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Environmental policies: more activities for regions

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AER encourages its members to take advantage of existing programmes which offer support on policies which matter for regions. This is why the TAIEX-EIR programme of the European Commission seems of particular relevance. The diversity in services offered make the TAIEX-EIR a well suited tool to complement ongoing activities within the AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change chaired by Eva Hallström, Värmland (SE).

Better implementation of environmental policies & laws

During the development of the AER Action Plan in Arad, several regions have expressed interest in learning more from other regions on  topics such as for instance waste management in rural areas, the energy transition and sustainable development in general.

The TAIEX-EIR programme supports public administrations with the application and enforcement of EU environmental legislation as well as the sharing of best practices between regions. Offering tailored expertise to those requesting it, TAIEX organises workshops, expert missions, and study visits to allow participants to learn from one another.

TAIEX-EIR peer to peer expert exchanges can address all issues covered by the EC Environmental Implementation Review country reports: for example circular economy and waste management, nature protection, biodiversity, green infrastructure and soil protection, improvement of air quality, water quality and management, sustainable urban development. They can also deal with common root causes of implementation gaps, such as administrative capacity, skills, coordination mechanisms, access to justice, environmental liability, compliance assurance as well as reporting and sharing of environmental information or other aspects of environmental governance.

The diversity in services offered make the TAIEX-EIR a well suited tool to complement ongoing activities within AER.

A programme for all regions

Regions with very diverse characteristices can take advantage from peer learning via the TAIEX-EIR programme. Recent activities include for instance:

  • Workshop on National Circular Economy Action Plans, Budapest -Hungary- 17 – 18 May with representatives from the Finish, Dutch and Slovenian governments on how to prepare National Circular Economy Action Plans in a workshop in Budapest (Beneficiaries: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic)
  • Expert Mission on exchange of experience regarding circular purchasing, Paris – France – 13 – 14 March 2018 (Beneficiary: France)
  • Workshop on Waste Management within the European Green Leaf Network, Galway – Ireland – 21 – 22 February 2018 (Beneficiary: Ireland)
  • Expert Mission on closing landfills in Romania – benefitting from Ireland’s experience thanks to Commission’s peer-to-peer learning tool (Beneficiary: Romania)

An easy to access programme

TAIEX-EIR assists public institutions involved in the implementation of EU environmental policy and law in the EU Member States, such as:

-National, regional and local departments and agencies;
-Coordinating authorities;
-Inspection and audit authorities;
-Permitting authorities;
-Regional or local environmental implementation businesses entrusted with a public task, and with the application supported by an authority
-Networks of experts involved in environmental implementation and enforcement in cooperation with a Member State environmental authority

Applications can be submitted using the online application, which is rather easy to prepare. Applicants have to provide short information about the objective of the event, the field of expertise concerned, participants and target group, approximate timing and contact person. Details will be prepared later in close cooperation with the requesting institution.

The below overview explains the process from application to evaluation:

 

 

Useful links

Official TAIEX-EIR webpage on European Commission website

Environmental Implementation Review Country reports

Recent related AER activity: AER Study visit on the Energy Transition in Gelderland (NL)

Presidium AER Committee on Economy & Regional Development

Contact

Policy & Knowledge Transfer

Johanna Pacevicius

Mobile: +33 6 24 29 19 37
E-mail: j.pacevicius(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: johanna.pacevicius
Languages: fr, nl, en, pt

Articles by Johanna

  • Thematic Coordination
  • Committees
  • Mutual Learning

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Featured picture by Sebastien Gabriel on Unsplash

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AER visits Gelderland, The Netherlands to learn about best practice in the energy transition

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From 17 to 19 April 2018 Gelderland (NL) hosted a Study Visit on the energy transition, which focused on governance and participatory approaches. Representatives from Värmland (SE), Vojvodina (RS), Diber (AL), Lubelskie (PL), Elbasan (AL), Gjirokastër (AL) and Fier (AL) had the opportunity to share experiences and observe how the Province of Gelderland (NL) is implementing a bottom-up approach to achieve the energy transition and develop an unique multi-stakeholder collaboration towards an energy neutral province in 2030.

The programme started in Arnhem, with a presentation on perceptions about sustainable energy and the situation of the Netherlands in the past decade. Understanding perceptions is key to  drive change.

From there, participants to the visited joined local stakeholders and policy makers for a serious game on conflicting interests and collaborative searches for solutions.

The group then visited Nijmegen, which has been selected as European Green Capital 2018. Nijmegen managed to become the winning city thanks to its achievements in environmental, social and economic sustainability.

One of the important elements for change and collective action, participants to the Gelderland study visit heard, is the creation of momentum

The European Green Capital Award is also a showcase of good practices which enables all local and regional stakeholders to contribute.

Participants then visited a cooperative windpark which was developped and is run by citizens…

… and climbed on the blade of a windturbine to take a group picture 😎

In the evening delegates went to the Energy Business Park in Arnhem and had the opportunity to exchange with Wim Nabbe about the green alliances for the energy transition. This organisation was founded by entrepreneurs to
-Accelerate the energy transition in particular in the 34 business parks in de Liemers
-accelerate the circular economy, especially in the industry
-transform housing

Indeed, the energy transition doesn’t stand on its own, it is part of becoming a circular economy. It also requires to change the way stakeholders collaborate and  become a learning and co-creating society.

On Day Two, delegates visited the Cleantech Region in Apeldoorn. They heard about the way the Cleantech Region brings together different municipalities and entrepreneurs to support clean technological innovations, green growth and an energy neutral region by 2030.

One of the presentations on the entrepreneurs from the Cleantech Region showcased how tiny houses revolutionise the way people live and conceive space. Ministek is a company which creates hightech tiny houses, which rotate with the sun, are breathing and self sufficient constructions thanks to solar panels and green water purifying walls, and communicates with inhabitant via an app

The programme included also a visit to the EnergieFabriek, which produces gas and electricity from sewage with bacteria

Next steps will involve the exploration of peer to peer collaboration on green energy, waste management and green innovation between participating regions, via EU programmes and the AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change, which is chaired by Eva Hallström, Värmland (SE), who also participated to the study visit. The presentations from the visit are all available on the event webpage.

Follow up actions:

Have an idea for collaboration? A problem on which you would like other regions to provide advice? Contact us!

  • Regions can engage in peer-to-peer learning activities supported by the European Commission via the TAIEX-EIR programme

Regions can access the programme directly, the registartion is straitforward and applications which are specific enough can often be treated between 3-6 months

  • The Regional Business Conference, which will take place on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries, will bring together Chambers of Commerce of all over wider Europe, this is an opportunity to develop business partnerships on sustainable energy.

Regions which are interested to develop business partnerships and would like to partiipate in the Regional Business Conference in Vojvodina on 25-27 September 2018 should contact Sanja Shiflish

 

Featured picture by Christine Wevers: one of the wind turbines of the cooperative windpark in Nijmegen with the shareholders

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Committee 1 Annual Report June 2017 – May 2018

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The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developped and implemented within Committee 1 between the 2017 General Assembly in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) and the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

  • Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

The Silver Economy Awards aim to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards are an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society.

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels under the moral patronage from Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

SEED is a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018

  • ARLEM project – Capacity building for an integrated and sustainable urban development: planned

This is a joint project of the Committee of the Regions regional and local authorities focused on the Mediterranean. In this context, AER answered to the call of ARLEM – Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly in order to provide technical expertise and political support. AER expressed its interest to focus piloting actions in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco having already implemented several actions in these geographical areas.

This project aims to reinforce the capacities of local and regional authorities from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean both in terms of urban management and integrated urban development. AER will contribute in the capacity building activities as well as the organisation of regional conferences.

It is funded by the Finnish Development Agency and activities are planned for 2 years and six months

  • Citizens for Cohesion. 351 times closer to Europe: cancelled

Building on the work previously done by AER on cohesion policy, the regions of Catalonia (ES), South Ostrobothnia (FI), Trentino (IT) and West Slovenia, together with AER Cohesion Policy Task Force lead on a project on awareness raising. While the project received a very good evaluation it was not accepted.

  • Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation early 2017, we collaborated with ERRIN to stimulate project development. This resulted in the organisation of the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week.

  • Development of an environment project based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in progress

YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project. The AER Secretariat Project Unit will explore calls for projects if there is still interest in developping such a project.

  • MULTIPLE, MULTI-layer Governance PoLicy-making for the Environment: cancelled

MULTIPLE aimed to build an ecosystem of policy-support tools and methods for a more effective, efficient policy making in the field of environmental policies. Its aim was to support the entire policy cycle from issue identification to policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation by the use of open data systems. The project was not accepted.

  • Migrant Entrepreneur Support Scheme Against Gap of Economic System: cancelled

This project proposal aimed to share approaches and lessons learnt for migrant entrepreneurship support schemes. Migrant entrepreneurship had been raised in specific during the 2016 Spring plenary meetings in Timis. The proposal brought together public administrations, business support organizations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, educational institutions and other organisations active in the field across cities, regions and countries. The project was not accepted.

  • From local to global: Connecting the Dots in the EU’s 2030 energy transition: cancelled

The theme of this project proposal was to contribute to a coherent energy transition across the EU and support progress towards a low-carbon economy in light of the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets and policy framework. The consortium was led by EURACTIV.

The AER Secretariat collected letters of support from member regions: Abruzzo (IT), Catalonia (SP), Gelderland (NL), Trentino (IT). The aim was to highlight, compare and contrast Member States’ initiatives to achieve the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets, supporting the energy transition as well as the transition towards a competitive and low-carbon economy, by sharing information on best practice at the local level (regions, cities, towns) and the connection with global agreements. The project was submitted under the LIFE+ programme but was not accepted.

  • RAINBOW project – Raising Awareness INitiative for a Beautiful Open World: cancelled

RAINBOW aimed to transform the 2030 Agendas into policies and to launch concrete actions at local level, in order to improve the management of the territories, whilst continuing innovating and learning from one another. It focused on interdependencies between developing countries and the European Union, with focus on the neighbouring areas. ALDA was the initiator of the project. The project was not accepted

 

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

This Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy (FR) from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events featured a debate on culture in the digital age, a workshop on the value of data, a workshop on transport & mobility, a workshop on life-cycle approaches and the Committees Plenary meetings.

A discussion on Cohesion Policy and its advantages also took place in Nancy.

  • Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

The 2018 Spring Committees’ Plenaries took place in Arad (RO) on 20-22 March. The events featured a debate on innovation ecosystems, a workshop on integrated care systems, a lounge meeting on equal opportunities, a meeting of the working group on transports, a Breakfast Briefing on implementing democracy in regional policy making, a presentation of the social inclusion policies in Arad, a meeting of the Summer Academy Organising Committee and the Committees Plenary meetings.

The Committees’ Plenaries were an opportunity to develop the Committees’ work programmes.

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

AER was a partner of the Policy Learning Platform (PLP) which is the second action of the Interreg Europe programme established to boost EU-wide policy learning and capitalisation of practices from investments on growth and jobs. The Platform aims to be a space for continuous learning where regional actors in Europe can tap into the know-how of experts and peers. The PLP was present at the European Week of Regions and Cities (formerly Open Days).

  • Study visit on the Energy transition: finished

The main focus of the study visit, which took place from 17-19 April, was the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). This collaboration between local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, has pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society. See the event page.

  • Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy invited AER members to contribute to the organisation of a mtual learning event on artificial intelligence held in Brussels, on November 30th 2017. A debate at the Committee 1 Plenary meeting paved the way for this event. This event, “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge” was organised on the same format as the event “E-health let’s find a common language” which took place in December 2016 with the contribution of very diverse stakeholders. At the event, group discussions adressed the following topics:

  1. Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
  2. The Health Revolution
  3. Culture In a Digital World
  4. Skills and Competences: racing with machines
  5. AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

  • Follow up on photonics: finished

On the occasion of the Timis Spring Plenaries Professor Hugo Thienpont presented the ACTPHAST programme on photonics innovation for SMEs. The information and opportunities regarding this European programme were further disseminated via the AER website. The ACTPHAST programme for photonics. See the results as at September 2017.

  • Conference on biomass: finished

In London AER members agreed to collaborate for the organisation of a conference on Biomass in Vojvodina. The objective was to share practices and expert lectures to show the practical possibilities of production and usage of biomass in Europe, with a preview insight in the production in Vojvodina. The event also aimed to awaken the interest of individual agricultural farms, agricultural cooperatives and clusters and regional and local governments.

Partners this year were the OECD Mission in Serbia and the Central European Initiative, with expert lectures from representatives from World Bioenergy Association, State Ministries in Serbia, University in Novi Sad, the Environment Agency Austria, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and KfW (German government-owned development bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).

  • Cooperation with the World Sustainable Energy Day: finished

On the occasion of the AER Committees plenary meetings in London, members highlighted their interest in participating to the World Sustainable Energy Days in a meaningful way. A delegation of AER representatives from across Europe was able to attend the World Sustainable Energy days for free on behalf of AER.

  • Workshop on Public procurement for green innovation: finished

This workshop was advertised in the AER network by Oppland and was organised in the framework of the INTERREG Sweden-Norway the Bioeconomy Region project involving 4 AER members: Hedmark, Värmland, Østfold and Oppland. It aimed to address the following questions:
• How can innovative public procurement accelerate take-up of green technologies and stimulate innovation?
• How is innovative public procurement adopted in regional and local authorities to implement bioeconomy?
• How are public authorities cooperating with clusters, SMEs, industry and companies?
• What are the greatest challenges to implementing large scale innovative public procurement?
The AER Secretariat provided support with the identification of potential speakers and connected them with the organisers.

  • Supporting members to use the TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review : ongoing

The AER Secretariat is disseminating information about the TAIEX-EIR peer to peer learning programme and supporting members to use this programme to gain or provide knowledge on environmental policies on topics as diverse as air quality, waste management, water management, the circular economy. This programme which is relatively easy and quick to access is a good complement to activities carried out within AER and an opportunity to access support from the Commission to carry out exchanges with other regions.

  • Awareness raising on sustainable mobility: ongoing

AER is continuing to highlight regional good practices on sustainable mobility. In this context an AER article was published in the Autumn 2017 edition of Revolve Magazine.

AER Chair of the working group Martin Tollen contributed to the Smart Airports event in Germany

  • Meeting of the AER working group on transports and mobility in Nancy: finished

Good practices from the host region were  presented on smart mobility and policies aimed at supporting green innovation in the field of transports. Discussion about regulatory framework, challenges for regions and opportunities for cooperation

  • Digitalisation of transports: ongoing

Promote the digitalisation of transports networks both in urban and rural areas (see below as well)

  • Promotion of knowledge about innovative technologies in transports: ongoing

The sharing of knowledge is being carried out via:

–Workshop on the digitalisation of transports & information about the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), a milestone on the path towards cooperative, connected and automated mobility (COM(2016) 766)
–cooperation with Revolve Media to highlight regional good practices in the field of transport and provide visibility to active AER members
–contribution on new mobilities & artificial intelligence at the AER event on Nov 30th “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge?”
–New Mobility Services of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities & Communities: involvement in the European Innovation Partnership on Sustainable Cities and Communities: within the the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility, AER is involved in the New Mobility Services initiative. AER Chairman of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility, Martin Tollén attended the first meeting of this Action Cluster.

The New Mobility Services initiative is a cooperation between private and public partners (quadruple helix type of cooperation, brings together companies, NGOs, research centers & universities, and policy makers). The purpose is to establish strategic partnerships between industry and European cities & regions to develop the urban systems and infrastructures of tomorrow. It is mainly focused on urban mobility. It is open for all European regions and cities to join or to send their stakeholders

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

  • Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

Led by the region of Abruzzo, AER co-organised a climate side-event during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017.

  • Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Led by the SEED consortium. This workshop took participants through four inspiring examples of how a Silver Economy can help regions and cities to better match the needs of their ageing population while supporting local businesses and solution providers. It was the opportunity to discuss the complementarity between these examples and the initiatives at EU level. The networking session that followed brought together potential partners around issues related to the Silver Economy.

  • Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

 

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Building on AER’s role in advocating for a strong cohesion policy, and following the adoption of a position paper on the future of cohesion policy post 2020 at the Bureau meeting in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) on 1 June 2017, AER will continue to convene and deliver joint policy influencing work for the future cohesion policy by:

  • Holding regular debates on cohesion policy among members and between members and relevant stakeholders, such as the “Cohesion Policy: are you getting anything out of it?” debate during the AER Committees’ Autumn Plenary Meeting in Nancy on 12 September.
  • Gathering facts and figures on cohesion investments results and impact for a evidence-based advocacy.
  • Disseminating the AER position on future cohesion policy to key stakeholders and decision-makers in-country (in coordination with member regions) and in Brussels.
  • Working together with other European associations of regions, municipalities and cities and the Committee of the Regions to generate broader support for regions interests and policy proposals, including #CohesionAlliance created to demand that the EU budget after 2020 makes cohesion policy stronger, more effective, visible and available for every region in the European Union.

The Task Force on Cohesion Policy post 2020 will continue to support the work of AER in this field, providing strategic direction and oversight.

These actions aim to ensure European regions engage in the future cohesion policy discussions at regional, national and European level, and meaningfully contribute to the design and implementation of a stronger and more effective reformed policy.

Following the publication of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on May 2nd, AER’s reaction can be found here

  • AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

More than 40 academic experts accepted to give their contribution to this work, by delivering detailed reports about the state of regionalisation and multilevel governance in chosen European countries. The study covers 41 countries, and each country report is based on a similar structure, thereby allowing a comparative approach among all studied countries.

  • COP23 Local and Regional governments Leaders´ Summit: finished

AER was a partner to the Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leadersat the UN climate change conference (COP23) held from 6 to 17 November in Bonn, Germany, under the Presidency of Fiji. The event gathered more than 330 political leaders and 1000 delegates. At the Summit, local and regional leaders adopted the Bonn-Fiji Commitment to Deliver the Paris Agreement at All Levels, a pledge that signals their commitment to bring forward a critical shift in global development.

AER also contributed to a number of other events, including:
-8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, organised by UNEP and Climate Action.
-World Climate Summit 2017, organised by R20 and BlueOrchard, in collaboration with World Climate.
-Side Event
 “Mountains in motion: Climate Action in the Alps, the Carpathians and the Pyrenees”, co-organised by the Region of Abruzzo.

  • R20 Summit: finished

In presence of AER and R20 President, Magnus Berntsson, R20 founding chair, Arnold Schwarzenegger and all key people playing a part in climate change (private partners, NGOs, officials). R20 is a winning alliance for AER, but where do we stand?

  • Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negociations. AER is now providing members with privileged access to a training on the SOURCE system which allows stakeholders to access funding for their climate action.

  • 33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: finished

AER has a partnership status with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It sends high-level representatives to the meetings of the Congress and sits in the Chamber of Regions Bureau. On 19 October, the AER President, Magnus Berntsson, took part in the 33rd Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and addressed the Chamber of Regions during the debate on “Regional Co-operation and democracy in Europe: the role of European regional associations and organisations”. At the Session, the AER and the Congress expanded their existing collaboration by signing a Joint Action Plan for 2018-2020. The document reiterates the commitment to work together on various issues of mutual interest, notably regional democracy, youth participation and cultural diversity.

  • ERDF Funding for Regional Airports & State Aid for regional airports: ongoing

AER members get regular updates from the Working Group on transports and mobility’s Regional Airports expert Roger Estefors at meetings of the group. The Nancy meeting featured an update on the topic too.

  • Sustainable biofuels: finished

AER member regions have been exchanging experiences on the topic of sustainable energy for many years and developped different projects on the topic, such as for instance the MORE4NRG and R4GG projects or the global engagement with the R20

The region of Oppland is very active in AER on the topics of energy and the circular economy. In 2016 the YRN Spring Plenary was hosted by Oppland and delegates visited a recycling plant which produces biogas was also featured in the Autumn 2017 edition of Revolve Magazine as an outstanding regional good practice.
Description of the action. The region of Oppland proposed to exchange experiences on the topic of 2nd generation sustainable biofuels, for example from waste and forest resources.

  • Legislation on biogas: finished

The AER secretariat connected regions which were interested in initiating a lobbying action. Regions had diverging priorities, the connection therefore did not result in a joint action.

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Committee 1 Progress Report Spring 2018

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme. Progress is evaluated, achievements are celebrated and experiences shared.

Evaluating progress

During the elaboration of the work programme in London, planned activities were organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the Spring 2018 plenary meeting in Arad. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme. The 2018 Committee 1 work programme will be jointly developed and adopted on March 21st at the Committee 1 Plenary meeting. Activities which are still ongoing will be integrated in the 2018 work programme too if still relevant for the Committee.

Projects

  • Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

The Silver Economy Awards aim to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards are an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society.

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony will be on May 2018 in Brussels.

SEED is a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018

  • ARLEM project – Capacity building for an integrated and sustainable urban development: planned

This is a joint project of the Committee of the Regions regional and local authorities focused on the Mediterranean. In this context, AER answered to the call of ARLEM – Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly in order to provide technical expertise and political support. AER expressed its interest to focus piloting actions in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco having already implemented several actions in these geographical areas.

This project aims to reinforce the capacities of local and regional authorities from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean both in terms of urban management and integrated urban development. AER will contribute in the capacity building activities as well as the organisation of regional conferences.

It is funded by the Finnish Development Agency and activities are planned for 2 years and six months

  • Citizens for Cohesion. 351 times closer to Europe: cancelled

Building on the work previously done by AER on cohesion policy (l), the regions of Catalonia (ES), South Ostrobothnia (FI), Trentino (IT) and West Slovenia, together with AER Cohesion Policy Task Force lead on a project on awareness raising. While the project received a very good evaluation it was not accepted.

  • Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation early 2017, we collaborated with ERRIN to stimulate project development. This resulted in the organisation of the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week.

  • Development of an environment project based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in progress

YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project. The AER Secretariat Project Unit will explore calls for projects if there is still interest in developping such a project.

  • MULTIPLE, MULTI-layer Governance PoLicy-making for the Environment: cancelled

MULTIPLE aimed to build an ecosystem of policy-support tools and methods for a more effective, efficient policy making in the field of environmental policies. Its aim was to support the entire policy cycle from issue identification to policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation by the use of open data systems. The project was not accepted.

  • Migrant Entrepreneur Support Scheme Against Gap of Economic System: cancelled

This project proposal aimed to share approaches and lessons learnt for migrant entrepreneurship support schemes. Migrant entrepreneurship had been raised in specific during the 2016 Spring plenary meetings in Timis. The proposal brought together public administrations, business support organizations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, educational institutions and other organisations active in the field across cities, regions and countries. The project was not accepted.

  • From local to global: Connecting the Dots in the EU’s 2030 energy transition: cancelled

The theme of this project proposal was to contribute to a coherent energy transition across the EU and support progress towards a low-carbon economy in light of the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets and policy framework. The consortium was led by EURACTIV.

The AER Secretariat collected letters of support from member regions: Abruzzo (IT), Catalonia (SP), Gelderland (NL), Trentino (IT). The aim was to highlight, compare and contrast Member States’ initiatives to achieve the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets, supporting the energy transition as well as the transition towards a competitive and low-carbon economy, by sharing information on best practice at the local level (regions, cities, towns) and the connection with global agreements. The project was submitted under the LIFE+ programme but was not accepted.

  • RAINBOW project – Raising Awareness INitiative for a Beautiful Open World: cancelled

RAINBOW aimed to transform the 2030 Agendas into policies and to launch concrete actions at local level, in order to improve the management of the territories, whilst continuing innovating and learning from one another. It focused on interdependencies between developing countries and the European Union, with focus on the neighbouring areas. ALDA was the initiator of the project. The project was not accepted

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

This Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy, France, from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events will feature a debate on culture in the digital age, a workshop on the value of data, a workshop on transport & mobility, a workshop on life-cycle approaches and the Committees Plenary meetings.

A discussion on Cohesion Policy and its advantages also took place in Nancy.

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

AER was a partner of the Policy Learning Platform (PLP) which is the second action of the Interreg Europe programme established to boost EU-wide policy learning and capitalisation of practices from investments on growth and jobs. The Platform aims to be a space for continuous learning where regional actors in Europe can tap into the know-how of experts and peers. The PLP was present at the European Week of Regions and Cities (formerly Open Days).

  • Study visit on the Energy transition: planned

The main focus of the study visit, which will take place from 17-19 April, will be the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). This collaboration between local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, has pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society. See the event page.

  • Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy invited AER members to contribute to the organisation of a mtual learning event on artificial intelligence held in Brussels, on November 30th 2017. A debate at the Committee 1 Plenary meeting paved the way for this event. This event, “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge” was organised on the same format as the event “E-health let’s find a common language” which took place in December 2016 with the contribution of very diverse stakeholders. At the event, group discussions adressed the following topics:

  1. Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
  2. The Health Revolution
  3. Culture In a Digital World
  4. Skills and Competences: racing with machines
  5. AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

  • Follow up on photonics: finished

On the occasion of the Timis Spring Plenaries Professor Hugo Thienpont presented the ACTPHAST programme on photonics innovation for SMEs. The information and opportunities regarding this European programme were further disseminated via the AER website. The ACTPHAST programme for photonics. See the results as at September 2017.

  • Conference on biomass: finished

In London AER members agreed to collaborate for the organisation of a conference on Biomass in Vojvodina. The objective was to share practices and expert lectures to show the practical possibilities of production and usage of biomass in Europe, with a preview insight in the production in Vojvodina. The event also aimed to awaken the interest of individual agricultural farms, agricultural cooperatives and clusters and regional and local governments.

Partners this year were the OECD Mission in Serbia and the Central European Initiative, with expert lectures from representatives from World Bioenergy Association, State Ministries in Serbia, University in Novi Sad, the Environment Agency Austria, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and KfW (German government-owned development bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).

  • Cooperation with the World Sustainable Energy Day: finished

On the occasion of the AER Committees plenary meetings in London, members highlighted their interest in participating to the World Sustainable Energy Days in a meaningful way. A delegation of AER representatives from across Europe was able to attend the World Sustainable Energy days for free on behalf of AER.

  • Workshop on Public procurement for green innovation: finished

This workshop was advertised in the AER network by Oppland and was organised in the framework of the INTERREG Sweden-Norway the Bioeconomy Region project involving 4 AER members: Hedmark, Värmland, Østfold and Oppland. It aimed to address the following questions:
• How can innovative public procurement accelerate take-up of green technologies and stimulate innovation?
• How is innovative public procurement adopted in regional and local authorities to implement bioeconomy?
• How are public authorities cooperating with clusters, SMEs, industry and companies?
• What are the greatest challenges to implementing large scale innovative public procurement?
The AER Secretariat provided support with the identification of potential speakers and connected them with the organisers.

  • Supporting members to use the TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review : ongoing

The AER Secretariat is disseminating information about the TAIEX-EIR peer to peer learning programme and supporting members to use this programme to gain or provide knowledge on environmental policies on topics as diverse as air quality, waste management, water management, the circular economy. This programme which is relatively easy and quick to access is a good complement to activities carried out within AER and an opportunity to access support from the Commission to carry out exchnages with other regions.

  • AER event on EFSI: finished

AER organised a conference on sustainable financing for regions, which presented political issues related to impact investments, green investments and long term investments. These strategic aspects of regional development are not mere tools but are part of a regional development plan, which looks at private funding to leverage public resources.  AER series on investments – Episode 1, AER series on investments – Episode 2

  • Nudging: finished

The “Towards New Urban Mobility” paper presented on the occasion of the AER Breakfast Briefing on Urban mobility in London adresses the ways in which policies are set up to change behaviour. This report argues that policy interventions sensitive to group attitudes are more likely to result in behavioural change towards transport alternatives. This includes understanding which transport alternatives are more acceptable to each group and how best to target communication.

  • Awareness raising on sustainable mobility: ongoing

AER is continuing to highlight regional good practices on sustainable mobility. In this context an AER article was published in the Autumn 2017 edition of Revolve Magazine.

AER Chair of the working group Martin Tollen contributed to the Smart Airports event in Germany

  • Meeting of the AER working group on transports and mobility in Nancy: finished

Good practices from the host region were  presented on smart mobility and policies aimed at supporting green innovation in the field of transports. Discussion about regulatory framework, challenges for regions and opportunities for cooperation

  • Digitalisation of transports: ongoing

Promote the digitalisation of transports networks both in urban and rural areas (see below as well)

  • Promotion of knowledge about innovative technologies: ongoing

The sharing of knowledge is being carried out via:

–Workshop on the digitalisation of transports & information about the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), a milestone on the path towards cooperative, connected and automated mobility (COM(2016) 766)
–cooperation with Revolve Media to highlight regional good practices in the field of transport and provide visibility to active AER members
–contribution on new mobilities & artificial intelligence at the AER event on Nov 30th “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge?”
–New Mobility Services of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities & Communities: involvement in the European Innovation Partnership on Sustainable Cities and Communities: within the New Mobility Services initiative, AER is involved in the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility. AER Chairman of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility, Martin Tollén attended the first meeting of this Action Cluster.

The New Mobility Services initiative is a cooperation between private and public partners (quadruple helix type of cooperation, brings together companies, NGOs, research centers & universities, and policy makers). The purpose is to establish strategic partnerships between industry and European cities & regions to develop the urban systems and infrastructures of tomorrow. It is mainly focused on urban mobility. It is open for all European regions and cities to join or to send their stakeholders

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

  • Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

Led by the region of Abruzzo, AER co-organised a climate side-event during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017.

  • Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Led by the SEED consortium. This workshop took participants through four inspiring examples of how a Silver Economy can help regions and cities to better match the needs of their ageing population while supporting local businesses and solution providers. It was the opportunity to discuss the complementarity between these examples and the initiatives at EU level. The networking session that followed brought together potential partners around issues related to the Silver Economy.

  • Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Building on AER’s role in advocating for a strong cohesion policy, and following the adoption of a position paper on the future of cohesion policy post 2020 at the Bureau meeting in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) on 1 June 2017, AER will continue to convene and deliver joint policy influencing work for the future cohesion policy by:

  • Holding regular debates on cohesion policy among members and between members and relevant stakeholders, such as the “Cohesion Policy: are you getting anything out of it?” debate during the AER Committees’ Autumn Plenary Meeting in Nancy on 12 September.
  • Gathering facts and figures on cohesion investments results and impact for a evidence-based advocacy.
  • Disseminating the AER position on future cohesion policy to key stakeholders and decision-makers in-country (in coordination with member regions) and in Brussels.
  • Working together with other European associations of regions, municipalities and cities and the Committee of the Regions to generate broader support for regions interests and policy proposals, including #CohesionAlliance created to demand that the EU budget after 2020 makes cohesion policy stronger, more effective, visible and available for every region in the European Union.

The Task Force on Cohesion Policy post 2020 will continue to support the work of AER in this field, providing strategic direction and oversight.

These actions aim to ensure European regions engage in the future cohesion policy discussions at regional, national and European level, and meaningfully contribute to the design and implementation of a stronger and more effective reformed policy.

  • AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

More than 40 academic experts accepted to give their contribution to this work, by delivering detailed reports about the state of regionalisation and multilevel governance in chosen European countries. The study covers 41 countries, and each country report is based on a similar structure, thereby allowing a comparative approach among all studied countries.

  • COP23 Local and Regional governments Leaders´ Summit: finished

AER was a partner to the Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leadersat the UN climate change conference (COP23) held from 6 to 17 November in Bonn, Germany, under the Presidency of Fiji. The event gathered more than 330 political leaders and 1000 delegates. At the Summit, local and regional leaders adopted the Bonn-Fiji Commitment to Deliver the Paris Agreement at All Levels, a pledge that signals their commitment to bring forward a critical shift in global development.

AER also contributed to a number of other events, including:
-8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, organised by UNEP and Climate Action.
-World Climate Summit 2017, organised by R20 and BlueOrchard, in collaboration with World Climate.
-Side Event
 “Mountains in motion: Climate Action in the Alps, the Carpathians and the Pyrenees”, co-organised by the Region of Abruzzo.

  • R20 Summit: finished

In presence of AER and R20 President, Magnus Berntsson, R20 founding chair, Arnold Schwarzenegger and all key people playing a part in climate change (private partners, NGOs, officials). R20 is a winning alliance for AER, but where do we stand?

  • Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negociations. AER is now providing members with privileged access to a training on the SOURCE system which allows stakeholders to access funding for their climate action.

  • 33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: finished

AER has a partnership status with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It sends high-level representatives to the meetings of the Congress and sits in the Chamber of Regions Bureau. On 19 October, the AER President, Magnus Berntsson, took part in the 33rd Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and addressed the Chamber of Regions during the debate on “Regional Co-operation and democracy in Europe: the role of European regional associations and organisations”. At the Session, the AER and the Congress expanded their existing collaboration by signing a Joint Action Plan for 2018-2020. The document reiterates the commitment to work together on various issues of mutual interest, notably regional democracy, youth participation and cultural diversity.

  • ERDF Funding for Regional Airports & State Aid for regional airports: ongoing

AER members get regular updates from the Working Group on transports and mobility’s Regional Airports expert Roger Estefors at meetings of the group. The Nancy meeting will feature an update on the topic too.

  • Sustainable biofuels: finished

AER member regions have been exchanging experiences on the topic of sustainable energy for many years and developped different projects on the topic, such as for instance the MORE4NRG and R4GG projects or the global engagement with the R20

The region of Oppland is very active in AER on the topics of energy and the circular economy. In 2016 the YRN Spring Plenary was hosted by Oppland and delegates visited a recycling plant which produces biogas was also featured in the Autumn 2017 edition of Revolve Magazine as an outstanding regional good practice.
Description of the action. The region of Oppland proposed to exchange experiences on the topic of 2nd generation sustainable biofuels, for example from waste and forest resources.

  • Legislation on biogas: finished

The AER secretariat connected regions which were interested in initiating a lobbying action. Regions had diverging priorities, the connection therefore did not result in a joint action.

 

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The essential guide to contributing to the work programmes

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Spring is work programme definition season at AER! On the occasion of the Spring Plenary meetings in Arad, members of the three thematic Committees will decide what they would like to do together and how they will leverage regional initiatives via the network. The below elements will help you make the most of this opportunity.

Rule nº1: everything is possible

The main idea is the following: if you want to carry out something within the network, just do it! Any idea is welcome!

The actions members can implement via the committees are diverse: project development, organisation of a workshop, seminar, international conference, study visit, brokerage event, breakfast briefing, webinar, collection of good practices, elaboration of a political report based on the experience of regions etc.

To have it included in the work programme, members should:

  1. Share their idea in the relevant Committee plenary meeting. This will be done in workshop style (see below). Members should explain what they would like to do and how they would like to implement their action.
  2. Explain how other regions will benefit: visibility? contacts? new collaborations? benefits for other regional stakeholders…
  3. Explicit what support they would need from other regions: speakers? Ideas? Partners for a project? Contacts to a specific stakeholder? Support for an advocacy action? Advice…
  4. Agree with other members on upcoming steps and be specific!

Rule nº2: everything is possible

The topics addressed in the three AER Committees are the following topics:

  1. Economy and regional development
  2. Social policy and public health
  3. Culture, education and youth

Because these topics are rather broad, many policy areas can be addressed within the different Committees. The topics which have been addressed recently give an idea of what is possible but shouldn’t be considered as a limit. As long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes.

Committee 1 works on issues covering innovation, economic development and SMEs, Cohesion Policy, transport and mobility, renewable energies and rural development. For the past year, there has been a strong focus on supporting the collaboration of regional innovation stakeholders. Members in partiular discussed the implications of the rise of artificial intelligence, on regional policy making. Long term investments and green investments are also high on the Committee 1 agenda as illustrated by the collaboration with the R20.

Committee 2 is supporting members in implementing e-Health services and exploring the potential of integrated care. It aims at building leadership on change management and innovation in the public sector. Active ageing is a major topic, especially for cooperation at EU level. Inclusion is also a key topics. Committee 2 members have started to collaborate with Committee 3 on the topic on youth mental health, exploring the possibilities for project development and sharing good practice.

Committee 3 focuses on culture, education and youth policies. The Committee has been particularly active in the fight against school drop-out. This resulted in the implementation of an ERASMUS+ interregional project to share good practices and improve regional policies for youth inclusion and empowerment and the publication of a handbook with good practices. Committee 3 furthermore shared regional good practices in the field of culture for inclusion and cultural heritage.

How this will be done

As with the London Spring Plenaries, Participants will be seated around round tables, where each table will work around one topic (or set of related topics). They will share their own ideas & develop jointly actions on the different topics the Committees are working on.

The 3 plenary meetings will be held separately and consecutively so that members are able to participate in all meetings, allowing for synergies & cooperation between Committees.

Members of the AER Youth Regional Network, the Summer Academy and the Eurodyssey programmes are invited to join the process as well so that they can provide ideas on how their work could integrate and feed the work of the committees.

At the end of the session the different actions will be brought together on a flip-chart and organised according to the 3 main categories:

  • Advocacy/ Lobbying
  • Projects
  • Good practice exchange

This document will then be adopted as the Committee’s action plan.

How to prepare?

In order to get involved AER members can

  • identify the needs they have in their region which could be addressed via the AER network
  • liaise with their colleagues from other regional departments to identify needs
  • define an activity they would like to carry out in the Committees
  • think about how other members could contribute and benefit from this activity
  • Join the AER Committees online community in order to already share and test ideas with other members
  • think how they can support other members who have suggested joint actions

What is a Committee?

The AER Committees are the backbone of the network’s activity. They are the place where knowledge and experience exchange happen and where new collaborations are shaped. To this end Committee members meet at least twice a year on the occasion of their Spring and Autumn plenaries. Workshops are organised along with the statutory meetings in order to dig deeper in specific topics and identify areas for policy innovation. Through experience sharing, including both good and bad practices, AER members engage in mutual learning. Whenever a need arises for focused cooperation on a topic, specific projects are set-up, to ensure the experience exchange will be sustainable and co-funded.

 

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Learn how to better Decarbonise your Energy Systems

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By virtue of its relationship with Heat Roadmap Europe (HRE) which began at the COP23, AER would like to invite its member regions to attend a workshop on “unlocking the decarbonising potential in heating and cooling”. Heating and cooling systems are at the forefront of energy policy-making at all levels of government. In improving the efficiency and sustainability of heating and cooling systems, regions stand to reduce energy costs and emissions while increasing their energy security.

The workshop will provide scientific evidence for different decarbonisation pathways in Europe through presentations on scenario building and energy system analysis. By outlining multiple future pathways in the energy transition through scenario building, attendees will gain a better understanding of the role different technologies can play in each pathway. Scenario building will also give an overview of the costs and benefits of the EU energy system in different situations.

The workshop will take place on Friday March 16th from 08:45 to 14:00 at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam (NL). The workshop’s agenda can be accessed here. Contact Noah Conrad ([email protected]) should you wish to participate.

A Range of Tools from HRE

For those unable to attend the workshop, HRE is holding a series of webinars of various topics from March to December with a summer break in the middle. The free webinars are held once every two weeks and can be accessed using an internet browser. Topics include: energy savings potentials in buildings and the importance of low-temperature heat demands, and current and future cooling demands.

While the decarbonisation of heating and cooling systems are a hot topic in Europe, data enabling and facilitating tools are rarely available for free. With the results from HRE’s Pan-European Thermal Atlas,  regions can receive assistance in the assessment of heating and cooling demands, and efficiency and supply across European regions. Their latest publication, Peta4 supplies regions with specific heating and cooling demand data for infrastructure development costs, and pinpoints the location of renewable energy and excess heat sources. It also helps identify potential Heat Synergy Regions in order to accelerate modern district heating and cooling solutions.

Heat Roadmap Europe 4 (HRE4) is a Horizon 2020 funded research project, with a consortium of 23 partners. Its aim is to study the heating and cooling sectors in Europe by quantifying the effects of increased energy efficiency on supply and demand in terms of energy consumption, and environmental impacts and costs. HRE4 combines thermal mapping and energy system analysis to show the impact that heating and cooling has on energy systems.

 

Photo Credits: Peter Hessels, Flickr

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Improving Capacity to Implement Environmental Policy: Peer 2 Peer Study Visits

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Announcing EIR

For years, AER members have been making strides in achieving sustainable development and pursuing progressive environmental policies. To equip regions with the knowledge needed to implement the EU’s environmental standards and regulations, AER has put together numerous events and tools. Along the way, members have consistently expressed interest in exchanging knowledge and best practices. Now with the European Commission’s new program, the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), bringing regions together to learn from one another will be easier than ever. Designed to improve the implementation of EU environmental law and policy, EIR is a natural extension of the TAIEX Instrument, a peer-to-peer exchange tool which draws on a database of public experts.

How it Works

With EIR EU member states can take part in expert missions, study visits, and workshops. Expert missions allow experts to be sent to institutions in other member states who have requested peer advice on a specific topic. A typical mission lasts between two to five days. Study visits involve employees from a requesting institution going on a working visit to other EU member state institutions to learn from their peers. Study visits also last between two to five days. Workshops (single or multi-country) can be organised in a requesting institution. These are shorter events, lasting two days.

These services are designed for people in charge of implementing environmental legislation at the national, the regional or the local level, as long as they are public or semi public bodies

For those interested in filing a request, it is important to check the EIR’s NL country reports first. These reports identify the main implementation gaps in environmental legislation and policy in each EU member state and outline successful practices that others can use, which will help identify regions where study visits will prove most useful.

Fields of Application

The EIR has identified the most pressing implementation gaps in member states and is accepting applications relating to these fields which are outlined below.

  1.  Transitioning the EU towards a circular, resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy. For this area the EIR is accepting applications which seek to: develop a circular economy and improve resource efficiency, and improve waste management. 
  2. Protecting, conserving, and enhancing natural capital. Under this field the EIR is accepting applications which seek to protect and conserve nature and biodiversity, estimate natural capital, improve and build green infrastructure, protect soil, and protect marine areas.
  3. Ensuring citizens’ health and quality of life. For this priority area fields of application include: improving air quality, reducing noise, improve water quantity and management, enhancing the sustainability of cities, and implementing international agreements.
  4. Market based instruments and investment, green taxation and environmentally harmful subsidies. Under this field, the EIR is accepting applications for green public procurement, and investments (the contribution of EU funds).
  5. Effective Governance and Knowledge. For this priority area, the EIR is accepting applications which seek to: enhance effective governance within central, regional, and local governments, ensure, increase public participation and access to justice, and increase the people’s access to information and knowledge.

Practical Information

The EIR program both arranges and covers the cost of travel, accommodations, and per diems for eligible participants, which are EU member states. Although the working language of the program is English, translations are provided when necessary and arranged prior to the event. Applications can easily be submitted online and are processed swiftly. They are available here and can be accessed in 23 different languages. To request a service, you must enter your email address here. When you have completed this step, you will receive an email with a link. When you have opened the link, you must chose the EIR peer 2 peer option.

The time between the request and implementation of a service is currently between depending on the quality of the application. Strong applications clearly identify the applicant’s needs, and the potential experts or good practices outside the region which the region wishes to benefit from.

Regions are able to suggest the name of the regions they would like to work with. If regions would like support identifying other regions they are most likely to benefit from working with, AER encourages them to contact the AER secretariat who will be happy to assist them.

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Interreg NWE Project Ideas Lab: call for registration

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The Interreg North West Europe organises a transnational Project Ideas Lab on the 28th of February in London!

This event is specifically aimed at prospective applicants and will be structured around giving participants the floor to network, find new partners and develop project ideas. The NWE team will also share examples of successfully funded projects and explain  in-depth the programme’s priorities for funding.

The countries target by the Interreg NWE are: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and parts of France, Germany and the Netherlands.

This is the perfect occasion for applicants to get some help in developing their project idea making sure to be ready for the upcoming  call for project proposals (deadline on 26 April 2018).

Participation is free, but registration is mandatory,  therefore register now! The deadline for registrations is Wednesday, 14th February.

 For more information, please visit the event page.

How to get the most out of the Project Ideas Lab?

Start exchanging with other participants, scout potential partners, and give your project idea more visibility through the  Project Ideas Lab group on Linkedin.  

You can also submit your project idea and share it on the dedicated project ideas database.

 Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

Articles by Agnese

  • EU funding
  • Calls for projects and tenders
  • Partner search

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New Horizon 2020 calls committed to the SDGs and the Paris Agreement

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On 8 and 9 November 2017, the EU Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) launched in the European Commission’s Charlemagne building an Information Day and brokerage event targeting potential applicants to the 2018 calls for project proposals under the Horizon 2020 Challenge 5 “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials”.

Allison Imrie, from the EC – DG Research and Innovation, gave an insight into the new Work Programme for 2018-2020 which focuses on moving to a greener, more resource efficient and climate-resilient economy in sync with the natural environment, demonstrating a strong commitment to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the targets of the COP21 Paris Agreement.

Outline

The Societal Challenge 5 Work Programme –aimed at increasing European competitiveness, raw materials security and improve wellbeing while ensuring environmental integrity, resilience and sustainability– is therefore structured around two multi-annual calls: “Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: climate action in support of the Paris Agreement” and “Greening the economy in line with the SDGs”.

The work programme lays down the following 6 priorities:

  • climate action in support of the Paris Agreement;
  • circular economy;
  • raw materials;
  • water for our environment, economy and society;
  • innovating cities for sustainability and resilience; and
  • protecting and leveraging the value of our natural and cultural assets, which includes Earth observation, nature-based solutions, disaster risk reduction and natural capital accounting, and heritage alive.

The total indicative budget for the 2018-2020 programme is €1.1 bn.

Targeted calls

Following the introduction conference, the thematic sessions on November 9th meet the Societal Challenge 5 objective to achieve a resource –and water– efficient and climate change resilient economy, the protection and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems –including also the preservation of cultural heritage– and a sustainable supply and use of raw materials, given the needs of a growing global population and the limited availability of natural resources.

In accordance with the 2017/2018 Action Plan adopted at the General Assembly in Sankt Pölten (AT), which also sets out action lines on topics like climate change, raw materials and the circular economy or cultural heritage, the AER Secretariat would like to draw the attention on the following specific calls:

  1. “Supporting the development of climate policies to deliver on the Paris Agreement, through Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs)”.
  2. “Climate change impacts in Europe”.
  3. “Raw materials innovation for the circular economy: sustainable processing, reuse, recycling and recovery schemes”.
  4. “Raw materials policy support actions for the circular economy”
  5. “Strengthening international cooperation on sustainable urbanisation: nature-based solutions for restoration and rehabilitation of urban ecosystems”
  6. “Valuing nature: mainstreaming natural capital in policies and in business decision-making”
  7. “International network to promote cultural heritage innovation and diplomacy”
  8. “Resilience and sustainable reconstruction of historic areas to cope with climate change and hazard events”

If you wish to check the full list of calls for proposals, please just click here.

Regions on board!

Should  your region be interested in any of the 2018 calls under Horizon 2020, the AER Project Team would be more than eager to help you develop a concrete proposal, build a consortium as well as go through the application process.

The 2018 calls are open from November 7th of 2017 and the first call deadline is set on February 27th of 2018.

Contact

Photo credits: @pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/glass-ball-autumn-tree-gnarled-1813707/ @EASME https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/2017-information-day

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#ShineBright Promoting sustainability, taste & equality in Jämtand & Härjedalen

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On the occasion of this year Regional Innovation Award on Circular Economy, ShineBright on the regions of Jämtand and Härjedalen in Sweden that presented their project Food In Action.

The initiative aims at creating successful, sustainable concepts, experiences and brands within the field of sustainable, creative gastronomy. It promotes new ways to grow, serve and enjoy food.  Its moto: GOOD FOOD revolves around 3 key words: sustainable, taste and equality. Food In Action believes that these 3 ingredients are the perfect recipe of regional force for sustainable growth!

FIA collaborates with all sectors and across cultures to promote equality, trust and raise awareness to design profitable ecosystems. The programme aspire to a true green, social, cultural and local economic development.

Food In Action founded eco and sustainable restaurants, new kitchen concepts, an organic tea company, an eco-friendly house and various cultural tools. It also helps organise education and training trips for foodies or professionals in the gastronomy field for a unique experience in the Nordic countries or abroad.

For more information visit Food In Action! 

 

The next Regional Innovation Award will take place in 2018 and will be dedicated to the Silver Economy in the context of AER SEED project.

 

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DG Regio supports innovation and industrial transition

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Innovation and industrial transition are almost obvious topics on the agenda for all levels of authorities. AER, as a network of regions, has shaped those categories in different ways. AER regions were active on energy transition and circular economy since a long time now as e-health and active ageing.

The European Commission is fully engaged in supporting regions to build resilient economies. The way adopted is that of smart specialisation, introduced in all regional policy programmes since 2014. The aim is to improve the way regions design, adopt and implement regional innovation strategies in close coordination with local businesses and researchers.

The two calls for expression of interest for pilot projects will support all the five steps of the smart specialisation process: embracing innovation, digitalisation and decarbonisation, more people with more skills and making an easy way for investments.

Call 1: Tailored support for regions facing industrial transition

Some regions have been bearing the costs of globalisation without yet reaping its benefits. Often they suffered substantial job losses and can suffer from a lack of appropriate skills, high labour costs and deindustrialisation.

This call especially targets “transition” and “more-developed” regions. “Transition” regions have a GDP between 75% and 90% of the EU average. The “more-developed” regions’ GDP per head are over 90% of the EU average.

Five regions will be shortlisted. Depending on the level of interest, the Commission may repeat the call to shortlist Five more regions, with a new and similar budget.

Once selected, the call gives access to different services:

1) Tailored assistance from Commission experts from several Commission departments. They will help regions draw up regional economic transformation strategies. Depending on specific regional needs and assets, the Commission will hire external experts to support the work of the regions. The budget for each selected region is € 200.000,00 for this action.

2) Additional support from the European observatory for clusters and industrial change to help regions build cluster policies and link better local firms, research centres and academia.

3) The support the early implementation of the regional economic transformation strategies with specific funding.

Call 2: Interregional partnerships to develop competitive European value chains

This second call focuses on the commercialisation and scaling-up “bankable” interregional projects in priority sectors such as big data, bioeconomy, resource efficiency, connected mobility, health and active ageing or cybersecurity.

For this second call, five to ten selected partnerships will benefit from tailored support by special teams established within the Commission, involving experts from several thematic departments and external experts.

A total of €1 million from the ERDF will support the development of these partnerships.

Both calls have the same deadline. Regions interested in those calls have to send the application by the 31st October 2017.

If your region is interested to have more information or to prepare the application, the AER Project Team can support you. Please, be in contact with Mr. Luca Magri at his email address [email protected] , or call the AER secretariat at the +32 (0)2 400 10 53.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

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#ShineBright Västerbotten’ sustainable & innovative social development

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On the Occasion of the Regional Innovation Award on Circular Economy, ShineBright on the region of Västerbotten, in Sweden that presented its project The Innovation Loop – an ecosystem for Open Social Innovation.

The main purpose is to create the best possible atmosphere and excellent opportunities for ideas and innovation to flourish.

The Innovation Loop is designed to create sustainable regional social development. It is an open platform that wants to engage every sector of society – students, politicians, scientists, seniors, entrepreneurs, etc;-. – and give them the opportunity to be the change they want to see in the world. The process is then simple to adapt for both national and international regions, communities and organisations.

The initiative, led by citizens, takes part in concrete actions. Frequent meetings are organised to share public/private innovation and creativity.

The process mainly identifies current needs among the public. Once settled, the Innovation loop translates their needs into sustainable and innovative concepts and prototypes. The process finally leads to smart services, products and methods serving the entire community’s interests, private individuals, companies, organisations and the public sector.

Continual development of the program itself is part of the Innovation Loop’s with constant addition of new partners and individuals. Adding their experience and skills transforms and improves the methodology. Online platforms enable continual idea and innovation activities, the exchange of know-how and good practices across national and organizational borders. More importantly it aims to include recent immigrants in innovation efforts.

Circular economy is a recurrent Innovation Loop theme, so far leading to more than four concepts and initiatives. This has led to a collaboration with Region Jämtland/Härjedalen in an innovation initiative that unites Region Västerbotten, Region Jämtland/Härjedalen, Sör-Tröndelag and Nordland in Norway with Österbotten in Finland and which focuses on the circular economy and digitalisation.

The process involves dozens of new companies and organisation every year who join the co-creative innovation endeavours. In addition to this, around 500 private individuals.

For more information check out the Innovation Loop website ! You can also watch the  OSIRIS project movie  for insight and comments on the Innovation Loop on the Västerbotten Region Youtube Channel !

 

The next Regional Innovation Award will take place in 2018 and will be dedicated to the Silver Economy in the context of AER SEED project.

 

Photo credits: Jon Flobrant @Unsplash  https://unsplash.com/@jonflobrant

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#ShineBright Sustainable cities in Timis

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On the Occasion of the Regional Innovation Award on Circular Economy, ShineBright on the region of Timis, in Romania that presented its project on Urbanize Hub.

The start-up, Urbanize Hub, is an online platform built around the idea of urban development and oriented towards the study and promotion of sustainable future cities.

The initiative is covering the following topics:

  • Urban Regeneration: housing, inclusion, architecture and design, civil society actions,
  • Future Cities: technology and innovation, green cities,
  • Community Ideas & Opinions: a space for experts in the field to contribute with ideas and solutions for cities,
  • Projects & Cities: example of good practice for others
  • Renewable Energy: how it can be used practically and creatively to make a city more sustainable,
  • Waste Management
  • Circular Economy

It aims to involve experts, public administration, designers, architects, civil society activists, urban artists, academics or simply urban enthusiasts. The project intends to build a global network for urban development, using communication and advertisement to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable development for cities.

For more information check out Urbanize Hub!

 

The next Regional Innovation Award will take place in 2018 and will be dedicated to the Silver Economy in the context of AER SEED project.

 

Photo credits: Corina Ardeleanu @Unsplash at https://unsplash.com/@corina

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#ShineBright Brussels Region’s shift to circular economy

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On the Occasion of the Regional Innovation Award on Circular Economy, ShineBright on the Brussels Region, in Belgium that presented its Program for a Circular Economy (BRPCE).

On the initiative of 3 regional Ministries he Brussels Region has adopted in March 2016 a global strategy for moving from a linear to a circular economy: The Brussels Regional Program for a Circular Economy (BRPCE).

In terms of circular economy, the Brussels region faces tremendous challenges as revealed in a recent study :

  • 9 million tons of resources imported every year (22kg/inhabitant/day)
  • 7 million tons of resources exported per year (16kg/inhabitant/day)
  • 1,3 million tons of waste are exported/year (average of 2kg/habitant/day).

This BRPCE is an integrated strategy englobing 111 measures covering both transversal, governance, territorial and sectorial topics for delivering circular patterns at city level. It’s the first bottom-up initiative of this size implicating 3 different regional ministries, 15 different administrations, advisory committee and about 60 stakeholders (public and private).

The BRPCE pushes forward 3 main objectives :

  • To transform environmental objectives in economic opportunities
  • To anchor economic activities within Brussels boundaries. This in order to maximize resources circularity while boosting entrepreneurship
  • To create new employment opportunities

The BRPCE directly support the 2025 Strategy adopted by the Belgian government which explicitely stated a transformation from a linear economy into a circular economy.

For more information check the Circular europe network!

 

The next Regional Innovation Award will take place in 2018 and will be dedicated to the Silver Economy in the context of AER SEED project.

 

Photo credits: Joaquin Aranoa @Visualhunt at https://visualhunt.com/p/joaquinaranoa/

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Nancy workshops: targeted experience exchange

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The value of data, smart green and integrated transport systems, regions and culture,  youth mental health and life-cycle approaches: the workshops organised on the occasion of the Nancy plenary meetings were an opportunity to exchange experiences on a series of topics close to regions’ heart.

Data, the world’s most valuable resource

We generate quantities of data each day said Agneta Granström, Chair of the AER e-health Network and Committee 2 Vice President for Health Innovation, and know only part of how this data is used and by whom. Yet data may be referred to as the new oil: complex to collect, expensive to transform, central to the economy and with endless potential.

In healthcare applications include a variety of aspects including the patient’s records, healthcare management, and the aggregation of medical information to support diagnosis and treatment.

Guy Mangin, coordinator of the NENObase big data project at the Technical University of Nancy and Marilyne Vô, collaborator to the NENObase explained how their project started from the needs of neurologists and involves doctors, hospital managers, students in an effort to offer support to neurologists for diagnosis and treatment.

The strength of the project resides in it involving different stakeholders in the co-creation of the tool. Because brain tumours are very rare and extremely diverse, neurologists often find themselves in a difficult place when they have to propose the best treatment. Moreover the treatment involves a team of different specialists ranging from radiologists to anatomopathologists. The NENObase allows to pool the knowledge of hundreds of specialists and provide patients with better quality of healthcare.

As Kenneth Johannesson, Committee 2 Representative for Equal Opportunities underlined, big data tools like the NENObase have tremendous potential to provide citizens in rural areas with better healthcare and give doctors  with access to existing knowledge.

Data and data treatment are a game changer too. They are re-organising power between stakeholders. Policy-makers therefore need to concentrate considerable efforts on the development of health innovation ecosystems. This relates also to the topics which will be discussed at the Artificial intelligence: are regions up to the challenge? event on November 30th in Brussels.

Transports: smart green and integrated

The AER working group on Transports and Mobility, which is led by Martin Tollén looked into the opportunities for members to get involved in the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). AER Coordinator for Institutional Relations & Advocacy Vania Freitas provided an update on the EC Strategy and informed about the ways she can offer members support.

Matthieu Jacquot, Director of COVIVO, a Grand Est (FR) example of shared mobility solutions offering carpooling for companies and communities, explained how public and private transport solutions complement each others. The futur of mobility is facilitated by IT applications.

Discussions included questions of access to transport solutions, inter-modality and shifting habits. The working group will continue to focus on these topics and the ways regions can promote sustainable mobility services. A recurrent topic for this group is also the support to regional airports (as opposed to larger airports), which continue to be an essential part of the connectivity of territories. Roger Estefors, the group’s expert on regional airports provided an update on the situation.

Regions for culture and vice-versa

The breakfast briefing on culture was an opportunity to reflect about the role of regions for the development of culture and the role of culture in regional development. Grand Est Vice President in charge of Culture Pascal Mangin provided insights on the region’s role and action in this field. Magnus Berntsson, in his quality of President of the Regional Council of Västra Götaland (SE) shared an example of how the region’s support in the film industry enabled to propulse the sector and get significant returns on investments, in terms of quality, international recognition and regional development. Katarina Tolgfors, County Councillor from Örebrö, shared the experience of the theatre where she also works as a communication professional and Alf Norberg, County Councillor from Gävleborg provided more insights on his region’s action in the framework of the 2018 European Year for Cultural Heritage.

AER Coordinator for Finance of European Projects Luca Magri updated members on opportunities which will be available for regions in the context of the European Year for Cultural Heritage. 2018 will see activities and initiatives all around Europe to get people interested and involved in cultural heritage. The calls for projects were published after the Breakfast Briefing and are now available on the European Commission’s webpage. The deadline is 22/11.

Youth mental health: creating real added value

Any project proposal should always aim to create useful outputs for stakeholders. Linda Moestam explained how the SAM project in Norrbotten (SE) has been able to engage all interested parties in a co-creation process on good mental health. They jointly developed an toolbox to promote good mental health at all stages of life. Participants identified jointly the stakeholders they would like to benefit with this project and then worked together to define outputs which would actually be efficient.

The AER Subcommittee on Youth led by Marta Vilalta has been working on the identification of needs for regional action in the field of youth since November 2016 in Izmir. The group identified the difficulty for young people to relate to others as a shared concern across wider Europe. This led to the idea to developing a joint initiative involving Committee 2 and Committee 3 members. A preparatory meeting took place on the occasion of the AER General Assembly and resulted in the decision to develop an EU-funded project.

Life-cycle approaches

The last workshop of the week was the one led by Fritz Balkau on life-cycle approaches for regional development. This approach which takes into account all the steps of elaboration of products and services is useful for regional development planning and blends well with AER activities on the circular economy such as the 2016 Regional Innovation Award.

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