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Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Archives for Demographic change

This is the tag for all posts relating to demographic change.

Shape the Vocational Education Training scene in Europe!

17 November, 2020 By Valeria Simonte

Skills for the industry of the future

The digital transformation, the greening of the economy, and demographic change all generate a large and structural need for employees with technical and digital skills.

The lack of adequately skilled workers is a major issue in this context, which is only partially addressed by current Vocational Education and Training systems in Europe.

In this context, the SKILLNET project – Sector Skills Network of Vocational Education and Training centres in Advanced Manufacturing-, co-funded by the Erasmus+ program, is developing a transnational and national network for Vocational Education Training providers. This network offers opportunities for mutual learning, information on funding, and fosters partnerships to improve the quality and efficiency of VET in Europe.

Opportunities for regional stakeholders

To raise the quality and attractiveness of the provision of Vocational Education and Training, SKILLNET has created 4 thematic permanent groups composed of members belonging to the VET provider networks, and invites all stakeholders from the European VET scene to join the discussion.

  • For regional authorities, SKILLNET is an opportunity to engage VET organisations in their territories in European activities & raise awareness on opportunities for collaboration & co-financing of activities
  • for VET organisations, the clubs are an easy way to connect with peers and relevant stakeholders abroad
  • The clubs provide mediated knowledge both general and specific on VET in Europe, and information that stakeholders can actually use (especially on funding opportunities)
  • The clubs provide a framework for the development of joint initiatives and projects

The Peer Learning Clubs provide speaking opportunities at events for experts as well as the possibility to receive special mentions in sector-focused research papers. They are the main way for stakeholders to contribute to shaping the main trends of the future VET.

Topics addressed

PLC1 Advanced Manufacturing  Sector: This peer-learning group aims at pinpointing and analyzing challenges related to skill adaptation and anticipation as well as stakeholder relations.

PLC2 Advocacy & Policy  Influencing: The Vocational Education and  Training sector has its own voice in the EU, national, and regional areas. Coordinated actions ensuring that all actors’ interests are taken into account are key for policy development, and this peer-learning group will allow a deeper understanding of them.

PLC3 Work-based learning and standards: This peer-learning club tackles the assessment and the challenge of the implementation of the VET systems.

PLC4 Train the trainers: The aforementioned challenges will require a reinforced human dimension of the VET sector to build resilience and identify synergies among actors. Capacity building will have a key role in the future of VET, and this peer-learning club will allow the identification of key gaps and needs.

Join in 3 clicks!

The below illustrations shop how to join the platform in 3 easy steps (less than 30 seconds)

On the Skillman website, click on “Activities”, then “Events and Conferences” and then ” Peer Learning Clubs”

The next page will show an illustration with 4 coloured dots, showing the different Peer Learning Clubs. You can join either one or more groups by clicking on the dot of your choice.

Fill in name email and password, you’re there: join the conversation and meet peers to develop new projects!

AER’s role

AER joined the Skillnet consortium during Spring 2020 specifically because of the opportunities the project is offering for online activities relevant to both Committee 1 and Committee 3. At a time when face-to-face meetings are not possible, this project offers unparalleled opportunities for members.

Indeed the project is organising a high number of webinars and offers online platforms for the exchange of knowledge.

AER’s role is to facilitate mutual learning activities, to in fine improve the effectiveness and attractiveness of Vocationnal Education Training in Europe. AER provides information on EU funding opportunities and regional examples via a series of webinars and bulletins.

In order to make sure project activities provide value to members, the topics of SKILLNET webinars are chosen based on the AER Action Plan and further specified together with members who have expressed needs in the process of the definition of work programs at Committee meetings.

AER encourages members to engage stakeholders responsible for life long learning and vocational training across wider Europe to join one or more of the four topic-specific SKILLNET peer- learning clubs. Experts from diverse backgrounds: VET providers, companies, government representatives, and individuals are all welcome!

The SKILLNT – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced manufacturing- is a project co-financed by the Erasmus + programme. It has the objective to improve the quality of Vocational Education and Training centres systems while merging stakeholders to overcome the mismatch among education and industry’s need. It is coordinated by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) as a leading partner.

Click to join!

For more information on the SKILLNET peer learning clubs, please check the presentation below:

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

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Funding Opportunities under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation

18 September, 2020 By Birgit Sandu

New opportunities are arising for fostering social wellbeing in Europe and beyond! Two calls have been launched under the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (“EaSI”). The call are both aimed to actively address the major societal needs of nowadays societies through two different actions: On one side, VP 2020/010 is designed to fund the establishment of national competence centres for social innovation; On the other, VP2020/003 supports the development of policy innovations in the frame of the Principle 14 of the European Pillar of Social Rights providing that “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”.

Competences centres for social innovation (VP 2020/010)

In the current fast-changing world, societal innovation is becoming increasingly important to address the major social and economic trends as the low-carbon economy transition, digitalization, demographic change, migration, and the recent pandemic. In this context, social innovation refers to a set of “activities linked to the development testing, validation and implementation and scaling-up of (a combination of) new products, services, models or practices that meet social needs and resolve societal challenges” (VP 2020/010).

Given the increasing importance attached to social innovation by the new Commission and within the future ESF+ Regulation, the call aims to contribute in the shape the adequate context for societal innovation actions through the establishment, development, and professionalism of organizations

Need to empower social innovation initiatives and partnerships and boost the stakeholders’ capacity to act. The call aims to support the “establishment, development and professionalism of organisations that do or can assume the function of a social innovation competence centre in an EU Member State” (VP 2020/010) acting as a hub for capacity building, transnational transfer of knowledge, creation of synergies, and networking.

The expected outputs of the call include:

  • The establishment of a competence centre for social innovation, and its recognition from relevant external stakeholders as well as entitlement to formal endorsement.
  • An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of social innovation and the definition of areas and approaches that can inspire other territories
  • A joint blueprint by stakeholders for a social innovation’s strategy and action plan in the country
  • A system to pursue ongoing improvements and adaptions of their tools and methodologies, resources, and practices for each competence centre
  • A collection of social innovation initiatives initiated or scaled-up

Deadline for submitting proposals: 16th November 2020

More information can be found here

Establishing and testing integrated interventions aimed at support people in (the most) vulnerable situations (VP/2020/003)

Through this call, the European Union wants to address persisting threats to the social and economic wellbeing of people as the lack of long-term employment and activity, and poverty and social exclusion. The need of making social protection and social inclusion as resilient as possible increases and becomes even more urgent in light of the new challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis, which has further enhanced social disparities and caused constraints to public services’ accessibility and a serious decrease in the employability call.

To counter these trends, the call supports existing or new partnerships in the development and testing of policy innovations and experimentations particularly aimed at the delivery of Principle 14 of the European Pillar of Social Rights through the multi-stakeholder innovative approach.

Deadline for submitting proposals: 15th October 2020

More information can be found here

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is currently looking for partners to develop a proposal for the call. More information can be found in the dedicated article.

Photo Credits: United Nations COVID-19 Response (Unspalsh)

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Need funds? Answer Interreg Alpine Space’s 4th call for project proposals

3 October, 2018 By Editor

We have good news for Alpine regions looking for access to project funding. Interreg Alpine Space has opened its fourth call for proposals. Eligible public and private organisations must belong to the Alpine Space, which covers all of Austria, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland, as well as several regions in France, Germany, and Italy.

This call follows a two-step application that will end in September 2019, when the Interreg Alpine Space committee will select the projects funded. These projects must involve partners from at least four different countries and may run for a maximum of 33.5 months.

Find a topic

To get a chunk of the call’s  24,8 million EUR of project funding, submit project ideas that match the programme’s four priorities:

1) Innovative Alpine Space

2) Low carbon Alpine Space

3) Liveable Alpine Space

4) Well-governed Alpine Space

Projects that get the green light will engage with digitalisation, shifts in lifestyle, demographic change, the implementation of environmental policy, participative governance, or social innovation. AER members will already be well acquainted with these issues given the emphasis placed on them recently in the committees and in projects pursued by AER.

You can find a more detailed list of favoured topics in the call’s Terms of reference.

Strengthen your application

When you are developing your proposal, keep in mind that the programme will avoid funding projects that replicate the work of those that have come before. Check the list of projects funded in the first three calls to make sure your proposal is original. You may even be inspired to build upon the successes of past Interreg Alpine Space projects or take an old idea in a new direction.

Also be sure to take full advantage of the many opportunities offered by Interreg Alpine Space to learn about the programme’s expectations and bounce your ideas off other applicants. The programme will hold various national info days  through mid-October, including several in AER member regions. Then from 23-24 October the MEET and MATCH Forum in Salzburg (AT) will allow applicants to make face-to-face connections with potential partners.

Is online feedback and collaboration more your speed? Join the project idea community to get the ball rolling.

Get started!

If you are interested in developing a project, there is little time to waste. Applicants must submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) via this online tool by 1:00 pm, 12 December 2018. Then, the expressions of interest selected can submit the full application forms by 1:00 pm, 5 June 2019.

As always, AER Project Unit is here to answer any questions you may have and is happy to put you in touch with partners from our member regions.

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

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

Articles by Agnese


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

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SEED comes to successful conclusion with Silver Economy Awards handover

28 September, 2018 By Editor

After two years of dedicated work, the SEED project—‘Supporting the recognition of the Silver Economy in Europe in the Digital era’—has met its objectives and is wrapping up its activities. The project, which was launched in October 2016 with funding from Horizon2020, established an awards scheme committed to promoting and rewarding digital innovation that improves the quality of life of older persons throughout Europe: the Silver Economy Awards.

During the Committees plenaries in Novi Sad (RS), AER members got a chance to discuss the achievements of SEED and the first successful edition of the Silver Economy Awards. With categories dedicated to public authorities, non-for-profit organisations, and for-profit organisations, the 2018 Silver Economy Awards attracted 95 applications from 22 countries. Awards went out to a digital platform for testing telemedicine pilot projects, a project that produces smartphone interfaces tailored to the needs of elderly users, and an integrated set of tools that effortlessly connect elderly patients with their caretakers and loved ones.

At the same time, representatives of the SEED consortium were at the AAL Forum and the Bizkaia Silver Week in Bilbao (ES), aiming to ensure a bright future for the Awards. A special  handover ceremony was held on 26th September on the occasion of the Covenant’s General Assembly, in order to officially pass on the responsibility for the Silver Economy Awards to the Covenant on Demographic Change. From now on, the Covenant will take charge of future iterations of the Awards, incorporating them into their mission to spark a European Silver Economy Movement. You can find the press release about the handover below.

If you want to learn more about the next editions of the Silver Economy Awards and keep up to date on all the latest developments in the Silver Economy, flip through the brochure below and take a look at the Awards scheme’s new and improved website.

AER would like to thank our SEED partners for a rewarding collaboration and extend our gratitude to all of our members who took interest in the project and brought it into the work of the AER Committees. We could not be more pleased with the sustainable outcomes of the project and the strides being made toward a more age-friendly Europe.

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

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

Articles by Agnese


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

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AER members share knowledge to improve situation for refugees in their regions

5 February, 2018 By Editor

On 24 and 25 January 2018, AER co-organised several events focusing on local and regional responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Brussels. AER would like to thank its honorary President, Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, who was instrumental in making these events happen. Dr Bozatli has always been a strong supporter of the Turkish-Europe dialogue. These series of events proves it once more. The Press release and background can be found HERE.

This article focuses on the experiences and best practices shared by the regions over the two days.

Best Practices – Västra Götaland (SE), Catalonia (ES) and the Netherlands

With control over the healthcare sector and certain dimensions of regional development, the AER President’s region, Västra Götaland (SE), had success integrating refugees into the labour market and socially. Recognising the need to de-institutionalise their labour market, Västra Götaland invested in programmes to accelerate the process of credential recognition for highly skilled Syrian refugees such as those arriving with medical degrees obtained in Syria.

Prior to the labour market reforms, it could take 6-9 years for professionals to undergo the re-training needed for them to enter the regional labour market. It now takes approximately two to three years before migrants acquire the certificates needed to continue working in their field. Additionally, Västra Götaland expedited the process refugees needed to go through before joining the Swedish education system. With going to local schools faster and parents participating in the labour market quicker, migrants were better able to socially integrate into communities.

Throughout the events it became clear that similar practices could be implemented elsewhere in Europe due to labour market demands. As Europe is beginning to experience large scale demographic change due to a rapidly ageing population demands for high skill workers in the public service sector will increase. Mr. Berntsson claimed that integrating refugees and migrants with professional qualifications into the labour market faster will help alleviate pressure on social services. He believes that a more flexible, de-institutionalised labour market like the one introduced in Västra Götaland will assist many EU countries in getting refugees into the labour market.

Mr. Berntsson also stated that Västra Götaland, who saw a 2 percent increase in their population with the arrival of the Syrian refugees, could not have managed to integrate the newcomers without the volunteer efforts of the local citizens. Similarly, according to Dutch MEP Ms. Piri the Netherlands had 60, 000 volunteers enlist to help Syrian refugees, translating into one volunteer for every refugee. Both claimed that having an active citizenry is vital to the resettlement of refugees with local governments unable to cope on their own.

Additionally, as stated by Catalonia (ES) Migration Secretary Mr. Amorós, his region has experienced success with a social mentorship programme to help integrate migrants and refugees into society. In the experience of Mr. Amorós, while refugees may come as temporary guests the reality is that many end up staying, meaning regions must focus on the inclusion of refugees in society. A relatively new project, the programme pairs refugees and locals who spend a minimum of one hour per week together to help refugees learn the language and adapt to local culture.

Best Practices- Gaziantep (TR)

Continuing AER’s involvement with Turkish regions, Dr. Bozatli reached out to Turkish regions Gaziantep and Adana to share their expertise in dealing with refugees, who graciously accepted Dr. Bozatli’s invitation. In each event, Gaziantep shared best practices which have allowed them to successfully host millions of refugees for over 5 years. Upon arrival, ensuring that the refugees’ basic needs were met by providing them with food, water, and shelter helped to prevent the spread of disease. When refugees began to leave camps and move to urban areas, Gaziantep established several priority areas including the provision of housing, healthcare, and education. Adequately meeting the refugees needs in each of these areas was aided by Turkey’s decision to treat refugees as nearly full citizens rather than as temporary guests.

After enrolling young children in schools and integrating current students into school systems, refugees in Gaziantep now have a higher rate of enrolment than they did in Syria. In Syria 80 percent of children would have been enrolled in schools while in Gaziantep 90 percent are now enrolled. Ms. Sahin claims that keeping children enrolled in schools has decreased their vulnerability to radicalization and has helped them feel like members of their local communities.

Gaziantep also invested in numerous infrastructure projects such as new waste management, waterworks, and transportation systems to cope with the rise in demand. Further complicating the matter for Gaziantep was a surge in housing prices because of increases in demand. Aside from building more units, the government ensured that 10 percent of all houses and jobs were available to Gaziantep citizens first, ensuring that their local population were not disadvantaged by the arrival of refugees. This has helped to reduce social tensions created by the arrival of refugees. Moreover, from the beginning the Gaziantep government has preached patience with a message of tolerance and inclusion, encouraging the local population to accept the refugees as regular citizens.

Best Practices- Adana (TR)

The sixth largest city in Turkey with a population of 1.8 million, there are officially 150, 000 refugees constituting nearly 8 percent of the local population. However, unofficially it is estimated that there are 300, 000 Syrian refugees in the Adana province, bringing numerous challenges for Adana to navigate.

In Adana, the arrival of thousands of refugees triggered increases in rent and scarcity of affordable housing. With 85 percent of migrants working in the agricultural sector, certain companies have exploited undocumented refugees for whom they pay low wages with no benefits. When adults have struggled to find employment, some have been forced to send their children to work resulting in sporadic instances of child labour.

The influx of migrants has also placed strain on local infrastructure, exacerbated by a cash strapped government. Keeping children in school has also been a challenge for Adana due to families’ need for a basic income and the remote location in which some refugees live.

Despite the challenges they face, Adana has managed to provide humanitarian support such as clothes, food, healthcare, and water to not only those residing in Adana but also to refugees stranded along the Turkey-Syria border. Furthermore, in cooperation with the University of Adana the municipality has established training centers for refugees to increase the number of trainers able to boost the vocational and skill development of other refugees. This programme has filled existing gaps in the provision of professional language learning opportunities, particularly for young adults. For refugees living on the outskirts of the city, the municipality has signed cooperation agreements with civil society organisations who provide services, including language training.

The presentations from the Turkish delegations can be found here.

Best Practices-Timis (RO)

Following the event, AER received insights into how Timis has dealt with the migration crisis, courtesy of its representative Mr. Mihai Ritivoiu, President of the AER committee on social policy and public health. In 2017, according to the Timis Border Territorial Inspectorate, there were nearly 2600 cases of illegal migration from its border with Serbia. The rapid influx of migrants forced the Timis Border Territorial Inspectorate to take special measures, allocating additional funds to stabilise the situation. Partly because of the measures taken, there was a 72 percent decrease in cases of illegal migration in the last quarter of 2017.

With an increase of 300-400 percent in illegal border crossings, the number of asylum applications has increased from 60 per month to approximately 300 per month. Those who were granted a form of protection from the Romania state received identity and travel documents. Issued for an unlimited period, the identity documents allowed asylum seekers to be smoothly integrated into the health care and labour market systems. Additionally, to integrate migrants, Timis collaborated with NGOs to offer serives desgined to help migrants acquire language skills and cultural understanding. Future plans in Timis involve setting up a specialized center for foreign minors, given that in 2017 many of those who entered the country were families with 3-4 children.

AER’s Work on Refugees and Migrants

Throughout the events, Mr. Berntsson and Dr. Özsan Bozatli had the chance to present the experiences of AER in the area of refugees and migrants. At the peak of the migration crisis, the topic of AER’s Bureau meeting in Brussels in December 2015, was “facing the migration challenge”. The bureau was a resounding success, bringing together regions from Turkey, Greece, and Italy who were receiving the largest numbers of refugees in Europe at the time, to share their experiences.

The following year, at AER’s spring committee meetings in Timis the topic was “communication and action in times of crisis”, giving an opportunity for all three AER committees to discuss how migration affected areas as diverse as innovation, health care, culture, and entrepreneurship.

Alongside its member regions, AER has also had the opportunity to implement the European project Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities (AMID) where work is still ongoing. The AMID project is designed to create a common approach among European Local Authorities concerning the reception and integration of migrants and refugees with a focus on disabilities. The project will result in the creation of a Specific Needs Assessment (SNA) Tool to be circulated among Local Authorities, NGOs and EU agencies. This SNA tool will enable these actors to take disabilities into account while assessing asylum seekers, creating the basis for a standard approach to this topic at the EU level.

For those interested, more photos of the events are available on Friends of Europe’s Flickr album.

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AER co-organises events on Syrian Refugee Crisis: Policy Insights and Recommendations

5 February, 2018 By Editor

On 24 and 25 January 2018, AER co-organised several events focusing on local and regional responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Brussels. AER would like to thank its honorary President, Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, who was instrumental in making these events happen. Dr Bozatli has always been a strong supporter of the Turkish-Europe dialogue. These series of events proves it once more. The Press release and background can be found HERE.

This article focuses on insights and recommendations shared by representatives from regions and NGOs over the two days on areas of migration policy which effect the regional and local levels.

The Need for National and Local Cooperation

Throughout each event, it became clear that collaboration between national and local governments is a requirement for countries to smoothly host refugees. According to AER President Magnus Berntsson, there are large differences in the capacities of municipalities to host large numbers of refugees. When considering the disparities in resources, number of people capable of mobilisation, and past experiences, certain municipalities are more capable of hosting refugees than others. However, Mr. Berntsson claims these differences are not taken into account often enough when national governments decide to accept large numbers of refugees.

For Mr. Berntsson, if national governments fail to properly consult regions about their capacity to host refugees when determining their distribution, communities can end up over extended. Predictably, financially and administratively strained municipalities are bad for both refugees and the local population. Quality of social services can be diminished and efforts to integrate refugees are often stymied, creating resentment of the refugees.

While determining the flow of refugees remains the domain of national governments, Mr. Berntsson says it is regions who do all the work. It is regions, not national governments, who have a deep understanding of the needs of their citizens and the challenges they face gained through “[dealing] with citizens on a day to day basis, [meeting] and [talking] with them at local stores and at football games”. According to Mr. Berntsson, local governments’ expertise about their regions’ capacity to host refugees must be taken into account when determining the distribution of refugees through more dialogue between national and local governments. Moreover, national governments must do more to assist those municipalities who do not have the resources or knowledge base to deal with the influx of refugees.

Mr. Berntsson’s thoughts were echoed by Dutch MEP Ms. Kati Piri who claimed that mayors and regional authorities must be included in debates at national and European Parliaments, saying that problems in integrating refugees arise when local governments are excluded from the debate. Furthermore, Ms. Şahin, mayor of Gaziantep, and Mr. Rainer Münz from the European Political Strategy Centre, stated that a principal reason why Turkish regions have been able to cope with the strain of hosting large numbers of refugees is cooperation between national and local governments. All levels of government in Turkey share the same vision when it comes to the integration of refugees, allowing them to avoid the tensions produced by different priorities.

Mr. Münz said that because local governments dealt with refugees on a daily basis, their focus remained on integrating refugees into society, while national governments frequently take a security driven approach, viewing refugees as temporary guests. This dichotomy can create tensions between different levels of government when local populations become resistant to deportation measures taken by national governments as part of their security driven approach.

In order to foster more cooperation between national and local governments, Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli emphasised the importance of networks like the Assembly of European Regions who can provide a forum for cooperation for stakeholders in the refugee crisis. With their flexibility and ability to implement policies quickly, Dr. Özsan Bozatli stated that cities have an important role to play in hosting refugees, particularly as urbanisation becomes more prevalent.

Legal Challenges

At AER’s workshop, Mr. Minos Mouzourakis from ECRE gave a brief presentation on how different countries’ legal frameworks for dealing with refugees can create challenges for refugees and local governments. Although all countries refer to people fleeing Syria as refugees, some countries provide them full protection as refugees under international law while others award them lesser status. On a short-term basis, these differences in status effect the access to services that refugees receive which impacts the ability of municipalities to ensure that the needs of refugees are met. On a long-term basis, it means that refugees in some regions must wait longer before they can receive full citizenship which makes integration more difficult. For example, refugees in France can receive citizenship relatively quickly while in Austria they must wait 15 years before being awarded subsidiary protection status. Moreover, despite coming from the same circumstances differences in status means that some refugees must wait longer for family reunification than others.

EU Migration Policy

During the interpaliamentary committee meeting, MEPs expressed the need to increase the number of legal pathways into Europe for migrants. Better utilising options like the blue card, creating more student worker programmes, and adapting the EU’s VISA to modern migration challenges were all solutions offered. The prevailing view was that increasing legal migration while curbing illegal migration holds numerous advantages for EU member states and refugees. In the face of profound demographic change, increasing the number of high skilled workers through migration flows will help Europe navigate the ongoing changes to the labour market. Creating more legal pathways will also facilitate the move to more structural and sustainable solutions to modern migration challenges.

Increasing legal migration also holds benefits for refugees as well. Due to the lack of legal pathways into Europe many refugees have attempted to enter Europe illegally, often embarking on dangerous journeys which have resulted in hundreds of deaths. Allowing for more legal migration will increase the number of safe and secure pathways for migrants into Europe. Moreover, creating more legal pathways will also slow the growth of underground labour markets where illegal migrants are currently being exploited.

For those interested, more photos of the events are available on Friends of Europe’s Flickr album.Follow AER!

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Health and Horizon2020: a Good Match.

14 December, 2017 By Editor

On 21 November CORAL members, hosted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in Brussels, discussed Horizon 2020 and many project ideas. The meeting opened with a presentation of EuroScience Open Forum – ESOF, which will take place in Trieste, 4-10 July 2020. Trieste has seen the development of important international and national institutes for research, technology transfer and the dissemination of science. Nowadays, the percentage of researchers working in the city is among the highest in the world. As a Central European city, Trieste works to make ESOF2020 an occasion for strengthening bonds with Central and Eastern European scientists, business, politicians and citizens.

Health Research under Horizon 2020

After the presentation of EuroScience, the floor was taken by Giorgio Clarotti, Health Policy Analist from Directorate General for Research at the European Commission. He is a member of the Foresight Respondents, a group which gives inputs for the Bohemia report, a foresight study advocating for the future EU Research and Innovation Policy. The content of this study will influence the forthcoming Framework Programme – FP9. The final version should be published in April 2018. Mr. Clarotti’s presentation focussed on Horizon 2020 societal challenges and the seven priorities for the Work Programme 2018-2020. Priorities are:

  • Personalised medicine;
  • Innovative health and care industry;
  • Infectious diseases and improving global health;
  • Innovative health, and care systems – integration of care;
  • Decoding the role of the environment for health and well-being;
  • Digital transformation in health and care;
  • Trusted big data solutions and cybersecurity for health and care.

These priorities are tackled by 3 calls for proposals:

  • “Better health and care, economic growth and sustainable health systems” (32 topics)
  • “Digital transformation in health and care” (13 topics)
  • “Trusted digital solutions and cybersecurity in health and care” (3 topics)

CORAL’s Project Ideas

Dr. Mireia Ferri Sanz illustrated the results of a questionnaire drawn up in order to check the interest of CORAL partners in Horizon 2020 calls – Work Programme 2018-20, Sc 1. “Health, demographic change and wellbeing”. Based on the answers:

  • four project ideas have been submitted by regions/entities which proposed to be Lead Partner;
  • CORAL members have expressed a general interest in many other topics;
  • in some calls CORAL could participate as a network, in cooperation with other European networks such as EUREGHA and ECHalliance;

Project ideas related to the following topics:

  • Adaptive working and living environments supporting active and healthy ageing
  • Exploiting the full potential of in-silico medicine research for personalised diagnostics and therapies in cloud-based environments
  • Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) – scaling up of evidence-based health interventions at population level for the prevention and management of hypertension and/or diabetes
  • Support to a Digital Health and Care Innovation Initiative in the Context of Digital Single Market Strategy.

If these topics are of interest to you, AER encourages you to get in contact with CORAL and join one of these partnerships.

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Don’t miss out on the chance to apply for the Silver Economy Awards!

15 November, 2017 By Editor

If you are reading this, it’s because you are thinking of applying for the Silver Economy Awards! The SEED Consortium is searching for talented candidates like you to showcase innovative solutions addressing the needs of ageing populations and thus contribute to raise awareness on the implications of demographic change.

Do not wait any longer to submit your proposal for the Awards and get outstanding recognition by becoming the European Ambassador of Silver Economy.

The deadline for applications has been extended until the 10th of December! 

What makes the Awards so special?

If you think this project is just about an award, then you’re completely wrong. It has major implications for this expanding economic sector as a collector of financial, intellectual and technical resources of the Silver economy:

  • The awards are a catalyser of ICT solutions that brings together local and regional authorities, business and service providers, academia and civil society.
  • The Awards provide applicants with high visibility and international recognition by enabling them to get in contact with investors and key stakeholders associated with the cross-cutting domain of Silver Economy at the EU level.
  • The Awards are the fast-track to the Silver Economy stage: successful applicants will be at the core of the Silver Economy Network!
  • The Awards are flexible and tailored: they are designed by professionals from the 3 different categories (public authority, for-profit organisation and non-for-profit organisation) in 7 different domains.
  • The Awards are a champion of fairness and transparency due to their innovative assessment approach based on peer-reviewers belonging to each of the 3 categories.

And the benefits?

 Simply by taking part, applicants are promoting their innovations:

  • All applicants will benefit from online publication on the Silver Economy website after the winners are selected.
  • Heightened visibility begins with the evaluation process: all eligible applications are peer-reviewed by members of the Covenant on Demographic Change; the second round is evaluated by SEED members and vice-presidents from the Covenant on Demographic Change; and a high-level jury of experts and key players in the European Silver Economy will select the final winners.

Winners and finalists are invited to showcase their product or service before a High Level Jury at the Awards Ceremony in spring 2018, where they will be celebrated for their achievements. Winning teams will also receive an Award bearer logo and exclusive photographs from the event. This will be a unique opportunity to network & exchange with other innovators and Silver Economy leaders.

The winning solutions will be further promoted by the European Commission and SEED partners in the media, on websites, in newsletters and through other promotional material.

How to apply?

The submission is a simple 5-step online process:

  1. Register.
  2. Receive an authorisation email and login.
  3. Complete the fields (save as you go along or so you can come back in and complete the form later).
  4. Check you have completed all the obligatory fields – marked with an asterix.
  5. Agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Power to the regions!

As concluded in the SEED Workshop within the EU Open Days of the Committee of the Regions, the action of regions and cities is crucial and some have already developed comprehensive strategies to address demographic ageing while supporting and developing local business demonstrating that the Silver Economy, as a broad political and economic paradigm, holds the promise to benefit older persons themselves as well as the public welfare systems and the private sector.

This 1st edition of the only EU Award on Silver Economy is certainly a great opportunity to place regions under the spot inspiring European policy-makers to follow their example!

Save the dates again! Applications open until the 10th of December!

The winners of this first edition will hold the status of European champions of the Silver Economy for one year.

Contact

 

Photo credits:@SEED: http://silvereconomyawards.eu/2017/homeFollow AER!

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A milestone in the Silver Economy Project: 2017 European Week of Regions and Cities

25 October, 2017 By Editor

The AER and the SEED Consortium can only be proud of the great success of the workshop “An Alternative for the future: Silver Economy for cities and regions”!

Through the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017 in Brussels, the workshop on October 10 attracted around 250 representatives from local and regional authorities, business and service providers, academia and civil society to hear about the social and economic benefits that lay in the European Silver Economy.

A High-level Opening

The workshop was opened by the First Vice President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) Markku Markkula, and was moderated by Anne-Sophie Parent, Secretary General of AGE Platform Europe. The former, who was officially announced as the moral patron of the European Silver Economy Awards, stressed out that today’s responsibility is to find sustainable solutions to the overwhelming growth in the number of people aged 60+ across Europe.

Emphasizing the role of both digitalization and demographic change, Mr. Markkula called for a “bottom-up strategy for the European Silver Economy that can only be achieved by creating synergies among European stakeholders, and by taking into account the economic, ecological, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability”. From Ms. Parent’s side, she pointed out that “the goal of AGE Platform is none other than to reduce the costs of silver economy by mainstreaming older persons’ needs in larger services and products”.

The workshop opening was further complemented by a talk of European Commission’s Programme Officer Horst Krämer, who addressed the transformation of healthcare in the Digital Single Market. He raised concern about the fact that “the rapidly aging of European population is a common political challenge that needs to be addressed by joining forces from all sectors”.

Showcasing concrete solutions to feed the debate

The workshop also addressed wide-raging issues such as sustainability, innovative financing models, user involvement, new business models, emerging sectors through six inspiring examples from different cities and regions: Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), Free State of Saxony (Germany), Gelderland Province (Netherlands), Varaždin County (Croatia) and North Denmark Region (Denmark).

The presentations were followed by an engaged Q&A debate and a live poll session between panellists and the audience. Moreover, the workshop also included a networking session which enabled the participants to continue discussing burning issues linked to the Silver Economy and to establish contact for potential partnerships and future synergies.

Check the following highlights of the Live Poll Session:

Mainstreaming regions as solution providers

As a conclusion, although rapid demographic ageing is a major societal challenge, it also offers great opportunities for economic growth and jobs in Europe and elsewhere.

According to the European Commission, the Silver Economy is the sum of the economic opportunities arising from the public and consumer expenditure related to ageing and the specific needs of the population over 50. It covers various domains like tourism, care, housing, mobility or financial services, and requires the mobilisation of all stakeholders, in particular cities and regions.

Their actions are crucial and some have already developed comprehensive strategies to address demographic ageing while supporting and developing local business, demonstrating that the Silver Economy as a broad political and economic paradigm holds the promise to benefit to older persons themselves as well as to the public welfare systems and the private economy.

This is why the European Commission has awarded the SEED project (Horizon 2020) that is currently setting up the first European-level award scheme rewarding ICT-based innovative solutions that support the growth of the European Silver Economy.

Do you want to know more about the Silver Economy Awards? If so, please click on the following link: http://silvereconomyawards.eu/

Application still open until the 15th of November!

(Check the whole workshop album of pictures provided by the Committee of the Regions: https://www.flickr.com/photos/euregionsweek/sets/72157687706180204)

Photo credits: @flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/euregionsweek/sets/72157687706180204Follow AER!

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Silver Economy Awards support Talents, Contributions and Participation of Older Persons in Society

29 September, 2017 By Editor

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 – 14:26

The 2017 theme of the International Day of Older Persons is crucial to build an inclusive, fair, and sustainable future for us all. The Silver Economy Awards are meant to support this call, by tapping of talents, contributions and participation of older persons in society.

As outlined by the United Nations, “preparing for an ageing population is vital to the achievement of the integrated 2030 Agenda (for Sustainable Development), with ageing cutting across the goals on poverty eradication, good health, gender equality, economic growth, reduced inequalities and sustainable cities”.

The Silver Economy Awards will contribute to these efforts by promoting & rewarding innovative solutions led by public authorities, businesses, and civil society organisations from across Europe. Applications are welcomed from the broad spectrum of areas that make up the European Silver Economy including those supporting older persons’ civic and social participation.

Ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, can participate in the society is not only essential to older persons’ well-being, but also imperative for building a more sustainable and fair society. We look forward to receiving applications showcasing innovative ICT-based products and services supporting this pledge.

Online submissions are open until 15 November 2017. More information, including details of the application process, criteria and support webinars is available at www.silvereconomyawards.eu.

Contact: [email protected]

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AER E-health journey

30 August, 2017 By Editor

With its many years working on e-health and social innovation technologies, AER is recognised as leader in the field. Today, let’s go a few years back and look at everything AER has achieved from the creation of its E-health network in 2006 to its longstanding cooperation with ALEC.

E-health political breakthroughs

E-health can be defined as a set of IT tools used to meet the needs of citizens and patients as well as healthcare professionals, service providers, local authorities and national governments in the field of health.

It is of great political interest as it represents an innovative way to deliver health services, in particular in remote rural areas and to people with mobility difficulties. E-health is seen as an alternative in order to release scarce labour and infrastructure resources. Nowadays, 80% of financing in the health sector is assigned to human resources with around 75% coming directly from public funding. According to the European Commission, 17,5 million people are employed as administrative staff in the medical field, representing 9,3% workers in Europe. In that sense, e-health is determinant to optimise health administration and increase productivity in the sector.

Moreover, E-health is an essential tool for the modernisation of health services in Europe. This, in light of ever-decreasing health budgets and the increasing demands on health systems resulting from demographic changes. Innovation in the health system will with no doubt improve the exchange of information and good practice among healthcare actors and raise awareness on health widely! E-health services are particularly compelling to its usage in preventive health care as well as distance mental health treatments. Thanks to all the above, e-health is a major instrument in improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare services for patients.

Regarding economics and businesses, e-health is a sector with a significant growth potential: touching up-and-coming areas such as technologies, engineering and innovation. Besides, ICT research and development can effectively contribute to regional and EU economic growth.

E-health Network, a life story

AER E-health network was created in 2006. Its meaning was first to identify priority political areas in e-health and to develop joint cooperation projects for regions. The exchange of experience and good practice between regions is also a clear focus for the group.

Therefore, the aim of the network is to create a platform where regions can engage in interregional cooperation projects to develop e-health tools and where they can contribute to European policies on e-health. It brings together member regions interested in developing policies in this field, but also external organisations who focus on the development of e-health technologies. The network is fully open to AER member regions that are either already active in e-health or want to develop e-health policies and tools.

Focus areas include: e-diagnosis, research for available e-health resources, record keeping systems, distance planning, active and independent living for the elderly, mental health and e-health as a planning tool  for health and social systems.

The network especially works on:

  • Raising awareness and disseminating knowledge on the potential of e-health
  • Gathering information on existing tools, funding and policies and carry out studies
  • Together with other regions and partners in coordinating our e-health tools and strategies
  • Stimulating the development of products and services for the commercial market
  • Encouraging research and education in the e-health sector

It organises thematic meetings and several conferences a year to make sure regions fully benefit from other’s experience and good practice to learn everything there is to know about e-health and improve regional systems.

First round for the E-health network

From 2006, the network organised several seminars to exchange experience and start discussing potential interregional cooperation projects. Later that year, the ‘E-health: around the clock care for everyone, everywhere‘ conference was launched in Norbotten. It was the occasion to sharpen key fields of action, choosing to especially discuss e-health as a tool for service delivery, sharing patient information, prevention and dissemination of information. The harmonisation of regional systems and infrastructures as well as creating partnerships with other sectors were also a fundamental feature of the conference.

Following the conference, the network made it its priority to improve the delivery of health services, modernise these services in order to make them financially sustainable and improve access to health services, in particular in rural or remote areas.

In 2007, during a seminar held in Brussels region made their first proposals for e-health cooperation project. AER also actively participated in ‘The World of IT Health’ Conference, in Vienna to exchange observations on interoperable health systems as well as the legal and regulatory framework for e-health in Europe.

2008 was under the sign of promoting cross-border cooperation in e-health and facilitating exchange of e-health professionals. With the hit of the financial crisis, the group profoundly discussed european developments and funding opportunities. New focus subjects were brought to the table such as medical data privacy & protection as well as chronic disease management.

Building a strong link with e-health businesses

AER plays an active part in bringing together SMEs active in ehealth, regional authorities and the end users (patients’, youth and seniors’ associations). The aim is to bring all actors in the ehealth chain together to identify the future priorities in ehealth and to create synergies between them for the development and implementation of the necessary tools and policies.

Different approaches were tested to create a discussion forum for eHealth end users, buyers and developers. Finally a slack channel was successfully developed where all members are free to join. AER also help in facilitating the creation of a regional SMEs network on ehealth across Europe while encouraging the creation of strong trans-border partnerships between businesses involved in the health services.

A multi-stakeholder approach in need of clear leadership

In that sense, AER has always promoted a multi-stakeholder approach to develop innovation in the health sector, involving healthcare professionals, patients, end-users, businesses and industry. The network strongly encourages the exchange of knowledge and experience between all actors as well as e-awareness. This perspective was reinforced from 2010, with AER collaboration with EHTEL to stimulate crossborder cooperation in e-health.

From there, the e-health network recognized that e-health was not only a matter of technology and technics but lacks a clear leadership in the field. Since then, it has hardly worked to highlight the valuable role of regions in maintaining their citizens health. AER worked close with ETHEL in order to develop a programme to train regional representatives to the high stakes of e-health. AER’s strategy was to build capacity and leadership by following the “Learning by doing” principle and develop interregional cooperation projects through the INTERREG agenda. That way building relations to voice the regions’ demands. Such a project is still under development, identifying challenges, targeting sustainable investments and working to change mentalities.

 

AER representing member regions interest through the European Commission

AER launched several partnerships with the European Commission. Together, they organised several events, along with the support of the committee of regions.

One of the most significant collaboration involves the AHAIP initiatives in 2011, the “Active and Healthy Ageing Innovation Partnership“. The programme results in a pilot action designed to improve patients’ health and quality of life and the health administration’s efficiency, as well as supporting the elderly by granting them better quality services. The aim is to bring together actors at all levels and sectors to mobilise available resources and expertise. Once again, it encourages variety of stakeholders to work together while stimulating innovation and capacity. AER wants to make Europe a global leader in e-health, that according to her should be sustainable, an integral part of regional planning process and a priority among regional politicians.

Invited by the European Commission, the AER E-health network organised a workshop to showcase regional expertise in the e-health field. This event took place in the framework of the e-health week in Budapest, a major conference that gathered politicians, health administrators, researchers and industries in order to discuss future priorities for e-health. The forum’s participants emphasised the major role played by regions in the deployment of personal e-health solutions by highlighting the progress achieved for chronic pathologies such as diabetes, cardio-vascular and obstructive pulmonary diseases. The aim of this session was to identify the steps that need to be taken to link the various regional initiatives across Europe today and achieve the AER e- [email protected] network’s vision: dropping the ‘e’ from ‘e-health’, plus,  what needs to be done to achieve Europe-wide deployment of e-health.

Longstanding partnership – ALEC

Since 2010, AER developed strong links with the Artic Light E-health Conference. ALEC is a captivating event uniting digital health professionals from across the globe meet in the arctic region of Norrbotten for two days of inspiration, networking and skill development. The event is hosted by the President of AER Committee 2, Ms Agneta Granström who is also the Chair of the AER e-health network.

Each year AER members are invited to participate in a great panel of events on e-health, including study visits. ALEC enables all stakeholders discuss digital’s potential to bridge health gaps, and develop tools to design better health for all. Past conferences have included key aspects of e-health sought to address both the technical and organisational aspects affecting the patient’s experience. Participants discuss sustainable e-health (social, environmental & economical),independent living and prevention. Together they exchange on european perspectives, best practices, cross border services and identify challenges.

Last year the 5th Arctic Light e-Health Conference  was held in Sweden.

Speeding up actions

From 2016, AER became a true leader in E-health good practice event, multiplying opportunities for its regions.

AER members met with Representatives from the industry, academy and institution will meet up in Budapest (HU)  for the international 360° Summit on eHealth. Together they discussed quality healthcare provisioning in Europe, a major issue for the EU healthcare systems. In deed, the population growth and the increasing number of chronic patients is creating a strong budgetary pressure on governments. AER provided concrete actions to face this challenge within its Committees, favouring a dialogue among health, innovation, enterprises and social policies.

Besides, AER actively joined in “E-health: let’s find a common language” event hosted by Brussels Capital at the Committee of the Regions. The event aimed at providing participants with information on funding opportunities in the field of healthcare,  new connections, tested ideas to improve communication between stakeholders, inspiration and mutual understanding. AER wants to show increase collaboration and improve communication among stakeholders, beginning at the regional level.  This event successfully managed to bring together companies and organisations working on e-health via group discussions, enhancing the participation and the exchange of ideas.

Finally AER participated in a session organised by ECHAlliance on a new “Coalition of the Willing” at the 2016 e-health week. This digital health journey across Europe aims at speeding up the deployment of e-health in regions. Agneta Granström presented the issues faced by europeans regions. When it comes to using e-health to build a new, sustainable and patient-centered health system, which supports health innovation, leadership is key. Ms. Granström emphasized the need for change management, change leadership and an increased focus on improving digital literacy among leaders.

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Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash

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The first European Silver Economy Awards at the AER General Assembly

23 May, 2017 By Luca Magri

The AER General Assembly is one of the launching events of the fist European level Silver Economy Awards. AER is proud to be a partner of the SEED project, the promoter of this important initiative.
Silver Economy is on the AER priority list since years. Already AER and member regions addressed Silver Economy  at the Training Academy in Aalborg in 2015 and more recently at the 2016 European Summit on Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), network in which eight AER member regions are active players.

SEED project powers the Silver Economy Awards
SEE project represents a good achievement for AER within the project side, having a big potential for the three Committees both in terms of content and activities. AER briefly presented the project at the last 2017 Spring Plenary now we would like to share with member regions more information being the time for the launching of its main activity: the Silver Economy Awards.
SEED is the acronym of “Supporting the recognition of the Silver Economy in Europe in the Digital era”, a successful project submitted under the Horizon 2020 programme, as Coordination and Support Action. Led by Empirica, SEED aims to put under the spot innovative solutions that show the prominence of the silver economy and the importance of the quality of life for the ageing population.
The nine partners of the consortium are engaged to design, organise and launch an innovative award scheme to finally give to silver economy the highest visibility possible at EU level.
The Silver Economy Awards has a long term vision as, once the two years project ends, the European Covenant of Demographic Change will assure the sustainability of the award itself.

The launch of the Silver Economy Awards: the stand at the General Assembly
The 2017 edition of the General Assembly is going to be an important milestone of the promotion of the award. AER took the opportunity of this important event for the AER network getting to know the process to apply and to promote the participation to the award among the member regions. AER wants member regions to submit all the great experiences they are carrying on to show how regional authorities and stakeholders are committed and innovative in this field. To put member regions in the best position to prepare a successful application, AER provides new format: not the usual presentation, but a stand. The Silver Economy Awards stand will be accessible to all the participants of the General Assembly during the two days of the event. Agnese Pantaloni – Coordinator for European projects and private partnerships, helped by Elin Berglie – Coordinator for member relations, will give you all the information about the Silver Economy Awards.

The must-to-know of the Silver Economy Awards
AER members are used to awards. The Regional Innovation Award is an an opportunity that no region want to miss.  Following the 2016 Regional Innovation Award on circular economy, this time (2017) the Silver Economy Awards will replace the replaces the Regional Innovation Award.
Member regions will have even a broader visibility thank to the composition of the award stakeholders. Not only public authorities, but also non-for-profit and business organisations.
Save the dates: applications opens the 8th June and close the 15th Novembre 2017.
The award ceremony is planned in Brussels, in May 2018.

Check the website of the Silver Economy Awards and bring your questions to the stand!

If you are already looking for additional information, do not hesitate to contact the AER Secretariat!

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A recognition of excellence

15 December, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

The 2016 European Summit on Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing was an opportunity to highlight the excellent initiatives from regions across Europe. The Summit brought together diverse stakeholders to boost Europe’s competitive advantage in the Silver Economy

The Silver what?

Europe is growing older and while this is a challenge because society has to adapt its strategies, products and services, it could also be an opportunity. Indeed in terms of world demographic trends, Europe will become older first. If Europe innovates first it will get a competitive advantage. If a large part of the population is getting older this means also a new market is being created, hence the reference to the Silver economy. the Silver Economy is believed to grow faster than the Green Economy, which says something about its potential.

The Silver Economy covers new market opportunities arising from public and consumer expenditure related to the rights, needs and demands of the (growing) population over 50.<br>Public spending on ageing in the EU accounts for 25% of GDP and 50% of general government expenditure and is projected to grow by 4% of GDP until 2060 (see the Commission’s 2015 Ageing report).

The European Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing

The Innovation Union strategy outlines the way the European Commission decided to support European competitiveness and tackle societal challenges. The focus is on research and innovation.

The European Commission has identified active and healthy ageing/ demographic change as a major societal challenge common to all European countries. It also presents considerable potential for Europe to lead the world in health innovation.

The Innovation Partnerships are one of the elements of the Innovation Union strategy. The Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) brings together end users, public authorities, industry, all actors in the innovation cycle, and those engaged in standardisation and regulation.

The Partnership’s objective is to improve the framework conditions for uptake of innovation: Funding and investments in innovation need to be leveraged. But funding for research and innovation in European territories also needs to be more coherent and better coordinated.

Recognising excellent practices

Last year at the Conference of Partners of the EIP-AHA Günther Oettinger, EC Commissioner for the Digital Economy & Society announced a new Call for Reference sites. A total of 74 regional and local organisations have been awarded “Reference Site” status. The Reference Sites awards showcased the commitment of these local and regional organisations to invest over €4 billion in connected health and care for the ageing population until 2019 – an investment expected to benefit at least 4 million people across Europe.

8 AER member regions were among the winners: Catalonia (ES) ****, City of Zagreb (HR)*, East of France (FR)**, Friuli Venezia Giulia (IT)***, Ile de France (FR), Murcia (ES)**, Norrbotten (SE)***, Noord-Brabant Province (NL)***, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR)**.

Creating a shared vision

The European Innovation Partnership managed to engage stakeholders in the drafting of a shared vision on IT health innovation. This shared vision is known as the “Blueprint, digital transformation of health and care for the ageing society”. The Blueprint outlines how the journey of emerging digital “innovation to market” can be eased. It is also a manifesto for the alignment of innovation, economic and industrial policies with health and social care policies and with users’ and patients’ needs.  The Blueprint was handed over to Commissioner Oettinger by the Blueprint Champion and AER Member Encarna Guillen, Regional Health Minister from Murcia, ES.

This is also very much in line with the work AER carried out during its workshop on stakeholder engagement in health innovation ecosystems and the event it organised together with its partner networks “E-health: let’s find a common language”

Upcoming events

The ALEC 2017 event on 1-2 February will be an opportunity to further improve the dialogue between stakeholders. AER will, in particular, moderate a workshop on tapping into social capital and the engagement of carers and patients in integrated care systems.

 

ALEC 2017

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Looking for EU partners: social employment & elderly care

12 December, 2016 By Agnese Pantaloni

In different European countries, the European Social Fund agencies are launching calls for transnational collaboration. In Belgium, Flanders different projects were approved to go to the second phase. In this phase the Flemish organisations are looking for European partners, who are interested in the same topic and who want to collaborate, with funds from their own local ESF agency.

De Biehal is looking for European partners, to collaborate around a project idea on the use of social employment in the sectors assisted living and elderly care.

This project focuses on two sectors, having looked at some urgent issues from both perspectives and willing to connect them: social economy (social employment) and assisted living and elderly care.

The questions raised are the following:
How can we adapt or break up assignments of the caretakers (so) to avoid distraction because of non-explicit tasks of care in order to focus on their real task(s)?

How can we, being social employment, take over these assignments and how can we facilitate the assisted living and elderly care? Which initiatives and assignments can possibly develop?

How can we integrate these assignments into the labour market?
In other words: which adaptions are necessary, which cooperations are needed to start up and how can we let take over these tasks by the employees of a target group with a bigger distance to the labour market?

This project aims to answer these questions and the results of both sectors will be compared afterwards and in order to formulate a number of recommendations for the policy, based on these results.

If you are interested in this topic and you would like to join this initiative, get quickly in touch with the AER Secretariat!

Deadline for expression of interests is 16 December.Follow AER!

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E-health: how to find a common language?

1 December, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

Regional governments and their stakeholders, in particular, companies shared experiences on 1 December 2016 at the “E-health: let’s find a common language” event hosted by Brussels Capital at the Committee of the Regions. The event aimed at providing participants with information on funding opportunities in the field of healthcare,  new connections, tested ideas to improve communication between stakeholders, inspiration and mutual understanding.

Genuine exchanges

cor-1E-health brings together stakeholders which are not always used to work together. While improving cooperation is on all lips, the consequences of miscommunication are often under-estimated. The so-called geek gap is costing millions to the economy. The cultural clash between different stakeholders prevents them from building trust and deepen cooperation.

The event, therefore, was designed with a strong focus on enabling participants to take an active role. Because purpose-driven networking is often more of a wishful thought than a reality, every single element of the event was aimed at facilitating the exchange of experience between participants from different stakeholder groups.

Engagement & openness

hob

AER President Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, welcomed guests and underlined the longstanding engagement of AER in the field of e-health, with in particular the creation of the AER [email protected] network in 2006. Expertise has grown over the years and shifted from rather technical discussions to the transformative power of e-health in the public service. Several projects have been developed within the network and carried out, in particular, the Smartcare ICT-PSP project, which was the largest EU deployment project on integrated care systems. Other projects such United4health and Engaged supported regions in the deployment of telemedicine and created mutual learning across Europe around smart health.

eric-v-merrienboerNorth Brabant Minister for Spatial Planning and Finances Eric van Merrienboer delivered an inspiring speech on the need for open cooperation as a sine qua non condition to achieve the desired results or realise innovations. This open cooperation is based on 4 main elements:  taking your own responsibility, knowledge, skills, respect for each other. “An organisation such as the AER is ideally suited to act as a role model and leader”, he said, because regions in and outside the European Union make it possible to identify and approach other stakeholders “to find a common language in the exchange of knowledge and skills, but also to actually do business with each other”.

Sharing the small things

Each delegate had the opportunity to explain how they work on a set of topics in small and rather informal discussion groups. Participants put across challenges they are confronted with, in particular, which stakeholders they find difficult to engage or even to communicate with and why they would like to see the communication with these stakeholders improve. Hearing from others what they find difficult helps to get new perspectives.

Participants enriched the discussion with examples which they have seen improve common understanding between stakeholders. Often examples can seem insignificant as such but as a group and through the discussion they can actually be illuminating.

It is often by sharing the small things that common understanding starts to emerge because it refers to the practical aspects and the “how do we start”

Discussion groups were organised around the following topics:

  • Public-private partnerships

Moderated by Marco D’Angelantonio from HIM SA, with contributions from Pieter van den Haak from ParkinsonNet, Kees Kools from the Care Innovation Center West-Brabant, Wil Philipsen from Fresh Idea Factory and several regional representatives.

  • Pre-commercial procurement / procurement for innovation

Moderated by Freja Hagsund from EUREGHA, with contributions from Lynda Jones and Jane Brady from the Welsh government as well as Dr. Ramon Maspons from the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS, as per the acronym in Catalan) and many other stakeholders

  • Translating Research and Innovation into practice through collaborative engagement

Moderated by Marc Lange from EHTEL, with contributions from Prof. Dr. Bart Neyns from UZ Brussels, Bas Goossen from MiBida and other participants.

  • Patient-centered innovation

Moderated by Lonneke Rompen from ParkinsonNet, with contributions from Nilofar Niazi, from TRAINM, as well as other organisations and regional stakeholders.

  • Capacity building in care system

Moderated by Olivier Naeyaert from UZ Brussels, with contributions from Paul De Raeve and Kostas Aligiannis from the European Federation of Nurses (EFN) and many other delegates.

Inputs were captured and synthesised by rapporteurs, who disclosed them in the plenary session.

Hands-on inspiration

A study visit to the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center in Brussels was an opportunity to discuss public-private partnerships. The visit provided insights on the latest technological  innovations and trends and was an opportunity to speak about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. This video on the Seeing AI project showcases for instance how artificial intelligence is enabling blind people to “see” what happens around them, recognising people’s age and emotions or reading from a menu in a restaurant. Microsoft has also recently announced a quartet of initiatives aimed at “solving” cancer via artificial intelligence.

Cross-sectoral cooperation

Cooperation was probably the word most heard during the whole event. It all started with the cooperation between Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional development and Economy and Agneta Granström, President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health, who decided to initiate a cooperation on e-health early 2016. Indeed while demographic change should be an opportunity to develop IT innovation and e-health technologies, SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and more than ever before regions need to support their companies in being able to take advantage of the growth potential of e-health & the silver economy. This is why the AER [email protected] network and the Working group on Business, SMEs and Investments held a joint meeting at the Timişoara Start up HUB on the occasion of the Spring plenaries this year and recently organised a workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir.

Networks as facilitators and bridges

The event was designed and organised together with networks AER collaborates with regularly in the field of health. CORAL, EUREGHA and EHTEL played a significant role in the success of this event by providing their expertise, but maybe more specifically by acting as facilitators and as bridges between different stakeholders.

Related upcoming event

alec2017-comALEC, Accelerating Digital Health is organised for the fifth time in Norrbotten (SE) and will be an opportunity to discuss how to bridge health gaps in the age of digital everything. The conference is a place for meaningful connection with peers and experts from all over the world in an incredible environment where time and space seem to obey to different rules. These two days of inspiration, networking and skill development will enable participants to futher engage for the digital transformation of health and society as a whole and develop tools to design better health for all.

Once again ALEC will present a great line-up of top-level digital health thought leaders, policy makers and business innovators who will deliver inspiring and informative keynotes on The Digital Transformation of Healthcare and Health Equity in the Digital Age.

Regions, which would like to share their experience in change management for digital transformation should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius.Follow AER!

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  • 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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