9 March 2009 - Despite strong consensus about the need for a rigorous assessment of the potential economic, social and environmental effects, only very few people actually know how to quantify these impacts and what structure, including various assumptions, is imposed to reach this/these quantification goal(s). ECORYS is therefore organizing a new session of the 'Quantitative Impact Assessment for EU Policy' training course, which will take place in Brussels from 13 to 15 May 2009.

The training will build on previous courses in this area, notably the Trade Policy Modeling Course (TPMC) held in Rotterdam in March 2007 and May 2008. This intensive 2½ - day training session including lectures, workshops, role-plays and discussions, is specially designed to reflect and cover the objectives:

• Firstly the course informs policy makers and practitioners of the different quantitative impact assessment methodologies that exist to evaluate and assess policy proposals, including how they work.
• Secondly, the course links concrete policy proposals to available methodologies and works through which type of methodology would fit best, clearly taking limitations and assumptions into account.

Participants of the latest two training courses came from various Directorate Generals of the EU, especially Trade and Enterprise & Industry, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and UNCTAD. Their nationalities covered various from the EU and also some from non-EU countries.
ECORYS has carried out work and built expertise and competence in the fields of Trade Policy modeling, Regulatory Impact Assessments. Energy & Environmental Impact Assessments as well as Social Impact Assessments at national, EU and international levels.

The interest in this course is derived from the great lack of knowledge of how (EU) government carries out impact assessments in practice – especially when it comes to quantitative aspects of these assessments. Also information will be provided on how to choose the right technique from a long list of available quantitative modeling tools.

The 'Quantitative Impact Assessment for EU Policy' training course is an open training, part of the ECORYS Academy. More information about this course is available at this page. You can also contact us at this address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .