Following on from the very successful 2008 MIER Workshop Series (details of which are at the bottom of this page), a further MIER Workshop took place on 12 and 13^th March 2016. The two day workshop was held at the University of Manchester.

The conference included new information from recently published MIER reports as well as the four broad topic areas listed below:

Day 1 WORKSHOP 1 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21^ST CENTURY

SESSION 1 SETTING THE SCENE 10.00 TO 13.00

This session provided an introduction to the changing nature of economic development in England including;–

changes over the previous decade and the policy drivers that have underpinned the change

The drivers of economic growth – business and markets, people and skills, places and partnerships

Perspectives on the transformation of local and regional economies – market and technology foresight

SESSION 2 WHY ACT? – MARKET & OTHER FAILURES 14.00 TO 17.00

Rationales for public sector intervention – this session looked at ‘market failures’, including ‘externalities’ and ‘agglomeration’, information and co-ordination failures; institutional failure and equity arguments for public sector action

Is there a trade-off between economic growth and equity? – looked at the theory and the practice of setting and then achieving multiple aims

Profile of issues in the Manchester City Region – looked at growth and equity issues in the context of the Manchester City Region

Day 2 WORKSHOP 2 TARGETS, APPRAISAL & EVALUATION AND PUTTING LEARNING IN TO PRACTICE

SESSION 3: TARGETS & EVALUATION

The performance management architecture – looked at Public Service Agreements, Local Area Agreements, and Multi Area Agreements etc.

Good practice in appraisal and evaluation – looked in particular at programme and project-level appraisals and evaluations to improve decision-making processes

SESSION 4: WHAT NEXT FOR MIER?

The what, where and why or MIER – looking at the intensions of the MIER, the findings to date and next steps...