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Editorial Note
[Issue 20: January 1997]

Once again it is time to reflect on the achievements of one year - and the prospects for the new one. The 36th European Congress in Zürich was the high point of the old year. The European Organizing Committee has already conveyed its appreciation and thanks to Angelo Rossi for his efforts as Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee in contibuting to the evident success of the event. The generous support of many sponsoring organisations for the Congress is once again gratefully acknowledged.

The event marked a further important milestone in the development of the European Regional Science Association with the adoption of a new constitution, at the meeting of the European RSA Council during the Congress, a copy of which is featured below. The Congress also saw the award by the European RSA of the newly established Epainos Prize to the author of the best paper by a 'young European regional scientist'. Erik Verhoef of the Free University of Amsterdam is to be congratulated as first recipient of the 600 ECU prize.

One of his PhD supervisors, Peter Nijkamp, is also to be even more warmly congratulated for his achievement in being awarded the prestigious Hfl 2 million Spinoza Prize by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (see below). A third congratulatory mention is clearly warranted by the achievement of my colleague, Peter Batey, in starting, at the North American Meetings of RSAI in Arlington in November, his two year term of office as RSAI World President.

The Zuerich Congress also marked the end of the periods of office offour European Organizing Committee members, including Riccardo Cappellin, as Vice-President, Manfred Fischer, Gustav Kristensen, as LOC Chairman for the 1995 Odense Congress and Paul Longley who had served for five years as EOC Secretary. All were formally thanked for the considerable service they have rendered to the Association during their periods of office. Paul Longley has been succeeded by Jouke van Dijk as EOC Secretary and we wish him well in fulfilling the responsibilities which this post brings. Also elected as a member of the EOC was Gunther Maier, as Newsletter Editor designate (see below).

Plans are now well in hand for the major European regional science event of the new year - the 37th European Congress which is to take place in Rome in August and will be hosted by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) chaired by Riccardo Cappellin. Full details of the local arrangements will appear in the June issue of the Newsletter, as usual. The EOC has also agreed that Vienna will be the venue for the 1998 Congress, with Manfred Fischer acting as the LOC Chairman, and that Dublin has been adopted as the location for the 1999 event.

Plans are also firmly in place for two forthcoming Summer or Advanced Studies Institutes in Regional Science. The 10th Summer Institute is to take place later this year, in June 1997, in Are (Sweden) and Meraker (Norway) and will be hosted by the Nordic Section under a Local Organizing Committee chaired by Knut Westeren. The 11th Summer Institute is planned for mid-August 1998 and is to be hosted in Muenchen by a LOC chaired by Peter Friedrich. Details are supplied below of these and many other events that are likely to be interest to RSAI members.

Further important announcements include a request for nominations for the Epainos Prize, to be awarded this year for the second time, to the author of the best paper by a 'young European regional scientist' presented at the Rome European Congress.

Finally, readers are urged to note the imminent changes in arrangements for the publication and distribution of the European RSA Newsletter. Earlier issues have reported how the European Organizing Committee has given its agreement to the idea that the Newsletter, in its present 'centrally' printed and distributed paper form, should be phased out in favour of an 'electronic' web-accessible version - with the printed version retained for those who do not have ready access to an Internet connection or who specifically request a copy. As many members will be aware, the last three issues have already been made available in web format. Indeed, much of the current issue has been visible for some time in that form - including an extensive photographic report on the Zuerich Congress. As a reminder, Section Secretaries have already been informed of the proposed arrangements whereby, eventually, those members who wish to continue to receive a printed version will be enabled to do so, providing that the local section/association is able to reproduce and distribute copies locally the 'top copy' supplied by the Editor.

It is now time for this transition to be taken a stage further as Gunther Maier succeeds me as Editor after the publication of this issue - my 20th as Editor. Over this 10 year period, producing the Newsletter has become a way of life - but 10 years is (more than?) long enough - and I am happy to hand over to Gunther, endorsing the views he has set out about the future directions for the development of the Newsletter, and confident that he will do an excellent job of turning those plans into practice. In that endeavour I should like to use this final editorial to wish him every success.

Peter Brown, Editor, European RSA Newsletter

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