2009
Description: This research examines how the Nine Gateway Towns & Cities are performing against their objectives as set out in the National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020 (the strategy for regional development in Ireland) and evaluates the impact of investment under the National Development Plan and the Regional Operational Programmes for the period 2007-2013. The GDI will be produced in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Report Title: External Evaluation Report - Business Mentoring for Winners Programme 3.2 mb (pdf)
Date: 2009
Description: The Business Mentoring for Winners programme, funded under the EU Innovative Actions programme, was facilitated by the Border Midlands and Western Regional Assembly working with Líonra, the Higher Education Network of the Borders, Midlands and West of Ireland. This pilot project was aimed at 35 new and emerging businesses and companies across the Borders, Midlands and Western (BMW) Region, across a wide variety of industry sectors.

Report Title: BMW Food Technology Transfer Evaluation Report 694 (pdf)
Date: 2009
Description: This report constitutes the independent external evaluation report of the BMW Food Technology Transfer Programme funded under an EU support measure entitled Innovative Actions of the ERDF 2000-2006 Regional Programme. The project, facilitated by the BMW Regional Assembly, was delivered by St Angela’s Food Technology Centre (a wholly owned company of St Angela’s College Sligo) in partnership with the Food Hub, rumshanbo, Co. Leitrim. It scoped the Border, Midland & Western (BMW) Region, a NUTS* II Region covering a total of 13 counties.

Report Title: Final Report to European Commission on the 'BMW Region and the new Economy' 616kb (pdf)
Date: 2005
Description: As one of over 120 regions throughout Europe approved by DG Regio under the Innovative Actions Programme in 2001 & 2002, the BMW region had, for the first time an opportunity to experiment with novel project ideas and test new and innovative approaches to project delivery. From a more strategic perspective the seed funding had now become available to engage the public, private, higher education and community sectors with a view to collectively working together to improve the region’s innovation infrastructure, research & absorptive capacity and to plan for a more innovative, competitive and sustainable region.  

Report Title: BMW Regional Foresight Exercise 2005-2025 8.8mb (pdf)
Date: 2005
Description: This report presents the strategy articulated through the BMW Regional Foresight process, which took place from March to December 2004. The Foresight exercise presented people in the BMW Region with a unique opportunity to express their vision and investment priorities for the region in 2025. It brought together a range of stakeholders from public and private bodies at local, regional and national levels and used future-oriented visioning techniques to identify ambitious and realistic priorities for the region for the next twenty years. The delivery of these priorities will be essential to achieving a way of life and standard of living of which people in the region can be proud.

Report Title: Audit of Innovation 3.67mb (pdf)
Date: 2004
Description: The audit of innovation was conducted to help policy makers understand issues of competitiveness, research and technological adaptation and organisational change in the BMW Region. This involved developing a profile of innovation, identifying or developing appropriate indicators and benchmarking current levels of innovation in the BMW Region against best practice elsewhere. Insights to innovation performance improvement strategies and actions in other regions informed the audit process.The audit also proposed a pilot initiative targeted at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region.