PASCAL is establishing a series of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to give focus to the advice required by the Board in particular areas.

The Groups will consist of 6 to 8 people, made up of academics and  practitioners in the public, private and NGO sectors and will have a wide geographical spread and gender balance so far as possible. The members of the Groups will serve for up to 3 years with the possibility of renewal and the Groups will report to the Board at least annually with the invitation to report more frequently when needed.

The Groups communicate electronically, meet face-to-face annually and post think pieces to the PASCAL website on topics where contributions from the wider membership would add value. Therefore it is envisaged that the Groups will not only advise the Board, but will also provide content for the website.

We are pleased to announce the first Special Interest Group (SIG) is the Public Sector Interface and is chaired by Dr Laitinen of the City of Helsinki. All members of PASCAL are urged to follow the work of this Group, contributing views and comments.

PASCAL members are strongly encouraged to support and become active members of the SIGs as they develop. If you are interested in developing your own PASCAL SIG area of interest please contact Chris Shepherd.

Public Sector Interface

The purpose of this SIG is to examine the interface between PASCAL and the public policy sectors. This topic is a very broad and cuts across sectors and issues, including innovative resource sharing and the role of institutions of higher education, and those organizations that develop policy. It includes the development of intercultural activity.

A group of interested academics and policy makers/city administrators is sharing ideas and contributing to policy briefings on the policy analysis themes including, but not limited to:

• Regionalism and the changing role of universities
• Competitiveness and economy
• Universities, cities and the innovation agenda
• Cities as platforms and smart cities

Members of the Group:

• Ilpo Laitinen (Finland) - Chair
• Frédérique Bonnard (Atlantic Arc Cities – France)
• Dermot Coughlan (Ireland)
• Blanca García (Mexico, LATAM)
• Vijay Jagannathan (Citynet, South-Korea)
• Jane Niall (Australia)
• Willie van der Schyf (Councillor, South Africa, City of Johannesburg)
• Peter Welsh (United Kingdom)
• Norm Walzer (United States)