PMI held its second government forum for the EU audience in Brussels on 28 October. The conference entitled “Project Management within the European Commission” was organized in cooperation with the European Commission and hosted speakers from various directorates-general of the EU's executive branch. The conference was the first of its kind: never before had project managers from across the European Commission gathered around their practice.

The conference focused exclusively on the project management practice at the European Commission: the first session provided an overview of current PM practice by presentation of case studies of different directorates-general, while the second session provided a more forward looking perspective by exploring how project management practice can be further developed within the European Commission.

Over 120 project/program managers and executives involved in project management participated in the conference. The participants benefited from extensive networking opportunities and used the occasion to share best practices on project management.

Philip Diab, Chair of PMI's Board of Directors, opened the conference by welcoming the audience and underlining PMI’s happiness with jointly organizing the conference with the European Commission. Greg Balestrero, CEO and President of PMI, gave a keynote speech emphasizing the global demand for a project management framework deriving from the need for a common language and common processes to ensure organizational success. Greg also highlighted the increasing importance of talent management due to an aging population and the resulting shortage of skilled project managers in Europe as well as in other regions of the world.

Mr Philip Lowe, Director-General of DG Competition of the European Commission, delivered the keynote speech. He explained how and why his directorate-general was transformed into a project based organization and expressed his support for improving project management practice within the European Commission.