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In healthcare, the days of business as usual are over

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During the last Committee’s Spring Plenaries hosted by The County Council of Timis (RO) and the Assembly of European Regions on 11-14 April, Professor Dr. Marc Noppen presented the key defiance for Hospital ICT in a continuous changing Healthcare environment. Prof. Noppen is CEO at UZ Brussel.

The current paradigm of Health Care delivery is facing multiple global challenges. Factors such as changing demographics, budget constraints and expensive diseases to treat, place Healthcare in a situation where innovation is needed more than ever. What is more, the existing deficiencies in the current healthcare system lead to silos between stakeholders, care is not delivered in an integrated way, or that part of the health care spending goes to unnecessary bureaucracy, as Prof. Noppen pointed out in Timis.

Moreover, Prof. Noppen underlined the need to shift to a fundamentally new strategy to achieve the best health outcomes at the lowest cost where patients are placed at the center. Therefore, building and enabling ICT platform will help to maximize value if it is centered on patients and accessible to all parties involved in care.

In this sense, continuous innovation and the implementation and progressive use in hospitals of eHealth applications and in-ambulance telemedicine will help to deliver an integrated and personalized care. Furthermore, it will ease the burden of hospitals by facilitating communication and creating more structured data.

If you would like to have further information on this topic please address your inquires to Prof. Dr. Marc Noppen at [email protected] .

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Migration & culture: call for action

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Culture as an inclusion strategy

Europe is facing a gigantic mission right now and for the coming years: how to handle the current migration trends? How to include newcomers and their families?

What can AER members do to contribute in the face of this challenge?

During the 2016 Spring plenary meetings in Timis, RO, the seminar “Communication and Actions in Times of Crisis” featured a workshop on the role of culture for the integration of migrants. Members shared many good examples, from Hälsingland and Västerbotten in Sweden, Catalonia in Spain, Timis in Romania and many other regions. Presentations are available on the events webpage.

Bringing together regional experiences

Sharing experiences is instrumental for mutual learning. While the challenge is real, many regions are already deploying inclusion strategies via culture and are seeing results. This is why the Subcommittee on Culture would like to gather inputs on this topic: How is your region handling migration and the intergration of refugees? Help us share more good example of how culture can contribute to a better integration and inclusion in Europe.

A brief description is all that is needed. Send your regional example by the 17th of June to Micaela Löwenhook, Västerbotten (SE)

If you have questions, please give us a call or send an email!

For the AER subcommittee on Culture

Christer Kax Sundberg
Sörmland (SE)
President

+4670965 85 65

Nina Björby
Västerbotten (SE)
Vice President, leader on Culture & Migration

+4670-627 49 96

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Photonics: the key to innovation for the European SMEs

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From 11-14 April, The County Council of Timis (RO) and the Assembly of European Regions hosted the Spring Plenary of the three AER Committees. Within the Plenary meeting of the Committee 1 on Economy and regional development, Professor Hugo Thienpont presented ACTPHAST programme followed by a Q&A session from the audience.

Prof. Thienpont is a full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), member of the Brussel’s Photonics Team (B-Phot) and coordinator of ACTPHAST.

What is ACTPHAST and how can it benefit the regions?

ACTPHAST is an Integrated Project funded by the European Commission and seeks to overcome the barriers that the SMEs may encounter in their innovation efforts with photonics. It aims at boosting photonics innovation in European companies by offering adapted support to the needs of the SMEs.

The companies targeted by ACTPHAST are not only those whose core business is the production of photonics components and systems, but also, those which might upgrade their products by using photonics technology.

What makes ACTPHAST unique?

The core feature of ACTPHAST is to provide companies with full expertise adapted to the specific needs of the SMEs rather than providing funding. What is more, it offers support to a variety of industry sectors, which helps to reach further companies from the market. The fact that ACTPHAST offers 100% subsidized support to dedicated companies makes ACTPHAST a very interesting project to partner with.

The presentation made by Prof. Thienpont aimed at illustrating the impact on SME innovation in those companies that ACTPHAST is currently supporting, especially when it comes to growth and job creation. Prof. Thienpont emphasized that also SMEs that are not essentially photonics companies might benefit from the integration of photonics technology into their products or processes.

AER would like to encourage the regions to step forward and team up with ACTPHAST. This will allow the regions take advantage of the benefits of innovation and growth of the SMEs thus increase Europe’s competitiveness .

 

For further information: http://www.actphast.eu/

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The regional perspective on “Women in emergency situations”

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On 14 April 2016 AER organised the Equal Opportunities Forum on “Women in Emergency situations” in Timis County (RO) in the framework of the Committees’ spring plenary meetings. The Forum gathered around 50 participants from AER member regions, to speak about European experiences, solutions and the regional perspective on this hot topic.

As the European Parliament has urged the European Commission to deliver a new communication strategy on gender equality and women’s rights for 2016-2020, the member regions of AER aimed to define common messages based on their diverse and vast knowledge, and also on their experiences on equal opportunities, on women’s rights.

AER vice-president for Equal Opportunities and Inclusion, Mrs Ana Tomanova Makanova, chaired the Forum and spoke about Voivodina’s experience together with Danca Todorov, Provincial Ombudsman for gender equality whose lead topic was “Gender Equality & Disaster Risk Reduction”.  Among the conclusions of this project supported by UN Women in 2015, it was noted that there is no practice of a quick gender-sensitive needs assessment of the population, that gender differences are mostly manifested in the manner of information about the disaster, as well as in skills, and that participation of women and other CSOs would contribute to a better risk, needs and capacities assessment, as well as data collection regarding the population’s vulnerability.

Monika Laurinaviciute-Kocmann from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) shared with us the general position of women in Europe and the EIGE work.

Kenneth Johannesson from Värmland (SE) shared his regions project “A handbook for regional cooperation in Värmland”, designed to combat intimate partner violence against women. He stressed the importance of keeping in mind the definition of equal opportunities: “Women and men have the same power to shape the society and their lives. This calls for same possibilities, rights and obligations in all areas of life.”

Lenica Bucur from Alba County Council (RO) talked about domestic violence, and the social services developed in Alba County, according to Romanian legislation, in order to prevent and combat domestic violence, with a focus on specialised services developed by Cugir Town to protect victims of domestic violence.

The Forum was also the stage of a lively discussion and an opportunity to highlight a key message of the Sendai Declaration (outcome and declaration of the Heads of State and Government, ministers and delegates who participated in the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction) that “Catastrophes don’t discriminate, society does!”

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AER/SEO new agreement to foster regions’ connectivity

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AER is happy to launch a new partnership agreement with SEO Amsterdam Economics. The partnership enables AER members to take advantage from SEO’s in-depth knowledge of regional connectivity analysis. SEO’s service includes a connectivity scan, a benchmark with competing regions, an analysis of the strong and weak spots of a region’s connectivity and ways to improve a region’s connectivity.

SEO was founded in 1949 as a research institute of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Amsterdam and became legally independent from the University in 1980. It carries out applied economic research on behalf of the public and private sectors which can make a major contribution to the decision-making process of regions. SEO’s team consists of highly qualified experts within the fields of aviation economics, regional economics, econometrics and operations research.

Connectivity is a key factor to foster the regions’ competitiveness, in terms of attracting business, increasing the number of incoming tourists, enhancing social development, increasing employment figures and growing consumer welfare. Given the economic importance of being connected and being accessible, comprehensive insight into your region’s international connectivity performance is indispensable.

AER and SEO would like to enable regions to get an assessment service regarding their connectivity and accessibility, which can drive their regional development and competitiveness. To this aim, SEO provides a professional custom-made connectivity analysis and benchmark for AER members, which include:

  • A scan of your region’s connectivity;
  • A benchmark of your region’s connectivity with a selection of competing European regions of your choice;
  • An analysis of your region’s connectivity by transport mode;
  • Identification of so-called “white spots” of your region’s connectivity: underserved regions/ opportunities;
  • Advise on how to improve your region’s connectivity

The AER/SEO partnership has been officially presented to members at the Spring Committees Plenaries in Timis (RO) within the Working Group on Transport & Mobility and got positive feedbacks and interest from participants.

SEO is available to get in touch with regions and to provide additional information on its connectivity service.

Contact person:

Joost Zuidberg
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +31 20 525 1659
SEO website

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Erasmus+ Key Action 3: call open on policy reform & social inclusion

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Following the outcomes of the AER Comittee’s plenaries in Timis (RO) and the high interest of member regions on the issues of social inclusion of migrants and integration of refugees, we would like to raise again your attention on a funding opportunity addressed to disadvantaged learners, which was already announced in a previous article and shared during the meeting in Timis.

Education, training and youth policies have a key role to play in fostering social inclusion, mutual understanding and respect among young people and communities. Therefore it is crucial to ensure equal access to high-quality education, in particular by reaching out to the most disadvantaged and integrating people with diverse backgrounds, including newly arrived migrants, into the learning environment, thereby fostering upwards social convergence.

This call for proposals will support projects in the fields of education, training and youth, which aim at upscaling and disseminating innovative good practices falling under the scope of the Paris Declaration.

The total budget available for the co-financing of projects within this call is EUR 13.000.000 and the EU contribution cannot exceed 90% of the total eligible project costs.

The deadline for the submission of project proposals is 30th May 2016 h 12:00 CET/CEST.

In order to support applicants and provide with background information, the EU Commission and EACEA organise an info day on this call on April 18th available also online via webstreaming.

If you would like to share your project idea, get support in consortium building and involve in your proposal a relevant network as AER, do not hesitate to get in touch with us!

 

 

 

 

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Communication & Actions in times of crisis

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The Committees’ spring plenary meetings, gathered over 180 delegates from all over Europe in Timisoara (Timis, RO) from 11 to 14 April 2016 on the theme “Communication and Actions in times of crisis”. This series of more than 20 events included workshops, working groups, statutory meetings, study visits and a seminar.

The general theme of these events reflects the situation in Europe, the observation of the rise of populism, the oversimplification of complex issues and simultaneously a growing feeling of distrust amongst citizens. It fits also in the framework of the 2016 AER general theme “revitalising democracy”. Policy makers discussed questions such as “how can policy makers communicate better with citizens, listen to their needs and worries? “How to generate adherence?” “How to create a narrative which is engaging?”

Although perspectives vary and the situation is very different from one region to another, common findings include:

-the involvement of civil society is instrumental in generating adherence to policies and engagement in the implementation process. Fereshteh Jalayer, County Councillor from Värmland (SE) explained for instance that the involvement of NGOs and volunteers in the welcome of refugees had enabled the region to implement its generous refugee health policy while gaining support from local citizens without negative communication or rumours.

-awareness raising and information are necessary to counter false or partial information. Andreas Galster, from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, presented the work of the Congress on this topic and in particular highlighted a good practice from Barcelona (ES) where a public service campaign was rolled out to dispel rumours, misconceptions and prejudices via ‘anti-rumour agents’ who contradicted uninformed ideas about immigrants.

-media education was especially mentioned by Ovidiu Nahoi, Editor in chief at Radio France Internationale Romania: whereas social media has made it possible for all to publish articles, education is needed to sensitise citizens to source checking. This echoed a good practice showcased in Nordjylland at the last Spring Plenaries: an event was specially created to teach youth how to use twitter to interact with politicians, get access to more varied sources and high quality information.

Following the joint session 3 workshops allowed for more detailed discussions on :

– Migrant entrepreneurship & integration in the labour market

– Adaptation of health & social care systems to the refugee crisis

– Culture as an inclusion strategy

 

Visit the event page to find out about the Commmittee Spring Plenary meetings.

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Successful Committee Meetings in Timis (RO)

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AER President Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli and AER Secretary General Mathieu Mori were delighted to be able to thank in person and on behalf of all 200 AER delegates, the Timisoara county President, Mr Titu Bojin and the county councilor in charge of AER Mr Mihai Ritivoiu.

The welcome was wonderful and all AER members felt at home for their 3 productive days of more than 20 different types of meetings, from plenaries to workshops to study visits.

Timisoara has lived to its reputation of a county of openness, welcome and tolerance.

Thank you once again!

 

Visit the event page to find out about the Commmittee Spring Plenary meetings.

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Catalonia (ES) leading regions on youth policies

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Election of a New Chairwoman of AER Sub-Committee on Youth.

Ms Marta Vilalta, General Director For Youth of the Catalan Government was elected Chairwoman of the AER Sub-Committee on Youth on 13 April 2016 in Timis (RO) at the AER Spring Committee Meetings. She will be leading the work of the Sub-Committee to promote the key issues related to youth policies in Europe with AER members on issues including employment, entrepreneurship and school drop-out.

The diversity that regions bring to Europe today is recognised as a key asset. No one could imagine a Europe where States are the only ones to give voice to their citizens. Networks such as AER are essential to understand the reality of Europe and its citizens because they give a political voice to the regions.

Catalonia has a strong European vocation and is eager to strengthen its links with other European regions through its participation in AER. Ms Vilalta, emphasizes that “one of the main goals for Catalonia, and for our General Directorate of Youth, is to get involved at European and international level, because we are sure that it is one of the most relevant ways for facing the current challenges and, especially, for improving the opportunities for youth.”

Europe has faced important changes in the past century on the social, financial, political, cultural levels which bring new challenges and aims for the regions and especially for young people. New challenges which regions must face together, as Ms Vilalta insists: “Now it is time to work together to reinforce the commitment of our regions to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable society, especially for young people and with young people”

To face them, public policies need to incorporate the perspective of community work, which tries to bring the decision making processes closer to the citizens and to young generations. “In this line, from our regional point of view, we need to move torwards a model of democratic governance to ensure that all the institutional and social agents participate with co-responsibility in the development of youth policies.”

Catalonia acts on achieving two main goals:

  1. First, to help young people’s build their life project. “We want to guarantee the conditions to consolidate and make young people’s basic rights effective, so as to allow them to have a better quality of life. Our work at the Sub-Committee on Youth must be focused on: Early School drop-outs, Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship, and the Youth Guarantee as a tool for working on it”, Ms Vilalta states.
  2. The second goal is to empower young people. ”We need to push their active role as citizens within society and offer opportunities for young people to take part in policy-making. ”

The local level, and specially regions, are very relevant actors to take a step towards an inclusive and sustainable society. “For our region, the Assembly of European Regions and its Sub-Committee on Youth are great tools for working on this approach”, Ms Vilalta says.

Some of these issues have been developed by AER with successful projects like Working Group on School Dropouts or Youth Entrepreneurship: “I want to work very close to the AER youth regional network (YRN) and to improve our relations with the European institutions. Also, I think that the cross-sectoral work between all the Committees and Sub-Committees necessary. I am sure that this approach will help us achieve our purposes in the best way”.

Regarding her election as Chairwoman of the Committee 3 Sub-Committee on Youth, Ms Vilalta has expressed: “It is an honour to assume the position of Chairwoman of the Youth Sub-Committee. I am pleased to work for facing the challenges of youth in our regions, working together and finding innovative and effective solutions. This is a commitment that I will assume with enthusiasm and responsibility”.

Her working plan responds to the need of establishing a broad and comprehensive framework which allows coordinated action between all the actors involved to face youth’s main challenges.

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Early school leaving: working group meets at AER plenary

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The first presentation on the working group meetings in Timis was about the efforts and achievements to combat drop-out in Catalonia by the representatives of the Employment Service of Catalonia (ES). This regional organization is also a partner of the Erasmus+ JET CD project. Catalunya also chairs the AER Subcommittee on Youth.

 

Report on JET-CD project

The presentation and discussion on the regional experiences were followed by an update on the ERASMUS+ poject “Joint Efforts To Combat Dropout”. Ilona Novak, the project Co-ordinator presented a summary of the results and achievements from the start of the project regarding the following intellectual outputs

O1 – Study reports on dropout in regional context and about the result of the inventory work regarding best practices for prevention, intervention and compensation measures;

O2 – Joint methodology to prevent dropout by cross sectorial cooperation;

O3 – Joint methodology to detect early school leavers and to identify their needs for re-motivate and re-engage them and

O4 – Joint methodology and solutions for compensation measures to re-enter early school leavers in the education system.

The intellectual output about compensation measures raised particular interest among the group of AER member regions.

 

Upcoming outputs of the JET-CD project

The recent work in the Erasmus + project on the toolbox was presented in details. This toolbox will gather the joint methodologies for prevention, intervention and compensation measures from the participating regions and will be presented during the dissemination final conference in Hampshire 21st of June. The policy recommendation to combat school dropout, will be published before the project closure in the end of August this year. Members of the AER working group members were invited to attend the final conference in Hampshire.

 

Final output of working group

In the last part of the working group meeting the participants discussed and agreed on the final output of the AER working group on Combating school drop-out. The final output of the working group will be a “Handbook on regional best practices to combat school drop-out” which will be an inventory of regional good practices. They also agreed to use the same template which has been used in both the working group and in the project for best practice case studies to allow for comparison and benchmarking. The handbook and the EU-project results will be presented on the occasion of a joint conference, potentially during the spring AER Committee meeting 2017.

 

Links between the working group and the JET-CD project

Within the AER Committee on Culture Education and Youth the Subcommittee on Youth initiated work on combatting early school leaving. To facilitate the exchange of experiences and engage in mutual learning a working group was created in April 2013 under the leadership of the region of Västernorrland.

The JET-CD Erasmus+ project represented an opportunity for regions already involved in exchanging experiences and working together to improve policy making on the topic within the framework of the AER working group on early school drop-outs, to deepen this cooperation in a very concrete way.

The working group follows the progress of the JET-CD project via its regular meetings. The JET-CD outputs are shared both via the meetings and via social media and the AER website. News articles are regularly published on the homepage to ensure wider outreach of the JET-CD findings. Members from the project also benefit from feedback and experiences from other members in the working group, ensuring a constant flow of knowledge between members involved in the project and the wider group of regions interested in combatting school dropouts.

Pictures of the meeting are available on the AER facebook page

 

Meeting documents

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Links

JET-CD project page and outputs

Erasmus+ website

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Timis (RO) on finding solutions for refugees and migrants

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A delegation of AER members visited the Emergency Transit Centre in Timis (RO) on 12 April 2016. They were welcomed by its Director, Mr Filimon Pitea, and Mrs Cornelia Nitu Fratila from UNHCR. Both organisations play a key role on the asylum ‪refugees‬ issues in Romania.

The centre opened its doors in May 2008 as part of a Tripartite Agreement between Romania, UNHCR, and International Organization for Migration (IOM). With room to host up to 200 people, the facility provides temporary shelter to refugees who are in need of immediate evacuation from their first country of refuge. Such evacuations occur when refugees face life-threatening risks – forcible return to areas where they would face persecution, or residence in an unstable, inhumane or dangerous environment. The ETC enables UNHCR to bring refugees to a safe place where they can prepare for resettlement in a new home. The transit centre is also a secure venue where resettlement countries can conduct interviews with refugees, and conclude the final arrangements for providing new homes for these people. Medical examinations and treatment can be carried out in the ETC. Refugees can attend orientation workshops and language courses geared to the countries where they will be resettling.

 

More about the Timisoara ETC.

Visit the event page to find out about the Commmittee Spring Plenary meetings.

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