Schuman Associates participated in the Botswana Investment Forum hosted by H.E. Ambassador Outlule and organized by Connect Africa on 26 May 2017 in Brussels.

The event aimed at exchanging knowledge and experience on the investment opportunity in The Republic of Botswana. This included exploring and discussing vision 2036, the emerging innovation & startup ecosystem as well as the quality and effectiveness of business support structures in Botswana. Young entrepreneurs, investors and experts gathered in Brussels to share experiences, insights, and know-how, dishing out how to’s for potential investors, and inspiration for the rest.

AME (Anti-Money Laundering Europe) held their biannual meeting at the offices of the CCBE in Brussels. The roundtable discussion on Future Policy on Combatting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing looked at some of the lessons learned from the 4th AML Directive and what the future of EU policy will be.

The 2017 European Development Days took place in Brussels between 7-8 June with over 8000 participants from the development community. One of the key topics of this year was digitalization in the development world as an enabler to achieve sustainable growth and accelerate the achievement of the UN 2030 SDG’s. In this sense, the EU signed the "New European Consensus on Development" which represents a new collective vision and plan of action to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.

We are delighted to announce the full agenda for our upcoming breakfast briefing with Agtel on the Future of EU Communications, Wednesday 28 June, 8.00-9.30, at Aloft Brussels Schuman. Mairead McGuinness MEP and First Vice-President of the European Parliament will be our keynote speaker. Ruth Estrada, Partner at Schuman Associates will be presenting on "Enhancing the outreach of EU projects: BCO case study".  The event will be moderated by Tony Connelly, Europe Editor, RTE. We only have several places left so if you are interested in attending please RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Please take a look at our new Fact Sheet on the Erasmus+ Sport project B-WISER, in cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Adecco Group, research & elite sport institutions and dual career experts: https://prezi.com/view/VqG57o2nZRECxHA2MYuh/  

Thanks for joining our fantastic speakers Mairead McGuinness, Thibault Lesenecal, Ruth Estrada, Diarmaid Mac Mathúna and our moderator Tony Connelly for our Future of EU Communications event. If you didn’t make it, why not check out this short video with some of the highlights!

At the Western Balkans Summit in Trieste, Italy, the EU Commission and the regional partners agreed on seven new projects in transport and energy worth over 500 million euro, out of which 194 million euro are EU grants and loans from EBRD and EIB. The European Union is planning to allocate up to 1 billion euro by 2020 to key infrastructure projects in transport and energy of major importance to the region and its connectivity with the EU.

On 1 July 2017, Estonia took over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, which is the first time Estonia has held the EU Presidency since they joined the union in 2004.  Presidencies work together in groups of three, called a 'Trio Presidency’.  The trio set out some common long-term goals and topics that will be addressed by the Council over an 18-month period, aside from their  own detailed six-month programme.  The Estonian Presidency is the first phase of the current trio and will be succeeded by Bulgaria and Austria.

Jan Dröge, Director of the Broadband Competence Offices Network Support Facility (BCO-SF) will speak at the 2017 Broadband World Forum. The Broadband World Forum brings together senior executives from fixed, mobile and cable operators all around the world looking to tackle the challenges of future proofing networks and monetizing high speed connectivity. In its 17th year, it is the only event in the world that focuses exclusively on communication networks.

While the last cut-off dates of the 2017 SME Instrument call for proposals are approaching, it is already time to look ahead and share some details about what applicants should expect by the new calls to be launched under the 2018-2020 Work Programmes.

Schuman Associates analysed a draft version of the new European Innovation Council pilot WP 2018-2020 that, on top of the SME Instrument, also include three other innovation support schemes: Fast Track to Innovation (FTI), FET Open and Inducement Prizes. All these schemes have been adapted to support market-creating innovation more effectively, also taking into account recommendations collected from the Horizon 2020 interim evaluation.

We are proud to announce that Gerard McNamara, Founder and CEO of Schuman Associates has been selected as judge for the National Procurement Awards 2017 which will take place on October 19th in Dublin. Since launching in 2012, the National Procurement Awards has established itself as the premier event in Ireland for benchmarking excellence in the procurement profession in Ireland. New categories have been introduced this year to better reflect the main areas of excellence in the procurement profession such as Pharmaceutical Procurement Project of the Year; Best People Development Initiative and CSR Initiative of the Year. 

We are proud to announce that our colleague, Ms. Isane Aparicio, will be speaking at the next economic forum on "Digital and Precision Farming in Europe: benefits, market trends & impact on farm practices" to present the BCO-SF’s activities and spread the word on rural connectivity, and what support the European Commission is giving. 

12 months after the announcement of the ambitious EU External Investment Plan, President Junker in his State of the Union Address 2017 called upon all Member States to show solidarity by increasing their aid commitment to Africa. When speaking about the pressures several Member States are experiencing under the growing number of migrants coming from Africa, the President highlighted the role of different financial instruments that the EU has put in place to manage the migration flows.

During a two-hour online meeting held at the beginning of September B-WISER consortium took stock of the activities carried out within Work Package 1 and started discussions for the launch of WP2.

Philips and Schuman Associates have the pleasure to invite you to the event organized under the umbrella of European Week of Cities and Regions 2017 (EWRC) which will take place in Brussels on 10 October between 8:30 and 11:00 at L42.

Following the adoption of the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), members of the EFSD Strategic Board convened for the first time in Brussels on the 28th of September to discuss overall strategy and investment areas, the so-called ‘investment windows’ that will define the Fund’s priority sectors.

On 11 October, in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the BCO Support Facility organized a workshop to showcase good practices for broadband deployment from three European Regions.

Brussels Invest & Export invited Schuman Associates to present at their event on 18th October in Belgrade. The aim of the event is to present the Brussels' economic environment and a wide range of opportunities it offers. Not only is Brussels the capital and the largest city in Belgium, but it also hosts a number of European and International Organizations. It is a place where policies are decided that impact businesses both in and beyond the European Union. 

On 10th October, in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, Schuman Associates organised a workshop with Philips on the topic ¨Improving EU citizens’ lives through meaningful innovation in healthcare¨ . The objective was to raise awareness among EU decision makers about current challenges in using structural and investment funds by private large companies, and about the potential benefits of public-private partnerships for the healthcare sector was among our main objectives.

The European Commission’s DG Connect has launched the Digital Opportunity pilot project to provide digital internships to students across Europe.

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