Congress highlights of spring 2023

RSA Annual conference 2023

The conference of the Association for Regional Studies RSA (RSA Annual Conference 2023) (which should have happened in Ljubljana already in 2020) was held between June 14-17th at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana. Attended by 650 people in person and 67 virtual attendees it was the largest event to date for RSA, organized in partnership with the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development. The theme of this year's event was Transforming Regions: Policies and Planning for People and Places. 

The four-day event was run hybrid and brought together academics and policymakers to exchange news, views and research findings from the fields of regional studies and science, regional and economic development, policy and planning. There was representation from 55 different global territories, with both established experts and early career researchers gathering in the city of Ljubljana.

The conference featured 500+ presentations, high-profile plenary speakers, a number of specially convened sessions, workshops, networking sessions, walking tours and field trips. The social programme included the conference dinner and a welcome reception, side events, sport activities, exhibitor stalls and post-conference tours to explore Slovenia. Particularly praised by the participants were the environmentally friendly aspects of the event, such as the ability to use public transport free of charge, and to discover the city on the walking tour organized by Ljubljana Tourism. Many of attendees extended their stay to get the chance to further explore the Ljubljana's summer and the surrounding region.

Innovation conference ISPIM 2023

The conference of the International Association of Innovation Professionals ISPIM 2023 took place between June 4-7th at the CD Congress centre with 550 people participating.

The four-day event brought together world-renowned innovation management experts, researchers, managers, business and opinion leaders who shared views on innovation trends and presented examples of successful innovation practices, challenges and results of the latest research in the field from all around the world. This years' programme offered many workshops and panel discussions on current topics and trends - exciting results of research and examples from the economy were presented throughout the event.

ISPIM is a non-profit community of members from the research, industrial, consulting and public spheres who share a passion for innovation management. It brings together 3,500 members from 100 countries and is the oldest, largest and most active innovation management network in Europe.