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AER explores E-Health, Transport & Inclusion during workshops at Spring Committee Plenaries

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E-health workshop

Agneta Granström (Norrbotten, SE), Chair of the AER E-Health Network, opened the workshop by providing a brief update on the activities of the Network. Highlighting the group’s key successes in bringing e-health to the forefront of the European agenda and fostering interregional cooperation in this field, Agneta mentioned the H2020 SEED project and its Silver Economy Awards to innovative solutions in improving the quality of life of the ageing population, and the MOCHA (Models of Child Health Appraised) project to appraise the differing models of child health used across Europe. Delegates also had the opportunity to hear about the development of a new EU project on leadership for the development of e-health in Europe (presentation here).

Sandra Evans, from the University of Tübingen presented the Mach 5 project on Mutual Learning Partnerships Driving Social Innovation on Healthy Living Eastward across 5 European Countries. Sandra shared the key activities and lessons learned during the project, which established dynamic trans-regional clusters and multi-stakeholder ecosystems and expanded the European learning community on ICT for active and healthy ageing (presentation here).

Diane Whitehouse, from EHTEL (European Health Telematics Association), talked about the deployment of integrated care systems. Diana presented AER members with SCIROCCO, a 12 dimension-maturity model developed by the Action Group on Integrated Care of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. Diana encouraged wider testing and application of the this on-line self-assessment tool that facilitates the successful scaling up and transfer of good practices in integrated care across European regions (presentation here). AER members offered insights into regional health and care systems in Värmland (SE), Trento (IT) and Prahova (RO).

Working Group on Transport and Mobility

Martin Tollén (Region Östergötland, SE), Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility moderated this discussion.

Sergiu Bilcea, Vice President of the Arad County Council (RO), gave a presentation on a regional example of a transport and mobility project happening in Arad County. Sergiu explained how the region has improved cross-border mobility through the construction and modernization of roads with cross-border impact, using Cohesion Policy funds. The Vice President of the Arad County Council described how these investments promoted the cross-border labour mobility between Hungarian and Romanian territories and enabled Romania to make further progress on its accession to Schengen Area (Presentation available here).

Vivian Stribos (Gelderland, NL) then presented the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC (European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation), which was created to strengthen and coordinate the integrated development of the Corridor from a regional and local perspective for an innovative, green and smart Corridor. Vivan challenged the Working Group to build mutual learning between regions from the nine core network corridors. AER members expressed interest in exploring the potential value of platform for exchange (Presentation available here).

The Chair of the Working Group, Martin Tollén, updated members on the New Mobility Services initiative of the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). Bringing cities and regions together with other stakeholders to show-case innovative mobility solutions and support their replication, the Action Cluster on Sustainable Urban Mobility launched this initiative to help better integrate and manage urban transport, contributing to the development of collective systems for seamless multi-modal mobility, and create an open and collaborative marketplace for new mobility services in Europe.

Roger Esteferos (Senior Expert, SE), elaborated on the state aid to State Aid to Regional Airports, providing an update on the situation (Presentation available here).

Workshop on inclusion

Highlights of this workshop include an insightful presentation from Erika Stark, General Manager of the Directorate of Child Protection and Social Assistance of Arad region (RO), who explained how the regional social services came together with the NGO sector and the communities themselves to reach out to those at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Erika shared the region’s strategy and programmes aimed at preventing and reintegrating those already experiencing social exclusion, presenting the initiatives targeted at the most vulnerable and socially excluded, in particular children and young people and people with disabilities. Erika talked about the work of the Arad region with children in care and the support provided to young people leaving care to make the transition to adulthood, as well as the employment and skills programmes developed for people with disabilities.

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AER in Arad, Romania for Spring Committee Plenaries

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The AER Spring Committee Plenaries took place from 20 to 22 March 2018 in Arad, Romania.

Below you will find a recap of the event, with updates, presentations, and take aways from the conference.

Day 1 (20 March)

The Committees’ plenaries: it’s all about sharing & learning

The day started with, on one side, the AER Executive Board meeting, and on the other, a Study Visit of  the city of Arad..

Following this we moved on to the AER joint-committee plenary meeting. Members were welcomed by the President of Arad County Council, Iustin Cionca, and Magnus Berntsson, AER President. 

AER’s member relations coodinator, Elin Berglie, then presented the AER presentation to members, which explains what AER is, how it works, and how it presents a great added value for its member regions. (This presentation is available here)

Shinebright

Following a presentation of AER’s achievements by Secretary General Mathieu Mori, AER’s Committee Presidents presented awards to AER member regions that have contributed a lot to the AER network in the last months.

  • Committee 3 interim President Aleksandra Djankovic, presented an award to Trentino (IT) as a way to say welcome to the Eurodyssey Programme, their active participation will surely prove an asset to our youth mobility network.
  • Committee 2 President Mihai Ritivoiu, presented an award to Varazdin (HR) for their great engagement in our project unit and for their participation in the SEED project during 2017 Regions Week in Brussels. 
  • Committee 1 President Jean-Luc Vanraes presented an award to Korca (AL) for their dedicated work as part of AER’s Monitoring and Evaluation Group, that strives to improve AER’s output and work.

Political Priorities

Brian Greenslade, Honorary Vice-President of AER, presented the outputs from the Autumn Bureau Meeting in November 2017. You can find a recap of these outputs here. These outputs translate to AER’s political priorities for the 2018-2019 period.

AER Programmes

We got updates on the AER programmes from our members. Esther Estany (Catalonia, ES), President of Eurodyssey, updated members on the changes happening within Eurodyssey, encouraging them to attend the upcoming Eurodyssey Event in april.

Dancus Ioan Doru, Vice President of Maramures county, presented a little more information about the upcoming Summer Academy in his home region in August. 

Gloria Vitaly (Nordland, NO) offered a summary of the outcomes from the recent YRN plenaries in Nordland.

Autumn Committee Plenaries

Damir Zobenica (Vojvodina, RS) – talked about the great ideas being thought about for the upcoming Autumn Committee Plenaries and encouraged members to bring more ideas to the discussion! Regional Business Forum is the theme that has been suggested.

Innovation Ecosystems

Multilevel and Open Innovation Ecosystems discussed during Spring Committee Plenaries

Day 2 (21 March)

Committee 3 plenary

Mathieu Mori led the elections for open positions in Committee 3. Congratulations to our new Committee 3 Presidium members!

  • Radimir Čačić, Varazdin (HR) was elected as President Committee 3.
  • Simon Johnsen, Nordland (NO) was elected as Chair of the Sub-Committee on Education and Training

Actions were then set in across four discussion groups: Youth, Education, Culture and Youth Mental Health. The actions will be published soon.

Committee 1 plenary

Jean-Luc Vanraes (Brussels-Capital, BE), President of Committee 1, led the elections for open positions in Committee 1. Congratulations to our new Committee 1 Presidium members!

  • Håkon Noren, Oppland (NO) was elected to the Equal Opportunities Group.
  • Katarina Tolgfors, Örebro (SE) was elected to the Equal Opportunities Group.
  • Olimpia Neagoe, Dolj (RO) was elected as Chair of the working group on Rural Development.
  • Eva Hallström, Värmland (SE) was elected as Chair of the working group on Energy and Climate Change.

Sanja Šifliš (Vojvodina, RS) presented the upcoming event on Biomass in Vojvodina, find out more here.

Martin Tollén (Östergötland, SE) presented the progress being made in the Transport and Mobility working group.

Jean-Luc Vanraes presented the outcomes of the Artificial Intelligence debate that took place in November 2017. Find out more here.

Actions were then set in across four discussion groups: Transport and Mobility, Cohesion, SMEs and Innovation, Energy and Climate Change and Rural Development.  The actions will be published soon.

E-health workshop

After a welcome by Agneta Granström (Norrbotten, SE), Chair of the AER E-health Network (presentation here), Sandra Evans, from the University of Tübingen presented the Mach 5 project (presentation here).

Diane Whitehouse, from EHTEL, talked about the deployment of integrated care systems (presentation here). Diane engaged with members from Värmland (SE), Trento (IT) and Prahova (RO) who presented the status of integrated care in their regions.

AER explores E-Health, Transport & Inclusion during workshops at Spring Committee Plenaries

Committee 2 plenary

Mihai Ritivoiu (Timis, RO), President of Committee 2, welcomed members to the committee 2 plenary, and gave a presentation on the Committee’s achievements since the last plenaries in Nancy. 

The AER secretariat gave a presentation on the successful projects that have been joined in the field of social inclusion and health. As well as point out the efforts made in advocating for inclusive growth. (See previous presentation)

Committee President Ritivoiu then opened the floor for elections. The two vacant positions remain open:

  • One female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group
  • Vice President for Inclusion & Social entrepreneurship

Actions were then set in across four discussion groups: Inclusion, Health Innovation, and Equal Access to Health.  The actions will be published soon.

Working Group on Transport and Mobility

Martin Tollén (Region Östergötland, SE) moderated this discussion on transport and mobility in European regions.

Sergiu Bilcea, Vice President of the Arad County Council (RO), gave a presentation on a regional example of a transport and mobility project happening in Arad County. (Presentation available here)

Vivian Stribos (EU Lobbyist Eastern Netherlands, Gelderland Brussels Office, NL) then presented a project on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor. (Presentation available here)

Martin Tollén presented the EIP on smart cities & communities, with input from Rutger Schuitemaker (Flevoland, NL) and Diane Whitehouse (EHTEL)

Roger Esteferos (Senior Expert, SE), elaborated on the state aid issue. (Presentation available here)

You can find more information here.

Evening Lounge Meeting on Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Group Member Kenneth Johannesson (Värmland, SE), standing in for Vice-President for Equal Opportunities Andrew Gibson (Hampshire, UK) led an informal political discussion on how relevant this AER group’s work is.

He offered several examples of the effects and the statistics linked to lack of Equal Opportunity. (Violence against women – Health Inequalities – Local level example)

Members then tackled the following questions:

  • To what extent is there still a gender pay gap?
  • What are the factors determining equality of health across regions?
  • How can we work towards equal opportunities in our regions?

AER’s Equal Opportunities Group: inspiring work for regions

Day 3 (22 March)

Breakfast debate:Democracy in practice

AER, a tool to further democracy in Europe

Workshop on inclusion

We were fortunate enough to be welcomed by Mrs. Erika Stark, General manager of the General Direction/Division for Social Assistance and Child Protection from Arad County Council. She led the conversation on inclusion (See presentation here)

You can find more information here.

AER Committee 2 President Mihai Ritivoiu looks back on the Plenaries in Arad

Extras…

Contributing the work programmes

Are you joining us in Arad? Read how you can participate in the defining of the work programmes here.

Event page

Visit the event page here.

Contact:

Communications & Events

Erica Lee

Tel: +32 2 400 10 85
E-mail: e.lee(at)aer.eu
Languages: en, de, nl, fr, ga, pl,

  • Communications
  • Event Management
  • Partnerships

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Committee 3 Progress Report Spring 2018

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

Evaluating progress

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

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the Spring 2018 plenary meeting in Arad. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme. The 2018 Committee 3 work programme will be jointly developed and adopted on March 21st at the Committee 3 Plenary meeting. Activities which are still ongoing will be integrated in the 2018 work programme too if still relevant for the Committee.

Projects

  • Involvement of YRN in AER projects: ongoing

AER is supporting the YRN’s participation in European Projects in 2 main aspects:

  1. support in the development of own projects, as in the case of the development of an environment project based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project.
  2. Systematically think of including the YRN when AER is invited to join a consortium

  • Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

On the occasion of the Nancy plenary meeting a project development workshop on youth mental health was held to further identify areas for potential collaboration on the topic of youth mental health and the desired scope for such a project. During the Committees Plenary meetings in London, Committee 2 and Committee 3 decided to join forces for the development of a European project on youth mental health. This is the follow-up of a workshop which was held in Izmir and which identified the difficulty for young people to relate to others as a shared challenge for many very diverse regions in Europe. During the AER General Assembly a first project development meeting was held to discuss the type of focus and funding programmes. In the context of this project development the AER Secretariat also engaged with diverse experts from organisations working on mental health and held a meeting with DG EAC on youth mental health.

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner this activity could be refocused on good practice sharing during workshops at plenaries, webinars and or meetings in Brussels, depending on members needs and wishes. This will be defined on the occasion of the definition of the 2018 Committee 3 work programme in Arad on March 21st.

  •  Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

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

  • Youth Caravan: cancelled

This interregional project was developed to follow-up on the workshop organised by Harghita at the 2016 EWCR. It aimed to foster the dialogue between youth and policy makers. The YRN had the possibility to participate to the main project meetings (mainly the youth consultations and the final conference) having travel & accommodation costs covered, they would have had the possibility to contribute to the elaboration of the joint action plan as well as to be involved in the other project activities. This was supposed to be a 3 years project starting in autumn 2017.

  • Project development, Cultural Heritage: planned

On the occasion of the Plenary meetings in London a project development workshop was organised on the topic of cultural heritage. Several topics were suggested for project development, such as cultural heritage routes and digitalisation. The region of Nordland presented their project proposal, Via Querinissima, which was also presented on the AER website. The AER Secretariat supported the region for the consortium building.

AER in particular contributed to the development of project idea based on the promotion of the heritage to young generations of edible landscapes. The aim was to raise awareness on the importance to transfer to young generation the immaterial heritage that shaped landscapes through the production of edible local traditional products and give to the landscape a future. This project was not awarded funding.

Other regions regions discussed potential areas for collaboration. AER regularly receives invitations to join projects or requests for support to consortium building. These are generally shared on the AER website.Regions willing to get support for the development of a project can contact the AER Secretariat.

  • Summer Academy “Cultural heritage for regional attractiveness” Europe for Citizens project: planned

In order to support the implementation of the 2018 AER Summer Academy in Maramures and further develop its impact for citizens the host region developped a Europe for Citizens project proposal which has just been published.

Good Practice Sharing

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

The 2017 Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy, France, from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events put culture high on the AER agenda, as the main topic of the event was “Is there a future for culture in the digital age?”. The events featured a debate on culture in the digital age, a breakfast briefing on regional culture strategies, a workshop for the development of a project on youth mental health,  and the Committees Plenary meetings.

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

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

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

  • Event on a current transversal topic: finished

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

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

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

  • Cultural heritage: ongoing

On the occasion of the workshop on cultural heritage, AER members shared their experiences, challenges and good practices. Another means of sharing good practices is via the AER website. The region of Gävleborg for instance shared their vision and activities in the context of the European Year for Cultural Heritage

  • AER Most Youth Friendly European Region: finished

The MYFER award ceremony took place on the occasion of the AER GA in Lower Austria and recognised the particularly impressive achievements of Vojvodina and Catalonia. The evaluation and selection of the projects was carried out together with representatives from the AER Youth Regional Network, Eurochild, the European Youth Forum (EYF), the European Youth Parliament (EYP), and the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe Youth Department. Each of the projects submitted received a detailed evaluation and advice for improvements. The youth-friendly initiatives shared were highlighted in a series of #shinebright articles on the AER website in order to inspire other regions.

  • Awareness-raising & engagement about Eurodyssey: ongoing

While Eurodyssey is the oldest AER programme its achievements and the way it works are not always well known to AER members. Eurodyssey provides young Europeans a work experience abroad. This has proven to be extremely positive in increasing employment perspectives for young people. The programme is for youth 18 to 30, unemployed or recently qualified, living in a participating region. The work placements are organised and financed by the host regions. Since its creation, over 10,000 young people have benefited from Eurodyssey work placements. New regions can join and benefit from the programme. The feedback from the last Eurodyssey Forum can be found on the AER website and the next Eurodyssey Forum will take place in Brussels Capital Region from 18-20 April.

  • Par/Tea, culture and inclusion: cancelled

This initiatives aimed to integrate migrant people by organising cultural events. The exchange of cultural values and learning by dialogue are the 2 main objectives. The idea was for the events to be organised as non-formal gathering of people on a weekly basis and more formal workshops.
Vojvodina initially foresaw to organise a “PARtea” seminar end 2017 and discuss results with AER members. This initiative was cancelled.

  • Culture & Health: cancelled

Follow-up on previous actions and conferences in Istanbul & Västerbotten on topics such as culture on prescription, culture and sports. After the workshop on culture and health in Nordjylland an AER handbook on Culture and Health was published in 2015. Regions willing to engage in further policy learning on this topic can contact the Secretariat to define activities they can lead within the AER network. The Secretariat did not receive expressions of interest from regions wanting to develop concrete policy learning activities.

  • Compilation of good practices on school dropouts: finished

The region of Västernorrland brought together regions to share good practices to combat early school leaving through the AER working group on school dropouts. They set up an Erasmus+ project to further develop the exchanges and mutual learning. They finalised the work with a very useful handbook which brings together good practices from 11 regions in wider Europe.

  • Awareness raising on YRN activities: ongoing

Awareness raising on YRN activities is carried out through:

  1. information on the AER website
  2. communication around YRN activities, such as high-level meetings, conferences or capacity building activities
  3. inclusion of YRN representatives in the AER slack teams for online collaboration
  4. invitation of YRN representatives to AER activities, partnership development, and plenary meetings

  • Training on European regional affairs: ongoing

AER is a partner of the European College of Cluny, a new training offer 100% dedicated to local democracy, territorial engineering and innovation in Europe. An AER delegation participated in the Cluny Summer School to further develop the collaboration for the training as well as for the AER Summer Academy. In the framework of this cooperation with the European College of Cluny, AER has proposed to offer a training on youth mobility for regional policy makers in the first year the College will be operating. The Eurodyssey Steering Committee will be developing and implementing this training, as decided during the meeting in Sibenik Knin in October 2017.Follow AER!

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Committee 2 Progress Report Spring 2018

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

Evaluating progress

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

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the Spring 2018 plenary meeting in Arad. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme. The 2018 Committee 2 work programme will be jointly developed and adopted on March 21st at the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. Activities which are still ongoing will be integrated in the 2018 work programme too if still relevant for the Committee.

Projects

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

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

  • Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

On the occasion of the Nancy plenary meeting a project development workshop on youth mental health was held to further identify areas for potential collaboration on the topic of youth mental health and the desired scope for such a project. During the Committees Plenary meetings in London, Committee 2 and Committee 3 decided to join forces for the development of a European project on youth mental health. This is the follow-up of a workshop which was held in Izmir and which identified the difficulty for young people to relate to others as a shared challenge for many very diverse regions in Europe. During the AER General Assembly a first project development meeting was held to discuss the type of focus and funding programmes. In the context of this project development the AER Secretariat also engaged with diverse experts from organisations working on mental health and held a meeting with DG EAC on youth mental health.

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner this activity could be refocused on good practice sharing during workshops at plenaries, webinars and or meetings in Brussels, depending on members needs and wishes. This will be defined on the occasion of the definition of the 2018 Committee 2 work programme in Arad on March 21st.

  •  Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

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

  • Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

The MOCHA team is led by the Imperial College London and involves 19 scientific partners from ten European countries and 30 country agents from each European Member State and EEA country. MOCHA appraises the differing models of child health that are used across Europe. The project identified gaps in knowledge, on surveillance of children’s primary care and children’s specific needs in primary care, lack of coordination of care, models of care that are not based on current child health epidemiology, and low prioritisation of children’s needs in e-health strategies. AER is a member of the Advisory Board. AER is benefitting from the connection with the MOCHA experts, which have been invited at AER events (workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir, workshop on social capital for integrated care in Norrbotten) and also shared expertise and advice for the development of the project on youth mental health led by Catalonia and Norrbotten. The project is now in the final year where results will be published.

  • Active and Healthy Ageing Network AHA-NET: cancelled

The project proposal aimed to implement a Leadership programme for the coaching and training of future reference sites. The development of a Leadership Programme for e-health innovation was agreed on by Committee 2 in 2012. Since then the methodology has been developed and ad-hoc training academies have taken place on the Silver Economy and integrated care systems. This project would have provided an ideal framework for the deployment at larger scale of this programme.

  • ACT2Bridge project – Actions to Support Regional Ecosystems on Health Innovation Research: postponed

This project aims to encourage and increase the participation of European regions with a low level of health-related research and innovation activity in European research programmes through benchmarking and mutual learning. An increase in their R&I activity is expected to leverage health services, and thus, into social and economic benefits for these regions. Within this project AER is leading the Working Package “Benchlearning and knowledge exchange between regions”, having as one of the main objective of to support our regions to reach equivalent levels of development in the different areas.

This project has not been financed but, considering the high standard of the consortia and the good evaluation it received, it is planned to be submitted again in the forthcoming calls.

  •  AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

This project is led by the European Association of Service Providers  for Persons with Disabilities and aims to improve the access to services for migrants with disabilities. AER is a partner and Valencia, Timis and Värmland are all members of the Advisory Board. The project is will provide opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

  • European network for harmonising self, society, and systems to facilitate integrated care, COST action proposal: cancelled

This project led by partners we have been working with previously aimed at pursuing the work of AER in the field of integrated care systems. The project was not accepted.

  • Project development, Social inclusion of vulnerable groups: ongoing

With views to the preparation of a project gathering regional good practices on inclusion a debate took place on the occasion of the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. The idea with this project is to define a general approach to inclusion, helping policy makers appraise their policies and develop effective policies for inclusion. As the topic received a lot of interest, a workshop on inclusion is foreseen on the occasion of the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad.

  • Project development, Combatting isolation and social exclusion: ongoing

The region of Timis would like to develop a project to address the isolation of 2 social groups:
-orphans, who at the age of 18 find themselves without support and homeless because orphanages do not support youth after their 18th birthday.

-elderly people, who often live on their own and would need minimal support and company.

The idea is to gather good practices which have been implemented in similar contexts and to look at transferability and adaptation of such good practices.

The debate at the Autumn 2017 Committee 2 plenary showed that these issues are recurring issues in different regions. These topics will also be addressed on the occasion of the workshop on inclusion at the  Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad. The idea is to identify good practices for potential benchmarking and transfer.

  • Project development, Public-private cooperation for social inclusion: cancelled

In order to initiate a project  for good practices exchanges on the collaboration between regional governments and the private sector for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, AER published an article outlining the different issues at stake. Following the publication of this article several regions have expressed interest in developping a project. As no lead partner was identified for the project development the project was canceled

  • Project development, Equal Health: cancelled

Possible project (seek funding opportunities). Exchange of experiences from different programs offering parental support. As this project idea was not further specified, the activity is cancelled.

  • DIGIT-ABLE project: planned

Building on the work previously done by AER on digitisation and inclusion, Committee 2 is leading on a project setting up a “European Platform on Vulnerable People in the Information Society”, mapping best practices and socio-economic impact of the digital empowerment of disadvantaged people.

The DIGITABLE-EU project aims to raise the knowledge about the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people in EU countries and to trigger the sharing of knowledge and good practices in order to increase the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people. In order to achieve this goal, this project will work on four main priorities:

  1. Networking with public authorities (national/regional/EU level), social business actors, civil society organisations, international associations focusing on improving the quality of life and social inclusion of the different vulnerabilities targeted by the project as well as digital literacy.
  2. Establishing a metrics for evaluating the quality and impact of practices for digital inclusion of vulnerable people, for the vulnerabilities covered by the project: People with disabilities; Elderly people; Marginalised young people and children (based on socio-economic status); Unemployed or those facing social problems; Migrants.
  3. Realise an interactive online catalogue of best practices, accessible via a dedicated website;
  4. Disseminate the catalogue through dedicated events

The project was submitted on September 2017 under the Horizon 2020 and it will run for 24 months. The coordinator is INSIEL SpA (Friuli Venezia Giulia – IT).

Good Practice Sharing

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

This Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy, France, from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events featured a debate on culture in the digital age, a workshop on the value of data, a workshop for the development of a project on youth mental health,  and the Committees Plenary meetings.

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

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

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

  • Event on a current transversal topic: finished

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

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

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

  • Follow up on ALEC: ongoing

The Arctic Light E-health conference is an emblematic example of a succesful cooperation between an AER member region and the AER network. The workshop on data of the AER e-health network in Nancy followed up on issues addressed during the conference. Articles elaborating on topics of the ALEC conference, which are of specific interest to AER members should be published.

  • Healthcare without harm: tbc

The idea which was presented on the occasion of the Committe 2 Plenary meeting was to combine the topics of healthcare and environment. Activities have not yet been specified and can range from the publication of articles on the AER website showcasing good practices to the organisation of a mutual learning event (online webinar, workshop in Brussels or on the occasion of another AER event). Any such activity needs to be lead by an AER region and supported by a few others. The idea will be submitted at the Spring plenaries to identify whether this is an area where different regions would like to cooperate on.

In the meantime the AER Secretariat has connected the region of Värmland, which proposed this topic, with Diane Whitehouse, an e-health expert who has done research on this topic and whom AER members have had the opportunity to meet at the AER event on artificial intelligence.

  • Equal opportunities: tbc

Members were interested in sharing experience through articles on the AER website, exchange of good practices, and the sharing of regional data. Members interested in doing so can get support from the AER Secretariat.

This action needs to be further specified, especially in the context of the priorities the AER group on Equal Opportunities has defined for Committee 2: Health Inequalities (gender and socio- economic)

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

  • Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

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

  • Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

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

  • Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

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

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

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

  • AER participation in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing: ongoing

AER is a member of the B3 Action Group on integrated care systems. In this framework AER has a commitment towards raising awareness & building capacities for integrated care systems. Participating in the EIP-AHA enables AER to connect with the right stakeholders, provide state of the art knowledge on health innovation and raise the voice of regions in European discussions on health innovation.

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

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

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Committee 1 Progress Report Spring 2018

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

Evaluating progress

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

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

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

Projects

  • Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

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

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

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

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

  • Study visit on the Energy transition: planned

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

  • Event on a current transversal topic: finished

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

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

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

  • Follow up on photonics: finished

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

  • Conference on biomass: finished

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

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

  • Cooperation with the World Sustainable Energy Day: finished

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

  • Workshop on Public procurement for green innovation: finished

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

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

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

  • AER event on EFSI: finished

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

  • Nudging: finished

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

  • Awareness raising on sustainable mobility: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • Digitalisation of transports: ongoing

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

  • Promotion of knowledge about innovative technologies: ongoing

The sharing of knowledge is being carried out via:

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

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

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

  • Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

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

  • Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

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

  • Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

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

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

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

  • COP23 Local and Regional governments Leaders´ Summit: finished

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

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

  • R20 Summit: finished

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

  • Financing climate action: ongoing

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

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

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

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

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

  • Sustainable biofuels: finished

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

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

  • Legislation on biogas: finished

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

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The essential guide to contributing to the work programmes

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

Rule nº1: everything is possible

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

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

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

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

Rule nº2: everything is possible

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

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

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

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

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

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

How this will be done

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

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

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

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

  • Advocacy/ Lobbying
  • Projects
  • Good practice exchange

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

How to prepare?

In order to get involved AER members can

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

What is a Committee?

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

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Call for nominations: AER General Assembly and Committees 2018

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Per AER Statute and Procedures, the AER Election Committee will inventory and prepare for the elections at the General Assembly and the Committees. The time-table is as follows:

AER Spring Committe Plenaries, 20 March 2018

  • Call for nominations: 23 January 2018
  • Candidate’s applications: The Election Committee will accept applicants until 23 February 2018  
  • Candidate’s portfolios distributed: 6 March 2018

AER General Assembly, 22 May 2018

  • Call for nominations: 27 March 2018
  • Candidate’s applications: 10 April 2018
  • Candidate’s portfolios distributed: 8 May 2018

The AER secretariat will not be in a position to answer questions relating to the election process. All applications and questions relating to the elections should be addressed to:
Kurt Ake Hammarstedt, +46 70 527 83 50

Elections at the General Assembly

The Election Committee will nominate candidates for the elections at the General Assembly by listing all nominees from the AER Members and nominate one candidate for each position. If necessary, the Election Committee may nominate candidates of its own.

The Executive Board

The members of the Executive Board have a term of two years. The current members were elected in 2017, so the positions are up for elections at the General Assembly 2019.

The Bureau

The Bureau consists of the members of the Executive Board and two representatives per State represented within the AER. They have a term of two years and may be re-elected for a second consecutive mandate. Upon proposal by the Regions within a State, they can serve a third consecutive term.

The members of the Bureau and their substitutes are suggested by the Regions of the different states represented in AER and ratified by the General Assembly. The AER Election Committee will present the nominations at the General Assembly, without further processing.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Group

The members of the Monitoring and Evaluation Group have a term of three years. The current members were elected in 2016, so the positions are up for elections at the General Assembly 2019.

The Election Committee

The members of the Election Committee have a mandate for one year, so the positions are up for elections at the General Assembly 2018. The current members are:

Each member of the Election Committee must be nominated by an AER member and hold a regional political mandate, in accordance with AER Statute 1.8.

Elections at the Committees

Per AER Statute 9.3, the Committees may prepare, decide and implement initiatives in the framework of their assignments, including assigning ad hoc Working Groups and Task Forces to assist in their activities. Each Committee is chaired by a President with a term of two years, renewable once. The committee Presidents are also members of the Executive Board.

The Committee Presidium consists of the President and the Vice-Presidents of the committee and will take a joint responsibility for the planning of the committee’s activities.

Please note that delegates in all bodies of AER must hold a regional political mandate, in accordance with AER Statute 1.8. They may give due written authorization for a representative.

The Election Committee will nominate candidates for the elections at the Committees by listing all nominees from the AER Members and nominate one candidate for each position. If necessary, the Election Committee may nominate candidates of its own.

At the Committee Spring Plenaries 2018 the following positions are up for elections:

Committee 1 for Economy & Regional development

  • Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility
  • One female and one male representative for the Equal Opportunities Group
  • Chair of the working group on Energy and Climate Change
  • Chair of the working group on Rural Development

Committee 2 for Social policy & Public health

  • One female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group (her role should be to share a vision for the Committee and provide the necessary impulse for action, advise the Committee President on Equal Opportunities issues as well as insure info flow towards Equal Opportunities Group from Committee 2)
  • Vice President for Inclusion & Social entrepreneurship (the Committee 2 Vice Presidents advise the Committee 2 President on policy and strategy and support him to represent AER and speak at external events)

Committee 3 for Culture, Education & Youth

  • President (the current holder, Dag Rønning, Hedmark (NO) has stepped down)
  • Chair of the Sub-Committee on Education and Training

AER Statute and Procedures about nominations

Per AER Statute and Procedures, the following is applicable to nominations to the General Assembly and the Committees:

In general

Statute 1.5: The bodies of AER are:

  1. a) The governing bodies: The General Assembly and the Executive Board;
  2. b) The Bureau for political discussion, debate and decision making as basis for lobbying and advocacy;
  3. c) The Thematic Committees for exchange and dissemination of best practise and running of programmes and projects.

The composition of all AER bodies should respect a geographical and gender balance.

Statute 1.7: The working language of AER is English.

Statute 1.8: Delegates in all bodies of AER must hold a regional political mandate. They may give due written authorization for a representative. In case of absence or should a delegate’s regional mandate be lost, the Executive Board is, after a period of a maximum of six months, charged to assign a substitute until the next General Assembly.

Statute 1.9: All votes in all AER bodies are by simple majority, defined as more than 50% of those present and voting, unless otherwise specified in the present statute. All elections are carried out by secret ballot, unless a unanimous decision to the contrary is made by the body in question. Other decisions are taken through a vote by show of hands, unless a member requests otherwise. In the event of a tied vote, on issues other than elections, the President of the body in question has the casting vote.

Statute 1.10: Common practice of political assemblies shall be applied to all AER meetings. Decisions are, in principle and whenever possible, adopted by consensus of opinion. The consensus should be understood as being the absence of any objection formulated and submitted by a member which may constitute an obstacle to the decision in question.

The General Assembly

Statute 4.3: Each Full member of AER, after paying the membership dues, has one vote at the General Assembly. The vote will be expressed

  1. a) Directly by one of the representatives of the member region present;
  2. b) By proxy from one absent region to one region present.

Procedures 4.1: Proposals to be presented at the General Assembly, can be submitted up to the evening before the start of the Executive Board meeting preceding the General Assembly.

Procedures 4.1.1:  The Executive Board will give its opinion on the proposals to the General Assembly.

The Committees

Statute 9.5: Each Committee is chaired by a President, elected by the General Assembly on proposal by the committee itself and with a term of 2 years, renewable once. The President is responsible for the committee’s smooth running.

Procedures 11.2: Each Committee President’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as committee secretariat in liaison with the secretariat and, ideally, at the AER office in Brussels. The seconded officer is responsible for:

  • Co-organise events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
  • Manage the content of the meetings;
  • Draft speeches and policy contributions

Procedures 11.3: The Committee Presidium consists of the President and the Vice-Presidents of the committee and will take a joint responsibility for the planning of the committee’s activities.

Contact person

The Election Committee is in charge of the organisation of the election process. Mr Brian Greenslade, President of the Election Committee has appointed Mr Kurt Ake Hammarstedt as the contact person. Therefore, all applications and questions relating to the elections should be addressed to:

Kurt Ake Hammarstedt
+46 70 527 83 50

The AER secretariat will not be in a position to answer questions relating to the election process.Follow AER!

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Technology for healthy ageing in rural communities

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Livestream will be available from 9:10 for the RemoAge event on innovative health and care services on Tuesday 16 January.

Ageing in place in remote areas

The RemoAge project addresses the challenge of supporting people with dementia and other frail older people to age at home in remote and sparsely populated areas. Long distances and limited resources are two challenges to overcome.

Expected results are improved access to personalized services in direct support in daily life, support to family carers and health personnel, but also increased involvement of the community.

Target groups of the project:

– Frail older people, including people with dementia, in remote communities

– Carers both professionnal and informal

– Community members

– Health and social care professionals

The target groups are being involved throughout the project in a participatory process from the identification of needs, the adaptation of services and the evaluation of services. A main focus of the project is to develop and implement person centred services.

Mutual learning

On 16 January, examples from Norway, Scotland and Sweden will be shared on the use of technology to improve access and quality of care, support healthy ageing in rural communities and improve the sustainability of the health and care systems.

 

Donna Henderson from the NHS 24 will explain how Scotland is approaching the challenges of delivering health and care in the 21st century. She will challenge the status quo and argue that the only way to deliver sustainable health and care services is through cross-sectoral collaboration and a determination to innovate.

Une Tangen, from the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities will discuss why and how the way we work needs to change and how this should be done in practice. Indeed the public sector is facing significant challenges, especially when it comes to health and care services. There is a gradual change in which the recipient’s own resources are put in the center.

Assistance for self-help, everyday mastering, a shift in the mindset from treatment to prevention and from late to early efforts means that scarce resources can be more targeted to those who need it most. Digitalization and use of welfare technology also contribute to increased coping, security and control over their own health, as well as preventing stress injuries to employees. In the future, the use of digital solutions and welfare technology will provide good services to many more residents.

Programme

 

09:15  Welcome and Introduction

Agneta Granström, Norrbotten Regional Councilor, AER Committee 2 Vice President,  Chair of the AER e-health network
09:30 Keynote 1: Scotland – delivering health and care fit for the 21st century

Donna Henderson, Head of International Engagement at NHS24 – Scotlands National telehealth and telecare organization
10:00 Keynote 2: Why we need to change the way we work and how we can do it in practice

Une Tangen, Senior Advisor- Innovation, research and Digitalization, The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities
10:30 Digital solutions for Patient Centered Care Teams – Lessons from Tromsø
11:00 Bringing Care and social support closer to home – Lessons from the Shetland Islands
11:30 Break
12:40  Independent living and digital solutions that helps to reduce social isolation – Lessons from the Western Isles
13:10 Innovative ways of working with digital solutions for health and care – Lessons from Norrbotten
13:40 Organizational and Economic Evaluation of the RemoAge Services
14.00 Ethical reflections when using digital services in health and social care
14:20 Break
14:50 RemoAge challenges and successes: emerging findings (Evaluation and Transnational Learning)
15:30 Panel Discussion – What does the future of care for frail older people living in rural areas look like and what can we do to get there?
16:30 End of Conference

 

Knowledge flow in the network

The RemoAgeproject is led by Norrbotten. Findings of the project have been presented during previous AER events such as the ALEC conference  “Accelerating digital health” and the Autumn Committee 2 plenary in Nancy. The project indeed is closely linked to topics discussed within the AER Committee 2 such as health innovation, active and healthy ageing, but also social inclusion. Moreover AER is a partner in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing working more specifically on mutual learning between regions on integrated care systems.

The livestreaming of the conference on 16 January allows for further dissemination of good practices. It can be accessed via this link

Photo by Ilya Ilyukhin on Unsplash

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Funding opportunities on Artificial Intelligence!

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Following the recent success of AER’s event “Artificial Intelligence: Are Regions Up to The Challenge?” on Thursday 30 November, which brought together policy makers, stakeholders, academics, and entrepreneurs to discuss the policy implications of the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Projects Unit of the AER Secretariat is pleased to share with you some relevant information on funding opportunities matching this topic.

Funding Artificial Intelligence across the EU

A key point in the agenda of the said event was the presentation of Ms. Cécile Huet, European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), who briefed the audience on funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 to exploit the technological possibilities of AI and robotics in multiple economic sectors as well as addressing its societal implications across Europe. The purpose of the European Commission is to develop the European AI on-demand platform joining forces all around Europe in order to materialize an ecosystem integrating knowledge, capacity and access to data, invest in R&D in areas where Europe can lead, and boost European industry competitiveness with AI while making European citizens benefit from the added value of this revolutionary technology across a wide range of sectors, such as ageing or transport.

Another remarkable aspect of the presentation of Ms. Huet was related to the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), which are particularly important for innovators and entrepreneurs due to the fact that they can provide, as one stop shops, with the resources that companies need to become more competitive in a desired area. DIHs also provide business and financial support to help implement different innovations, and facilitate access to the latest technology, expertise, and knowledge to help with the testing and experimentation of digital innovations. Calls related to DIHs are available under the Horizon 2020 programme for 2018 and 2019.

Description of the targeted call

Within the framework of Horizon 2020 –Research and Innovation Action– the call for proposal titled “European AI-on-demand platform” is intended to mobilise the European AI community to support businesses and sectors in accessing expertise, knowledge, algorithms and tools to successfully apply AI thereby generating market impact.

The aim of this AI platform is then to:

  • Develop a European AI ecosystem as a collector of knowledge, algorithms, tools and resources available and making it a compelling solution for users, especially from non-tech sectors.
  • Build on and link to existing relevant initiatives (existing platforms, data repositories, cloud computing, HPC,…)
  • Facilitate the interaction with existing data portals, and resources in order to support interoperability.
  • Connect and cooperate with other relevant activities of this work programme (DIHs, Pilot,…)

The call to fund up to €20 million on AI is already open for applications!

Save the deadline: April 17th 2018

Some other ideas…

Keen on robotics? Then you should check the call for proposal “Robotics – Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH)” within Horizon 2020 under the focus area “Digitising and transforming European industry and services (DT)” which basically aims to provide a sustainable ecosystem of robotics stakeholders covering the entire value network to facilitate and accelerate a broad uptake and integration of robotic technologies, and supporting the digitisation of industry through robotics. The deadline for applications is set on the 17th of April 2018.

As for the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week –which took place in Brussels between the 20th and the 24th of November, you can also find interesting project proposals linked to Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation to join in a consortium:

Eager to apply?

Regions are the first point of contact into the EU’s innovation ecosystem!

Should  you or your region be interested in any of the indicated calls, the AER Project Team would be very delighted to assist you in developing a successful and consistent proposal, building a consortium as well as going through the application process.

Do not miss out on the chance to apply for funding in this strategical and innovative sector of the future!

Contact

Photo credits: @visualhunt https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/35180523113/811899303b/ & @unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/w7ZyuGYNpRQ

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AI: A Revolution in Heathcare

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During AER’s event on artificial intelligence (AI) attendees broke into five roundtable discussion groups, each addressing an area of AI important to stakeholders. The group titled the healthcare revolution was to discuss the disruption AI will bring to the delivery and organisation of healthcare. For an hour, issues such as the changing nature of medicine, relationships between physicians and patients in an era of AI, and the integration of AI into healthcare policy animated discussions.

To suit the large spectrum of issues this group was to discuss, group contributors drew from a broad cross-section of society, bringing with them diversity in knowledge and experience. Contributor Maria Merce Rovira Regas, a Member of the Board at the European Institute of Women’s Health brought experience dealing with gender related issues health care. Founded in 1996, the European Institute of Women’s Health (EIWH) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that promotes gender equity in public health, research and social policies across Europe.

Paul de Raeve the Secretary General of the European Federation of Nurses brought first-hand knowledge of future and current uses of AI in the healthcare system. Dating back to 1971, the European Federation of Nurses represents the nursing profession and its interests to the European Institutions.

Another valuable contributor was Iva Tasheva from Digital Europe. As Digital Europe’s Privacy and Security Policy Manager, Ms Tasheva oversees the EU Cybersecurity Strategy, ePrivacy Regulation, and Data Protection among other things. Robert Winroth the County Commissioner for Innovation in Västerbotten shared his expertise in the process of implementing AI in the healthcare system. The group was moderated by Tanya Znamenski a Public Health Analyst at PatientsTalk a popular blog on healthcare.

Changes Expected

According to contributors AI will be able to allow doctors to channel more energy into personalized patient care, rather than in general diagnosis and treatment of diseases. For example, having monitors which can watch the status of a diabetic at any time will make 24/7 care a reality. Moreover, advances made in genetic testing will make the identification of specific genes in patients possible, allowing for advanced interventions. To this end, contributors stated that final users, patients must be involved in the development of personalized healthcare approaches to ensure it suits their needs as recipients.

On an interpersonal level contributors asserted that the arrival of E-Health promises to fundamentally change the relationship between physicians and patients, by democratizing health care records. Traditionally, there has been a power imbalance in healthcare between physicians and patient due to exclusive access to patient information physicians hold. As society moves towards placing all healthcare records under one universal system which gives patients access to their own records, the authority of physicians will diminish.

Similarly, the arrival of AI will also alter the relationship between physicians and other healthcare providers such as nurses. As AI continues to expand into patient management and diagnosis, the authority of physicians will be further eroded. With data inputs provided by AI healthcare providers like nurses and lab technicians who have played an important, but more secondary role will be able to perform many of the same functions as doctors.

Relatedly, the arrival of big data across healthcare fields will improve the efficiency and speed of delivery of services to patients. Having data instantly available to all physicians involved in a patient’s care will expedite communication between healthcare professionals, rendering time consuming processes like referral letters obsolete.

Challenges Anticipated

Although AI holds the potential to vastly improve the delivery of healthcare, contributors expressed concerns about the ability for robots exist in humans’ highly social world. For many physicians, being a doctor is about more than just the treatments of ailments; it is an intensely social relationship reliant upon trust and mutual understanding built between physician and patient. Whether robots will ever possess the ability to understand human emotions and gain the trust of patients is still an open question, according to contributors.

Another concern involves the usage of patient data as systems like E-Health are deployed. With AI in medicine hinging upon the usage of sensitive personal data contained in healthcare records, contributors claimed that getting data to the right people in a safe and secure manner will be an obstacle industry must confront.

Despite these unsettled ethical questions, contributors said society must be aware that there are also consequences for not adopting these transformative technologies. For example, preventing the deployment of CRISPR due to various concerns will create other sets of questions about whether its moral to deprive someone with a genetic disease from a potentially curative technology. Contributors said that in cases such as this field research and clinical trials are vital to ensuring the healthcare system knows cutting-edge technologies are safe before deployment.

For contributors a challenge will be creating the networks required to bring innovative ideas which already exist to the EU level for implementation and review by policy makers. Having ground-breaking technology in data analysis is useless to the public as long as society do not have the infrastructure and processes to bring it to market. According to contributors, too few of these networks presently exist making their creation a priority for Europe.

Finally, contributors claimed that one challenge for the AI industry will be achieving better gender representation in AI development. Indeed, there is the potential for disconnect if technology developed in the male dominated AI industry is intended for the healthcare industry where over half of professionals are female.

Personal Experiences

Maria Merce Rovira Regas shared her experiences participating in projects with Women’s Health aimed at fighting breast cancer. These projects compiled information from different cases of breast cancer in Europe in a publicly available database to help give better breast cancer diagnoses.

Contrary to some beliefs, Paul de Raeve, from the European Federation of Nurses stressed that nurses are supportive of the deployment of AI into the healthcare system, understanding that it will bring them closer to patients. Based on their experience they believe that AI will enable nurses to work in a more cohesive manner and provide more efficient patient care.

Policy Recommendations

Robert Winroth recommended that AI implementation begin as soon as possible. He stated that to facilitate a smooth integration of AI into the healthcare system, transparent, close partnerships between various AI stakeholders, particularly the private and public sector, will have to be developed. Back home Västerbotten has devoted signficiant time, energy, and resources to this issue, stressing that it is a structural process which requires buy in from all parties.

To help gain public acceptance for AI technologies related to healthcare and to keep constituents informed, participants to the discussion suggested that regions raise awareness around the projects they are working on.

Paul de Raeve stated that a paradigm shift is required in the approach to European projects. For the European Federation of Nurses, too many European projects have a short lifespan with conclusions being ineffectively implemented. Increasing the sustainability of European projects must therefore be an immediate priority.

Finally, Maria Merce Rovira Regas strongly encouraged tech companies to make a more concerted to diversify their workplaces by making gender and racial equality a priority.Follow AER!

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Mutual Learning at AER event on Artificial Intelligence

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Policy makers, stakeholders, academics, and entrepreneurs gathered in Brussels on Thursday 30 November at AER’s event “Artificial Intelligence: Are Regions Up to The Challenge?” to discuss the policy implications of the rise of Artificial Intelligence.

Genuine exchange

The event offered a rare opportunity for the various participants to take part in a genuine exchange. While one goal was to identify areas where regions can be active now, the event was designed to facilitate mutual learning through the stories and experiences shared by each participant. By way of discussions, participants gained perspective on the obstacles and opportunities their peers are facing with the progression of AI. As a follow up to last year’s successful event last year on E-Health, this year’s focus was on the disruptive effects of AI and its impact at a regional level.

Knowledge flow vs position papers

AER has a long history of helping regional policy makers to learn from each others in order to innovate the public sector. AER President Magnus Berntsson said in his opening speech:

This is our DNA. We exchange experiences to learn from each others, join forces to influence and initiate cooperation projects

He continued:

At AER we provide the space where collaboration and project ideas are generated, this space we call Committees. The Committees are not a group of people, they are a lab for policy innovation

And indeed what characterises AER is the flow of knowledge, ideas and experiences. The event therefore did not lead to a declaration or a position because knowledge needs to be shared and grow, instead of becoming frozen into a position paper.

This idea of flow is key to understanding the raison d’être of this event, which was hosted by Brussels Capital Region and AER Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes.

As Mr Vanraes explained the event was developed in an iterative way, based on the topics AER members are working on.

We organised a first discussion on the occasion of the Nancy plenaries to identify good practices, questions and challenges”

Mr Vanraes went further saying:

AI will, and is already having an impact on most policy areas and will definitely disrupt society as we know it. As policy makers we have a duty to prepare these changes.

Nathanaël Ackerman, the founder and managing director of Hub France Artificial Intelligence offered an overview of what artificial intelligence actually is and chronicled the promises of AI. His presentation can be found on the AI event webpage.

Who is afraid of the big bad AI?

After the speeches, attendees discussed particular policy areas AER is working on such as innovation, health, culture and education. A fifth group discussed ethics as the future of human-machine interaction raises many ethical and maybe even existential questions. The particularity of these discussion group lay in the fact there was not a classical distinction between speakers and listeners: attendees were invited to take part in the conversation together with the identified contributors, which allowed for vivid discussions.

 

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators

How can regions support innovation in AI and what is the purpose of doing so? To answer this vast question, the moderator, Jonathan Duplicy of Innoviris, the Brussels Institute for Research and Innovation asked contributors to share examples of AI applications, changes ahead and the challenges they were themselves faced with. The group discussed questions related to international AI strategies, new mobilities, robotics and the future of work.

The Health Revolution

Tanya Znamenski, Public Health Analyst at PatientsTalk facilitated a discussion around the major changes AI will bring to both the delivery and organization of healthcare in society. Up for discussion was the changing relationship between doctors and patients, as E-Health begins to democratize medicine. Relatedly, issues surrounding the protection of patient privacy as patients’ medical records begin to exist online were to be debated. Another area of discussion was the ways in which AI will alter the practice of medicine, namely in the diagnosis and management of patients.  It was important for regional politicians, stakeholders, and policy makers to share their experiences with AI and its current integration in their healthcare systems.

Culture In a Digital World

While it is a policy of its own, especially at regional level, culture is also often found at the intersection of other policies ranging from economic development to health and wellbeing. This group moderated by Christophe De Jaeger, director of GLUON, a Brussels-based an organisation that realises projects on the crossing borders of visual art, research and industry, discussed the role of artificial intelligence role in the creative arts industry with its rapidly progressing abilities to generate both highly complex art and music. Culture is a crucial component to regional economic development and helps to create a common identity. Therefore, it is important for regions to facilitate collaboration between technology developers and members of the creative arts industry.

Skills and Competences: racing with machines

As AI continues to progress in its ability to perform not only blue-collar jobs, but ones involving high amounts of training and expertise the skills and competencies which are required to obtain secure employment will change. Thus, the aim for this roundtable was to have discussions centered around the skills and competencies which will be most valuable to the economy going forwards. To this end, the group discussed what is specifically human and how education could help pupils develop the right skills to race with machines instead of racing against machines. Moderating the group was Ann Nowe VUB Artificial Intelligence lab who brought first hand knowledge of the current capabilities of AI.

 AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The goal with this discussion group was raising complicated but important points on ethical questions surrounding AI. One of the main question adressed was people’s relationships with technology in a digital world, asking what it means to be human as people and technology become further linked. Contributors in this group brought examples from the private sector in fields as diverse as neuro-rehabilitation and design as well as the experience of politicians. The group was moderated by Diane Whitehouse, a Principal eHealth Policy Analyst at EHTEL.

After the break attendees convened to bring forward their reports from their discussion groups, containing their findings and recommendations.

Funding for AI Innovation

 An important event in the day was a presentation from DG Connect’s Cecile Huet, who informed them about how regions and entrepreneurs would be able to access funding to stimulate innovation and research in AI. For innovators and entrepreneurs, the two most relevant aspects of her presentation were Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) and the proposed European AI-on-demand platform. As a summary, DIHs are one stop shops which provide companies with the resources they need to become more competitive in a desired area. DIHs provide business and financial support to help implement different innovations, and provide access to the latest technology, expertise, and knowledge to help with the testing and experimentation of digital innovations. Whether large or small DIHs provide help for companies looking to upgrade to their infrastructure to suited for the digital age. Crucially for regions, they are the first point of contact into the EU’s innovation ecosystem. Over the next five years, the European Commission has invested 500 million Euros. Calls related to DIHs are available under the Horizon 2020 programme for 2018 and 2019.

Another notable aspect of Ms. Huet’s presentation is the open call for proposals to fund a 20-million-Euro project on AI, the European AI-on-demand platform. The project’s stated aim is to “mobilise the European AI community to support businesses and sectors in accessing expertise, knowledge, algorithms and tools to successfully apply AI thereby generating market impact.” By creating a platform which combines knowledge and access to data, the project hopes to offer solutions and support to all users of AI to integrate such technology into application, products and services. This will boost European industry competitiveness worldwide and help bring the benefits of AI to the average citizen whether it be through assistance in active and healthy aging or the transportation industry. For more information on DIHs and the European-AI-on-demand platform, her presentation can be accessed on the event webpage.

Visit to VUB AI Lab

To conclude the event, participants were treated to a visit to VUB’s AI Lab, a leading centre in AI innovation. At the lab, they were able to witness real innovation first hand, meeting with the Robotics and Language Evolution Group who focuses on the evolution of language and communication systems.

AI application demos included the use of philogenic trees for the analysis of epidemics, reinforced learning for industrial questions, smart grids and energy coins, smart prothesis and language processing.

The Importance of Networking

 One of the most important aspects of this event was its ability to bring together stakeholders in AI who may not have the opportunity to work together. Exchanges between the different stakeholders in AI is vital to the development of technology which serves the needs of citizens and regulatory frameworks which integrate the technologies smoothly into society. A goal with AER’s event on AI was to help build bridges between the different stakeholders ranging from academics, to AI companies like the Brussels Human Robotics Research Center, and regional politicians to help them arrive at mutual understandings of the other’s areas and needs.

A Note of Thanks

This event would not have happened without the support of Innoviris and the Brussels Capital Region.Follow AER!

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Artificial Intelligence on regions’ agendas in Brussels

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The Artificial Intelligence event brought together politicians, civil servants, entrepreneurs, academics and stakeholder groups in genuine exchange. The objective was to share experiences, stories, to understand each others’ challenges and to identify fields for action which can start now. 2016’s event focused on finding a common language for the deployment of e-health. 2017’s edition was all about the artificial intelligence disruption and its impacts at regional level.

For more information on the event, and to view the programme, please visit the event page.

This event was co-hosted by AER, Brussels International and Innoviris.Follow AER!

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Last call to join the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week!

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What are you waiting for to join the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week? The deadline for the registration, set on the November 27th, is getting closer so do not miss this fantastic opportunity to exchange project ideas, find partners for consortiums, ensuring your success when applying for Horizon 2020 funding.

What?

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation, we are this time proposing a new type of event in collaboration with ERRIN to stimulate project development: the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week. This 5-day event replaces the half day brokerage event on e-health initially foreseen. It will bring together over 400 different regional stakeholders around a series of selected EU calls to initiate project partnerships, in a wide range of relevant topics, such as health, energy, ICT, smart cities, opening science, blue innovative growth and transport, among others.

Why?

By attending any of the proposed sessions within the ERRIN Project Development Week you will be able to:

  • Obtain detailed information on the Horizon 2020 2018-2020 Work Programs;
  • Expand your network, set up consortia, and build new partnerships;
  • Get sound expert advices on concrete project ideas;
  • Increase the chances to submit a successful proposal and be funded!

How?

Check the agenda of the event (see below), consider the type of involvement and project ideas, register at the website, and decide on how you can contribute to the different breakout sessions.

You can contact ERRIN for further inquires at the following e-mail address: [email protected]

(The event is free of charge and open to everyone although participation is upon selection)

Agenda

And AER Regions?

The AER, as a supporting partner of ERRIN in this event, would like to take the opportunity to invite all member regions to engage in the breakout sessions and get to know the project ideas that will be presented by regional stakeholders. This event can provide regions with valuable inputs regarding EU research and innovation policy and can contribute significantly to helping them develop successful projects and thus raise their profile at the EU level.

Contact

 

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Covasna’s relentless engagement for e-health deployment #ShineBright

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Covasna has shown that with political will we really can make change happen.

We offered them a ShineBright award for this reason.

Covasna have shown relentless engagement for e-health deployment. A special recognition to Marta Tatar, who as a cardiologist and a politician knows exactly what health innovation can bring for a region.

Two years ago, AER worked hard for the development of a project aimed at creating health innovation ecosystems in Central and Eastern Europe. This was done with the support of Coral, the engagement of true supporters in Timis ranging from the politicians to the teachers and ninjas from the coder dojo and other regions such as Baden Würtemberg.

It is heart-warming to see how health innovation ecosystems are actually developing everywhere in Europe when there is political will and courage.

A very warm applause to Covasna!Follow AER!

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DG Regio supports innovation and industrial transition

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

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

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

Call 1: Tailored support for regions facing industrial transition

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

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

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

Once selected, the call gives access to different services:

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

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

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

Call 2: Interregional partnerships to develop competitive European value chains

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

 

 

 

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