This report has two purposes. The first is to inform participants at the PASCAL Conference in Gaborone on 30 November - 2 December about PURE. The second is to provide regions taking part in the PURE project with a summary of common findings, issues and advice.

National government, and increasingly intergovernmental bodies like the European Union and Commission, influence what engagement can take place in local regions. This report is however addressed to two main parties, regional administrations and their communities, and higher education institutions.

The report is interim rather than final. It marks the end of two years of work by thirteen regions in 2009-10. It reviews what has been achieved; and points to how PURE may proceed in 2011 with some of these and some additional regions, including three that conclude in that year.

Each region taking part now receives an individual report. This accompanies the synthesis report, reviews progress and advises on next steps. The reports have similar structures for convenience of comparison and will be available on the PASCAL Website. Meanwhile for more detail on each region, and on the work of each PURE cluster, see the June 2010 Interim Report to the Ostersund Workshop, which is already on the Website.