E-health workshop
Agneta Granström (Norrbotten, SE), Chair of the AER E-Health Network, opened the workshop by providing a brief update on the activities of the Network. Highlighting the group’s key successes in bringing e-health to the forefront of the European agenda and fostering interregional cooperation in this field, Agneta mentioned the H2020 SEED project and its Silver Economy Awards to innovative solutions in improving the quality of life of the ageing population, and the MOCHA (Models of Child Health Appraised) project to appraise the differing models of child health used across Europe. Delegates also had the opportunity to hear about the development of a new EU project on leadership for the development of e-health in Europe (presentation here).
Sandra Evans, from the University of Tübingen presented the Mach 5 project on Mutual Learning Partnerships Driving Social Innovation on Healthy Living Eastward across 5 European Countries. Sandra shared the key activities and lessons learned during the project, which established dynamic trans-regional clusters and multi-stakeholder ecosystems and expanded the European learning community on ICT for active and healthy ageing (presentation here).
Diane Whitehouse, from EHTEL (European Health Telematics Association), talked about the deployment of integrated care systems. Diana presented AER members with SCIROCCO, a 12 dimension-maturity model developed by the Action Group on Integrated Care of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. Diana encouraged wider testing and application of the this on-line self-assessment tool that facilitates the successful scaling up and transfer of good practices in integrated care across European regions (presentation here). AER members offered insights into regional health and care systems in Värmland (SE), Trento (IT) and Prahova (RO).
Working Group on Transport and Mobility
Martin Tollén (Region Östergötland, SE), Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility moderated this discussion.
Sergiu Bilcea, Vice President of the Arad County Council (RO), gave a presentation on a regional example of a transport and mobility project happening in Arad County. Sergiu explained how the region has improved cross-border mobility through the construction and modernization of roads with cross-border impact, using Cohesion Policy funds. The Vice President of the Arad County Council described how these investments promoted the cross-border labour mobility between Hungarian and Romanian territories and enabled Romania to make further progress on its accession to Schengen Area (Presentation available here).
Vivian Stribos (Gelderland, NL) then presented the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC (European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation), which was created to strengthen and coordinate the integrated development of the Corridor from a regional and local perspective for an innovative, green and smart Corridor. Vivan challenged the Working Group to build mutual learning between regions from the nine core network corridors. AER members expressed interest in exploring the potential value of platform for exchange (Presentation available here).
The Chair of the Working Group, Martin Tollén, updated members on the New Mobility Services initiative of the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). Bringing cities and regions together with other stakeholders to show-case innovative mobility solutions and support their replication, the Action Cluster on Sustainable Urban Mobility launched this initiative to help better integrate and manage urban transport, contributing to the development of collective systems for seamless multi-modal mobility, and create an open and collaborative marketplace for new mobility services in Europe.
Roger Esteferos (Senior Expert, SE), elaborated on the state aid to State Aid to Regional Airports, providing an update on the situation (Presentation available here).
Workshop on inclusion
Highlights of this workshop include an insightful presentation from Erika Stark, General Manager of the Directorate of Child Protection and Social Assistance of Arad region (RO), who explained how the regional social services came together with the NGO sector and the communities themselves to reach out to those at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Erika shared the region’s strategy and programmes aimed at preventing and reintegrating those already experiencing social exclusion, presenting the initiatives targeted at the most vulnerable and socially excluded, in particular children and young people and people with disabilities. Erika talked about the work of the Arad region with children in care and the support provided to young people leaving care to make the transition to adulthood, as well as the employment and skills programmes developed for people with disabilities.
