Welcome of the participants at the meeting venue
N.B. For the participants to the GA, it will be possible to get badges and voting forms from the day before on

I-Opening speech

Michèle Sabban, AER President and Vice-President of Ile-de- France region
Hüseyin Avni MUTLU Governor of Istanbul

II- Statutory matters

1-  Adoption of the draft agenda
2-  Adoption of the minutes from the last General Assembly and last
Extraordinary General Assembly
(Belfort, 26th  and 27th November 2009)

Activity report from the President
Michèle Sabban, AER President and Vice-President of Ile-de- France region

Activity report from the Secretary General
Klaus Klipp, AER Secretary General

Public health and social action (Committee 2) Christina Wahrolin,
Vice-President of Committee 2

Energy, cohesion and other activities from Committee 1
Håkan Sandgren, President of Committee 1

Supporting decentralisation, regionalism in Europe
(Standing Committee for Institutional Affairs)
Peter Straub, President of the Standing Committee

Equal opportunities: the work of the Standing Committee
Monica Carlsson, President of the Standing Committee

Eurodyssey programme
Carlos Cesar, President of Azores (tbc)

Summer Schools
Rolf Vorburger, St.Gallen

Youth policy, decentralised cooperation and other activities from Committee 3
Johanna Mikl-Leitner, President of Committee 3

Youth Regional Network
Olov Oskarsson, President

Standing Committee for Monitoring and Evaluation
Brian Greenslade, President of the Standing Committee

5-  Finances
Adoption of the 2009 accounts, auditor’s report
•    P. Maire, KPMG
•    Adoption of the 2009 accounts Urs Wüthrich-Pelloli, Vice-President Treasurer
•    Adoption of the draft budget 2011 Urs Wüthrich-Pelloli, Vice-President Treasurer

III- Elections
1-  Designation of the oldest representative of a member region

2-  Designation of the youngest representative of a member region

3-  Presentation of the candidates

4-  Election of the President

5-  Elections of the Vice-presidents

6-  New allocation of Bureau seats

7-  Election of the new Bureau

8-  Speech of the newly elected President

IV- Inaugural speech

Dirk Ahner, European Commission, Director General DG Regional Policy

1  Interregional and territorial cooperation to drive and support innovation in our regions

The session will look at the role played by regions in making Europe a world competitor in R&D. Is R&D a strategy for all regions or only for some, and how can interregional cooperation harness regional diversity and creativity to drive R&D and Innovation?

Moderator: Greg Clark

Speakers:
-Wolfgang Reinhart, Minister of Federal, European and International Affairs Baden-Württemberg (tbc)
-Orhan Albayrak, First Vice-President of Istanbul Provincial Council
-Dirk Ahner, Director General DG Regional Policy, European Commission
-Hervé Péro, Head of Unit, Research Infrastructures and Acting Director, DG Research European Commission
-Carlos Härtel, GE Global Research
-Urs Müller, BAK Basel Economics

Continuation of the General Assembly

V- Continuation of the thematic sessions

2  Clusters: turning research into business opportunities in the regions

The session will examine if and how clusters can help bring R&D to regional businesses. The discussion will also highlight different approaches for supporting the growth of clusters and their adaptation to external factors such as new technological developments or the economic crisis.

Moderator: Peter Heydebreck, Inno AG, member of the AER Innovation Award Jury (tbc)

Speakers:
-Marco Marchese, OECD, Centre for Entrepreneurship
- Local Economic and Employment Development Division
-Arne Sandemo, Chairman of the regional council of Uppsala
-Antero Saksala, President of the Regional board of Tampere
-Gulay Barbarosoglu, Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Bogaziçi University
-A representative of the St Etienne chamber of commerce

3  Research funding: Challenges for SMEs and regions.
Recommendations from 2014 onwards?

Europe is still trailing the United States in R&D investment. Furthermore, helping SMEs and Regions access and use EU research funding has been a persistent challenge. Is bureaucracy the only issue? What are the other barriers? What lessons have we learned and how can funding be simplified and streamlined in the future so that SMEs and Regions can play a full and active role?

Moderator: Jacki Davis, EU analyst and commentator

Speakers:
-Eliane Giraud, (Councillor in charge of general administration and regional natural parks of Rhône-Alpes region and member of the AER Bureau
-Rik Mooijweer, Chairman of the working group R&D and innovation, UEAPME
-Harald Noack, member of the European Court of Auditors

VI- Adoption of the Final Declaration

VIII- Closing speech

New AER President