​On 23 April, CoR's SEDEC commission held its 18th meeting in the current mandate, with members discussing the opinions on transparency and predictability of working conditions in the EU and the role of sport in EU agenda post-2020.

CoR members were also presented the 2018 edition of European Commission's bi-annual report "Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU" which analyses Europe's performance in science, research and innovation and the driving factors behind that performance in a global context.

The 2018 edition of the report shows that Europe has a unique opportunity to lead the next wave of breakthrough innovation in areas where digital technology meets the physical world, such as digital manufacturing, genomics, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

During the debate which followed the presentation of the report, delegate of the Government of Navarre to the EU, Mr Mikel Irujo Amezaga drew special attention to the importance of cross-border cooperation which in many cases can help avoid duplication. Mr Irujo said that due to fragmentation among EU member states, there is often a lack of knowledge about facilities which already exist in different regions. This was echoed by Mr Kieran McCarthy from the Cork City Council who additionally stressed that the EU, its local authorities and above all the universities need to work more with market leaders like Amazon or Apple and need to better communicate their results.

The members also discussed the results and recommendations of SPARKS, an awareness-raising project aimed at showing Europeans that they can get involved in science as well as the role of public policies in developing entrepreneurial and innovation potential of the cultural and creative sectors.