AN official from Monmouthshire Council has been sent to Brussels for a conference which discussed the use of robots.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Europe Conference was billed as an "important forum for European technology leaders in manufacturing, business and government."

But alongside presentations on the vision and challenges for European manufacturing and the challenge of production in high-wage countries were others on collaborative robots for manufacturing and human-robot collaboration in assembly manufacturing.

The second day of the conference included discussions on "the economic impact of cities of the future".

The council says as well as the "obvious benefits networking with thought leaders" the conference discussed a number of issues relevant to the county.

The decision to send the council's strategic lead for partnerships and engagement, Will McLean, to Brussels was questioned by county councillor Armand Watts who represents Thornwell.

He said, "I'm struggling to see how sending someone from a small rural council to Brussels to talk about robots and cities of the future has any relevance to people living in Monmouthshire.

"It sounds like science fiction but unfortunately it is for real."

Delegates came from around Europe but Monmouthshire was the only local authority represented.

The council was given a free place and the £362 travel and accommodation costs were met with a grant.

A council spokesman said: "Monmouthshire County Council is proud to be one of the most innovative local authorities in the UK.

"We were one of only six out of 137 UK Councils to be selected by NESTA and the LGA as finalists in the Creative Councils Programme.

"The aim of this is to fundamentally re-imagine the future for local government; reviving its role and purpose in the context of continuing financial constraint and changing customer demands.

"We have also set creating new jobs in the county as one of our three key priorities. It therefore made perfect sense to attend a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) international conference of innovators and business leaders.

"As well as the obvious benefits of networking with thought leaders and potential investors in Monmouthshire, the conference touches on a range of issues of interest to us.

"These include Urbanisation and the Economic Impact of cities in the Future - highly pertinent to a county situated between the economic powerhouses of Cardiff and Bristol.

"A number of sessions examined the impact of robotics on sustaining manufacturing in a high wage economy - a key target area for the kind of high quality jobs that we wish to bring to the county.

"It is no accident that Monmouthshire is one of the six Creative Councils finalists. We have achieved this by learning from world leaders in innovation.

"We are not going to bring high quality jobs to Monmouthshire by sitting around and waiting.

"Similarly, we're not going to learn from world leading best practice unless we speak to world leading innovators.

"In the current financial predicament we can either innovate and learn from world's best to prepare our county for the future, or we can salami slice.

"We proudly opt for the former."