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Assembly of European Regions

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This is the tag for articles in relations to culture

Join AER-Includ-EU Workshop in Cluj Napoca – Cross-sectoral, Multistakeholder Collaboration for Inclusion

8 February, 2023 By Anna Comacchio

 An exciting opportunity for AER members to explore the potential of cross-sectoral collaboration and co-design to create better integration policies and practices.

In the context of the Includ-EU* project, co-financed by AMIF programme of the European Union, AER is organising a workshop looking at cross-sectoral collaboration, co-design and co-management for better integration and inclusion: What are the policies and practices which enable the much sought-after multistakeholder collaboration? What is the role of local and regional authorities in this Context?

Whole-of-Society Approach. Cross-sectoral, Multistakeholder Collaboration for Inclusion.

On the side of administrations or non-governmental organisations, understanding the circumstances and needs of migrants to provide adequate services can prove a daunting exercise. This leads to considerable frustration, for users and for organisations involved in the integration process.

In Cluj-Napoca, the one-stop shop for migrants emerged as a response to this need, expressed both by migrants and authorities. One-stop shops are services designed following a holistic approach: concentrating services in one location can help newcomers understand what services are available and improve collaboration between providers. 

As part of the agenda, the AER looks forward to connecting with members, particularly our wide Romanian membership to strengthen the relationships and build new multi-stakeholder networks. This will be an opportunity for members to exchange ideas, identify common challenges and deepen relations with the AER Secretariat. At the same time, the AER will work to better understand the needs and expectations of its members and tailor its services and activities accordingly.

With that in mind, the AER Secretariat proposes to launch a Ukraine Focus Group at this event. The aim is to provide tailored, needs-based support to new Ukrainian members by creating a platform for direct region-to-region dialogue; a place where Ukrainian regions can request support from AER regions and partners directly. In tandem, the Focus Group will onboard these Ukrainian regions into AER’s structures, open new networks to them, and build capacity for these regions over the longer-term.

If you and your region would like to attend the event, please fill in this registration form and confirm your participation to [email protected] and [email protected] Don’t hesitate to contact us with additional questions about the programme.

Separate invitations for AER members and partners will shortly follow for the first meeting of AER’s Ukraine Focus Group, which will take place during this event.

*Includ-EU facilitates transnational knowledge and experience sharing to build more inclusive and cohesive European societies. The project develops cooperation between local and regional authorities from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. Targeted exchanges generate actionable learning, which leads to improved integration policies and practices.

 

 

AER working groups: it’s simple

4 July, 2022 By Johanna Pacevicius

The long-awaited guide for members willing to set up a new working group is finally there!

Working groups are for all AER members

All AER members can participate in working groups. Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a working group on a new topic.

It is possible to contribute to the work by:

  1. Sharing needs and topics your region would be interested to work on
  2. Offering expertise, flagging good practices you would like to share with AER members, proposing speakers
  3. Participating in events organised by the Chairs of the Working Groups
  4. Representing AER at thematic events: all AER members can be AER ambassadors!

To do this, contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius with ideas, proposals, requests.

How to propose a new Working Group

1. Identifying partner regions

Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a Working Group. A region, which would like to set up a working group should test the idea with other members and find supporting regions, in order to ensure there is a core group of regions that will be interested in dedicating time to exchange on the topic, and to be able to define activities that will be relevant to more than one region

Any AER member wishing to set up a Working Group should therefore find at least three supporting regions, which will contribute to shaping the activities, participate and contribute to the work. Either the AER member is already in contact with regions that could join the new Working Group, or they request the help of the AER Secretariat to contact regions that may be interested.

2. Submitting a proposal to the Executive Board

The region, which would like to set up a working group should develop a draft proposal for the focus of the Working Group and list a few potential activities to be presented to the EB together with supporting regions. The Draft Proposal for setting up the new Working Group, should:

  • mention the topic of the Working Group
  • clarify the focus of the exchange and dissemination of best practices
  • indicate the lead region and the supporting regions
  • propose a few activities which they would like to implement within the first two-years mandate
  • define an objective for the work of the Working Group (what will the activities help to achieve?)

3. The EB establishes the creation of the new Working Group

Once the proposal for setting up a new Working Group has been approved by the EB, an article is published about the new Working Group including information on:

  • the proposed focus
  • objective
  • lead region and supporting regions
  • envisioned activities

Regions interested to join the new Working Group and shape activities are invited to provide inputs by email.

4. Appointing a Chair

A first meeting of the working group will be organised in person or online, to appoint a Chair and agree on joint activities. The meeting will be announced beforehand on the AER website. The meeting will be open to all AER members. During this first meeting, Working Group members will agree on implementation details and responsibilities. Each Working Group decides on its own working structure

Role of the Chair of a Working Group

The Chair is responsible for the leadership of the Working Group and liaising with the Vice-President in charge of the Working Group policy area.

Each Working Group Chair’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as working group secretariat in liaison with the AER secretariat. The seconded officer is responsible for:

  • Co-organising events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
  • Managing the content of the meetings;
  • Drafting speeches and policy contributions;
  • The Chair will take the responsibility for the planning of the Working Group’s activities;

The Chair of the Working Group will inform the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area about the activities organised by the Working Group.
The Vice-President in charge of the related policy area will inform the Chair of the Working Group about upcoming events or EU policy developments, which may be of interest to the Chair and where the findings of the Working Group could be shared
When the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area is invited to external events, they will mention the activities of the working group

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

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The AER Summer Academy Is Back!

20 June, 2022 By Justin Sammon

With the European Year of Youth in full-swing, the AER is delighted to announce that our flagship youth event, the AER Summer Academy is returning in 2022 after a two-year hiatus. 

In partnership with Donegal County Council and Údarás na Gaeltachta, this year’s Summer Academy will take place from 29 August until 1 September in the stunning surroundings of  County Donegal, in Ireland’s Atlantic North-West.

***NOTE: Members of the Summer Academy Organising Committee should contact Communications & Events Manager, Justin Sammon directly before booking tickets on Eventbrite. All other members and partners can register below.

Why Ireland?

2022 marks fifty years since Irish citizens voted by referendum to join the European Community, precursor the European Union in 1972. 2022 also celebrates the Irish language acquiring equal status to the other 23 languages in our Union for the first time. We are therefore enormously privileged to bring this year’s iteration to Ireland and the Donegal Gaeltacht [Irish-speaking region] during a year of important milestones for the country’s relationship with Europe. The main hosting venue will be the Atlantic Technical University (ATU) Campus in Letterkenny, County Donegal.

What’s it all about? Empowering Youth as Changemakers!

The Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine have fundamentally changed expectations about Europe’s future. 2022 has become a time of big, existential questions about what Europe stands for, and what future we shape for the the next generation. Right now, we have a unique opportunity to reimagine Europe from a democratic, economic, cultural and social perspective.

The theme this year focuses on how young people in our regions can be empowered to answer these questions, and shape “A Europe for the Next Generation”. As we look to build back better, this year’s programme will focus on key key topics such as climate change, skills and education, cross-border and transnational cohesion and reconciliation, remote working and entrepreneurship.

As Europe works to build back better, regions are best-placed to ensure young people lay the building blocks for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future for all. Do not miss this opportunity to join regional leaders from all over Europe for a series of debates, workshops and excursions to enlighten and inspire.

Last but not least, the 2022 Summer Academy programme is offering participants an exciting opportunity to visit Derry/Londonderry City to learn about the Peace Process, take-in spectacular scenery on Inis Eoin island and Glenveagh National Park, visit the region’s unique rural innovation hubs, and sample Irish music and dance as part of our social programme—this is a programme not to be missed!

Draft Programme (to be updated):

For more information, please contact AER Communications & Events Manager, Justin Sammon by email.

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Skillnet Training Session II – Making the Most of Direct Grant Funding Programmes

14 December, 2021 By Justin Sammon

“Accessing European funding is often complex. We want to help our nearly 140 members in 30 countries make the best of these possibilities.“

This is how Christian Spahr, AER Secretary General opened our second webinar on EU funding opportunities for regions, “Unboxing the MFF – Accessing Direct Grant Funding Programmes”.

The programmes under discussion: Erasmus Plus, Creative Europe, LIFE, Horizon and Digital Europe are core building blocks of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU’s €2.018 trillion long-term budget.

These programmes will be a crucial source of source of funding for regions in areas as diverse as skill development, technological innovation, the green transition and promoting our cultural heritage into the future. As Christian Spahr put it, “These programmes are essential for a sustainable recovery and to create better living conditions for the citizens in our regions.”

So how can regions make the best of the updated programmes? We invited experts from the European Commission to give regions an overview of funding opportunities in the Autumn edition of ‘Unboxing the MFF’.

Our wrap-up below gives a flavour of what is on offer to regions. More detailed information is available through the AER Project Unit. You can check out our speakers’ presentations here.

Erasmus+

Our first speaker, Dario Nicolella, Programme Manager at the #ErasmusPlus Coordination Unit, gives an overview of the newly expanded programme. There is a greater focus on inclusion, sustainability, digital tools, and a new investment in the sport sector.🏃‍♀️💫 pic.twitter.com/6ZYbKbPRR1

— AER (@europeanregions) September 24, 2021

Erasmus+ is perhaps the best-known of the EU’s programmes. Supporting education, training, youth and sport across Europe, it has seen its budget nearly double to €26.2 billion in the new MFF, meaning there are significant opportunities for regions within it. But how can regions tap into the substantial resources available to support their communities?

The first thing is understanding the new “horizontal priorities” for the programme, and coming forward with proposals that are a good match for at least one of them. For the new programme, these are ‘Greening’ the programme to make mobility more sustainable, ‘Digitalising’ it through increasing access to digital learning tools, and enhancing ‘Inclusion & Diversity’, i.e. making the programme more accessible to groups that have not been able to benefit from Erasmus+ before. Our first speaker from the Erasmus+ Coordination Unit, Mr Dario Nicolella stressed that these elements “should really be reflected in project proposals” to improve the odds of being selected.

One novelty he noted that will be of interest to regional and local authorities are the Cooperation Partnerships. Among these, the small scale projects are geared towards “participants with less experience and grassroots organisations.” They have smaller budgets and have simplified rules, with lump sums of either €30,000 or €60,000 available. Those wishing to apply should form a consortium made up of at least three EU or partner countries, and address one of the horizontal priorities mentioned above. For larger activities, the new ‘lump sum’ model will also be applied to projects from 2022, with budgets of €120,000, €250,000 or €400,000 available. The ultimate aim, he explained, is to “transition to a simpler and more flexible budget model.” The AER Project Unit is available to provide further guidance on accessing these funding opportunities.

Creative Europe

Creative Europe provides support to the culture and audiovisual sectors across and beyond Europe. Similar to Erasmus+, Creative Europe has cross-cutting priorities to be addressed by all projects: inclusion, diversity, gender equality and greening.

With an increased budget of €2.4 billion, this programme will finance actions in the cultural and creative sectors to promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage. The programme is divided into three strands:

  • Culture: covering actions in the cultural and creative sectors (except the audiovisual sector)
  • Media: covering activities in the audiovisual sector
  • Cross-sectoral: covering actions across all cultural and creative sectors.

So what’s in it for regions? Ms Kastner said that the supports available under the European cooperation projects are an area “where regions can have a big impact”, including in identifying micro-organisations that might be interested in the programme. The cooperation projects also support cross-border cooperation, and provide higher pre-financing and co-financing rates. There is also greater flexibility on the number of partners in each consortium, with the European Commission adding a new “medium scale” category for consortiums of five partners in five countries. To find out more about these calls, Ms Kastner advised interested parties to contact the Creative Europe Desks in their country.

Are associate countries eligible for calls under Creative Europe programme? Ms Kastner advised regions from these areas to “check how far the accession to the programme has advanced” in their country, and that “it is a good idea to start looking for partners” if they are interested in joining a consortium to join a project.

Digital Europe & Horizon Europe

Our next expert speaker from the European Commission, Mr Andreas Geiss took us through Digital Europe, which is focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations, and has a budget of €7.58 billion to spent over the life of the programme.

The aim of Digital Europe, Mr Geiss explained, “is to accelerate best use of digital technologies; increasing digital innovation hubs and focusing on high-impact digital technologies: high-performance computing, Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity and advanced digital skills.” Through this, the goal is for Europe “to become less dependent on systems and solutions coming from other parts of the world.”

There are funding instruments available through Digital Europe that regions can avail of. For example, grants for capacity building and deployment, grants for support and coordination, single entity procurement and joint procurement (you can view the sub-actions below). Of particular interest will be the support action of between 50% and 70% for SMEs. The first set of calls in digital tech and the European Digital Innovation Hubs have already been launched, and you can find out more about the conditions for the calls in the tender opportunities portal.

Next up was the Horizon Europe programme, which aims to boost European research and innovation through its substantial budget of €95.5 billion. Our two experts, Mr Clement Evroux and Ms Vera Fehnle pointed to areas within Horizon that can make a big difference for regions. “Under Pillar 2,” Mr Evroux explained, regions and local authorities “play an active role in a high number of work programmes”.

Pillar II (see chart below) is clustered into an array of areas, including ‘Health’, ‘Culture’, ‘Creativity & Inclusive Society’, ‘Digital, Industry & Space’, and ‘Climate, Energy & Mobility.’

Ms Fehnle highlighted that Horizon’s co-funded partnerships offer national and regional public authorities the possibility of participating as partners. She noted that some co-funded partnerships should include “a geographically representative distribution of national and regional research and innovation authorities and funding agencies from EU Member States.”

Co-funded partnerships are included in Cluster 1 (Health), Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy & Mobility) and Cluster 6 (Food, Bio Economy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment).  Participation of regions is also encouraged in Cluster 2 (under ‘Safeguarding Endangered Languages in Europe, Coordination and Support action’) and Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society, Disaster-resilient society for Europe and one topic on Resilient Infrastructure). More details of actions targeting regions can be found in the presentation slides.

The subsection of the programme dedicated to ‘Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research area’ is “also of particular relevance to regions.”

The LIFE Programme

We closed the session with an overview of the LIFE Programme from our final European Commission presenters, Mr Jean-Claude Merciol and Mr Pierluca Merola. The LIFE programme, worth €5.4 billion, supports projects related to environment and climate action. LIFE’s budget has increased by €2 billion for the 2020-2027 period. Mr Merciol noted there has also been “a shift in priorities towards the circular economy”, and the new programme “has a greater focus on nature and biodiversity.”

Regions "have an important role in the implementation of #energy and #climate objectives," says Pierluca Merola from @Energy4Europe. From empowering citizens in the clean energy transition, to their competencies driving the renovation wave, regional actors will play a key part.🤝 pic.twitter.com/FPKzIfHLpz

— AER (@europeanregions) September 24, 2021

The good news for regions, according to Mr Merciol, is that “smaller projects at regional level can make a big impact,” and most projects take “a bottom up approach”. Indeed, outermost regions, for example, can avail of small scale grants under LIFE for projects that make a contribution to halting and reversing biodiversity loss “up to 100%.”

Mr Merola went into more depth on the sub-programme clean energy transition, which contributes “to creating market and regulatory conditions enabling the green transition in the EU’s territories.” He noted two areas of particular interest to regions: the development of local and regional investment projects and the another aimed at involving citizens in the clean energy transition. 

Key takeaways — what advice would our expert panel give to regions?

So what parting advice did our expert panel have for applicants? Their ‘top tips’ were:

  • Keep an eye on the portals for open calls
  • Have a clear idea of what you want to do
  • Look for consortiums and find partners as early as possible

Still not sure where to start? Want a more detailed briefing on this Training Session and other funding opportunities? The AER is on-hand to give one-to-one guidance on how to make the most of EU Funding opportunities. For more information, please contact our European Projects Coordinator, Ms Agnese Pantaloni.

In the meantime, you can find our speakers’ slides at this link. Make sure to keep an eye on our website to find out when the final webinar in our “Unboxing the MFF” series is announced!

***

This training session was organised as part of the Skillnet Project, which is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. Skillnet aims to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships. To learn more about funding opportunities within the Skillnet Project, visit our dedicated Partnerships in Focus Hub.

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AER Activity Report 2021 — ‘Regions Bouncing Back’

8 December, 2021 By Justin Sammon

The Assembly of European Regions is proud to present its annual Activity Report for 2020 – 2021.

As Europe looks beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and towards recovery, the theme of this year’s report is ‘Regions Bouncing Back‘. With a fresh new look courtesy of graphic designers, Habile Studio, this year’s cover visual shows the evolution of employment figures in Europe over the course of the pandemic. Hard copies are available upon request by contacting AER Communications & Events Manager, Justin Sammon. An online pdf copy is available for download HERE.

Welcoming the publication of ‘Regions Bouncing Back‘, AER President Magnus Berntsson pointed to the many successes of the AER network since June last year, despite the pandemic, “It has been a challenging year for all our members, but looking through the impressive body of work in this year’s Activity Report shows how resilient, creative and adaptable our regions are. There is plenty here to inspire us in 2022 and beyond.”

AER President, Magnus Berntsson & Secretary General, Christian Spahr unveil ‘Regions Bouncing Back’ at our Agenda 2030 Conference in October 2021.

So what’s inside this year’s Activity Report?

Despite the pandemic, the twelve months since the last Activity Report were action packed. From welcoming Christian Spahr as our new Secretary General, to hosting our long-awaited Agenda 2030 Conference in Grand Est (FR) this October, the AER has worked hard to continue to bring value to our members and raise their voice at European and international level.

In this year’s edition, you can learn about our advocacy work with member regions on the sustainability agenda, the Conference on the Future of Europe, with our Cohesion Alliance partners and more. There is inside look at our new Working Groups, where we have created new spaces for policy learning on topics as diverse as skills development, healthcare and the integration of migrants. If your region has knowledge to share or showcase that can help our members, please let us know if you are interested in leading or setting up a new Working Group!

As ever, European Projects were a core part of our ongoing work this year. You can read more about our projects, and how we can help your region find partners and implement EU-funded projects in our chapter on Projects & Funding.

2021 was a challenging year for youth mobility, nevertheless, our Eurodyssey traineeship programme has already started to bounce back from the pandemic, thanks to the commitment and creativity of its member regions. Sticking with the topic of youth, the Activity Report also includes a sneak preview of what’s in store for our first post-pandemic AER Summer Academy in 2022.

You’ll also find an overview of the 35 events that AER organised between June 2020 and June 2021. Making the best of technology, this was a year where the AER embraced fresh, innovative formats to bring members ‘together apart’, and continue connecting our more than 130 regions across Europe.

Flip through a digital copy of ‘Regions Bouncing Back’ below!

Click here to download the Activity Report.

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PRESS RELEASE: Innovating Cultural Heritage, a Workshop by AER and CUBES

3 September, 2021 By Anna Comacchio

Cultural heritage has an inspiring and creative role in present European societies and communities. It has a positive impact on social cohesion as well as regional development and sustainable tourism. In the context of cultural heritage, innovation has a key role to play in the field of technology, social impact, policymaking, administration, and entrepreneurship.

The workshop “Innovating Cultural Heritage”, jointly organised by the AER working group on culture and the CUBES Project, brings together practitioners, policymakers and experts. It will discuss current challenges and opportunities for European regions to invest in cultural heritage innovation and learn about sustainable and participatory cultural management practices. The workshop will be an opportunity to showcase and guide participants through the new digital platform produced by CUBES and invite stakeholders to get involved in the project.

Speakers include:

  • Snezhina Petrova, Member of Gabriel’s Cabinet, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth;
  • Viktor Negrescu, Vice-chair, CULT Committee, European Parliament;
  • Anne Grady, Cultural Heritage National Expert, European Commission;
  • Patrick Torrent, President, NECSTouR: The Voice of European Regions for Sustainable Tourism;
  • Fereshteh Jalayer Hess, Regional Council Member, Värmland (SE);
  • Chiara Dall’Aglio, Responsible for EU projects and Pl Interreg Europe SHARE, Sviluppumbria;
  • Maria Kouri, Lecturer in Cultural Management & Local Community Development, University of Peloponnese, and CUBES Project Manager.
REGISTER HERE

Regions and Cultural Heritage

AER Member regions are committed to promoting democracy and good governance, nurturing territorial cohesion, ensuring a liveable future for citizens, and fostering a Europe of equality. Culture is inherent and an enabler of all of the above priorities, if optimized as a driver for sustainable development. Regions are often called to implement or co-design policies in this field and it is therefore paramount to understand their needs in order to advocate at national and European level. AER Secretariat involvement in CUBES project resulted in acknowledging the below considerations:

  • Heritage covers a broad range of occupations with a variety of roles and levels of skills and qualifications. It creates many cross sectoral jobs, especially related to tourism, trade, research and education, in the public, private and voluntary spheres.
  • In relation to skills and lifelong learning: it is necessary to move to a greater degree of convergence at European scale, based on the analysis of its best practices and contextualizing the different strategies in each local and disciplinary ambit, in order.
  • Digitisation and ICT skills complement the traditional skills essential to care for cultural heritage. In line with the EU priority on advancing cooperation on digitising cultural heritage, skills and creation of training modules need to include core and transversal digitisation and digital preservation skills.

If you have any questions or would like to be involved in the event, please contact our Project and Policy Officer, Anna Comacchio ([email protected])


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A New Horizon for Europe: Navigating into the European Horizon for Research and Innovation

8 July, 2021 By Birgit Sandu

The launch of the new Horizon Europe funding programme worth 95.5 billion EUR and its first round of calls have being sparking enthusiasm and interest among the multiple actors that were long awaiting for initiating and testing their innovative actions for the green and digital transition, as well as an inclusive economy. Yet, while the scope of the funding programme meets widespread societal demands, it may not be that easy to navigate within one of the world’s largest research and innovation programmes. What do you need to know? The article provides an overview of the main opportunities under this programme as well as the links to the recordings from the informative sessions held by the European Commission.

The new HORIZON EUROPE: Priorities and structure

As part of the new Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Union has established the Horizon Europe programme as successor of the well-known Horizon 2020. As its predecessor, #HorizonEU deploys a large-envelop of financial incentives to support research and innovation that will contribute to achieving the EU priorities across and beyond Europe.  

As defined in the First Strategic Plan 2021-24, in the first four years, the programme will focus its investments towards actions aimed at:

  • Promoting an open strategic autonomy by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains
  • Restoring Europe’s ecosystems and biodiversity, and managing sustainably natural resources
  • Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy
  • Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society  

PILLAR II: Clusters, ‘EU missions’, and calls

It is especially under the second pillar ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’ that the European Commission is providing the ground and support to different kind of stakeholders (universities, research institutions, public authorities, associations, NGOs, SMEs and large companies) for research addressing key societal, economic, and environmental challenges, and to reinforce and innovative the technological and industrial capacities in line with the EU policies and the Sustainable Development Goals.

A key novelty introduced with the Horizon Europe programme are the EU-Missions. Missions are commitments to address the most serious challenges that our world is facing and contribute to the goals of the European Green Deal, the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and the Sustainable goals through a wide portfolio of actions – research projects, policy measures, or even legislative proposals.

Cluster 1 – Health

Actions supported under this cluster will be aimed at:

  • Improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens through new knowledge, innovative solutions and the integration of a gender perspective to the preventions, monitoring, and curing of diseases
  • developing health technologies, mitigating health risks, protecting populations and promoting good health and well-being
  • making public health systems more cost-effective, equitable and sustainable

The Cluster is divided in 6 destinations under which the first calls are already open for submission:

  • 4 Calls under Destination 01 – Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 01)
  • 4 Calls under Destination 02 – Living and working in a health-promoting environment (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 02)
  • 7 Calls under Destination 03 – Tacking diseases and reducing diseases burden (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 03)
  • 3 Calls under Destination 04 – Ensuring access to innovative, sustainable, and high quality health care (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 04)
  • 3 Calls under Destination 05 – Unlocking the full potential of new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 05)
  • 3 Calls under Destination 06 – Maintaining an innovative, sustainable and globally competitive health industry (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 06)

The deadline for all the open calls under the Health Cluster is 21st September 2021. Forthcoming calls under the same destinations will open on 6th October and will close on 21st April 2022 (1st February for 2-stages submissions).

EU-Mission: Preparing UNCAN.eu, a European initiative to understand cancer (deadline 20th October 2021)

Detailed information concerning the Cluster and its calls can be found in the Cluster 1 Working Programme.

Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society

Actions within this cluster will contribute to strengthening the EU democratic values, safeguarding our cultural heritage, and foster inclusion and growth through socio-economic transformations.

The Cluster is divided in 3 destinations under which the first calls are already open for submission:

  • 5 Calls under Destination 01 – Innovative research on democracy and governance (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 01)
    • Activities launched within this destination will contribute to reinvigorating and modernising democratic governance through the development of evidence-based innovations, policies, policy recommendations, and institutional frameworks that expand political participation, social dialogue, civic engagement, gender equality and inclusiveness. Additionally, they will support enhancing transparency, effectiveness, accountability and legitimacy of public policy-making.
  • 6 Calls under Destination 02 – Innovative research on the European cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries ((link to the recording of the info session on Destination 02)
    • Activities launched under this destination will aim at protecting and promoting historical sites and monuments, artefacts, heritage sites, landscapes, museums and other cultural institutions, languages, customs, traditions, and values through new or existing conservation and restoration technologies and methods employing green and digital paths. Innovative management actions and models for cultural institutions will seek to expend the industry triggering inclusive growth, jobs, social cohesion and diversity,
  • 7 Calls under Destination 03 – Innovative research on social and economic transformations ((link to the recording of the info session on Destination 03)
    • Actions launched under this destination will contribute to foster social and economic resilience and sustainability through an improved knowledge of the social, ethical, political and economic impacts of drivers of change – as digitalisation, demographic trends, globalisation, and migration. The implementation of research activities in the field will strengthen inclusive growth ensuring that no one is left behind especially in light of old and new societal and economic challenges.

The deadline for all the open calls under the Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society Cluster is 07th October 2021. Forthcoming calls under the same destinations will open on 20th January 2022 and will close on 20th April 2022.

Detailed information concerning the Cluster and its calls can be found in the Cluster 2 Working Programme.

Cluster 4 – Digital, Industry and Space

Activities under this cluster will support digital, space, and key enabling technologies that are strategically important for Europe’s industrial future and especially for achieving a global industrial leadership in clean and climate-neutral industries, as well as autonomy in digital technologies and a secure data-agile economy.

The Cluster is divided in 6 destinations under which the first calls are already open for submission:

  • 17 Calls under Destination 01 – Climate neutral, circular and digitalised production (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 01)
  • 21 Calls under Destination 02 – Increased autonomy in key strategic value chains for resilient industry (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 02)
  • 5 Calls under Destination 03 – World leading data and computing technologies (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 03)
  • 17 Calls under Destination 04 – Digital and emerging technologies for competitiveness and fit for the Green Deal (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 04)
  • 24 Calls under Destination 06 – A human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 06)
  • Calls under Destination 05 – Open Strategic autonomy in developing, deploying and using global space-based infrastructures, services, applications, and data will be launched as of October 2021

The deadline for all the open calls under the Digital, Industry and Space Cluster is 21st October 2021. Forthcoming calls under the same destinations will open on 23rd November 2022 and will close on 05th April 2022.

EU-Mission: Better prepared regional and local authorities to adapt to climate change (deadline 14th September 2021)

Detailed information concerning the Cluster and its calls can be found in the Cluster 4 Working Programme.

Cluster 5 – Climate, Energy and Mobility

Actions under this cluster will contribute to the fight against climate change by increasing the understanding of its causes, evolution, risks, impacts and opportunities, as well as by facilitating the development and implementation of more climate and environment-friendly solutions to the transport and energy sectors.

The Cluster is divided in 6 destinations under which the first calls are already open for submission:

  • 9 Calls under Destination 01 – Climate sciences and responses for the transformation towards climate neutrality (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 01)
  • 16 Calls under Destination 02 – Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 02)
  • 19 Calls under Destination 03 – Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 03)
  • 5 Calls under Destination 04 – Efficient sustainable and inclusive energy use (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 04)
  • 17 Calls under Destination 05 – Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 05)
  • 13 Calls under Destination 06 – Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 06)

The deadline for all the open calls under the Climate, Energy and Mobility Cluster is 19th October 2021. Forthcoming calls under the same destinations will open on 14th October 2021 and will close on 12th January 2022.

EU-Missions (deadline 14th September 2021):

  • Supporting national, regional, and local authorities across Europe to prepare for the transition towards climate neutrality within cities
  • Collaborative local governance models to accelerate the emblematic transformation of urban environment and contribute to the New European Bauhaus initiative and the objectives of the European Green deal
  • Better prepared regional and local authorities to adapt to climate change (both Cluster 5 and Cluster 6)
  • Preparation for deployment of lighthouse demonstrators and solution scale ups and cross-cutting citizens and stakeholders involvement (both Cluster 5 and Cluster 6)

Detailed information concerning the Cluster and its calls can be found in the Cluster 5 Working Programme.

Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Actions financed through this cluster will support the reduction of environmental degradation, reversing the decline of biodiversity and better managing natural resources through transformative changes of the economy and society. They will contribute to the objectives of the EU Green Deal in relation to the Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the Farm to Fork strategy, the European Climate Pact, initiatives under sustainable industry and eliminating pollution, the long-term vision for rural areas, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Cluster is divided in 7 destinations under which the first calls are already open for submission:

  • 22 Calls under Destination 01 – Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 01)
  • 19 Calls under Destination 02 – Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 02)
  • 9 Calls under Destination 03 – Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 03)
  • 10 Calls under Destination 04 – Clean environment and zero pollution (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 04)
  • 10 Calls under Destination 05 – Land, ocean and water for climate action (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 05)
  • 6 Calls under Destination 06 – Resilient, inclusive, healthy and green rural, coastal and urban communities (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 06)
  • 28 Calls under Destination 07 – Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal (link to the recording of the info session on Destination 07)

The deadline for all the open calls under the Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Cluster is 6th October 2021. Forthcoming calls under the same destinations will open on 28th October 2021 and will close on 15th February 2022.

EU-Mission: Preparing the ground for healthy soils: building capacities for engagement outreach and knowledge(deadline 14th September 2021)

Detailed information concerning the Cluster and its calls can be found in the Cluster 6 Working Programme.

Are you seeking to develop or join a proposal under the calls above?

All the above topics are key priorities for the AER and its members, hence we are looking forward to support members and their stakeholders in the development of a proposal, as well as in the establishment or search of a consortium. To know more about how we can support you, have a look at this article on the services of the project unit and get in touch with our European Projects Manager! Additionally, the AER is glad to assess the possibility to join consortium working on the calls in light of the strong relevance of the topics for the AER.

SAVE THE DATE! the AER will offer the possibility to further explore the novelties and opportunities introduced by the Horizon Europe programme during the next MFF info session that will be held on September 24th! The session will look at several funding programmes: Horizon Europe, Erasmus+ and Creative Europe, Digital Europe, and Life.

Picture from Unsplash by Christian Lue

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AER scales up its Project Unit! What’s in it for our Member Regions? Our Services at a Glance

8 July, 2021 By Anna Comacchio

You might have noticed that in the past months, despite the ongoing restrictions, your mailbox was still actively populated by AER project’s activities updates, invitation to workshops and webinars organised within the framework of some EU co-funded project with and for our members.

This is because we haven’t stopped! On the contrary, the Project Unit from the AER Secretariat is now bigger than ever -with 5 colleagues ready to support AER’s work and bring additional capacity and fresh ideas to the network.

We believe it is high time to remind our members what we can offer and how in turn they can engage with us in the framework of transnational projects funded by the EU 7-year programmes.

In a nutshell, we are operative on mainly 2 working areas:

  1. Direct support to member regions for projects application, partner search and mapping of fundings;
  2. Implementation of AER’s own projects with active involvement of our member regions.
  1. Direct support for your projects application, partner search and mapping of fundings

The new Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027) offers unprecedented opportunities to benefit from direct fundings and contribute to EU’s policy priorities such as digital and green transformation. Among the call of proposal, Horizon, Erasmus+, Creative Europe, Digital Europe programme are just some of the EU funding programmes where AER can offer its support and expertise.

In particular, AER Project Unit can offer:

  • Support on partner search and acquisition: 
  1. Is your region building a consortium and you miss a partner with a specific expertise or from a specific geographical area? We support you by contacting potential partners within and outside our network. AER can count on a big network of different stakeholders and organisations with thematic expertise. 
  2. If your region does not have a project idea yet but would like to join a project consortium as a partner, you should regularly check our website, on the “Look for Partner” section, as well as monitor our newsletter. But do not fear! If time is not on your side, just  make sure to share with us your preferred areas of interest, and we will be the one to be contacting once  the perfect opportunity for your region comes up. Check the Look for Partners section in our website!
  • Support for project writing, submission and reporting

If we collaborate on a joint project application where our members are taking the lead, our unit is glad to put their expertise at disposal for drafting the application in areas such as project management, and dedicated work packages (knowledge transfer, dissemination). 

When it comes to complex EU-project terminology for instance, It is not easy to navigate and explain all the “outputs, outcomes, deliverables, work-packages and results” required by the application form. We can therefore help to align the project with the Commission’s priorities and language. Additionally, we are of great support to review the project and make it coherent throughout all its phases and packages, and finally, we can help with the technicalities needed for the submission, such as moving the first steps in the EU portal or revising the budget lines.

  • Mapping of funding opportunities

Lack of ideas or no time to juggle through the many calls available at EU level? We know that once the Funding Opportunities portal is open, it feels pretty much like opening a Pandora box! Our unit regularly provides information in forms of articles ( in our funding opportunities dedicated page) as well as info-sessions and webinars. 
Specifically, we have been very active lately in unboxing the new MFF thanks to dedicated EU funding seminars upon request of some of the member regions. We acknowledge the importance of providing accurate and timely information to our members, and we are glad to announce that we will follow up with a webinar on direct fundings on 24 of September 2021 (save the date!) with a special focus to Erasmus+, Horizon, Digital Europe and Life Programme.

2. Implementation of AER projects with active involvement of our member regions

As AER, we ourselves lead or participate as partners in projects that we carefully select on the basis of the value we can bring to our members. For us, it is paramount not to see projects according only their scope or lifetime within the project but we always strive to contribute to AER’s mission, that is, to connect and empower regions.

As such, AER projects additional services for members are:

  • Possibility for AER members to attend the workshops and webinars led by AER even if they are not part of the consortium;
  • Cooperation with member regions outside the consortium to shape the content of the workshops: our regions are often the protagonists of our events and we are proud the showcase their success stories, developments and practices;
  • Strengthen cooperation with European Commission, other EU agencies and institutions and international partners from which our regions may benefit in terms of inter-institutional relations.

Latest updates on projects proposals

After a general overview on our main services, here an up-to-the-minute update on project unit activities in regards to new applications, with the hope to increase our cooperations in the areas of projects.

We are actively looking into the opportunity of submitting joint AER-members project proposals in prioritised areas of interest for members.

In particular, we are now exploring: 

  • the possibility of creating a consortium, with AER, one of the member regions as lead partner, with other regions and regional VET providers on board, on Digital and Green Skills for Regional Innovation Ecosystems (Erasmus+ Partnership for Innovation: Alliances for Education and Enterprises). During the implementation of the Skillnet project, considerable know-how and best practices have been exchanged, and we acknowledged that the topic of Skills raised high interest among the AER member regions, hence confirming the importance of strengthening these areas, especially in view of the development of new economic models (green and digital). If you are interested in participating in such a project, and would like to take part at the first online meeting, please contact: [email protected]
  • The possibility to follow up on our Cubes Project, with the involvement of some of our regions who are interested in the topics of Sustainability in cultural heritage and Culture as a driver for sustainable development. Please contact: [email protected]

If would like to raise a further topic for which AER could activate a consortium building and map opportunities, or have any other questions on the above services, please contact:

[email protected]

Looking forward to working closer together!

The AER Project Unit

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Partner Search: New Project on Cultural Planning & Rural Development

21 June, 2021 By Agnese Pantaloni

The region of Örebro County and the Coompanion Mälardalen in Sweden are looking for partners for a new project they are preparing within the Creative Europe programme, call for proposals CREA-CULT-2021-COOP-2 “European Cooperation projects (medium scale)”.

The project will focus on cultural planning and rural development. Cultural planning is a broad, interdisciplinary approach that weaves cultural perspectives into community planning. It is a geographical rather than sectoral concept that includes both tangible and intangible cultural resources, and is becoming increasingly important in sustainably society planning.

Cultural planning will form the starting point of this project. It takes the view that culture should not be treated solely as a sectoral theme, but as a cross-cutting/transversal dimension of all high-level EU policy initiatives, and indeed of cohesion policy more broadly. Therefore, culture needs to be recognised and incentivised as part of a place-based approach to the regional development of EU territories.

The purpose of this project then, will be to test and develop methods of cultural planning in rural development, and show how cultural planning can have a better impact in different national planning contexts. This will be based on international knowledge-gathering and exchange of experiences using cultural planning models.

The consortium is currently composed of partners from different countries in Europe representing both the public sector and social economy entities. In order to complete it, the Lead Partner is searching for a public sector partner from Eastern or Central Europe primarily (but also other countries) with an interest and experience in the cultural and creative sectors.

If you are interested in joining this project, please send your expression of interest by 15 July h 12:00 pm CEST and don’t hesitate to get in touch with us in case you would need additional information.

Contact:

Agnese Pantaloni, European Projects Coordinator ([email protected])

Photo by MUILLU on Unsplash

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First calls under the Creative Europe 2021-27 have been launched!

16 June, 2021 By Birgit Sandu

The new Creative Europe Programme for 2021-27 was launched with the adoption of its first Annual Work Programme and the opening of the first calls under the ‘Culture’ strand! The programme will finance actions in the cultural and creative sectors with a total budget of EUR 2.4 billion for the next 7 years (63% higher than the previous programme).

About the new Creative Europe Programme

Creative Europe is the programme through which the European Commission provides support to the culture and audiovisual sectors across and beyond Europe. The programme will promote the competitiveness of these sectors, while supporting them in becoming greener, more digital, and more inclusive. Moreover, special attention will be addressed to reinforce the resilience and recovery of the cultural and creative sectors following the impact of the COVID-19.

The main objectives of the programme are:

  • Safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage
  • increase the competitiveness and economic potential of the culture and creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector.

The new 2021-27 programme replicates the three strands’ structure of the previous programme:

  • Culture: Covering actions in the cultural and creative sectors (except the audiovisual sector)
  • Media: Covering activities in the audiovisual sector
  • Cross-sectoral: Covering actions across all cultural and creative sectors.

First Calls launched under the ‘Culture’ Strand

The first calls under the Creative Europe programme 2021-27 culture strand have been published on the Funding and Tender Portal of the European Commission.

Call for European Cooperation Projects (small, medium, large – depending on the size of the consortium)
  • Focus: European artistic cooperation and innovation on topics as audience engagement, social cohesion, digitisation, contribution to the European Green Deal and sector-specific challenges in the book, music, architecture and cultural heritage sectors.
  • Objectives of the supported actions: 1) Transnational creation and circulation of European works and artists; 2) Innovation – enhance the capacity of European cultural and creative sectors to nature talents, to innovate, to prosper, and generate jobs and growth.
  • Eligible applicants: Legal entities (public and private bodies) established in the EU Member States and Non-EU countries – EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme (or in the process of finalising the agreement).
  • Budget: Max EUR 200 000 per small scale project (lump sum grant, funding rate of max 80%); max EUR 1 000 000 per medium scale project (lump sum grant, funding rate of max 70%); max 2 000 000 per large scale project (lump sum grant, funding rate of max 60%)
  • Deadline: 7 September 2021
  • More information: Call for proposals CREA-CULT-2021-COOP
Call for European Networks of Cultural and Creative Organisations
  • Focus: Capacity-building projects implemented by representative, multi-country, membership-based networks of European cultural organisations.
  • Objectives of the supported actions: 1) Promote fair, inclusive, and diverse frameworks supporting artists and cultural and creative professionals (tackling the gender gap and related divides, and fighting discrimination); 2) contribute to the European Green Deal, particularly encouraging these sectors to adopt more environmentally sustainable practices.
  • Eligible applicants: Legal entities (public and private bodies) established in the EU Member States and Non-EU countries – EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme (or in the process of finalising the agreement).
  • Budget: Max EUR 825 000 per project (lump sum grant, funding rate of 80%)
  • Deadline: 26 August 2021
  • More information: Call for proposals CREA-CULT-2021-NET
Call for Pan-European Cultural Entities
  • Focus: Support cultural entities – in this call, orchestras – who aim to offer training, professionalisation and performance opportunities for young highly-talented artists.
  • Objectives of the supported actions: Supporting the capacity building and professionalisation of young highly-talented musicians, providing them with standards career’s development paths through recruitment, training and performance opportunities; address the cross-cutting issues covered by the Creative Europe programme.
  • Eligible applicants: Legal entities (public and private bodies) established in the EU Member States and Non-EU countries – EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme (or in the process of finalising the agreement).
  • Budget: Max EUR 1 800 000 per project (lump sum grant, funding rate of 40%)
  • Deadline: 26 August 2021
  • More information: Call for proposals CREA-CULT-2021-PECE

The AER Project Unit is willing to support potential applicants and co-applicants interested in one of the calls above. If you would like our support, contact the European Projects Manager Birgit Sandu!

Picture by Timon Klauser, Unsplash

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COVID-19: How to effectively communicate the need for change?

25 May, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

The Chair of the AER Digital Health Network Donna Hendersson, Scotland (UK) is pleased to invite AER members and partners on 26 May 10:00 – 11:00 CET to participate in a webinar focused on communication and awareness raising strategies for the wider public in the time of COVID-19 as well as training of healthcare professionals remotely.

Change & greater demand for coordinated & integrated care

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a catalyst of change and of greater demand for coordinated and integrated health and social care services, with healthcare professionals and citizens at the centre of this change. This includes the need for effective communication strategies, including both top down and informal strategies via social media, in order to build the necessary knowledge and skills in managing this pandemic. Training and awareness-raising strategies and programmes on communication between professionals and wider public is an emerging trend across health and social care systems in Europe and worldwide. It is therefore vital to encourage countries and regions to share their knowledge and experience in implementing these strategies and programmes.

The webinar is organised jointly with the Scirocco Exchange project and ECHAlliance as part of Scotland’s Digital Health Housing and Care Learning network event which will take place on 26-28 May 2021.

ECHAlliance Integrated Care Thematic Innovation Ecosystem has been set up to facilitate the sharing of good practices, exchanging ideas and gaining new knowledge. In collaboration with the EU Health Programme co-funded project SCIROCCO Exchange and Scottish Digital Health and Care Learning Network, the Ecosystem offers the opportunity to share the experience of Scotland and Lithuania in managing the communication and training strategies in response to COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, this knowledge exchange webinar will feature examples of:

  • Effective communication strategies
  • Training of healthcare professionals on the forms of communication
  • Training of citizens on the forms of communication
  • Healthcare literacy initiatives.

The outcomes of this webinar will inform about the objectives and aspirations of newly established Integrated Care Thematic Innovation Ecosystem and opportunities for collaboration. It will also help to gain the knowledge of other regions and countries in communicating the need for change in response to COVID-19 and accelerate the learning and potential adoption of this knowledge at local and regional levels.

Download the agenda here

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

Disclaimer “The content of this Webinar represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.”

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Why Innovative Skills are the Catalyst for Rural Areas

5 May, 2021 By Valeria Simonte

On 25 March, the Assembly of European Regions hosted the “Ambitious Skills and Innovation Strategies: A Territorial Approach” webinar. The event was part of the series of webinars on EU funding opportunities organised within the Skillnet project (co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme) to bring together experts in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and to establish collaborations for future EU project proposals.

We are now living in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where machines and artificial intelligence play a significant role in enhancing productivity and wealth. These changes have given rise to new skills requirements and a growing skills shortage among businesses and especially SMEs, which often struggle to find the talent they require. The new skills requirements are not only limited to high-tech and manufacturing competences but also cover interpersonal skills, as well as competences related to sales, human resources, care, and education.

In the context of regional innovation strategies, rural areas should play an essential role, not just as a source of raw material and places to locate space-intensive activities, but as genuine partners and drivers of innovation. Additionally, increasing attention should be addressed to the many interdependencies between regional development policies and the skills required to sustain innovation strategies.

Interreg EU Policy Learning Platform – Support for regions in delivering better place-based policies

Existing networks and platforms offer increasing support to regional authorities across Europe to develop and deliver better policies through a territorial approach. Among these, Elena Ferrario, Thematic Manager of the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform (PLP), presented the services of the PLP as online learning, events, and personalised policy advice through a free on-demand peer review service. The latter is a service offered to local, regional, and national policy makers who seek advice on a specific policy framework through the design of a two-day knowledge-exchange experience with experts and peers. The cooperative approach within the Interreg community allows to identify the thematic experts who will set the to-do-list of actions within two working days (online or onsite), and after 12 to 18 months they will follow-up with the implementation results.

The application for the peer review service is open permanently and is an easy process. Interested regions can access the Terms of References and/or contact Elena Ferrario [[email protected]] to apply.

Additionally, the PLP outlines policy briefs, concise and to-the-point documents outlining recommendations and best practices for regional and local authorities and policymakers. In this context, Katharina Krell, Thematic Expert of the Interreg Europe PLP, highlighted the Skills for Innovation and Skills for Energy Transition briefs, which feature policy recommendations that draw on Interreg Europe’s experience with projects on the development of skills for innovation, and which aim to show regions a path towards better regional innovation policymaking.

Good practice from the Donegal County – Education and training for high tech skills

The ICT FinTech and engineering industries are key sectors within the Donegal County, contributing to regional development and boosting place-based innovation. To this aim, Mr. Vinny McGroary, Area Training Manager at the Donegal Education & Training Board (ETB), stated that the County encourages the continuous development of new skills through Donegal ETB. The latter provides second-level education programmes and Further Education Training which include a partnership of collaborations within the community, voluntary and private sectors, as well as with businesses.

The national strategy is focused on promoting growth through the improvement of working skills from the beginning of apprenticeships right up to the professional level. Additionally, Donegal ETB provides a number of full-time and part-time programmes for the development of skills tailored to the industry’s needs, and many of these courses are industry certified and endorsed by employers. Among these, the Skills to Advance and Skills for Work programmes are tailored to upskill people with a lower skill set and who need more opportunities to make progress in their professional careers. The Apprenticeship programme enables close collaboration with industries through a combination of learning in the workplace and education in the training centre.

The provision of these trainings focusing particularly on the ICT, FinTech, and Engineering sectors has been of core relevance to address the high rates of school drop-out. Additionally, it contributed to boost solid partnerships between people, businesses, and local organisations.

Funding incentives for territorial development

As presented by Agnese Pantaloni, EU Projects Coordinator at the Assembly of European Regions, the EU has deployed several means to support territorial development in rural areas. Among these we find:

  • The Common Agricultural Policy 2021-2027 (CAP) will be supported by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development which is designed to reduce economic, environmental, and social constraints in urban areas and outermost regions, fostering knowledge transfer and innovation while promoting social inclusion, and economic development.
  • Additionally, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports Technical Vocational Education and Training systems through investment on skills development for smart specialisation, employability, and adaptation to labour market changes.
  • The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) brings together the existing European Social Fund with the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Initiatives supported through this newly established fund will likely focus on the acquisition of digital skills through schooling and education, support measures to improve the recruitment, and promote the socio-economic integration of newcomers from third countries.
  • Interreg Programmes aim at fostering a more competitive, smarter, greener, resilient and connected Europe. Interreg Programmes include cross-border, transnational, and interregional.
  • With a budget of over €28 billion, the ERASMUS+ Programme supports mobility and learning for all across the European Union and beyond. It provides opportunities for study periods abroad, traineeships, apprenticeships, and staff exchanges in all fields of education, training, youth and sport.
  • Horizon Europe finances research and innovation projects in thematic areas such as climate change, transport, health, food, agriculture, rural development, energy efficiency. Participating in Horizon Europe is open to all types of organisations based in the EU and all over the world, both public and private sector organisations, working on individual and collaborative based projects.

Where to find resources & support?

LEADER/ CLLD: European initiative that supports development projects to revitalise rural areas through bottom-up approaches.
European Network for Rural Development: Hub for sharing ideas & experiences on how rural development policies work in practice, facilitating knowledge sharing and networking among all rural stakeholders in the EU.
Smart Specialisation Platform: The platform that provides guidance and good practice examples, tools to facilitate strategy formation & mutual learning of the smart specialisation strategy (S3).
EIP-AGRI: European Innovation Partnerships that build bridges between science and practice, collecting knowledge and best practices for farmers, foresters, advisers, and others.
Policy Learning Platform: The second action of Interreg Europe programme that provides a space for continuous learning, where a network of policy makers can benefit from personalised expert advice, updated news and examples of peer-reviewed good practices.

Open and Future EU Funding Opportunities and Initiatives

  • Become an AER member
  • Apply to the AGRIP-SIMPLE-2021 Open Call for proposals for simple programmes 2021: Promotion of agricultural products (topics in internal market and in third countries) by 11th May 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Small scale partnerships by 20th May 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Cooperation partnerships by 20th May 2021
  • Apply to the UCPM Open Projects Grant Call: Network Partnership by 1st June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open Call for Projects: Information and Training Measures for Workers’ Organisations by 9th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Youth – European NGOs by 15th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Education and Training – European NGOs by 15th June 2021
  • Apply to the Horizon Europe open call for projects: Green Deal Innovations for Economic Recovery by 16th June 2021
  • Apply to the Horizon Europe open call for projects: EIC Accelerator Open 2021 by 16th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: European Youth Together (Small)by 24th June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open call for projects: Support for Social Dialogue by 30th June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open call for projects: Improving Expertise in the Field of Industrial Relations by 15th July 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Excellence – Centres of Vocational Excellence by 7th September 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Forthcoming Call for projects: Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills (implementing the ‘Blueprint’) by 7th September 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Forthcoming Call for projects: Alliances for Education and Enterprises by 7th September 2021
  • Join the EU Green Week 2021 from 3rd May to 13th June
  • Access the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy proposal by the European Commission
  • Access the new Horizon Europe Programme
  • Access the new Erasmus+ Programme

To learn more, you can download the presentations from the webinar on the event webpage, and join discussions through the Peer Learning Clubs!

Photo from Unsplash @jeshoots

This webinar was organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. Through building transnational and cross-sectional partnerships, SKILLNET aims to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs. To this end, after each webinar, a bulletin with open and upcoming EU opportunities is circulated among relevant stakeholders.

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Digital Transformation & Skills in the Agri-food Sector

9 April, 2021 By Birgit Sandu

The agri-food sector is facing a revolutionary transformation within a complex operating environment characterised by technological and economic change, consumer concerns, climate change, and global value chains. The so-called Digital Farms, which combine precision farming techniques with the use of digital and high-tech tools, have been promoted by the EU Agenda to help farmers work more precisely, efficiently, sustainably, and in turn, make rural communities more attractive. Yet, the use of advanced digital and technological solutions in the agri-food sector requires workers to develop new knowledge and skills.

To support regional policy-makers, VET and agri-food experts in this process, on March 26th, the AER held a mutual-learning webinar, ‘Innovation and Farming: Applications of Advanced Manufacturing in the Food Value Chain‘. The event was part of the series of webinars on EU funding opportunities organised within the Erasmus + project Skillnet. It brought together 55 experts in the field and allowed them to exchange and learn about available opportunities to apply innovative digital and technological solutions to the food value chain, through the uptake of new skills and knowledge in particular.

Experiences, resources, and challenges for a digital agri-food sector

As presented by Miguel De Porras, Director at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FIBL, European policies and tools offer opportunities to exploit the potential of new technologies in the agriculture sector. The new Common Agricultural Policy has identified the need to increase competitiveness and agricultural productivity in a sustainable way through the use of new technologies as one of its key objectives. Additionally, the Farm2Fork’s objective to increase production of organic food by 25% inevitably requires the uptake of new digital and technical solutions and, in turn, of new skills and partnerships.  

The need to boost new skills for digital farming has been discussed during a dedicated seminar held by the EIP-AGRI, which highlighted that the sector workforce presents a low skill level in comparison with the digital solutions available. In this context, a series of EU-funded projects were presented as key initiatives to lead the digital transition while facilitating the exchange of knowledge among farmers through activity demonstrations and online resources, as well as compiling a database of the digital tools available to farm advisors. Yet, findings from the DESIRA project, which aims to assess the social, economic, environmental, and governance variables influencing the impact of technologies, reinforce the idea that innovation in the agri-food sector must be tailored to specific local contexts.

EU-wide partnerships and research and innovation initiatives provide farmers, businesses, research institutes and academia, and policy-makers with increasing support to launch pilots and gain expertise in the field. In this context, George Beers, Horticultural Engineer at the Wageningen University and Research, presented two Horizon2020 EU-wide projects that offer new evidences, resources and networks for the agri-food sector and its practitioners. The IoF2020 project aims to demonstrate and deliver the benefits of high-tech tools focusing on five agriculture sectors: arable crops, dairy, fruits, vegetables and meat. Results from several use cases demonstrate the value of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for the European food and farming sectors. IoT enables the use of different digital prototypes with different flows of information & solutions and integrates them into existing farm systems. Use cases do not only provide information on technological tools, but also why these tools are relevant for the sector. All the information has been collected and made available to farmers and practitioners in the online ‘Use Case Catalogue’.

The SmartAgriHub project is a network of Digital Innovation Hubs consisting of 2000 Competences Centres and 28 Flagship Innovation Experiments (FIE). The project offers a space to develop ideas, prototypes and a place in the innovative smart farming techniques market. At the same time, it embeds a network of Regional Clusters, which ensure that newly developed knowledge and tools are accessible to local farmers.

Lastly, Mladen Petres, Assistant Provincial Secretary of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry of the Province of Vojvodina in Serbia, shared the measures launched in the region to further boost the agricultural sector. The region launched direct subsidies for farmers to increase the purchase of relevant up-to-date equipment in the sector, ranging from greenhouse infrastructure to start-up programs for farmers. Additionally, the AgroSense platform was launched by the BioSense Institute to provide farmers with digital services, enabling them to monitor from satellite crop production to digitalised data on the chemical condition of the soil and, eventually, to facilitate the application of subsidies within the region.

Hence, meaningful opportunities and practices are available to help European regions and farmers increase their agricultural productivity while protecting the environment and ensuring the inclusiveness of the workforce. However, persisting challenges were highlighted in debate too. Among these, the need for governments to increase their financial support for a just transition into digital and sustainable agriculture, and the need to up-skill workers, including those involved in the daily management and maintenance of the digital tools.

To learn more, you can download the presentations from the webinar on the event webpage and join discussions through the Peer Learning Clubs!

Open and Future EU Funding Opportunities and Initiatives

  • Become an AER member
  • Apply to contribute as partner event to the EU Green Week 2021 by 15th April 2021
  • Apply to the AGRIP-SIMPLE-2021 Open Call for proposals for simple programmes 2021: Promotion of agricultural products (topics in internal market and in third countries) by 11th May 2021
  • Apply to the SmartAgriHubs Open Call: Prepare Innovation Experiments for Digital Transformation with Teams in the Agri-Food Economy by 26th May 2021
  • Apply to the SmartAgriHubs Open Call: Restart the European Agri-Food Economy after the COVID-19 Crisis by 26th May 2021
  • Apply to the SmartAgriHubs Open Call: Expand the SmartAgriHubs Community Network by 26th May 2021
  • Apply to the Joint Open Call ERA-NET: Circularity in mixed crops and livestocks farming systems with emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaption by 26th May 2021
  • Apply to the agROBOfood Open Call2: Innovation Experiments by 31st May 2021
  • Apply to the UCPM Open Projects Grant Call: Network Partnership by 1st June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open Call for Projects: Information and Training Measures for Workers’ Organisations by 9th June 2021
  • Join the CityZen impact workshop: ‘Inclusive Governance to Foster Urban Farming’ on 19-20 April 2021
  • Join the EU Green Week 2021 from 3rd May to 13th June
  • Join the IAMO Forum 2021: Agrifood systems in the bioeconomy from 7th to 9th June 2021
  • Join the FarmFit event for young entrepreneurs in the Agri-food market (end of 2021)
  • Access the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy proposal by the European Commission
  • Access the European Network for Rural Development CAP post-2020 Portal
  • Access the new Horizon Europe Programme
  • Access the new EU Action Plan on Organic Production in the EU
  • Access the new initiatives launched by the European Commission to boost the organic farming sector

Photo by Naseem Buras Unsplash

This webinar was organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. Through building transnational and cross-sectional partnerships, SKILLNET aims to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs. To this end, after each webinar, a bulletin with open and upcoming EU opportunities is circulated among relevant stakeholders.

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Tourism & Remote Areas: A New Competitive Advantage after the Pandemic?

6 April, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

The Assembly of European Regions is delighted to share a unique peer-learning opportunity aimed at regional representatives responsible for cultural tourism offered by the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN)

In the framework of the recently launched Horizon 2020 funded project “Beyond Cultural Tourism (Be.CulTour)”, ERRIN is opening a call for regional representatives to join the Be.CulTour Community. Cultural tourism, including heritage assets, will be at the heart of the peer-learning programme.

Innovation Ecosystems & Circular Cultural Tourism

12 selected applicants representing their local and regional innovation ecosystems will have the opportunity to benefit from a fully funded peer-learning scheme which will follow a pilot / mirror approach.

Via quarterly community conversations, dedicated interviews, tailored webinars, and offline learning labs (travel and accommodation costs are covered to participate in the learning labs organised in Brussels in September 2022 and in Naples in December 2023), the community members will interact closely with six pilot ecosystems (Aragón (ES), Larnaca (CY), Basilicata (IT), Västra Götaland (SE), Vojvodina (RS) and the cross-border area between North-East Romania and Moldova) committed to fostering regional development through circular cultural tourism.

How to join the programme

The open call will be presented on Tuesday, 13th April, between 14.00-16.15 CET, in the frame of a webinar on “Creating destinations after a global pandemic: The new competitive advantage of remote areas” featuring inspiring keynote speakers and panelists.

Photo by Liviu Florescu on Unsplash

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PRESS RELEASE: The Cultural Administration & Sustainability Boosters Curriculum is on its way!

6 April, 2021 By Stanislava Milankov

The CUBES project, co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme, aims to empower all societal sectors to own and administer their heritage and cultural resources in a sustainable way, thus leading to both cultural democracy and sustainability. To this purpose, the project developed a training programme, Cultural Administration & Sustainability Boosters Curriculum, that will be offered on an inclusive, interactive and user-friendly digital platform.

The curriculum is designed by all project partners based on the best practices, funding tools, local challenges, training needs and results identified during the development of the Review Paper on Parameters Mapping. More specifically, the programme is addressed to public bodies and authorities, NGOs and foundations at regional and national level working in the cultural sector for the promotion and governance of cultural resources.

The curriculum will be available in 6 languages (English, Portuguese, Romanian, Greek, Lithuanian, Bosnian) and consists of 4 Subjects:

  • Subject 1: Project Management (Module 1: Project Management Introduction, Module 2: Project Management Methodology & Toolsets, Module 3: Cultural Project Life cycle)
  • Subject 2: Community Involvement & Networking (Module 1: Introduction to Cultural Competence, Module 2: Networking in Cultural Settings, Module 3: Culture as a pillar for Sustainable Development – 2030 Agenda and Cultural Administration)
  • Subject 3: Marketing Cultural Work (Module 1: Introduction to Marketing and Marketing Planning, Module 2: Communications Planning and the use of Digital Tools, Module 3: Strategic Marketing – Branding)
  • Subject 4: Fundraising for culture (Module 1: Basics to Fundraising, Module 2: Strategic Planning for Fundraising, Grant Proposal Writing)

After the release of the curriculum via the CUBES interactive e-platform, AER member regions and other interested parties can undertake the online learning programme on cultural management and sustainability and obtain a certification. Once the learners have successfully completed the programme, they will receive training to act as mentors in local communities, taking up the responsibility of informing, guiding and mentoring other community members in the field of cultural management and sustainability. 

As result, participants will be empowered in their know-how regarding the sustainable administration of tangible and intangible cultural resources and will have the opportunity to network and interact with expert partners in the field.

The curriculum will be published in the coming months via the CUBES interactive e-platform. Stay tuned!

Get in touch with the AER Project Unit in case you wish to be involved in CUBES activities: [email protected]

For a brief overview on the project, check the CUBES flyer.

Photo by Ingrid Vasconcelos on Unsplash

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AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

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