The aim of the first SINCERE Conference is to address contemporary economic challenges of European countries and solutions offered to address these challenges. After almost a decade long economic slowdown many European countries are revealing signs of a weak recovery. The sustainability of this trend will require rethinking the current common wisdom on growth, employment, inequality and the role of economic policy. It has also been demonstrated that the foundations of Europe’s present and future ability to provide its citizens with a better standard of living should be looked for in the competitiveness of its industries.

The mission of the first SINCERE Conference is to provide reflections on the process of deindustrialization that has shaped the European economic landscape in the last 25 years and to explore the possibilities for reindustrialization of European countries. To this end, the Conference will address the following questions:
◦What are economic, social and demographic consequences of deindustrialization?
◦Can reindustrialization provide the foundation for sustainable growth?
◦What industries can form the backbone of tomorrow’s European economy?
◦How changes in consumer behaviour, expansion of tourism, digital economy and other service sectors lead to the development of new industries?
◦How can mistakes of past financialization be avoided and what is the future role of financial sector?
◦What are the main premises of industrial policy in the 21st century?

By bringing together distinguished academics, senior policy makers and young researchers from several Central and South East European countries, the Conference will provide novel research findings and the most recent policy experiences. A plenary session involving policy makers from the countries of Central and South Eastern Europe will assess the potential for a new wave of industrial development in these countries and facilitate the transfer of knowledge between more advanced countries in this process and their counterparts that are lagging behind.

A special part of the conference titled “Smart cities and the new economy” will be organized in cooperation with the Center for local economic development – CLER from the Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, a champion of modern theory and practice of local government affairs.It will be devoted to the study of transition from service based to manufacturing based economy with a special focus on local government level. All accepted papers will be published in journals indexed in Scopus, EconLit, JEL and ProQuest. Selected papers will be published in journals indexed in Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS), Social Sciences Citation Index – SSCI and IBSS – International Bibliography of Social Sciences. Detailed list of conference topics can be found  here.
We look forward to welcoming you in Dubrovnik.