• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
      • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events
  • AER stands with Ukraine

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Archives for Culture

This is the tag for articles in relations to culture

To another 35 years of Eurodyssey regions on the move!

21 October, 2020 By Editor

For the very first time, the AER-Eurodyssey programme was featured in the European Week of Regions and Cities in partnership with the Public Employment Service of Catalonia – SOC (es), Bureau International Jeunesse – Wallonia (be), Varazdin County (hr), Brussels Public Employment Service – Actiris (be) and the Sardinian Agency for Active Labour Policies – ASPAL (it).

A celebratory event marking 35 years of Eurodyssey

The Eurodyssey virtual lab Eurodyssey35: Regions on the move (14/10/2020), moderated by Hrvoje Kovaç, Chair of the AER Subcommittee on Youth, was joined by two inspiring panellists in the field of youth: Jovana Majstorovic, Board Member of the European Youth Forum, and Floor Van Houdt, Head of Unit for Youth policy and Volunteer Solidarity at the European Commission’s DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.

Kicking-off the discussion, Hrvoje Kovaç set out that mobility is at the core of European integration and that the AER has been actively promoting this principle through its flagship #Eurodyssey traineeship programme for over 35 years. Since its inception in 1985, this scheme has allowed over 10,000 people to benefit from work placements. Following these introductory remarks, the teaser of the Eurodyssey 35th Anniversary video was premiered.

Our moderator @Najdeblji sets out the key role that Eurodyssey has played in creating "inclusive, open and equitable" mobility for over 10,000 young people since it began 35 years ago. ✈️ 🌍 pic.twitter.com/vJ1EjdgaPL

— AER (@europeanregions) October 14, 2020

Hrvoje Kovaç subsequently invited a round of questions from Slido addressed both to the speakers and the audience; challenging them to dig into the links between learning, mobility, social inclusion, active citizenship and territorial cohesion.

Mobility in times of COVID-19

Jovana Majstorovic, European Youth Forum, drew attention to the negative impact of COVID-19 on youth development, noting outcomes such as high unemployment, precarious work conditions, lack of access to social protection, restrictions on mobility and deteriorating mental health among young people.

Floor Van Houdt added that the Commission’s immediate concern when COVID-19 broke out was the young people on mobility programmes abroad who ended up stuck in another country. The first measure the Commission took was to cover administrative costs for affected organisations and participants by activating force majeure clauses. In spite of the crisis, she noted that young people refused to end their participation in these programmes; choosing instead to adapt to the situation and lead from the front. For instance, the vast majority of the European Solidarity Corps projects were transformed into emergency initiatives led by young people to deliver medical equipment, help the elderly or assist school teachers.

What can be done at the regional level to encourage youth participation and inclusive mobility?

Floor Van Houdt called upon regional and local authorities to fully exploit large European funds (e.g. European Social Fund) and the Reinforced Youth Guarantee which are concrete instruments to help young people access the labour market. In addition, Floor mentioned the “Europe goes local” project carried out by the Erasmus+ National Agencies, which provides specific tools to municipalities to support youth work and co-management structures. The European Solidarity Corps is another good example of how young people can help themselves by helping others.

In her view, equality and inclusion can only be safeguarded through an ambitious, collective effort involving all stakeholders: the EU, the member states, regions, NGOs, youth associations and civil society. As for inclusive mobility, EU programmes have together with the national agencies developed diversity strategies with funding support to identify target groups and their needs when they engage with mobility schemes.

Floor van Houdt, head of unit for youth policy @EU_Commission underlines that "it's important for regions to listen to young people, because they know best what their needs are."

Don't forget to submit your questions on slido using #eurodyssey 💻💬 pic.twitter.com/V0fYo7Olb0

— AER (@europeanregions) October 14, 2020

In this regard, Hrvoje pointed out that in order to tackle youth unemployment and other issues affecting young people, regions have a duty to make young people’s voices heard in decision-making processes.

Jovana explained that the European Youth Forum is focusing more and more on consolidating youth participation in regional public life. She welcomed the Reinforced Youth Guarantee as a key instrument to encourage youth autonomy in times of COVID-19, and urged the EU institutions to extend this funding to non-EU countries for better cohesion. Jovana stressed the importance of including youth-led associations, particularly those representing disadvantaged groups in regional policy-making. She noted the European Youth Capitals initiative as a best practice example of how to develop youth inclusion policies between local/regional authorities and young people.

According to Jovana, the COVID-19 crisis is leaving young people behind, while democratic norms are increasingly eroding. In this context, young people are falling into poverty and marginalisation, and COVID-19 cannot be an excuse to neglect their needs. On a more positive note, responding to a question from the moderator regarding the European Parliament’s resolution to ban unpaid internships, Jovana answered: “it is indeed a great victory and proves that youth participation has tangible outcomes and is vital to uphold youth rights”.

Jovana Majstorovic, Board Member of @Youth_Forum stresses that regions "must involve young people in the creation of youth policies." 👫🤝

What do you think? 🤔

Join the conversation on https://t.co/Vi9XP0UwZs using the #eurodyssey! pic.twitter.com/ASLxuqZDaI

— AER (@europeanregions) October 14, 2020

What are the benefits of learning mobility and volunteering?

As a former Erasmus participant, Floor Van Houdt strongly believes that any mobility or volunteering experience abroad is enriching in many different ways. Besides learning a new language, becoming immersed in a culture and becoming more tolerant, mobility encourages young people to acquire a set of personal and professional competencies that are in high demand from employers, such as autonomy, self-confidence and a sense of initiative. Additionally, exchange programmes of this kind make for better-informed citizens, and to the internationalisation of companies and organisations.

What are the benefits of taking part in youth programmes like @eurodyssey ?

🗣️Stronger language skills;

🙋‍♀️Greater independence;

🇪🇺 More active citizens;

🤔 Challenging ideas.

What would you add to this list? Tell us on slido with #eurodyssey pic.twitter.com/reh3imej6P

— AER (@europeanregions) October 14, 2020

Jovana also shared her reflections on mobility programmes based on her personal experiences as a non-EU citizen. In her opinion, the opportunity to take part in a mobility programme abroad fosters intercultural sensitivity in young people, especially in the Balkan region where some long-standing prejudices remain. Thanks to these experiences, she became a strong advocate of inclusiveness and understanding in her community, which has been negatively influenced by a biased and politically motivated media. She underlined that volunteering significantly influences one’s personal development and brings people of different opinions and backgrounds together.

Hrvoje pointed out that mobility has an extraordinary potential to spread European active citizenship and, most importantly, to break down prejudices and preconceptions in a given community when it is introduced to foreign people, particularly in remote and rural areas. What is more, Eurodyssey proves that mobility schemes enable “brain-circulation”, as opposed to “brain-drain”, as it brings benefits to both the sending region and hosting regions.

Curious to find out more?

Rewatch the webinar!

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Regional Business Forum 2020

21 October, 2020 By Anne Henk Bloemhoff

Interested in sharing your business propositions and ideas to potential clients? Join us at the Regional Business Forum that will take place this year as a hybrid online event in Novi Sad.

The Regional Business Forum (RBF) is an annual international forum to exchange on support for SMEs, promote business and commerce, incentive the possibility to collaborate and share best practices between regions. This 3rd edition will be a hybrid-event hosted in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina on 10 November. Following the success of last year’s forum, this year’s Regional Business Forum will focus on three main sectors: Agriculture & Food; the Construction Industry; ICT and Creative industries.

Through B2B (business-to-business) meetings, participants will get the chance to find partners according to their own interests and objectives

Interested candidates can register online for the B2B matchmaking, facilitated by the European Enterprise Network matchmaking tool.


Kicking off this forum will be a plenary where we will exchange what instruments are available to regions to effectively support SMEs during these turbulent and uncertain times, as well as exchange on best practice examples of our regions.

The European Union has put into place a recovery plan (Next Generation EU) to support the hardest-hit areas within the EU but has also mobilised a package to support the Western Balkans and accession countries during this emergency.

As regions and local authorities have been on the frontline in ensuring the well-being of our citizens, we hope you can join us for what promises to be a fruitful and substantive plenary discussion, all of which will be live-streamed.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development

8 October, 2020 By Editor

The AER conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” focusing on the ways in which regions address differences between urban and rural areas aimed to look in detail at the role of culture to create inclusive and welcoming rural areas. In the below article, Eugenijus Kaminskis from Xwhy / Agency of Understanding in Lithuania, and a lead partner in the CUBES project, shares his experience on why and how culture is the fourth pillar of sustainable development, as stated by UNESCO.

Cultural identity’s role for sustainable development


There is a new positive direction of involving cultural sector and communities while developing strategies for regional development.
Culture in relation to sustainable regional development is a horizontal priority and it plays an important role not only in promoting, but also enabling sustainable development. Therefore, creativity, creative society, and creative economy are the essential drivers of regional prosperity.

Cultural interventions aim to address not only the problems of the cultural sector, but also the problems of economic competitiveness, social cohesion and sustainable development of regions. Cultural policy and cultural initiatives are becoming much more than a specific area of ​​public policy, but also as a strategic direction of regional development, cooperating with other sectors of public policy.

Together with economic prosperity, social justice, environmental sustainability, culture is recognized as the fourth pillar of sustainable regional development. Sustainable regional development requires to ascertain a region’s identity, values, and forces shaping its future. Identity enables values, and values define the direction of actions. This direction is only effective when applied in accordance with trends and the broader strategic framework.

Culture in this context helps to define regional identity, express its core values, and communicate the desired change. Each region is a unique territory not only as a geographic area but also as a specific historical and cultural domain.

Culture as a tool for localising the Sustainable Development Goals


Regional planning needs to encompass the identity arising from the place and has often contradictory value logics. Taking cultural dimension into account invites regional stakeholders to decide, which values to prioritize what is important and move away from crisis management towards sustainable development.

Cultural values exercised locally by stakeholders in combination with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework by the United Nations, can be put into practice at the organizational, local, regional, national and international levels, and become a great planning tool.

Without seeking synergies between the local cultural context, the complex past, and an uncertain future of the region, development goals can remain simply declarative slogans that mean nothing to places and people. Regions now have a unique opportunity to take advantage and localize the principles of sustainable development according to their local cultural context.

Culture is also at the heart of the CUBES project, where AER is a partner. Partners are creating a bridge between cultural heritage, administrative bodies, and digitalization. Adjacent to raising awareness and emphasizing the importance of culture, one of the project’s main externalities is that of increasing competitiveness and economic growth. The actions to be implemented are targeted at local communities, public authorities, NGOs, and CSOs.

CUBES project webpage

Photo credits: Remis Scerbauskas, Cultural initiative “Cabbagge field” revitalising neighbourhood in Kaunas city, Lithuania.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Measures in education during COVID-19 lockdown(s) and its aftermath: share your experience!

24 September, 2020 By Johanna Pacevicius

In Spring 2020 most European schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate burden on health systems. Different measures were implemented to support the continuation of teaching and learning during this period.

Sharing experiences to improve practices

On the initiative of Radimir Čačić (Varaždin County, Croatia), Chair of the Committee for Education, Culture and Youth, regions are invited to share their experiences and lessons learned via a survey.

The aim of this survey is to provide valuable information about the organisation of classes in the exceptional school year 2019/2020, which will provide important and hopefully valuable information for the exchange of best practice examples, which could help other regions to improve the organisation of schooling and/or apply some new methods, within the competence of each respective region.

The collected information refers mainly to primary and secondary level education. It will provide an overview of the school year 2019/2020 and plans for 2020/2021.

Please fill in this online survey

The invitation by the Committee Chair Radimir Čačić, describing also the experience of Varaždin County is available below:

Letter-of-Mr-Cacic-2-1Download

Photo by Surface on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

How to get involved in the Youth Policies of the Future with Skillman

17 September, 2020 By Birgit Sandu

On September 2nd, the Skillman Alliance, in cooperation with the European Training Foundation, hosted the “Youth Policy Partnerships” webinar. This was the fifth webinar on EU funding opportunities that are being co-organized by AER within the Skillnet project framework (co-founded by the Eramus+ Programme) in order to gather experts and practitioners in the field of TVET to exchange experience, network, and establish fruitful partnerships to be applied to future project opportunities.

The webinar served as a great occasion to fuel discussions and exchange practices on how youth can be concretely “engaged, connected and empowered” as foreseen by the European Youth Strategy, as well as to lunch the newly established Skillman Youth Forum, a Basecamp platform where youth experts (TVET providers, academic staff, policy and decision-makers, representatives from youth organizations, other stakeholders, and especially youth themselves)  can debate about youth-related challenges and co-design joint-solutions and joint-activities through knowledge sharing and peer learning. 

The online event included inspiring contributions from a panel of experts in the field. In his introductory speech, Giovanni Crisonà, Skillman President, highlighted the major constraints that young people are facing starting from the unfavorable economic conjunction resulting from the financial crisis to the unknown and unpredictable post-covid era. Accordingly, the need and willingness are to establish transnational and horizontal (involving all the major actors concerned) partnerships to draw solutions and reforms through a holistic approach. As detailedly explained by Elena Romanini, Skillman Youth Forum Leader, the Skillman Youth Forum provides a space where these partnerships can be established and actions can be developed and evaluated. The platform is open to the contribution of all the interested individuals or organizations. To know more about the forum, visit the dedicated landing page on Skillman.eu. 

The second part of the webinar focused on concrete examples of how transnational mobility can contribute to foster “engaged, connected and empowered” youth. First, Mano Andreadis, Senior Project Manager of Assetec and EYE Coordinator, presented the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme. Through a transnational mobility scheme, EYE provides a mutual opportunity for aspiring young entrepreneurs and experienced entrepreneurs running or managing an SME in another country. While the former develops top-skills by assisting the experienced entrepreneur, the latter gains new and fresh inputs from the young trainees. 

Lastly, Andrés Munos Rojo and Yasser El Koura, AER Youth Programmes Coordinator, and Eurodyssey trainee respectively, showed how interregional cooperation and fair mobility can support youth inclusion. Eurodyssey was presented as a good example in light of its focus on the promotion and delivery of fair mobility providing: A win-win for stakeholders; autonomy and flexibility to the regions to prioritize the field that they would like to strengthen through the trainee; an integral experience for youth (traineeship, language courses, and immersion in the hosting culture); and a wide variety of traineeship not targeted only to graduates. The benefits of this approach are confirmed by the statistics, pointing to both higher youth employability and inclusiveness after the Eurodyseey experience. 

What’s next?

As mentioned, our work on youth policy partnerships does not stop here! We invite you all to join the Skillnet Youth Forum and contribute to the design of effective actions! 

Upcoming webinars on EU funding opportunities are currently being organized; stay tuned and do not miss the opportunity to change the future of TVET!

Have a look at the previous articles published within the ‘Partnerships in Focus’ series:

1). Partnerships in Focus n1: Capacity Building in Higher Education  

2). Partnerships in Focus n2: Skills and Education Guarantee Pilot 

3). Partnerships in Focus n3: Knowledge Alliance in the Maritime Sector

4). Partnerships in Focus n4: Implementation of Innovative VET Policies through Transnational Cooperation

EU Funding Opportunities:

  • Call for proposals: Civil Society Projects 2020 3 August 2020 The call for proposals  Civil Society Projects 2020 (Call EACEA/52/2019) has been published.
  • Selection results: Support for Development of European Video Games 2020 31 July 2020 Selection results for the call Support for Development of European Video Games 2020 have been published.
  • Selection results: Support for Development of Audiovisual Content – Slate Funding 2020 31 July 2020 Selection results for the call Support for Development of Audiovisual Content – Slate Funding 2020 have been published.
  • Selection results: Cultural Cooperation Projects in the Western Balkans 2019 30 July 2020 Selection results for the call Cultural Cooperation Projects in the Western Balkans 2019 have been published.
  • Selection results: Town Twinning 2020 – Round 1 27 July 2020 Selection results for the call Town Twinning 2020 – Round 1 have been published.
  • Selection results: Networks of Towns 2020 – Round 1 20 July 2020 Selection results for the call Networks of Towns 2020 – Round 1 have been published.

Photo Credits: Skillman.eu

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AER participating in #EURegionsWeek

9 September, 2020 By Anne Henk Bloemhoff

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is pleased to announce our participation in the European Week of Regions and Cities (EURegionsWeek) in two sessions during the week of 12-16 October.

The EURegionsWeek is an annual event taking place in Brussels dedicated to regional policy. During this week, political representatives, decision-makers, experts and practitioners of regional policy, as well as stakeholders from business, banking, civil society organisations, academia, the EU institutions and the media discuss common challenges for European regions and cities. In 2019, over 9000 participants took part in over 330 sessions.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the EURegionsWeek will be fully digital over 3 weeks from 5 to 22 October, each week covering a different theme:

October 5 – 9: Green Europe
October 12-16: Cohesion and Cooperation
October 19-22: Empowering Citizens


Achieving 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through Cohesion Policy

On 15 October from 11:30 – 13:00, we invite you to join our webinar in partnership with  Regions 4, ORU Fogar, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Catalan Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (ACCD), and the European Union EUROsociAL+ Programme.

The Sustainable Development Goals should be met leaving no one and no place behind. Cohesion policy will be an essential instrument for countries, regions, and municipalities to make progress towards the SDGs through its multi-level and multi-stakeholder implementation approach and investments in strengthening people’s skills, creating job opportunities, fighting poverty and social exclusion, supporting small and medium enterprises, as well as addressing major global issues such as climate change and migration. Regional and local governments must ensure cohesion policy programmes bring about the best outcomes for sustainable development and the localization of the SDGs, turning the 2030 Agenda into reality across Europe.

The webinar will aim to address the main question of “How cohesion policy can make regions deliver for a sustainable and fair Europe, and progress on the implementation of the SDGs“.

Speakers:

Stefano Marta, Coordinator Territorial Approach to the SDGs, OECD, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities
Agustí Fernández de Losada, Specialist, EUROsociAL+ Programme.
Leyre Madariaga, Director of Foreign Relations, Basque Government.
Natàlia Mas, Secretary of Economy, Government of Catalonia.
Javier Sánchez Cano, Head of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Directorate-General of Development and Cooperation Catalan Government.
Moderated by Mr Magnus Berntsson, AER President

For further information and programme, please refer to the concept note.   

Deadline: 27 September


Eurodyssey35: Regions on the move

On 14 October from 9:30 – 11, we invite you to join us for our participatory lab about what is at stake for youth development, and the instrumental role of youth mobility in fostering territorial cohesion and a sense of European identity. 

Mobility is at the core of European integration. For over 25 years the EU has actively promoted the mobility of students, researchers and citizens to deliver in strategic policy areas: employment, education and inclusion. Since 1985, the AER has put regions at the forefront of fair mobility for young people through our Eurodyssey programme. Regional and local authorities have a key part to play in driving youth development and tackling barriers to short-term mobility and longer-term cohesion.

Through parallel discussions, the audience will not only take a deep-dive into the ins and outs of youth mobility but will also challenge the invited storytellers to reflect upon the linkages between fair mobility, quality employment, social inclusion and active European citizenship

Speakers:
Mr Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of AER Subcommittee on Youth, Assembly of European Regions (AER)
Ms Andrea Ugrinoska, Chairperson of the Advisory Council on Youth, Council of Europe
Ms Floor Van Houdt, Head of Unit for Youth policy and Volunteer Solidarity, European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture

Deadline: 27 September

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Partner Search: Develop Integrated Interventions for Vulnerable People with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality

8 September, 2020 By Birgit Sandu

Are you currently developing a project proposal addressing the EaSI call VP/2020/003 “Establishing and testing integrated interventions aimed at supporting people in (the most) vulnerable situations” or do you wish to do so? Then, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, the third-largest municipality in Turkey and a hub for multiculturalism and integration, is eager to either join an established consortium or to find partners willing to co-create an effective project application to be submitted by 15/10/2020.

About the Call

By means of the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the European Union finances actions needed to pursue one of its core objectives, i.e. “the promotion of high-level quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions”.

Despite the increase in the living conditions in the European Union over the last decade, threats to the social and economic wellbeing of people are still persisting and in need of an active response. Long-term employment and activity are still lacking across the continent, while poverty and social exclusion remain a major concern for many individuals. Making social protection and social inclusion as resilient as possible becomes even more urgent at the current time, when, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, urgent needs of disadvantaged groups are increasing, whereas accessibility to public services and employability rate are dramatically decreasing all over the world.

Through the “(EaSI) – VP/2020/003”, the EU is calling for authorities and organisations to address this persisting gaps in the effectiveness of social benefits hindering the wellbeing, inclusion, and social mobility of most vulnerable people, referring to people facing the greatest barriers to social and labor market integration.  

The call supports the development and testing of policy innovations and experimentations aimed at the effective delivery of Principle 14 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, according to which“everyone lacking sufficient resources has the right to adequate minimum income benefits ensuring a life in dignity at all stages of life, and effective access to enabling goods and service”. The action must build on the integrated approach combining three strands: the provision of adequate minimum income benefits; activation services supporting the access to employment; and effective access to enabling goods and services.   

  • The EU co-financing rate for the projects implemented under this call is 80%
  • The deadline for the submission of the application is 15/10/2020
  • Access the call for more information

About Izmir Metropolitan Municipality

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) holds a very important place in the local administration organization of Izmir, being the third-largest city in Turkey and an important logistic hub. IMM, as the local authority of the whole province, is responsible for the wide variety of areas, including social projects, community services, vocational education, health, culture, tourism, environment, climate change, IT, transportation, energy, natural resources, water, and sewerage administration, infrastructure, planning, and development, etc.

Izmir has been a remarkable city for both internal and external migration movements throughout history. Especially internal migration movements (from rural cities to metropolitan cities) that have been continuing since the 1970s and Syrians’ refugee movements for several years their repercussions raise vulnerable groups in Izmir like other metropolitan cities. Since then, IMM has given great importance to these and implemented a variety of projects and activities for vulnerable groups and other disadvantageous groups.

IMM provides a wide range of services in reference to fields of social support and social investment, and it has many service centers peculiar to each vulnerable group. To name a few examples: Milk Fed Lamb (Süt Kuzusu) is providing milk for kids between 1 to 5 years old. Vocational Factory (Meslek Fabrikası) is a project which improves the employability of job seekers with its local labor market-sensitive vocational training programs. Accessible Izmir (EngelsizIzmir) aims to form better conditions in all public services for disabled citizens. Grocery of Public (Halkın Bakkalı) is a project which provides urgent nutrition products to low-income neighborhoods while supplying them from local small producers. Hanging Meal (AskıdaYemek) and Hanging Invoices (AskıdaFatura) are the projects contributing to the solidarity of people who lives in the city for supporting low-income people by paying their invoices and fundamental food needs with donations. We are providing a diversity of services through our infrastructure and participating in grant projects (EU, UN, etc.)  for vulnerable groups such as women, disabled, refugees, NEETs. IMM has a good level of experience, implementation and cooperation capacity, infrastructure facilities, and responsiveness to changing local needs. 

In order to ensure social, cultural, educational, and economic cohesion and to transform the multicultural and multi-identity structure of the city into a richness, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality creates inclusive urban policies with a rights-based and holistic perspective always pushing for delivering the necessary. In light of the new threats posed by the Covid-19 and new migration flows in terms of supporting and providing proper services for vulnerable groups (including NEETs, disabled people, women with low educational attainment), IMM especially values the work that can be developed by being part of the EaSI project as it will enable to structure beneficial and inclusive policies, feed and support coexistence culture and social cohesion in the city.

For more information contact:

Derkay TAN, Directorate of EU Grant Projects at Izmir Metropolitan Municipality [email protected]

Photo from Unsplash Larm Rmah

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Webinar: integrated care in remote and rural areas

3 September, 2020 By Johanna Pacevicius

The AER Digital Health Network is pleased to invite you to a webinar organised on 8 September 2020 14:00-15:00 CET in the context of the Scirocco Exchange project Delivering integrated care in remote and rural areas: Sharing the experience

Acknowledging differences between regions

The significance of integrated care as a means for improving health outcomes, effectiveness and sustainability of health and care systems is widely acknowledged. It is a central element in many on-going or planned healthcare system reforms, however, it is important to recognise that the regions and countries in Europe are experiencing different progress and levels of maturity for integration. This is particularly the case of delivering integrated health and care services in remote and rural areas.

Sharing experiences: Slovenia & the Basque Country

The objective of this webinar is to learn and exchange experience of two European regions Basque country and Slovenia in delivering integrated care services in remote and rural areas. It will be a practical opportunity to discuss what innovative actions and activities should be prioritised in these regions in order to improve their capacities for delivering the integrated care services in these areas. 

A tool to assess the situation in any territory

In addition, the webinar will feature how SCIROCCO Exchange tool* for integrated care as one of the capacity-building tools can help to facilitate learning and understanding of organisational maturity and readiness for integration. The Tool helps users to identify the maturity and local context enabling the adoption of integrated care. The Tool has been validate through EU Health Programme funded project SCIROCCO (www.scirocco-project.eu) and further refined and improved in SCIROCCO Exchange project (www.sciroccoexchange.com). 

The outcomes of this webinar will inform us about the existing opportunities and tools supporting the capacity of health and social care authorities for integrated care.  

* To access SCIROCCO Exchange tool for integrated care: https://scirocco-exchange-tool.inf.ed.ac.uk/en_gb/

Preliminary agenda

14.00 Welcome and Introduction Nessa Barry, Scottish Government
14.05xxxxxxxxxMaturity assessment for integrated care Dr Andrea Pavlickova, Scottish Government
14.15Delivering integrated health and care services in remote and rural areas in the Basque Country Jon Txarramendieta, Kronikgune, Basque Country
14.30Delivering integrated health and care services in remote and rural areas in Slovenia Andreja Rafaelič, Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (IRSSV)
14.45Facilitated discussion Nessa Barry, Scottish Government
14.55Conclusive remarks Nessa Barry, Scottish Government Dr Andrea Pavlickova, Scottish Government

Registration

The webinar is open to all and free of charge, please register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sciroccoexchange/411924

Photo by Damien DUFOUR Photographie 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.”

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Together4Cohesion comes to its end: A Journey throughout its Road and Prospectives

30 July, 2020 By Birgit Sandu

The campaign #Together4Cohesion is now concluded and we want to go through the long road performed. At the same time, we hope that our actions were meaningful in generating a spark among all actors involved within cohesion policy persuading them to continue showing its benefits. To this end, we want also to share sustainable tools that can support practitioners in this long-lasting exercise, as well as our commitment to continue promoting cohesion policy.  

Since April 2019, AER in cooperation with mc Group and in partnership with six flagship regions [Alba (RO), Catalonia (ES), Csongrad-Csanàd (HU), Timis (RO), Trentino (IT), and Varazdin (HR)] have been coordinating and implementing a widespread communication campaign on the benefits of European cohesion policy co-financed by DG-REGIO (European Commission). The campaign “Together for Cohesion: Let’s rEUnite!” was aimed at raising awareness of cohesion policy and structural funds as major tools to implement social and economic investments fostering balanced growth among European regions through the active involvement of the policy’s main beneficiaries, i.e. citizens and stakeholders.

After sixteen months of campaigning, we have reached the end of this journey across regions, projects, and people. It is time now to look back at the road from the hill and to share the achievements of Together for Cohesion. The path was exciting but yet not without its difficulties. As various activities, the campaign had to face major constraints posed by the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the challenge, the campaign’s team elaborated on alternative solutions enabling to continue and ultimate the mission.

Visibility Events and Activities

We have actively engaged in promoting debate around the theme of cohesion policy through both international and local events in the six flagship regions. The campaign was officially launched at AER General Assembly in Larnaca  (5th June 2019) with a dedicated Knowledge Sharing Workshop; it was presented at both AER Committee’s Plenaries in Podcetrtek  (25th September 2019) and the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (28th-31st October 2019). We concluded our international engagement with a final webinar on “Communicating European Cohesion Policy” (16th July 2020), where we shared hints and practices acquired during the campaign, as well as launched discussion on the current use of structural funds to counter the Covid-19 effects and the perspective of the next MFF.

Alba and Timis (RO)

In parallel, the campaign engaged citizens, stakeholders, and public authorities at the local level within the six flagship regions. Alba County inaugurated the series of Together for Cohesion’s local events through the Apulum Agraria Fair (20th September 2019), where farmers, producers, and policymakers exchanged about the local products of Alba and discussed the benefits of cohesion policy. Students in the Alba County have been informed about the opportunities that cohesion funds brings about for employment, career guidance and development at the second local event of the region, the Career Management Conference (20th-22nd November 2019). The third event was held by the Timis County Council, a conference on “The Benefits of Cohesion Policy for European Union Citizens” (25th February 2020) gathering representatives of public institutions and non-governmental organizations to discuss the pivotal role of cohesion investments for the development of the region. Additionally, the County held a drawing competition for children focused on “The Europe where I would like to live in”/ “A greener Europe”.  Lastly, both Romanian Counties produced and disseminated a series of videos showing how cohesion funds have supported local activities in various thematic fields.

Csongrád County (HU)

In Csongrád County, the campaign Together for Cohesion served as a basis to launch important institutional exchanges among mayors on experiences, results, and plans regarding cohesion funds through two Professional Forums for Mayors of the Csongrád County  (11th December 2019 and 30th June 2020). Beyond institutional discussions, the County launched reflections among children through the drawing competition and award ceremony in Szeged on climate awareness (23rd June 2020).

Generalitat de Catalunya (ES)

Within the scope of the campaign, the Generalitat de Catalunya triggered debates around crucial themes related to cohesion policy through two webinars. The first webinar, “ICF Eurocredit COVID-19 line” (27th May 2020), explained how this instrument can support companies affected by the crisis. The second webinar gathered representatives from the public administration to reflect on the management of public resources through a gender perspective (22nd June 2020). Lastly, a video showcasing the various benefits that Structural and Investment funds bring about in the region was disseminated via social media in order to reach a wide audience.

Province of Trento (IT)

Visibility actions in Trentino took an innovative shape. The Province launched a series of four TV episodes on cohesion policy providing viewers with a detailed explanation of what cohesion policy is, focusing at both the local level and broader European level. The first three episodes presented a specific Operational Programme, a local project, and an interregional project. The last episode focused on the benefits of cohesion funds for local stakeholders. Finally, space was given to inform citizens and companies about how ERDF and ESF funds have been re-addressed to support the COVID-19 relief through a dedicated article and infographic.

Varaždin County (HR)

The series of local events in Varaždin had a sparking start at the Splendid Ball in Varaždin (31st January 2020), where ambassadors, Parliament, and Civilian Guard members exchanged on the benefits of cohesion policy. On 13th February 2020, the International Conference on “ESI Funds beyond 2020”  involved private and public stakeholders from Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia to debate on the future of cohesion policy during the next European budgetary period. The event was followed by another international conference on “Entrepreneurship Education” (5th March 2020) attended by professionals working in the education and entrepreneurship sectors willing to enhance the connection between these two fields, considering it pivotal for the economic growth of the region. To conclude the local mission, the Varaždin County produced and broadcasted on television a short movie showing the impact and achievements of cohesion policy in the region.

Messengers of Cohesion – the Voices of Citizens, Stakeholders, and Third Parties

Together for Cohesion was based on a bottom-up approach attaching core importance to the involvement of cohesion’s policy main beneficiaries as the main voice of the campaign. To this aim, workshops, trainings, and webinars were organized in Alba, Catalonia, Csongrad, Trentino, and Varazdin to offer entrepreneurs, journalists, project managers, local decision-makers, and other actors engaged with cohesion policy the opportunity to boost effective communication skills.

Entrepreneurs and project managers opened – physically or virtually – the doors of their activities to show how cohesion funds have supported the foundation or expansion of their local business. Journalists visited the Axa Porcelaine in Alba Iulia, a small family business that through cohesion funds grew and expanded its sales to the European market becoming the second-largest manufacturer of porcelain in Romania. Luigi Calabrese, R&D Manager at Kirana Laser Startup in Trentino, testified the fundamental role of European funds when the company was launched, pivotal for its consecutive expansion in the international market, and collaboration with research centers of excellence as the CERN in Geneva.

Moving from support to business to health services, the General Hospital Varaždin has presented the ongoing project aimed at establishing unified day hospital and surgery. The Hospital Vall d’Hebron, in Catalonia, showed how cohesion funds have supported a major digital transformation improving the quality and the access of the services provided by the hospital. We have also heard from local authorities in Timis how the modernization of the County Hospital emergency unit financed by the EU increased the receiving capacity of 25% enabling better flow and comfort for patients and families and improved working conditions for the staff.

Through a virtual visit at the Extreme Light Infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI-ALPS) in Szeged (Hungary), we testified how cohesion policy promotes the development of research infrastructures needed to study the most elementary and fastest processes through long-term investments in three different countries – Hungary, Romania, and the Czech Republic.

Targeted stakeholders from the six-flagship regions were also interviewed to show the contribution of the EU and cohesion policy to core policy fields as tourism (here and here), youth involvement, gender equality, handicraft, and agriculture.

Lastly, Together4Cohesion opened the floor of its campaign to third parties around Europe involved with cohesion policy and willing embark in our campaign through their success stories. Read all the third parties’ stories here!

Let’s continue to communicate Cohesion Policy beyond Together for Cohesion

Although the campaign is finished, triggering debates on European cohesion policy and raising awareness about its benefits among citizens and stakeholders shall become a long-lasting practice. We have designed a toolkit including an e-learning video and a set of recommendations to support practitioners in effectively performing this task. Both instruments are available in English and the official languages of the flagship regions under the Toolkit section of Together4Cohesion.eu.   

Being European cohesion policy a core field of action for the Assembly of European Regions, we will continue to launch discussions and inform our members on the matter through the creation of a dedicated hub within our website. The latter will serve to collect and prioritize policy briefs, position papers, and good practices concerning the policy.

Hence, as usual, stay tuned!

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Webinar: implementing innovative TVET policies

10 July, 2020 By Mathilde Perrier

You are all invited to attend the webinar organised by Skillman Network on the implementation of innovative technical, vocational education and training (TVET) policies through transnational cooperation. Mr Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of the Sub-Committee on Youth in the AER Committee for Culture, Education and Youth and Deputy Mayor of the Town of Lepoglava in Varaždin County (HR), will provide a presentation about mutual learning on skills development amongst European regions.

SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network in Advanced Manufacturing

AER recently joined a new project SKILLNET, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. It aims at helping Vocational Education and Training (VET) organisations to network and anticipate changes in needs for skills. Skillnet addresses challenges such as the skills mismatch between the industry and the workforce that many regions are currently facing.

This project works with VET organisations and is coordinated by the Skillman Network, a transnational platform of centres of vocational excellence for the advanced manufacturing sector. Within Skillnet, AER will facilitate mutual learning activities and will contribute in providing information on EU funding opportunities through webinars and informative bulletins.

Implementing innovative TVET policies through transnational cooperation

Skillman Network will host a webinar on 15 July 2020. It will provide insights on transnational cooperation to implement innovative TVET policies and elaborate recommendations to policymakers to foster improvement and innovation in the education and training fields. This webinar is part of a series that will take place within Skillnet project until October 2021.

Experts will present their approach to skills development in relation to transnational cooperation and will share successful experiences of innovative transnational training programmes. Among them, Mr Hrvoje Kovač, representing both AER and Varazdin County Council, will present mutual learning methods and activities on skills development amongst European regions. He will first present the idea of mutual learning and interregional cooperation within AER Committee for Culture, Education and Youth and then he will share examples from Varazdin on skills development and the way they are working with other regions on this matter.

Wednesday 15 July 2020 from 10:00 to 11:15 am CET
Agenda
Registration
Watch back

The presentations used during the webinar are available below:

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AER and Intercultural Regions Network meet with Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson

10 July, 2020 By Vania Freitas

On 10 July, the AER President, Magnus Berntsson, and the Chairs of the Intercultural Regions Network (IRN), Oriol Amorós, Secretary of Equity, Migrations and Citizenship of the Government of Catalonia, Conny Brännberg, Regional Minister of Culture of Region Västra Götaland, and Fereshteh Jalayer Hess, County Councillor from Region Värmland, joined by Irena Guidikova, Head of Division on Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Programmes of the Council of Europe, met via video conference with European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.

The Chairs of IRN took the opportunity to present the Intercultural Regions Network and its support for regions to develop comprehensive intercultural strategies to manage diversity and migration based on the principles of equal opportunities, recognition of diversity and positive interaction between people from different origins.

The IRN Chairs and Commissioner Johansson also had a useful exchange on the future of EU migration and integration policies and the role of local and regional authorities in the New Action Plan on Integration and New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Magnus Berntsson presented AER’s work on promoting diversity and integration of migrants at a regional level. He highlighted the Include-EU Project, in which AER is partnering. Funded under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), and led by the International Organization for Migration, this project aims to enhance local and regional actors’ knowledge to implement integration measures and promote the implementation of integration actions at territorial level.

The regional representatives and Commissioner Johansson agreed that an efficient and fair common European system on migration can only be established by including a strong commitment to integration and by fully engaging local and regional authorities. 

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

European Youth Together: Denizli (TR) is eager to join projects

9 July, 2020 By Mathilde Perrier

Are you planning to apply to the Erasmus + open call European Youth Together? Are you still looking for partners? Denizli Metropolitan Municipality and Denizli City Council Youth Assembly could be what you are looking for.

Denizli City Council Youth Assembly: the partner you were looking for?

The Denizli City Council Youth Assembly is keen to get involved as a partner in a project answering the Erasmus+ open call “European Youth Together”.

The Assembly aims at raising awareness of young people and ensuring their active participation in the mechanisms of local government. It also aims at raising awareness of social enterprise projects among young people. In the past years, the Denizli City Council Youth Assembly carried out various activities and projects in relation to education, culture, youth unemployment or technology.

What is the European Youth Together open call?

As in previous years, Erasmus+ launched the open call European Youth Together 2020. This call answers to Key Action 3: Support for policy reforms. It aims at creating networks promoting regional partnerships. These networks must run in close cooperation with young people from across Europe. The networks should organise exchanges, promote training and allow young people themselves to set up joint projects, all of which could be done through both physical and online activities. Projects should particularly address challenges related to inclusive participation for all young people, regardless of their background. The deadline for this call is 28 July 2020.

If you are interested in a partnership with the Denizli City Council Youth Assembly or have innovative ideas for projects in line with the European Youth Together call, the AER team would be happy to liaise.

Contact: Agnese Pantaloni, European Projects Coordinator
E-mail: [email protected]

Photo by Perry Grone on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

EYE2020: Youth Mobility & COVID-19

9 June, 2020 By Erik Hayes

The European Youth Event (EYE2020) is a major event at the European Parliament (EP) aiming to stimulate and involve active citizenship amongst young Europeans. It takes place every two years, but unfortunately, this year has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

In its stead, the European Parliament has organised a special online edition, with a variety of activities in digital format!


On the 26 May 2020, a webinar on the impact of the COVID-19 on youth mobility was held. A very topical issue, considering that since the start of the crisis international mobility exchanges haven been completely stopped. Several mobility programmes have been suspended or have had to strictly adapt to the continuously changing conditions. Eurodyssey, AER’s youth mobility programme has not been exempt from this wave.

Youth mobility was severely disrupted by the borders closures and by governmentally imposed travel bans. The sweeping measures to curb COVID19 left a very low margin to reinvent mobility, however, new forms arise thanks to the myriad opportunities that technology offers us.

The speakers included: Leonie Martin, President of JEF Europe; Miranda Zavrou, Secretary of Events at YEU Cyprus; Floor van Houdt, Head of Unit, DG EAC, European Commission; Daniela Fellinger, Coordinator, Development Committee Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations moderated by Andrea Casamenti, Board Member of the European Youth Forum. They reflected on different approaches to mobility in times of COVID-19 and shared some good examples.


Miranda pointed out that one of the very practical problems they faced, when mobility is still possible, is the increased price in flight tickets. In fact, what characterises this period for mobility is the high degree of uncertainty. This uncertainty leads to frustration for many volunteers and participants active in mobility programs, dividing them into two categories: on the one hand, those who want to return home and, on the other hand, those who do not want to give up the experience. So it is important to balance these different needs. She also highlighted the potential of digital tools, as, despite their sceptical first thought in moving workshops in an online mode, in the end, they reached even more people and increased the audience diversity.

Explore the full potential of digital tools!

Daniela stressed out the problem of the administration costs for the managing organisations following the cancellation or postponement of the mobility programmes. Despite projects being suspended, the costs derived from assisting the participants stuck abroad in mobility persist or become even higher. It is therefore important to prevent any cut of the funding available to mitigate such costs. She also expressed the positive impact of the digital tools on their programme “Work Camps” they turned it out to an online version to keep the intercultural exchange. As a result, they got an unexpected amount of responsiveness from different organisations.

Leonie drew attention on the importance of assessing whether the affected project can be turned out in an online version at the very initial step of the activity planning. She also raised concerns about the difficulties in stimulating the European identity in this context.

On this point, Floor briefly presented what the DG for Education and Culture has done to respond to these uncertain scenarios. First of all, they implement the maximum flexibility possible in the framework of the program and the legal normative. For instance, guidance to Erasmus+ National Agencies was issued in order for the actors concerned to invoke the “force majeure” clauses. This also allows to prevent additional costs up and postpone the planned activities by up to 12 months.

Leonie suggested to the organisations in charge of mobility programs to invest in software that can allow further interaction between mobility stakeholders in view of the post-COVID 19 scenarios. Daniela presented a good practice of speedy information exchange as regards the measures implemented in the different countries within the network of the Alliance. She also spotlighted that one of the things they learned from this situation is that uncertainties can lead to creativity. Floor agreed on this point and underlined that young people are widely known for being a source of creativity.

Lessons for the future …

Miranda agreed on the need to learn from the situation and expressed satisfaction for having transformed some threats into learning opportunities. In the future, she suggests adopting a risk management approach to ensure resilience and flexibility when planning activities. It is also very important to exploit the full potential of digital tools by investing in innovative methodologies. Another key point for the post-COVID19 is to consider using more blended activities in mobility in order to better combine online with offline methodologies.

Daniela warned about the pros and cons of online activities. On the positive side, you can include more disadvantaged youth who live in remote areas. By contrast, it is more difficult to keep them motivated and active from the distance.

Floor furthered developped this point stating that it is key to acknowledge that not all young people have universal access to digital tools and devices. The European Commission is working in this direction to allow for wider access to digital platforms.

See below a practical guide with 10 tips for mobility programmes downloadable HERE.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Territorial Approach to Smart Specialisation: Experience from Värmland

4 June, 2020 By Editor

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the AER Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County, Romania. The debate on “Smart specialisation strategies in rural areas, inclusion & wellbeing” could therefore not go ahead as planned. In order to harness the knowledge and expertise of our membership, AER is sharing content from speakers online instead.

In the below article, Kenneth Johannesson, Committee 2 Vice President for Health Innovation shares experience from Värmland (SE) on Smart Specialisation.

Welcome to Rural Värmland…

The Värmland region is part of North Central Sweden. Värmland borders Norway and the Oslo region and is thus a border region in the EU. Proximity to Oslo is an important condition for business and employment. The population of the region in 2014 was 274,691 inhabitants and the population grew by 0.5% from 2009 to 2014.

Värmland is facing important challenges, such as slow population growth, a low level of education, low wages and a low degree of employment compared to the Swedish average. Companies in Värmland are dependent on good communications due to the long distances to the metropolitan regions. Compared with other regions, Värmland is home to large tracts of forestland, which is promoted as an asset for the region and its forest industry in the Värmland strategy. The public sector provides most of the jobs in Värmland, followed by the manufacturing and steel industries and retail trade industry.

The labour market is gender-segregated both horizontally and vertically, which means that women and men find themselves in different sectors and industries, and in different positions within one and the same industry or workplace. In the case of business and entrepreneurship, most men in Värmland operate businesses in farming, forestry and fishing, while most women run companies offering cultural and personal services.

Defining Smart Specialisation in Värmland

The goal of smart specialisation in Värmland is to create new good jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth in Värmland. It is a holistic strategy that involves citizens, industry, the business community, municipal councils, the county council and the region of Värmland.

In short, smart specialisation involves learning how to prioritize and invest in innovations in order to bolster Värmland’s competitiveness. This is achieved by profiling the business and research sectors of Värmland, defining the areas of specialisation, as well as forming collaborative partnerships in Europe to successfull network and influence European policies.It is important that it is a comprehensive process where actors understand the importance of the strategy that they are creating.

Värmland has a number of priorities when it comes to Smart Specialisation, they include:

Leading the way for gender equality…

Värmland is the first region in Europe to have conducted a gender analysis study and undertaken a conscious gender-mainstreaming of the strategy for smart specialisation. In this regard, Värmland stands out as a pioneer for gender equality.

Services that create value for users

Given the progress already made in Värmland within research related to service innovation, service design and servitization, we are continuing to develop research in order to enhance the abilities of private and public actors to contribute to value-creation for customers, users and society as a whole.

Forest-based Bioeconomy

A thriving bioeconomy is demonstrated throughout Värmland through innovation and also by increasing the selection and demand for forest-based products and services. At the same time, we blaze a trail to convert to a fossil-free and sustainable society. Our fundamental strength is a sustainable forest industry with high-quality raw materials. Forest industry processes and products are the spearhead of our industries.

Digitalisation of Welfare Services;

We are developing and testing welfare services in actual environments with users: women, men, girls and boys as co-creators to provide varying types of solutions, many of which are digital. The public sector is an important user and producer of these processes. This results in better and more efficient care, education and other social services and ultimately happier, more competent and healthier citizens.

Advanced Manufacturing and Complex Systems;

We develop and offer energy- and resource-efficient system solutions and components for – primarily –  heavy vehicles, the forest industry and within renewable energy, energy efficiency and hydrodynamics. For companies, we offer membership in a cluster organisation with an open climate of collaboration in which we help each other with solutions to problems, in the development of composite systems, and with service offers.

Nature, culture and Place-based Digitalised Experiences;

We visualise knowledge, stories and natural values of places using digital technology and media in order to create unique experiences for visitors. Värmland possesses a rich diversity of more or less utilised opportunities for outstanding experiences. We have a lively cultural legacy in music, art, handicrafts, historic finnish culture and storytelling traditions. Värmland’s nature offers features such as clean water, biological diversity, different climate zones and activities such as hiking, cycling, canoeing and boating as well as an unexplored unique inland sea. Our region is also popular for winter sports with good access to skiing.

System Solutions with Photovoltaics;

We contribute to renewable power for more people all over the world and we have solutions for our own control over the production of electric power. The specialisation helps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as we develop and offer solutions for the production of electric energy from photovoltaics.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AAL Call: Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions

2 June, 2020 By Mathilde Perrier

Have you heard about the latest AAL Call for Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions? If not, read this article to learn more!

The call was launched by the Active and Assisted Living (AAL) Programme. It aims to support better quality of life for older people and to strengthen industrial opportunities while ensuring the sustainability of our health systems.

The AAL Programme funds projects that work towards creating market-ready products and services for older people. Each project consists of SMEs, research bodies and end-user organisations.

The current AAL Call is titled “Healthy Ageing with the Support of Digital Solutions”. Applications must be submitted before 24th August 2020 at 17:00 CET. The call aims at supporting innovative, transnational and multi-disciplinary collaborative projects.

Project proposals should demonstrate a clear route to market and added-value for the different types of end-users. The wishes and aspirations of older adults in combination with the demands from the other stakeholders involved – e.g. providers and payers – will have a critical role in shaping useful and attractive AAL solutions with high market potential.

You can find national eligibility criteria here.

Two types are projects can be funded through this AAL Call: “Collaborative Projects” and “Small Collaborative Projects”.

Collaborative Projects must be carried out by consortia composed of at least three organisations from three different countries including an end-user organisation and a business partner. Projects must aim at developing and bringing to market ICT solutions. These solutions must be included in the following AAL domains: Active Living, such as in work & training, for vitality & abilities, in leisure & culture, for information & communication, as well as for Assisted Living, such as in health & care, living & building, mobility & transport, safety & security.

Proposals are expected to be user-driven through co-creation and address a specified challenge. Collaborative Projects will remain the main funding tool for this call. This type of projects has a duration of 12 to 30 months with maximum funding of €2,500,000.

Small Collaborative Projects must last between 6 and 9 months, have a maximum co-funding budget of €300,000, a leaner application and reporting procedures. The main objective of the small collaborative projects is the exploration of new ideas, concepts and approaches for ICT-based solutions for older adults. They should reach out to new stakeholders for inclusion in (future) development of AAL solutions, build strong collaborations with end-user organisations, support community building with new customers and create shared agendas.

You can read the full Call text here and visit the Call page here for further information.

In case you are thinking to apply for this Call, AER Project Unit can liaise you with potential partners that could join your consortium.

In addition, do not miss the opportunity to join the AAL Forum 2021, the annual event for the community of healthy ageing to discuss opportunities in health technology and reflect on the future of ageing well in the digital world. You could even be part of this event by applying to the call for workshops by 26 June 2020.


Photo by Matthew Bennett on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 32
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Search

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in