ENCATC has the pleasure to officially invite you to participate in and actively contribute to the international meeting of Cultural observatories "New challenges of Cultural Observatories. State of Art and new demand of cultural information and knowledge for decision making" organized in Bilbao, Spain, next 10 - 12 December 2008.

This meeting is part of a series of encounters in the framework of ENCATC that deals with current issues concerning cultural observatories and information and knowledge.

This meeting aims to be a forum to discuss about the new challenges of cultural observatories and the objectives are:

1) To enable professionals, researchers and politicians debate on the new challenges of cultural observatories;

2) To promote the exchange of experience working in cultural observatories;

3) To enhance the thought and reflection on the phenomenon of cultural observatories;

4) To promote the realization of joint research, training and dissemination among those responsible for cultural observatories.

The contents are organized through plenary sessions, debates and talks. Since in these meetings we are intended to take the opportunity to meet and analyze regional and local experiences, contents will be complemented by presentations and study-visits to the main bids of the Basque Country to face the new challenges of the first decade of the XXI Century.

The event is expected to attract ENCATC members, representatives from cultural observatories and research organisations as well as politicians and experts from international, European and national institutions.

A second draft agenda with the names of the speakers present in Bilbao will be posted to you shortly. Meanwhile, if you are interested in taking and active role and in sharing with your colleagues the result of your experience or research, please don't hesitate to contact us by mail or by phone.

In order to support you with recent and useful information we are planning to prepare a rich Conference Reader as well as to publish the Conference proceedings. Therefore, if you have any information about recent interesting publications, articles, researchers on this specific topic, please share them with your colleagues and send us an electronic copy of these documents.

If you are interested to participate in this Conference, please register on line at your earliest convenience and in any case before the 23 November 2008.

>> For registration, practicalities and draft programme, visit: