The 2024 Conference of the OECD Local Development Forum is heading to the Greater Copenhagen Region under the theme "Building bridges, shaping tomorrow". This annual gathering is your chance to join local development practitioners, policy makers, and stakeholders to exchange insights, strategies, and innovative solutions for shaping resilient and inclusive communities of the future.

Participants will get the chance to discuss trending topics such as collaborating across borders, expanding local innovation and anticipating skills needs. They will explore strategies for transforming places and leveraging local assets to drive sustainable development. Through plenary sessions, workshops and site visits in not one but two different countries, they will discover how communities are fostering inclusive innovation ecosystems and empowering people, places and firms to thrive.

Join us in Greater Copenhagen as we build bridges and shape tomorrow together!

The annual conference of the OECD Local Development Forum was created in 2004 by the OECD LEED Programme.

This 2-day event gathers partners from national government, local authorities, employment agencies, businesses and NGOs to share good practices about how employment and skills programmes are meeting employer demand and what’s being done to help people and places catch-up.

About the 2022 meeting

On 15-17 June 2022, the OECD Local Development Forum convened in Cork, Ireland. The Forum brought together over 300 local leaders, entrepreneurs, social innovators, trade unions, education and training institutions and business leaders from over 30 countries to discuss key challenges and best practices in strengthening local labour markets and learn from Cork’s unique story.

The event was opened by Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, OECD Deputy Secretary-General Jeffrey Schlagenhauf, President of the Italian National Council for Economics and Labour Tiziano Treu, and European Commission Funds Director Ruth Paserman.

During the three-day meeting organised by local bodies in Cork in partnership with the OECD, participants discussed the future prospects for labour markets, including the potential impacts of the war in Ukraine on people and local economies. Participants also considered the different spatial impacts of the green and digital transitions. 

See the highlights of the full event here and the summary of the pre-event workshop on Strategic Foresight for Local Development here.

• 2022 Cork, Ireland: Better strategies for stronger communities
• 2019 Antwerp, Belgium: Right skills, right jobs, right places
• 2018 Porto, Portugal: A new world of work: Global trends and local actions
• 2017 Prague, Czech Republic: Increasing productivity, job creation and inclusion from the bottom-up
• 2016 Venice, Italy: Creativity, jobs and local development
• 2015 Manchester, United Kingdom: Local leadership for inclusive growth
• 2014 Stockholm, Sweden: Job creation just ahead - Building adaptable local labour markets
• 2013 Dublin-Kilkenny, Ireland: Implementing change - A new local agenda for jobs and growth
• 2012 Berlin, Germany: Getting the young into jobs and business for successful working life
• 2011 Vienna, Austria: Doing more with less - Local partnerships’ role in the recovery
• 2010 Vienna, Austria: From recession to recovery - Local partnerships to rebuild employment
• 2009 Vienna, Austria: Building strong partnerships with the private sector for better jobs and inclusion