Monday 19-Tuesda 20 September
DAVOS, Switzerland

Koli Forum Representatives Return the Greetings of Commissioner Janez Potočnik

Strengthening cooperation between the Koli Forum and the WRF

Koli Forum representatives returned the greetings of the European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik in Davos Switzerland just few days after the Forum which took place on 14-16 September in Koli, Finland. The World Resources Forum and Koli Forum will strengthen their cooperation in the future. This encounter marks the start of the Koli Forum theses’ worldwide dissemination. 

Koli Forum Secretary General Dr Liisa Tahvanainen and project manager Dr Pauliina Korhonen had a long discussion with commissioner Janez Potočnik, who had earlier sent his greetings to the Koli Forum by video.

The discussion concerned the theses, in particular regarding sustainable bioeconomy and how to define this sustainability. Also discussed were the importance of bioeconomic criteria and indicators.

The Commission will publish the Roadmap for a Resource-Efficient Europe on Tuesday 20.9.2011.

In addition, the importance of Russia and research cooperation with that country was one of the main topics, including the issue of how the European Union could take part in financing such research cooperation. In addition, the Koli Theses underline the importance of successfully strengthening academic-industry partnerships in Research and Innovation. Liisa Tahvanainen is also International Director and the head of the Cross Border University (CBU), which is situated in the University of Eastern Finland (UEF).  

Janez Potočnik comes from Ljubljana. He graduated with honours from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. He continued his studies at the same University where he did his Master's degree in 1989 followed by a Ph.D. in 1993.

Dr Potočnik became a Member of the European Commission on 1 May 2004. During his first mandate (2004 – 2009) he was responsible for Science and Research. In February 2010 he started a second mandate as a Commissioner for the Environment.