Summary of the activities of the Hungarian Regional Science Association

September 2013 – September 2014

17^th September, 2014

Membership

Currently the HRSA has 88 active members from Hungary and 91 registered members from neighbouring countries. HRSA operates 13 regional sections (in all the 7 regions of Hungary and in 6 regions abroad where Hungarian speaking regional specialists are working). In 2013-2014 four sections were reorganized. The half of sections operates programmatic, and the president (or member of presidency) visited the sections during a scientific event in the last year.

Past events

The HRSA organized the 16^th and 17^th semesters (2013–2014 academic year) of the Free University on Local Development as a series of 6 events, specialized around actual issues and the introduction of the development possibilities of two cross-border regions. The events were organized in collaboration with renowned partners. These events attracted on average 180 participants, the majority of them being university students.

The HRSA organized second time the Day of Regional Developers on 8 October, 2013 with the participation of 140 invitees. The main target of this event was to report the achievements of the Hungarian regional development policy – the Concept of National Development and Territorial Development – and to make proposals for future framing of regional development policy and institutions following a debate on the current issues.

The Association was a co-organizer of an international workshop on Evolutionary Economic Geography in Central and Eastern Europe with leading role of Prof. Ron A. Boschma on November 11-15, 2013 in co-operation with Centre for Economic and Regional Studies of HAS, International Business School Budapest, Doctoral School in Economics of University of Szeged.

In November, 2013, the 11^th annual conference of the HRSA was held in Kaposvár, Hungary. 148 participants attended the conference among others 12 experts from abroad and 35 MA and PhD students. That was the first time when plenary session in English was organized with 3 presentations. Prof. Roberto Camagni was the invited international keynote speaker of the conference. The second day of the conference was focusing on the New European Cohesion Policy. 11 sessions (one in English) hosted more than 100 presentations.

The HRSA organised an international conference on “The development prospects of industrial cities in Central Europe” on 21 May, 2014 in cooperation with Széchenyi István University and HAS CERS Institute for Regional Studies. Petr Pavlínek an eminent researcher of Central European industrial economy lectured on his own research results at the conference. The participants of this conference represented 16 research units from 8 countries.

In co-operation with Széchenyi István University between October 2013 and May 2014 the HRSA organised 12 workshops (7 in Hungarian cities, 5 in neighbouring countries) on the development strategies of the cities for the next EU programming period.

The traditional ‘Young regional scientist’ prize was delivered. The HRSA signed an agreement with the Academic Society for the Development of the Micro-regions as an acknowledgment of past cooperation and in order to exploit mutual advantages in the future.

A new website was developed. The members and those who are interested (around 600 people and 7 organizations) are continuously updated with the latest news by e-mail.

Future events

The HRSA is going to hold its 12^th annual conference in 27–28 November, 2014 with the focus on Local Development. The keynote speaker will be Prof. Roberta Capello. On the first day two plenary sessions will be organized (the first in English, the second in Hungarian). On the second day of the conference parallel sessions will be run with the participation of several invited speakers. 11 sessions are organized in Hungarian, one session in English (Local development in Central Europe). Presentations of 20 minutes are welcomed. Registration is free of charge for the speakers from Central and South East Europe (excluding Hungary). The link for the call for papers and programme: http://www.mrtt.hu/en/annual_meeting_2014.html

Following previous activities, HRSA continues to organize the Regional Science Evenings (every second month) and it organizes the 9^th Conference of Young Regionalists in 2015. Among other programs, the Free University on Local Development will also continue with its 18-20^th semester.

Contact

Attila Varga, professor, ERSAC representative vargaa@ktk.pte.hu

Szilárd Rácz, secretary szracz@rkk.hu