Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Archives for Entrepreneurship

This is the tag for all posts relating to entrepreneurship.

SOLD OUT: AER Summer Academy 2022 – Donegal, Ireland

By

 

***PLEASE NOTE: ALL TICKETS ARE  SOLD OUT. IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR TICKET, PLEASE CONTACT THE AER SECRETARIAT***

 

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

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

2022 marks fifty years since Irish citizens voted by referendum to join the European Community, precursor the European Union in 1972. 2022 also celebrates the Irish language acquiring equal status to the other 23 languages in our Union for the first time. We are therefore enormously privileged to bring this year’s iteration to Ireland and the Gaeltacht [Irish-speaking region] during a year of important milestones for the country’s relationship with Europe.

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

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

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

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

***

The 2022 Summer Academy is proudly brought to you by:

Partnership in focus n.17: EDUPRENEURSHIP – Fostering Entrepreneurship in Education and Training

By

The global pandemic has left many freelancers and entrepreneurs without income for months, which imposes an incoming challenge to stimulating entrepreneurship. If we want Europe to continue to nurture talent, create great startups, and compete on a global scale, we need to teach entrepreneurship. This will require joint efforts from the public and private sectors, as well as regional, national governments and European Institutions. This webinar gave us a glimpse of different actions needed at different levels to foster an inclusive entrepreneurial mindset and discussed local challenges for their implementation and replicability. 

The AER launched this dedicated webinar within the 2021 edition of the Skillman International Forum which took place from 15-18 November 2021. The forum aimed to redefine the future of learning, and this year it addressed three main topics: Digital and green revolution, Micro-credentials and Sharing is caring. The event was part of our series of webinars on EU funding opportunities organised as part of the Erasmus+ project, Skillnet. These webinars bring together experts in different fields linked to vocational education and training (VET) and aim to build partnerships for future EU project proposals.

Teaching Entrepreneurship in all fields of study

Teaching Entrepreneurship is necessary not only if Europe is going to continue to nurture talents, create innovative startups companies and compete on a global scale, but also because many skills involved in entrepreneurship translate well to other aspects of life and give students real-world skills. In this webinar, we have had a glimpse of different actions needed at different levels to foster an inclusive entrepreneurial mindset and discussed local challenges for their implementation and replicability.

The webinar counted upon an international panel of experts in the field, from academia to regional and civil society representatives.

Kristina Detelj, from the Zagreb University, Faculty of Organisation and Informatics Varazdin, opened the discussion providing insights on the project “WeRin: Women Entrepreneurs in Regional Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems” and specifically stressed the importance of the participation and involvement of women in the area of entrepreneurship and enhancing their level of embeddedness in regional entrepreneurial ecosystems across Europe. The example of their influence in Croatia was shared and the speaker commented on the difficulties that most women face, especially in Croatia, to access the ability to create a startup due to the high bureaucracy level. This goes hand in hand with the importance of the introduction of entrepreneurship in the curriculum in primary and secondary schools and not only on university level.

Following her, we had another academic, namely Richard Tunstall, Associate Professor of Enterprise, Entrepreneurship Education, Leeds University Business School, who informed us about the work on teaching enterprise programmes across different sectors at the Unversity of Leeds, thus being able to implement and mainstream the Entrepreneurship courses in faculties of arts, biology, design, etc. Knowledge, skills and attitudes were presented as three key targets within entrepreneurship education, as developing students’ skills and mindsets and attitudes towards problems are just as important as their knowledge about their information knowledge. 

Next, Annabelle Favreau, who is an EU Project manager at Gestión Pública de Extremadura (GPEX) in Directorate-General Enterprise of the Extremadura Region, introduced the audience to the project of “The Entrecomp Framework in Extremadura.” She shared the experiences from regional entrepreneurship programmes in Extremadura. Within the framework of the learning competences of entrepreneurship, Annabelle stressed the importance of compromising with global challenges that are apparent as an external factor. EntreComp intends to break down the barriers between work, education and civic engagement by focusing on the development of competences through the actual creation of entrepreneurial value. In this light, the EntreComp is transversal to formal, non-formal and informal learning contexts and applies equally to education and training systems, from primary to vocational education and training, and to non-structured learning contexts.

Lastly, Minna Melleri, Director of Advocacy & Growth, JA Europe, elucidated on the benefits of recognition of skills and micro-credentials and presented the Entrepreneurial Skills Pass, an international certification qualifying young people that have had real entrepreneurship experience and thus have the right competences. She added that Iceland, all EU member states, but also other states outside of the EU share a lot of history and experience, and empower young people. Developing a broad set of skills for the young people is a key element in the work she proposes. Furthermore, Minna gives the example of JA Europe as having Entrepreneurship programmes on all levels of education. She mentioned that young people within the age range of 15-21 are eligible to take part in their one year programme.

The discussion was moderated by Manos Andreadis, Responsible for the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme as National Contact Point in Greece, and Director at Asset Technology responsible for Business Development, International Cooperation and Entrepreneurship.

Current and future EU funding opportunities and initiatives

Skillman.eu is a worldwide community of practitioners, researchers, and institutions engaged in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). It’s a network that aims at creating work-based learning solutions to respond to the challenges of skills shortages in industry with a participatory model and a peer learning approach. The network develops tools consistent with industry needs and relevant to the latest education challenges introduced also by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Registrations open! Ambitious Skills and Innovation Strategies: A territorial approach

By

We are pleased to invite you to the webinar “Ambitious Skills and Innovation Strategies: A territorial approach” that will take place on 25 March 2021 at 10:00 CET

Including rural areas in innovation strategies to tackle EU challenges

Rural areas, cover 44% of the EU territory, and are home to almost 1 in 4 Europeans. Education, vocational training and lifelong learning play a vital role in the economic and social strategies of the European Union (EU). The strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training is called Education and training 2020 (ET 2020). It pursues four common objectives: make lifelong learning and mobility a reality; improve the quality and efficiency of education and training; promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship; enhance creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship.

However, rural areas rural or sparsely populated regions often have a relatively large agricultural sector, with a low level of supply of highly-skilled employment opportunities. This in turn reinforces the existing brain drain trend, from rural areas to cities.

In this context, integrated innovation and skills strategies are needed to develop the strengths and comparative advantages of rural areas, instead of barely considering them as a source for raw material and cheaper space. For rural regions, the necessary competitive edge can be done by finding niches or mainstreaming new technology into the existing industry. Further including rural areas in innovation strategies will also help regions to reach the objectives of the Green Deal.

This webinar will look at:

  • Why innovation strategies aimed at developing Advanced manufacturing need to be based on territorial approaches and why it is so important to consider and involve rural areas from the start
  • Available EU funding opportunities and tools to boost innovation and skills in rural areas
  • Strategies to attract innovation and skills in rural areas 
  • The role of VET to achieve more cohesive regional development

Agenda

Ambitious Skills and Innovation Strategies:
A territorial Approach

25 March 2021 at 10:00 CET

  • 10.00-10.05 – Housekeeping rules, quick presentation on Skillnet, Valentina De Vico, Communication Manager, Skillman Team
  • 10:05-10:10 – Opening remarks and introduction to the webinar, Johanna Pacevicius, Policy and Knowledge Transfer Coordinator, Assembly of European Regions
  • 10.10-10.20 –  Available EU funding and incentives, Agnese Pantaloni, EU Projects Coordinator, Assembly of European Regions
  • 10:20-10:35 – Peer reviews and knowledge exchanges to boost innovation, Elena Ferrario, Thematic Manager, and Katharina Krell, Thematic Expert, Policy Learning Platform Interreg Europe
  • 10.35-10.45 – Regional practice from Donegal County, Vinny McGroary, Area Training Manager, Donegal ETB
  • 10.45-10.55 – Panel discussion and Q&A session
  • 10.55-11.00 – Closing remarks 

How to join the webinar

Click on the below “register here” button

or go to the Skillnet events page and chose:

  • E 419 – Ambitious skills and innovation strategies: a territorial approach; 25/03/2021 10:00 CET
Register here!

This webinar is organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission aiming to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Are you developing a project in the tourism sector? Umbria is keen to join!

By

Are you currently developing a project proposal within the Cosme programme or are you planning to do so? Sviluppumbria, the Development Agency of Umbria (Italy), AER member region, is eager to join as a partner an established consortium and to input with their expertise.

About the call

This COSME action aims to promote entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for SMEs to allow them to realise their full potential in today’s global economy.

In particular, the call for proposals Innovation uptake and digitalisation in the tourism sector (COS-TOURINN-2020-3-04) focuses on supporting the digital transformation of tourism entrepreneurs, particularly SMEs and start-ups, and enhance innovation along the tourism value chain, through the integration of tourism businesses and stakeholders in transnational and inter-regional innovation ecosystems as well as territorial partnerships and cooperation.

About SVILUPPUMBRIA

Sviluppumbria is the regional agency that supports Umbria’s competitiveness and economic growth, one of the AER member regions placed at the heart of Italy.

In particular, Sviluppumbria would like to join a partnership in the framework of COS-TOURINN-2020-3-04 – “Innovation uptake and digitalisation in the tourism sector”, and share experience and know-how for designing a successful project in order to improve the digitalization in the sector of tourism. Umbria is characterized by a combination of large enterprises and clusters of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and can boast a close network in the tourism sector.
Moreover, Sviluppumbria has participated with success in previous European projects in the sector of tourism with the role of lead partner as for the SHARE project – Sustainable approach to Cultural Heritage for the urban Areas Requalification in Europe within the Interreg Europe programme, which aimed at exchanging experiences in cultural heritage policies in urban settings, and developing a sustainable and smart approach to its management.

If you are interested in having the team from SVILUPPUMBRIA on board, don’t hesitate to contact the AER Project Unit by 22 December 2020!

For more information contact:

Agnese Pantaloni, European Projects Coordinator[email protected]

Photo by Sterling Lanier from Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Partner Search: new project proposal to support youth employment across Europe

By

Are you interested in joining projects within the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment Call? Maramures County Council, local public administration in Romania and member region of AER, is looking for partners to join their new project to support youth employment. 

About the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment 

EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment aims to support transnational project initiatives that promote sustainable and quality youth employment.

The focus on transnational cooperation reflects the view that unemployment among youth is a common European challenge and common European solutions should therefore be explored. This is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU cohesion policy that emphasize the importance of the regions and cross-border cooperation for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Eligible project partners within this Fund are entities (public or private, commercial or non -commercial and non-governmental organisations) established as legal persons in a Beneficiary State (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia), Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The maximum grant for a project is 2 million euros while the minimum grant is 1 million euro, having the grant up to 85% of the eligible costs. The deadline for submitting the project proposal is the 5th of January 2021.

About the Maramures County Council’s  project proposal

The project proposal developed by Maramures County Council “GreeNeeT- Growing skills for smart agriculture & sustainable food chain“ will address support area 2: Transfer of know-how and good practice: transferring know-how and good practice on youth employment initiatives across European countries.

The overall objective of the project is to stimulate youth employment and entrepreneurship by transnational transfer of good practices in the field of smart agriculture and a sustainable food chain. In that regard, the project foresees the setting up in Maramures of a pilot demonstrative centre in that field as well as an online cooperation platform accessible to provide training and get the necessary skills in order to foster the employment or start a business in the field of sustainable agriculture & food chain.

The target group includes 25-29 year old, who are not employed, and not taking part in education and training, the concept NEET (“Not in Employment, Education or Training”).

If you are interested in joining this project proposal and contributing to its further development, don’t hesitate to contact AER team by 30 November 2020. We would be happy to liaise you with Maramures County Council!

Contact: Agnese Pantaloni, European Projects Coordinator

E-mail: [email protected]

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Committee 1 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

By

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

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 1 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SKILLNET

SKILLNET is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme aimed at improving Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems.

AER joined the SKILLNET project this Spring while most of Europe was in lockdown, specifically because of the opportunities the project is offering for online activities relevant to both Committee 1 and Committee 3. Indeed the project is organising a high number of webinars and offering online platforms for the exchange of knowledge. In order to make sure project activities provide value to members, the topics of SKILLNET webinars are chosen based on the AER Action Plan and further specified together with members which have expressed needs in the process of the definition of workprogrammes at Committee meetings

SKILLNET has launched a series of 18 webinars on EU funding opportunities. Each webinar is open to all interested parties and focuses on different areas of intervention upon which relevant partnerships can be launched.

As a follow-up of each SKILLNET webinar, a Partnerships in Focus bulletin is circulated and stored in the Partnerships in Focus hub on the AER website.

Additionally, the project offers the opportunity for regional stakeholders working on Vocational Education and Training to connect via the Peer Learning Clubs. Stakeholders learn from each other, and get access to relevant information and experts to be applied to develop future partnerships within EU calls.

  • AER members interested in sharing their experience in a webinar should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

CUBES: Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities ongoing

The CUBES project was developed to create a bridge between cultural heritage, administrative bodies, and digitalization. The project will:

  • raise awareness
  • emphasizing the importance of culture
  • increase competitiveness and economic growth.

Target: local communities, public authorities, NGOs and CSOs. The kick-off of the CUBES project took place on the 25th of October 2019 in Lisbon, the project will end in April 2020

The experience of the CUBES project on grassroots approaches for sustainable regional development was supposed to inform the discussions at the conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” in Covasna on 11 March 2020. As the plenaries were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an article was written on Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development by the Lead partner of the CUBES project.

As the project is progressing, the Secretariat is exploring how to use the knowledge and outputs created in the project to benefit members in Committee 3.

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

E-health in rural areas: finished

Members discussed the possibility to develop a pan-AER regional e-health rural project based on innovation and digitalisation. This idea was not followed up by the development of a project.

As the topic is still relevant for many AER members, members were invited to participate in a webinar on integrated care in remote and rural areas, an activity organised in the context of the SCIROCCO Exchange project (see above)

Project development on farming, rural planning, and infrastructure: planned

Members of the AER working group on rural development would like to develop a project to compare and incorporate good practices in farming (cattle, dairy) and infrastructure.

  • Regions interested in developing such a project should share their idea during the development of the 2020-2021 work programme on 12 March in order to find regions who want to cooperate on this and start developing this initiative.

Project on rural development: planned

Members of the AER working group on rural development would like to develop a project on how to invest and develop basic infrastructure in rural areas. For example, water, waste, gas, roads, education, health care.

  • Regions interested in developing such a project should share their idea during the development of the 2020-2021 work programme on 12 March in order to find regions who want to cooperate on this and start developing this initiative.

Good Practice Exchange

2019 AER Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities. The thematic event consisted of discussions with perspectives from all of Europe, with a special focus on Ireland and Slovenia. Despite the varying experiences and realities in the regions represented, it was agreed that a holistic approach to regional development is necessary

The aim was to share experiences, especially from regions with considerable disparities within their territories to learn about different strategies and practices as well as enablers and barriers to more cohesive regional development.

2020 AER Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna: cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have in particular, discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

Committee 1 Vice President for Rural development, Energy and Environment, Nicola Campitelli, Abruzzo (IT) shared the Abruzzo governance for rural areas and their vision for the post-COVID-19 recovery

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

Organisation of the Regional Business Forum

The Regional Business Forum (RBF) is an annual international forum to exchange on support for SMEs, promote business and commerce, incentive the possibility to collaborate and share best practices between regions. The event is organised by AER Vice-President for Regional Economic Developmen Damir Zobenica.

This 3rd edition will be a hybrid-event hosted in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina on 10 November. Following the success of last year’s forum, this year’s Regional Business Forum will focus on three main sectors: Agriculture & Food; the Construction Industry; ICT and Creative industries.

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

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

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

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

Gelderland (NL) and the European Commission organized a TAIEX-EIR workshop on “Maintaining and Enhancing Ecosystem Services in Urban Regions” on 4 and 5 July 2019.

In the context of the joint action to protect Romanian forests, the AER Secretariat has been in touch with DG Environment, to identify ways to use the TAIEX-EIR program. This should help improve legislation and practices for the protection of primary forests and biodiversity in Romania.

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: Finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Workshop ” connectivity vs sustainability?”: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenary meeting in Podčetrtek (SI), the working group on transports & mobility chaired by Martin Tollén organised a workshop on connectivity and sustainability. Speakers featured Matej Gojčič from the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region and Sergi Alegre, President of the Airport Regions Conference.

New mobility services: ongoing

Good practices exchange on electric cars and infrastructure both at AER meetings and in events of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), where Östergötland (SE) is representing AER.

Workshop on sustainable transport and mobility: cancelled

AER member regions Gelderland (NL) and Östergötland (SE) planned a workshop on sustainable transport and mobility during the European Sustainability Energy Week on Clean Energy from 18-20 June 2019 in the House of Dutch Provinces in Brussels.

Lowering emissions in transport: cancelled

AER member region Norrbotten (SE) would like to organize good practice exchange on identifying how to lower emissions in transports within the Working group on Energy and Climate Change.

Waste collection in rural areas: planned

Within the working group on rural development, members would like to have an exchange of good practices on how to raise awareness of recycling and waste collection in rural areas.
This topic could be addressed either in the context of a meeting of the working group on rural development or in separate events, such as Breakfast seminars in Brussels.

Webinar on agricultural cooperatives for more sustainable and resilient supply chains: cancelled

In the context of the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of face to face meetings, the Chair of the Working Group on rural development Olimpia Neagoe, Dolj (RO) initiated the organisation of a webinar on this topic made highly relevant in the context of lockdowns in Europe. However due to regional elections in Romania, this activity was cancelled.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

Small hydropower plants: cancelled

Exchange of good practice on noise reduction with (small) hydro powerplants (finding a suitable location also from an environmental point of view). Lobbying and advocacy with NGOs and governments about the environmental point of view, partnership, and exchange of good practice. National stimulations for developing projects on national tourism strategy on a local and regional level. Members didn’t express interest about this topic anymore.

Creation of a working group on how to attract more workforce: planned

Several regions in AER have expressed the need to exchange experiences on how to attract more workforce to regions that are largely rural.
This action could be developed within the context of the working group on business and SMEs.

The 2020 Spring plenaries in Covasna would have specifically look at territorial approaches and the ways in which regions address challenges linked to regional development, innovation and rurality. Instead content was shared via the AER website and the article by Committee 3 President on a Regional Approach to reduce Brain Drain provides a number of proposals in that respect. Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of the Subcommittee on Youth also prepared a very clear video on the topic.

Effective legislative frameworks: cancelled

Tulcea would like to collaborate with other regions to elaborate good legislative frameworks for tourism, business, industry, research. The goal would be a simplification of administration and the reduction of red tape. No activity was developed on this topic, however, the topic of cutting red tape is the kind of topics which will be addressed by the AER civil servants exchange programme as the programme will aim at facilitating experience exchange on efficient public administrations.

Energy efficiency: planned

Good practice sharing on stimulating energy efficiency, for instance, competition between organizations and OECD. Indicators on energy efficiency and EC energy efficiency directive.

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019. The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting was organised in 16 March. The Intercultural Regions Network is closely involved in activities carried out in the context of the Includ-EU project (see above)

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

AER is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). This framework is an opportunity for strategic intelligence, state of the art information, partnership building and influence.

Protection of Romanian forests: finished

Primary forests are rare in Europe and the ones in Romania are threatened by excessive logging. AER members, therefore, agreed at the Committee 1 Spring plenary meeting in Örebro, to support Romanian regions to protect this invaluable natural heritage.
At the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries on 26 September, the AER Working Group on Rural Development hosted a Breakfast Debate on European Biodiversity: Protecting Primary Forests. AER was pleased to be joined by some external experts on this topic, among them, Shiroma Sathyapala, Forestry Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: 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 Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Committee 2 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

By

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

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 2 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SCIROCCO Exchange project – Personalised knowledge transfer and access to tailored evidence-based assets on integrated care: ongoing

The SCIROCCO Exchange project, under the EU Health Programme, is based on the SCIROCCO project, which resulted in the development of an online self-assessment tool for integrated care. The project runs from January 2019 to August 2021. It supports regions, mainly health and social care authorities for the adoption and the scaling-up of integrated care. The Maturity Model, at the core of the project, offers a tool for regions to better deliver integrated care for their citizens while at the same time empowering citizens. With this tool, regions can assess their current status, revealing areas of strength and also gaps in their capability managing the many activities needed in order to deliver integrated care.

The lead partner is the Scottish Government. The consortium is composed of 14 organizations.

AER is leading the Working Package on knowledge transfer which started in autumn 2019, helping the regions in preparing the local environment for implementation and scaling-up integrated care.

The Institute of Social and Behavioural Medicine of Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice in Slovakia, one of SCIROCCO Exchange consortium partners, organized a local conference “Integrated care for people with chronic diseases” on 15 May 2019. The conference was organized as part of the European Public Health Week “Care4Care”. The objective of the conference was to raise awareness about the importance of integrated health and social care for people suffering from multiple chronic conditions. The conference was particularly useful to review the current progress with the adoption of integrated and long-term care in Slovakia and highlight the existing challenges such as change of culture, stakeholder engagement or political commitment

The project was presented at the Smart City Expo, which was held between 19 to 21st November 2019.
The project was also represented in the European Parliament at a debate, “EU 2019-2024: Health Champions Wanted”, held on 9 October 2019.

The SCIROCCO Exchange provides the opportunity to detail the methodologies and mutual learning approaches, which have developed by AER in over 3 decades of interregional cooperation.

The SCIROCCO Exchange also allows reaching some of the objectives set within the AER Digital Health Network.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

AMiD project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: finished

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

During the 2019 Summer Academy in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), a workshop on AMiD was organized. Participants were invited to reflect on the challenges that migrants with disabilities face on a daily basis.

The final conference of the AMiD project was held on 5th November 2019 in Brussels. After a wave of presentations and questions, participants split into three groups to discuss and agree on recommendations. They concluded:

  • Improving capacity for CSOs – Civil Society Organisations working in the sector.
  • To set and spread the multi-stakeholder approach to inclusion.
  • Engagement to raise the topic of migrants with disabilities in the next Disability Strategy 2020-2030

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

E-health in rural areas: finished

Members discussed the possibility to develop a pan-AER regional e-health rural project based on innovation and digitalisation. This idea was not followed up by the development of a project.

As the topic is still relevant for many AER members, members were invited to participate in a webinar on integrated care in remote and rural areas, an activity organised in the context of the SCIROCCO Exchange project (see above)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Banners-for-committee-progress-page-20182.jpg

Good Practice Exchange

Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities, and the aim was to identify strategies and actions to boost regional development and innovation in the face of contrasting realities.

2020 Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna (RO): cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

The topic of wellbeing and smart specialisation was addressed in two articles on the natural assets in Covasna (RO) and the smart specialisation strategy of Värmland (SE).

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Workshop of the AER e-health network (now known as “Digital Health Network”): finished

The AER e-health network has achieved the objectives it had set at its creation. It is time now to revamp the network, explore synergies with other initiatives and fellow networks around Europe. On the occasion of the Autumn Committee Plenaries the AER e-health network under the leadership of Donna Henderson, Scotland (GB), planned to hold a workshop to reinvent its way of working and set new goals.

While a discussion did take place on this occasion, only few members were able to attend, because of the exceptional circumstances in Slovenia, were Adria Airlines stopped activities during the AER plenaries. The group decided to change the name to “Digital Health network” and to cooperate more with other networks as well as with the European Commission. The SCIROCCO Exchange project is instrumental in this respect, as it positions AER on a very important topic.

Increasing collaboration on Digital Health between European Regions: ongoing

The Digital Health Network provides a platform for AER regions to share their experiences, knowledge, and resources that support the effective deployment of digital health solutions within their regional healthcare systems. The digital transformation of health and care requires further action in these areas:

  • citizen’s secure access to and sharing of health data across borders;
  • better data to advance research, disease prevention and personalised health and care;
  • digital tools for citizen empowerment and person-centred care.

 The Digital Health Network will:

  • Provide knowledge exchange opportunities for AER regions working to implement digital health.
  • Promote relevant policies to advance the implementation of digital health for all citizens.
  • Share good practices in the use of digital health in response to key health and care challenges for regions. 
  • Recognise the diversity of regions and identify key lessons from their different approaches to digital health.
  • Develop our shared understanding of how digital health can support increased citizen participation in and self-management of their own health and wellbeing.

Identify key events, in which members of the Digital Health Network will participate, to promote and raise awareness of the Network’s activities.

The activities planned for the Network in 2020 – 2021 are outlined in the roadmap below:

It is possible to join the Digital Health Network by filling this (

Webinar on Digital Health, Wellbeing and Smart Specialisation: ongoing

The webinar is organised by the Digital Health Network and will present the experiences of two AER regions on 18 November on :

  • supporting the development of digital solutions that support healthy living.
  • fostering collaboration between the public sector, universities; civil organisations, entrepreneurs, and businesses.
  • how we intend to achieve business growth and efficiency in public health services.
  • how digital health innovation fits with our regions’ smart specialisation strategies.

Breakfast seminar on innovation in healthcare design: finished

Värmland (SE), Scotland (GB) and AER organized a Breakfast Seminar on health innovation on 10 September 2019 in Brussels. The event looked at Health Innovation and User-centric Design and Digital Innovation in health and care. Kenneth Johannesson, Committee 2 Vice President for Health Innovation and Donna Henderson, Chair of AER eHealth Network, opened the event and provided background to it.

Sharing experiences on integrated care at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER facilitated a 1h discussion in the Agora of Smart City Expo World Congress on the topic of mutual learning & international cooperation for the deployment of integrated care systems in Europe.

Through this session, attendees explored the regional perspective of integrated care systems and the related challenges and benefits, high-level speakers showcased the latest solutions from West Slovenia, Catalonia and Scotland. At the same time, it was presented the Scirocco Exchange Project, a pillar project for AER, which embodies our values as it aims to transfer good practices in integrated care across European regions.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

All member regions and partners interested in attending the next iteration of SCEWC 2020 as speakers can submit an application here

Elderly care homes in rural areas: planned

Exchange experiences and identify solutions around the issue of isolated elderly people in rural areas

  • Regions interested in working on this topic should share their idea with the Secretariat in order to start developing this initiative.

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019.

The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting is foreseen on 16 March. This meeting will be followed by a public presentation of the Network, and a training on tactics and strategies for effective intercultural messaging by Nigel Smith, media and communication expert at the Council of Europe. Regions interested to participate in the public meeting and the training should contact Gisela Guari Cañada

Engagement in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA)

AER is a member of the B3 Group for integrated care in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. Its contribution to the work is done via the SCIROCCO Exchange project and the AER Digital health network.

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of the existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions. The AER Secretariat will also organize Breakfast Briefings to help regions organize their advocacy activities.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Gisela Guari Cañada

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: 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 Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Committee 3 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

By

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

This report is the compilation of actions developed and implemented within Committee 3 between the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaka (CY) and the 2020 online General Assembly.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the AER Executive Board decided to prolong the validity of the AER Action Plan in order to allow the continuation of knowledge sharing between regions in a structured way.

AER had to define ways to maintain planned activities and offer new opportunities for mutual learning in a radically different and uncertain context, where face-to-face meetings are not possible and all regional stakeholders are focused on fighting the pandemic.

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

In terms of knowledge sharing, the idea with projects is to provide a framework, where regions can go deeper in mutual learning and good practices exchange, while being co-financed by the EU. AER always negotiates its implication in projects in a way that will benefit all AER members. In the current situation where face to face events are cancelled, projects offer unparalleled opportunities for online knowledge and experience exchange.

SKILLNET

SKILLNET is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme aimed at improving Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems.

AER joined the SKILLNET project this Spring while most of Europe was in lockdown, specifically because of the opportunities the project is offering for online activities relevant to both Committee 1 and Committee 3. Indeed the project is organising a high number of webinars and offering online platforms for the exchange of knowledge. In order to make sure project activities provide value to members, the topics of SKILLNET webinars are chosen based on the AER Action Plan and further specified together with members which have expressed needs in the process of the definition of workprogrammes at Committee meetings

SKILLNET has launched a series of 18 webinars on EU funding opportunities. Each webinar is open to all interested parties and focuses on different areas of intervention upon which relevant partnerships can be launched.

As a follow-up of each SKILLNET webinar, a Partnerships in Focus bulletin is circulated and stored in the Partnerships in Focus hub on the AER website.

Additionally, the project offers the opportunity for regional stakeholders working on Vocational Education and Training to connect via the Peer Learning Clubs. Stakeholders learn from each other, and get access to relevant information and experts to be applied to develop future partnerships within EU calls.

  • AER members interested in sharing their experience in a webinar should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius

Road to the Future: finished

Road to the Future was a project submitted under the Erasmus+ programme, within the Key Action 3 – Support for Policy Reform, and was designed around the European Parliament Elections in 2019. First, it encouraged debate among young European on the European elections to increase young voters’ turnout. This was implemented through training of youth activists, leaders and the development of tools and resources. After the elections, the project continued the training for trainers and mentors, based on the ideas collected during the first phase. This ensured that young people gain the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to be engaged for the future of Europe at the local level.

The lead partner was JEF Europe – Young European Federalist. AER represented local and regional authorities. The consortium was composed of 21 organizations, mainly national JEF associations.

AER was responsible to connect young people and decision-makers, especially via the involvement of the YRN. “Road to the Future” lasted 16 months, from October 2018 to February 2020.

The final conference took place on 20-21st of January 2020. Young Europeans from all over the continent gathered together with civil society organizations and representatives of the European institutions to reflect on the “I Choose Europe” electoral campaign implemented in the run-up to May 2019.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. This project raised awareness on the importance of programmes, projects, and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. It also encouraged the participation of citizens and stakeholders to become active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy. AER coordinated the project and collected experiences on cohesion policy together with regions.

This project was officially launched during the 2019 General Assembly in Larnaca (CY). Six AER member regions were partners in this project: Varazdin (HR), Csongrád (HU), Trentino (IT), Timis and Alba (RO), and Catalonia (ES). The project also had an information stall dedicated to the Together for Cohesion project at 2019 Autumn Committee Plenaries.

Partner regions have organized several local events to raise awareness on Cohesion policy among EU citizens:

The first event of Together for Cohesion held, the “Apulum Agraria” Fair in Alba (RO) held from 20-22nd September 2019, promoting agriculture, the economy of Alba and local farmers and members of professional associations.

The project was also represented at the 37th session of the Local and Regional Authorities Congress, led by the Council of Europe between the 28-31st October 2019.

The project contributed to the organisation of a Career management fair in Alba (RO), which raised awareness on the use and benefits of the EU cohesion policy and funds – with a special focus on how to find employment opportunities and how to receive the appropriate career guidance.

The Forum for Mayors, on the 11th of December, in Szeged, Hungary, by the General Assembly of Csongrand County was an opportunity to learn more about why cohesion policy and funds are crucial for the social and economic development of the cities and towns led by the Mayors taking part in the Csongrad Forum

Regions have also prepared several trainings focused on developing communication skills and understanding of European cohesion policies. The first training, on Together4Cohesion: how to use social media to better communicate the EU cohesion policy took place on the 23rd of January, in Trentino, Italy.

In Varaždin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project. On 13 February 2020, Varaždin also hosted an event in the context of the Together4Cohesion Project called “ESI Funds beyond 2020”. On 5 March a third event will be organised, with a contribution by South Ostrobothnia on entrepreneurship education. It is connected with Cohesion Policy since schools will also present how they develop new curricula with the help of EU funds. The recommendations will be sent to AER and be at disposal for all interested members

More events organised in the context of the project can be found on the Together4Cohesion website

CUBES: Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities ongoing

The CUBES project was developed to create a bridge between cultural heritage, administrative bodies, and digitalization. The project will:

  • raise awareness
  • emphasizing the importance of culture
  • increase competitiveness and economic growth.

Target: local communities, public authorities, NGOs and CSOs. The kick-off of the CUBES project took place on the 25th of October 2019 in Lisbon, the project will end in April 2020

The experience of the CUBES project on grassroots approaches for sustainable regional development was supposed to inform the discussions at the conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” in Covasna on 11 March 2020. As the plenaries were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an article was written on Culture, a pillar of sustainable regional development by the Lead partner of the CUBES project.

As the project is progressing, the Secretariat is exploring how to use the knowledge and outputs created in the project to benefit members in Committee 3.

Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe ongoing

AER and the International Organisation for Migration, together with several regional and local authorities have joined forces in the Includ-EU project. This project will improve transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships to build a more inclusive and cohesive Europe.

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion.

In the context of the pandemic, AER anticipated the organisation of the webinars, which were normally planned for later. A first webinar was organised in collaboration with the Intercultural Regions Network, The Council of Europe and the International Organisation for Migration, to share experiences on access to services, especially health services.

The second webinar will take place on 10 November and will be focused on Labour Market Inclusion, with good practices from Greece and the Netherlands and a presentation by the European Commission on upcoming changes in funding for activities on integration.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Banners-for-committee-progress-page-20182.jpg

Good Practice Exchange

Survey on measures in education during COVID-19 lockdowns

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

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

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

The online survey is still available

Training Seminar 2019 – “Cities and Regions: New Actors of Change in Europe”: finished

In partnership with the European College of Cluny, AER organized a Training Seminar “Cities and Regions: New Actors of Change in Europe”, which took place in Cluny (FR), from 26 – 30 August 2019.

Local and regional authorities were invited to attend a 5 days Training Seminar to participate in conferences, round table discussions, study visits, and case studies to determine how to boost their influence multiply their innovation potential and increase their territorial resilience through interregional cooperation.

Training Seminar 2020 – “How can local democracy help with constructing European identity and citizenship?”: postponed

The 2020 Training Seminar in collaboration with Sciences Po is postponed due to the impact of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on public administrations.

Civil Servants Exchange Programme: ongoing

The AER Training Seminar in Cluny was also the first step for the Civil Servants Exchange program announced in September 2018 and coordinated by the President of Committee 3 Radimir Čačić, Varaždin (HR). The Civil Servants Exchange program will allow civil servants to spend a month in a partner region to learn about new processes and practices. This programme is being developed in close collaboration with the Eurodyssey network and should have started in 2020. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the programme is on halt until the situation improves in Europe.

Autumn Committee Plenaries – Podčetrtek (SI): finished

The annual Autumn Committee Plenaries of the Assembly of European Regions took place on September 24-26 2019, in Podčetrtek, Slovenia.

The topic of the thematic event of the plenaries was Cohesion & Contrasted Regional Realities, and the aim was to identify strategies and actions to boost regional development and innovation in the face of contrasted realities.

2020 AER Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna: cancelled

The main focus of the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County (RO) between 10-12 March was to be territorial approaches. Urban-rural divides within regions were going to be in the spotlight.

While the Autumn 2019 plenaries “Territorial cohesion and Contrasted Realities” looked at how regions address territorial differences, this spring’s plenary should have been about taking stock of the situation in Europe. How to bridge the gap between theories on place-based policies and the actual implementation of effective and participative policies?

Members should have in particular, discussed the state of play of smart specialization strategies in Europe, health innovation and wellbeing, as well as brain drain vs brain gain.

In the context of the cancellation of face to face activities, AER tried to ensure that the content, which would normally have been shared at the plenaries, was still shared via the AER website. A series of articles was therefore published, featuring the speakers on the programme of the Covasna events, both from AER regions and from external experts with examples challenges and good practices: https://aer.eu/tag/event-2020-spring-plenaries/

While reading articles about a region don’t replace actually visiting it, special visibility was given to Covasna and the good practices to be presented on the spot on the AER website.

The topic of brain drain vs brain gain was given further attention in the framework of the July 2020 webinar of the Skillnet project on transnational partnerships for technical and vocational training.

The topic of smart specialisation for inclusion and wellbeing will be further developed in the context of the webinar of the Digital Health network on 18 November 2020

AER Summer Academy 2019 – “Youth is future, youth is Europe”: finished

The Summer Academy Organising Committee organised the 2019 AER Summer Academy Vojvodina (RS) on the theme “Youth is future, youth is Europe” in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), the 2019 European Youth Capital. In the wake of the 2019 Elections to the European Parliament, the aim was to exchange innovative ideas and good practices in various fields. It was about the potential of young people to bring about a social transformation and rethink the way Europe can meet the challenges of the future. Hrvoje Kovac, Chair of the AER sub-committee on youth moderated the 1st Plenary Session: Youth is democratic participation and European citizenship.

Workshop on youth participation: finished

Discussions during the 2019 Summer Academy showed youth participation is still a very hot topic. The AER Subcommittee on Youth, chaired by Hrvoje Kovač, organised a workshop on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries in Podčetrtek (SI). The topic of the workshop was Youth participation in regional policy-making. It aimed at identifying steps to implement meaningful and impactful youth participation in regions.

Workshop on the future of education: finished

The Subcommittee on Education, chaired by Simon Johnson, Nordland (NO), planned a workshop on the future of education in an ever-changing professional life on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries in Podčetrtek (SI). Questions addressed would have been: How should education look like in a world where things happen faster than ever? How is it possible to organize knowledge acquisition or provision?

This workshop was canceled because of the exceptional circumstances in Slovenia, were Adria Airlines stopped activities during the AER plenaries.

Mutual learning on culture and health: ongoing

Regions agreed they wanted to engage in mutual learning around culture and health for all and how to, in particular, reach out to young people. As a first step, the Subcommittee on Culture organized a workshop at the autumn plenary meetings on rural touring an initiative to promote a culture for all (see below).

Workshop on culture in rural communities: finished

The Subcommittee on Culture chaired by Fereshteh Jalayer, Värmland (SE) organized a workshop on rural touring. The initiative was driven by the desire to overcome social, geographic, economic and psychological barriers that have historically inhabited the enjoyment of the arts by people in rural communities. The workshop featured a theater manager and a dance strategist.

Raise awareness on the Eurodyssey programme: ongoing

The AER Committees are supporting the communication around the Eurodyssey programme for youth mobility to increase the number of participants in Eurodyssee. This is done for instance by allocating slots at the Committees’ meetings to share achievements of the programme and by presenting the programme at events led by the Committees, such as for instance the Training Seminar in Cluny.

The Eurodyssey Assembly took place as part of the annual Eurodyssey Forum on 24 October 2019 in Cagliari, Sardinia (IT). The event brought together more than fifty representatives both from Eurodyssey regions and outside the programme to discuss the functioning of the programme, to share experiences and best practices and to explore future initiatives for Europe’s only regional youth mobility scheme.

The conference opened with two discussions on youth mobility, looking at both aspects of personal and professional development for young people as well as how youth mobility has a positive impact on regional development. You can read more on the topic of youth mobility in this article.

The Eurodyssey programme was presented in the September 2020 webinar of the SKILLNET project on Youth Partnerships

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: finished

On 4 December 2019, AER, the Brussels Capital Region and the Government of Catalonia organized a mutual learning event on economy 4.0. Economy 4.0 describes a new era of productive, industrial and economic development characterized by the implementation of big-scale automatization, artificial intelligence (AI) robotic instruments, computational big data analytics software, and high tech infrastructure. It aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions who are welcomed to share inputs and regional examples.
The report on the event can be found here.

Exchanges around traditional cultures: ongoing

The 5th edition of FolkoFonija took place from 13 to 15 September 2019 and all AER members were invited to contribute to the development of this event. Initiated and organized by the Centre for Traditional Culture Varaždin, this festival could be the basis for a joint project to be developed in AER on traditional cultures in wider Europe.

The following international folk festival planned on 25-29 June 2020 was postponed to 25-30 June 2021 This event will feature 10 ensembles from 10 countries for 5 days of festivities. This European folk festival aims to contribute to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage by bringing together folk ensembles from all over wider Europe. AER members are invited to contact Maja Zuber, the seconded officer of Committee 3 President M Čačić.

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

AER took part in SCEWC19. The 3-day conference confirmed its role as the world’s greatest meeting point for cities and companies sharing the same goals as regards the future of cities. Different stakeholders gathered together in Barcelona and explored new innovative ways to make cities inclusive, efficient and sustainable.

Mutual learning on early school leaving: planned

Share experiences on early school leaving and the issue of young people who are not in education and not in employment. In particular, explore practices around building confidence and encouraging young people.

  • This action could be developed within the context of the Subcommittee on Education. Regions interested in working on this topic should share their idea with the Secretariat in order to start developing this initiative.

From brain drain to brain gain: finished

Share knowledge, experiences, and practices to address the issue of brain drain and move from brain drain to brain gain.

Brain drain vs brain gain was to be the debate topic of Committee 3 during the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County, Romania, between 10-12th March 2020.

As the events in Covasna were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Radimir Čačić, President of Committee 3 wrote an article on a Regional Approach to reduce Brain Drain, and Hrvoje Kovač, Chair of the Subcommittee on Youth prepared a very clear video on the topic.

Moreover, Hrvoje Kovač also shared the experience of Varaždin County on skills development at the June 2020 SKILLNET webinar on implementing innovative TVET policies

Mutual learning on the loss of workforce: finished

Exchange around the issue of governments investing in education and “losing” their qualified workforce. The aim would be to identify elements of resilience or compensation for territories that “lose” qualified workforce.

This topic was to be the debate topic of Committee 3 during the AER 2020 Spring Committee Plenaries in Covasna County, Romania, between 10-12th March 2020.

Initiatives to address and mitigate brain drain and turn it into brain gain, brain regain or brain circulation are addressed in the article by Radimir Čačić, President of Committee 3

Lifelong learning for 50+ people: finished

Special training for 50+ people in for example IT, in order to improve wellbeing and employability.

In order to address the need expressed by regions to hear about examples on upskilling and reskilling especially for people 50+, it was decided that the October 2020 SKILLNET webinar would be on “Lifelong learning: Upskilling and Reskilling of 50+”. AER members shared their experience: Michael Heaney, Chief Executive Officer at Údarás na Gaeltachta (IE) and Ana Gale, Director of Uciliste Studium (Osijek-Baranja, HR)

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

The Bureau Task Force on migration organized a Breakfast debate on the occasion of the General Assembly in Larnaca to examine the possibility of creating an intercultural regions programme, similar to the existing Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The network will support regions for the design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. The Intercultural Regions Network was launched on 5th November 2019. The process to develop this network requires intense dialogue with institutions.

AER and the Council of Europe are now planning activities for the coming months, a first meeting was organised in 16 March. The Intercultural Regions Network is closely involved in activities carried out in the context of the Includ-EU project (see above)

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: 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 Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committee’s work programmes and the AER action plan. The action plan for 2019/2020 is available here.

Photo by Daniel Lorentzen on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

AER participating in #EURegionsWeek

By

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

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

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

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

Achieving 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through Cohesion Policy

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

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

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

Speakers:

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

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

Deadline: 27 September

Eurodyssey35: Regions on the move

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

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

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

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

Deadline: 27 September

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

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

By

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

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

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

Visibility Events and Activities

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

Alba and Timis (RO)

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

Csongrád County (HU)

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

Generalitat de Catalunya (ES)

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

Province of Trento (IT)

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

Varaždin County (HR)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hence, as usual, stay tuned!

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

ARLEM Award 2021

By

Are you a young entrepreneur running a local business in the Mediterranean region and collaborating with your regional or local community? Then you may be eligible for the ARLEM Award 2021.

The Assembly of the European Regions is pleased to present this initiative launched by the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) to award a young innovative entrepreneur addressing their local needs. Created in 2010 by the Committee of the Regions (CoR), ARLEM aims to give a territorial dimension to the Union for the Mediterranean; promote local democracy, multi-level governance and decentralized cooperation around the three shores of the Mediterranean; encourage North-South and South-South dialogue; promote exchange of best practices; and promote regional integration and cohesion.

In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the local economy and the realisation of the limits of globalisation came to the forefront. Now more than ever before, young local entrepreneurs need support to develop their businesses and address local communities’ needs. With this award, ARLEM focuses on stimulating local business, supporting young entrepreneurs and encouraging collaboration between local public authorities and the private sector. 

Deadline for this award is 20 September 2020. More information and the application can be found here.

The winning enterprise and local/regional authority will be announced at the 12th ARLEM Plenary Session at the beginning of 2021 (#ARLEMaward).

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Young Entrepreneur (under 35)
  • Supported by her/his regional or local community
  • Enterprise has been registered and running for at least 3 years
  • Headquartered in a country on the three shores of the Mediterranean (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey

Take a look below at the previous winners:
Arlem Award 2020
Arlem Award 2019

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Webinar in Varaždin on communication and cohesion policy

By

We know how to implement EU-funded projects, but do we know how to communicate about them? Effective communication strategies for how to make EU projects more appealing to the wider public were shared at the webinar held in Varaždin on 29 May 2020. Read on to learn more!

The webinar was organised by Varaždin County, a flagship region of the project “Together for Cohesion: Let’s rEUnite!”, and the Alpheus agency from Zagreb. The workshop was designed to share insights on “How to communicate about the projects financed by instruments of Cohesion Policy”. Representatives of local and regional governments and other public institutions, as well as private entrepreneurs from Varaždin County virtually gathered to listen to:

  • Larisa Križan Breljak, Deputy Head of Varaždin County Department in charge of Regional Development and European Affairs;
  • Sofija Babić, Senior Consultant from the Alpheus agency;
  • Ivana Ipša, Director of VOP digital marketing agency; and
  • Marina Klačmer Čalopa, PhD, Vice Dean for Management and Human Resources at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics.

The speakers explained the importance of communication and presented the means of communication, especially online, during the implementation of EU funded projects – particularly within Cohesion policy. The discussion focused on the following:

Objectives and importance of the communication about the Cohesion Policy (by Larisa Križan Breljak)
“A key fact to emphasise is that citizens are the final beneficiaries of the Cohesion Policy. Communication on Cohesion Policy funded projects seems sometimes too complicated and focused on numbers instead of feelings and stories about how the lives are improved thanks to the Cohesion Policy. Together4Cohesion is based on the bottom-up approach, where local stakeholders share their experiences and lessons learned to other potential beneficiaries in several European regions.”
Projects and campaigns communication by using social media (by Ivana Ipša)
“No one can deny the importance of digital marketing and social media in contemporary communication and the importance of good content in order to attract followers and supporters of a certain brand or the initiative. When it comes to communicating European funded projects on social media, it is needed to share quality, clear and simple messages that can easily reach the targeted audience and evoke the feelings that people can relate to.”
The projects run by the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin and their impacts (by Ms Marina Klačmer Čalopa)
“Projects run by the Faculty and funded by the Cohesion Policy were presented as well as their impact on the education in the region, new studying programmes developed by the Faculty and the exchange of knowledge and experience between the students. The Faculty has been promoting their projects via different means like visual identity, web pages, newsletter conference presentation and word of mouth by project beneficiaries. The conclusion of the presentation was that if a project is not disseminated, it is non-existent.”

What’s next?

In the coming weeks, various activities will be organised by the regions involved in the project. We invite you to visit Together4Cohesion.eu to know more about it, including stories like this one, and check out our Cohesion Calendar to be updated on upcoming events!

We also invite you to join our webinar to discuss with EU Commission Official about the perspective of cohesion policy and to learn how to effectively communicate cohesion policy activities through the inputs from communication experts and regional practitioners. Do not miss this final event on 16 June 2020 – visit the event page and register!

First photo by Miguel A. Amutio on Unsplash; Second photo by Varaždin County.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Territorial Approach to Smart Specialisation: Experience from Värmland

By

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

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

Welcome to Rural Värmland…

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

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

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

Defining Smart Specialisation in Värmland

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

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

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

Leading the way for gender equality…

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

Services that create value for users

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

Forest-based Bioeconomy

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

Digitalisation of Welfare Services;

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

Advanced Manufacturing and Complex Systems;

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

Nature, culture and Place-based Digitalised Experiences;

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

System Solutions with Photovoltaics;

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

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Webinar for SMEs tackling Covid-19 in Catalonia.

By

Do you work for an SME that needs help to tackle the financial impact of COVID-19 crisis? Check out the next event organised in Catalonia, Spain.

After several successful events organised in the frame of Together for Cohesion, such as the workshop in Csongrad County, the International Conference on Entrepreneurship Education in Varaždin and the Training Session on Communication in Trentino, the Generalitat de Catalunya is organising a webinar.

When? The 27th of May 2020 from 9.25 to 10.30 AM
Where? Online, on the Zoom platform
The event will be held in Catalan.

This event will be a one-hour webinar comprising a panel of experts to discuss the subject: ICF Eurocredit. This loan from European Funds helps SME with cash issues caused by COVID 19 crisis. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, such funding can provide relief to ailing SMEs all over Europe and help rebuild local economies. Among others, speakers will include Pere Cots, Director of the Strategic Consulting and Financing Department of PIMEC, Anna Àlvarez, General Manager of Credit Investments at the ICF (Catalan Institute of Finance) and Pere Aragonès, Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance in the Government of Catalonia. This event will be an opportunity to learn more about the EU opportunities, especially the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for SMEs.

Programme

09.25 AM: Opening of the channel assigned to the platform so that registered people can connect to it using the link provided to them.

09.30 AM: Start of the seminar and presentation

  • By Lluís Juncà, General Director of Economic Promotion, Competition and Regulation, Government of Catalonia.

Institutional welcome

  • Albert Castellanos, Secretary-General of the Department of the Vice-Presidency and Economy and Finance.
  • Josep-Ramon Sanromà, CEO of the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF).

09.40 AM: Interventions

  • Pere Cots, director of the Strategic Consulting and Financing Department of PIMEC.
  • Anna Àlvarez, General Manager of Credit Investments at the ICF.

10.00 AM: Opening for a round of questions

10.20 AM: Closing of the seminar

  • By Pere Aragonès, Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy and Finance, Government of Catalonia.

Visit Together4Cohesion to know more about the project and check out our Cohesion Calendar to be updated on upcoming events!

Photo by Ankush Minda on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

A Regional Approach to Reduce Brain Drain

By

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AER Committee Plenaries in Covasna were cancelled. Committee 3, which focusses on youth, education and culture, had planned a debate on brain drain vs brain gain. We are very happy to present the article drafted by Mr Radimir Čačić, President of Committee 3 as well as a video by Mr Hrvoje Kovac, Chair of the Sub-Committee on Youth.

Many regions of Europe, and especially rural regions, are facing the problem of brain drain. Brain drain is the loss suffered by a region as a result of the emigration of a (highly) qualified person.  In Croatia, the number of inhabitants has decreased by 16% since the 1990s. Although most emigrants have only completed secondary education, 10% are doctors, IT experts, engineers, and other highly-skilled workers, which has led to a huge negative consequence on the national economy. 

How to keep highly educated people in their home region is a question that I as the AER President of Committee 3 on Youth, Education and Culture would like to pose to all regions who are facing a similar situation. As Prefect, I have implemented and introduced ways to prevent/diminish brain drain and emigration. Varaždin County is the only region in Croatia that has not registered mass emigration. 

Like many other European countries, Croatia faces a loss of doctors and nurses. This is why Varaždin County has recognized this problem and has introduced subvention of housing bank loans, and financing of education and training of doctors (PhD doctorates) and other encouraging measures, in order to motivate them to stay in the country. Encouraging measures and a structured system are crucial for keeping people and enabling their return, regardless of their educational background. And for that, we need a vision.  

Video from Deputy Mayor of Lepoglava, Hrvoje Kovac (Varazdin, HR) on the Positive and Negative Effects of Brain Drain as well as Brain Gain

Role of regions

Regions and local authorities, as the level closest to its citizens, have a crucial role to play in the diminishment of brain drain. The responses taken by Varaždin County to reduce this emigration has focussed on improving education and healthcare.  Some of these initiatives include: 

  • Rural areas face a challenge of depopulation, not only to other countries but to larger cities within the country. During my first mandate in 2005, I ensured equal opportunities for all students and pupils
  • 32 schools were built or renovated with the help of the public-private partnership model, which also enabled schooling in one shift. This has led to 94% of pupils to attend school in one shift, providing more free time for extracurricular activities
  • Free transport, textbooks, meals, student loans and scholarships were introduced for pupils at risk of poverty 
  • Establishing 10 centres of excellence to concentrate on the quality of programmes and work with highly motivated pupils in subjects such as mathematics, physics, entrepreneurship, etc. These centres provided an environment allowing pupils to achieve great results. These centres were accepted as part of the European Talent Centre Network in 2019. This title provided by the European Council for High Ability was founded in 1988 to develop a network and support for those included in the work with youngsters with high abilities (teachers, researchers, psychologists, parents, highly motivated pupils, etc.). Varaždin County is the only regional government which is considered a European Talent Centre. 

These are all examples of how regional governments can intervene, in the scope of their competences. Of course, a positive investor-friendly atmosphere should be created.

Finally, I would like to emphasize the importance of Cohesion Policy in reducing territorial disparities leading to a diminishment of brain drain. As the negotiations of the Multiannual Financial Framework continue, it is necessary to reiterate that Cohesion Policy is the best instrument in the promotion of economic convergence, to fight inequality and for the future of Europe.

Regions and local authorities, as the level closest to its citizens, should launch initiatives to address and mitigate brain drain and turn it into brain gain, brain regain or brain circulation. We would like to inspire the debate and learn from one another. How are you tackling brain drain in your region? What are the initiatives that have been working?

To download the full paper on brain drain vs brain gain, see here.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Library

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

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map