On 28 February and 1 March 2011 in Budapest, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is organising a conference entitled “The Contribution of Culture to the Implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy”. The conference seeks to identify the role of culture in the success of the Europe 2020 Strategy. In a transversal sense, a more general conduct is meant by culture besides a dynamic, innovative segment of economy and society. In this sense the conference will discuss ways and conditions of how culture can contribute to the perfection of human development, and to the improvement of social capital that are required for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth in Europe. The conference aims to explore the specific areas and means of action through which this goal can be achieved, and furthermore, to propose operative measures to the Member States and the Commission. The discussions will aim at identifying more focused exploitation of culture in the economy, in education and in other fields of social action. The conference wishes to highlight where cultural operators and operations most efficiently complement other forms of intervention. Equal attention will be spent to the development of creative and cultural industries, to the relation between culture and innovation, to the enhancement of the potentials of culture in other areas of development, as well as on the role of specialised socio-cultural professionals and institutions in the achievement of the goals related to Europe 2020. We wish to discuss the above-mentioned questions in four thematic sections, which would also include the presentation of related good practices. Our other objective is that the findings of the conference contribute to the elaboration of a Council Conclusions document to be presented by the Presidency in the same topic. Find out more at: www.kulturpont.hu/culture2020/introduction.php or at [http://www.eu2011.hu/]www.eu2011.hu