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Tailored Help for Facilitating the Digital Transformation

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With digitalisation well underway, companies are seeking to adapt themselves to the digital age giving rise to the term digital transformation. Digital transformation impacts every aspect of an organisation from the technology it uses, to the skills and competencies it looks for in employees.

New Skills and Competencies

Needless to say, companies need access to the latest technology which can bring them into the digital age. Moreover, being able to adapt to the digital age is impossible without having modern infrastructures and teams in place, necessitating the recruitment of highly capable tech talent. However, the success of IT departments is built upon group cohesion, not the ability of one person. Put differently, people need to have strong tech skills but the ability to work in teams as well.

More broadly, the effects of digitalisation on organisations extend beyond just IT departments. The arrival of technologies such as cloud computing, AI, data capturing sensors, and communication tools like Slack requires employees to be able to work with these technologies. Companies are even increasingly looking for employees with more specialised skills who can be involved with digital projects dedicated to boosting the organisation’s capacity to innovate.  In a world where the emergence of new digital technology regularly creates many new markets for products and services, having employees with entrepreneurial spirits is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, while most organisations understand that digitalisation is important, a recent study revealed that only 18 percent regard their digital strategies as “very effective”.

Beginning with the creation of the eHealth network in 2006, AER has been working hard to bring Europe into the digital age. Along with its work in areas such as eHealth and urban mobility, AER has organised events like its November 2017 conference on Artificial Intelligence, which provided gave stakeholders in AI the chance to learn from one another.

EIT and Digital Transformation

The EU’s European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) can help interested parties with their digital transformation. Founded in 2008 and an integral part of Horizon 2020, EIT seeks to help innovators and entrepreneurs across Europe turn their ideas into market ready products and services.

EIT does this by creating “innovation communities”, which bring together businesses (industry and SMEs), research centres and universities as partners, facilitating a network which allows creative thought and innovation to flourish.

The network conducts work in multiple areas, which include training and education programs, assistance along the journey of bringing products from research to market, and the provision of business incubators and accelerators.

Through the networks and education programs they create, EIT assists organisations with their digital transformation by helping to give businesses’ employees the skills and competencies which they need to thrive in the digital age.

EIT’s Smart Cities Course

A particularly relevant service is the EIT Digital Professional School’s course on designing the appropriate technological infrastructure for smart cities. Currently, many cities and regions are exploring implementing smart cities to ensure that urban planning aligns with citizens’ demands. Smart cities require the technology to collect, sore, and utilise consumers’ data in a way which maintains their privacy, a complicated topic for even the most educated field experts.

EIT’s course is tailored for company engineers, along with city governments and public institutions to learn how to build effective, safe smart cities. Company project leaders or engineers learn about the best ways to implement their technology into a city’s existing technological infrastructure. Professionals or city staff looking to upgrade their skills in working with and ability to understand smart cities, will be able to acquire the knowledge needed to decide upon the appropriate design.

In these courses, the content is offered online and in a two-day face-to-face workshop. Registration is available now.

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Active and Healthy Ageing: a major concern for the AER and CORAL

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On 20 September, invited to the Coral Meeting hosted in Brussels by the Region of Valencia, a Policy Officer from DG CONNECT talked about the approach taken by the European Commission with regard to health policies. Based on the EU focus on elderly people and digitalisation, the officer emphasised the need for a better exploitation of tools which are there, in order for EU investments and policies to be more result-oriented.

CORAL and AER

The Community of Regions for Assisted Living – CORAL is “a European Network of Regions collaborating in the field of Ambient Assisted Living and Active and Healthy Ageing”. This important regional network is shaped as “a learning community working on the implementation and upscaling of innovative solutions for Active and Healthy Ageing”. Given its long-standing involvement in Health and Ageing-related projects, and its commitment to involve member regions in concrete projects , AER sees great potential in the cooperation with the Coral Network.

Examples of  good cooperation can be identified in the past. Given the coherence of our objectives and the regional focus of both organisations, such a cooperation helps regions gain “a position in the fast growing European community of innovators in the field of Active and Healthy Ageing“.

Silver Europe and Digital Europe

“Europe is ageing fast”. The White Paper on the Future of Europe recognises this reality, while taking a wider picture of an evolving job market. This awareness is coupled by the need for the social protection system “to be significantly modernised to remain affordable and to keep pace with new demographic and working life realities”. Similar concerns are put forward also in the European Commission Communication A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. This document stresses digital economy’s great potential as a leverage of social qnd economic progress, and highlights how such potential still remains largely unexploited. The main goal of the Commission in this respect is to build a Digital Single Market “on reliable, trustworthy, high-speed, affordable networks and services that safeguard consumers’ fundamental right to privacy and data protection while also encouraging innovation”.

Keeping in mind these final objectives, “the Commission aims to support an inclusive Digital Single Market in which citizens qnd businesses have the necessary skills and can benefit from interlinked and multilingual e-services, from e-government, e-justice, e-health, e-energy or e-transport”. However, for now digital technology has not impacted heavily the field of health and ageing. According to a recent Eurobarometer on the use of data in the healthcare field, people are still afraid of allowing their data being circulated on the internet, and only 5% of EU hospitals allow access to digital data. Against this background, the European Commission focuses on three main objectives:

  • Communication
  • Prevention of chronic deseases
  • create the condition for favourable healthy ageing

For these purposes, the European Commission aims at guaranteeing a more direct access to online data via pooling together national and local sources. The role of doctors also needs to be reconsidered, especially with regard to feedback given to patients: good e-health practices have to be improved and shared all around Europe. Likewise, changing responsibilities among existing healthcare organisations must be considered, skills and competences must be diffused as much as possible in order to give birth to a real person-centred health service. At the same time, law harmonisation and new financing seem to be essential preconditions to meet these challenges.

ESI Funds and the “Value of Death”

With the Investment Plan for Europe – Juncker Plan, the EU plans to help digitalisation and healthcare work together, in order to guarantee healthy ageing to its population. European Structural and Investment Funds should be used to leverage investments in this field. Indeed, given the conditionalities that come with ESIF, the EU aims to push national and local authorities to invest on coherent projects and initiatives. In particular, the EU values those project ideas having great potential for upscaling. Good examples of pilots that have upscaled can be found in Ireland, Estonia, in the Lazio Region, and in Porto.

The main targets of the Commission investments are therefore those kind of projects which help minimise the “value of death” in the EU, i.e. projects reducing the costs of illness for healthcare systems and societies in general. The lower the economic impact of diseases on the healthcare systems qnd societies, the lower the “value of death”. In order for investments to be significant enough as to reduce the “value of death”, political commitment at the national level and involvement of local authorities are essential. In order to have local and national authorities, as well as project promoters, support and embark on new pilot initiatives, it is crucial that they be confident on the security of their investment and property of the outcomes. To this end, certifications could be very helpful.

Actions and Targets of the Commission

In order to achieve these goals, the European Commission is actively engaged in:

  • spreading a common vision and raising commitment to meet the challenges of an ageing population
  • encouraging networking and collaboration among leading actors in both the healthcare and digital sector
  • encouraging innovation and standardisation in both sectors in order to secure innovative investments and keep the momentum
  • implementing its Engagement Strategy, also making use of public consultation on Healthcare’s state of play

Photo credits: @ visualhunt; @ silver economy awards 

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#ShineBright Brussels Region’s shift to circular economy

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On the Occasion of the Regional Innovation Award on Circular Economy, ShineBright on the Brussels Region, in Belgium that presented its Program for a Circular Economy (BRPCE).

On the initiative of 3 regional Ministries he Brussels Region has adopted in March 2016 a global strategy for moving from a linear to a circular economy: The Brussels Regional Program for a Circular Economy (BRPCE).

In terms of circular economy, the Brussels region faces tremendous challenges as revealed in a recent study :

  • 9 million tons of resources imported every year (22kg/inhabitant/day)
  • 7 million tons of resources exported per year (16kg/inhabitant/day)
  • 1,3 million tons of waste are exported/year (average of 2kg/habitant/day).

This BRPCE is an integrated strategy englobing 111 measures covering both transversal, governance, territorial and sectorial topics for delivering circular patterns at city level. It’s the first bottom-up initiative of this size implicating 3 different regional ministries, 15 different administrations, advisory committee and about 60 stakeholders (public and private).

The BRPCE pushes forward 3 main objectives :

  • To transform environmental objectives in economic opportunities
  • To anchor economic activities within Brussels boundaries. This in order to maximize resources circularity while boosting entrepreneurship
  • To create new employment opportunities

The BRPCE directly support the 2025 Strategy adopted by the Belgian government which explicitely stated a transformation from a linear economy into a circular economy.

For more information check the Circular europe network!

 

The next Regional Innovation Award will take place in 2018 and will be dedicated to the Silver Economy in the context of AER SEED project.

 

Photo credits: Joaquin Aranoa @Visualhunt at https://visualhunt.com/p/joaquinaranoa/

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#ShineBright Umbria promotes business & schools cooperation

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On the occasion of the 2017 AER MYFER award, ShineBright on the region of Umbria, Italy that presented its project of Business at school.

The initiative aims to promote cooperation between schools and the business community by providing training and various related activities to students.

The main objective is to provide young people with the necessary skills for the development of entrepreneurship so as to spread the enterprise’s culture in Umbria’s schools.

The students are getting the opportunity to follow an expert’s training on topics such as the concept of the enterprise, local economy, marketing and communication. The program organises case studies and visit of local companies to complete the training. In the end, students can create a true business plan and take part in competitions at the regional, national and European level to win best business idea!

Throughout the project, the initiators share good practice by organising press conferences and publishing articles in local and national magazines. From 2012 to 2015 over 650 students from 36 schools participated in this program.

This project is a true curriculum-savior as it gives youngsters the opportunity of learning new skills and put them into practice.

For more information check Business at school website.

 

Photo credits: Bryce Evans @Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@artofbryce

Location: Perugia, Umbria, Italy

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Committee 1 Progress report 2017

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

Evaluating progress

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

The below progress report was compiled for the autumn 2017 plenary meeting in Nancy. It gives an overview of the situation, 6 months after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

  • Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. Regions are invited to submit their innovative solutions for active healthy and happy ageing until 15 November 2017 on the SEED website. SEED runs regular webinars.

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

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation, we are this time proposing a new type of event in collaboration with ERRIN to stimulate project development: the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week. This 5 days event will bring together 400 different regional stakeholders around a series of selected EU calls to initiate project partnerships. These events are open to your regional stakeholders, don’t hesitate to invite them to join and share project ideas!

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

YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project.

  • Migrant Entrepreneur Support Scheme Against Gap of Economic System: project proposal not accepted

This project proposal aimed to share approaches and lessons learnt for migrant entrepreneurship support schemes. Migrant entrepreneurship had been raised in specific during the 2016 Spring plenary meetings in Timis. The proposal brought together public administrations, business support organizations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, educational institutions and other organisations active in the field across cities, regions and countries.

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: ongoing

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

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

  • INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): ongoing

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

  • Study visit on the Energy transition: ongoing

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

  • Event on a current transversal topic: ongoing

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

  • Follow up on photonics: finished

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

  • Conference on biomass: in progress

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

  • Cooperation with the World Sustainable Energy Day: ongoing

On the occasion of the AER Committees plenary meetings in London, members highlighted their interest in participating to the World Sustainable Energy Days in a meaningful way. A delegation of 4 politicians from across Europe will be able to attend the World Sustainable Energy days for free on behalf of AER. This delegation will have an active representation role and is expected to participate in meetings on the spot too. How to get involved!

  • AER event on EFSI: finished

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

  • Nudging: finished

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

  • Awareness raising on sustainable mobility: ongoing

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

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

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

  • Digitalisation of transports: ongoing

Promote digitalisation of transports networks both in urban and rural areas.

  • Promotion of knowledge about innovative technologies: ongoing

  • High Speed Rail: tbc

 

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

  • Workshop on climate and energy transition: ongoing

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

  • Side-event on Public procurement for green innovation: tbc

How to use innovative public procurement as a tool and a changemaker in regional development towards a greener future.

  • Workshop on the Silver Economy: ongoing

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

  • Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: ongoing

Looking for new solutions for regional policy? 2000+ institutions have already exchanged experiences through interregional cooperation. You can learn from other cities and regions and their tried-and-tested solutions. The Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform is launching an expert-validated Good Practice Database. Visit our show-case corner, learn more and get inspired!

Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is closely following the ongoing European debates on cohesion policy, whose future is uncertain. Aiming at defending regions’ interests in this field and make their voices heard, AER has been and will continue to work intensively on this issue. The next Bureau Meeting will be held in Maastricht.

  • AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

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

  • COP23 Local and Regional governments Leaders´ Summit: ongoing

The Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in Bonn on 6-17 November 2017, under the presidency of the Fiji government and hosted by the UN Climate Change Secretariat. AER will actively contribute to the agenda of local and regional governments at the Conference, including the Leaders´ Summit on 12 November and associated events.

  • R20 Summit: finished

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

  • Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negociations.

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

AER has a partnership status with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It sends high-level representatives to the meetings of the Congress and sits in the Chamber of Regions Bureau.

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

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

  • Sustainable biofuels: tbc

Promote 2nd generation sustainable biofuels, for example from waste and forest resources.

  • Legislation on biogas: finished

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

 

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Join the Committees’ Presidiums!

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AER is looking for candidates to fill out newly vacant positions in the Committees’ Presidiums. It includes Vice-President positions and various representative posts inside all three AER Committees. Join the Committees’ leadership and get a profound involvement into AER decision making process!

What’s a Committee Presidium?

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

The Committees are led by a Committee President, who is supported by a seconded officer. Each Committee has its own structure and organisation, despite differences in names, they share the following basic structure:

  • Committee level: President + Vice-President(s)
  • Subcommittee level: Chairs of ad-hoc structures which can be working groups, subcommittees, focus groups or networks
  • Representatives for Equal Opportunities: 1 male & 1 female

Members of the Presidium are elected politicians from AER member regions. The members of the Presidium share a vision for the Committee and provide the necessary impulse for action. They advise the Committee President, who sits in the AER Executive Board, thus contributing to strategic decision making.

Committee Presidium members are also invited to represent AER in external events and get extra media coverage via our partnerships with media and events organisations.

Open for candidacies:

Committee 1 on Regional Development & Economy

Committee 1 works on issues covering Cohesion Policy, economic development, innovation and research, climate change, energy and rural development. For the past year, there has also been a strong focus on the circular economy, the development of business/SMEs in specific in the field of health innovation. Long term investments and green investments are also high on the Committee 1 agenda.

The following positions are open for candidacies:

  • Vice President for Rural development, Energy and Environment
  • Vice President for Economic Development and Mobility

The Committee 1 Vice Presidents advise the Committee 1 President on policy and strategy and they support him to represent AER and speak at external event.

  • Representative for Equal opportunities, we are preferably looking for a man with views to gender balance

Mandates last 2 years and are renewable

Candidacies can be sent to the Committee 1 Seconded Officer: Pierre Gérard at [email protected]ls

Committee 2 on Social Policy & Public Health

Committee 2 is supporting members in implementing e-Health services and exploring the potential of integrated care. It aims at building leadership on change management and innovation in the public sector. Active ageing is a major topic, especially for cooperation at EU level. Inclusion and social entrepreneurship are other key topics.

The following positions are open for candidacies:

  • Vice President for Inclusion & Social entrepreneurship

The Committee 2 Vice Presidents advise the Committee 2 President on policy and strategy and they support him to represent AER and speak at external events

  • Representative for Equal opportunities, we are preferably looking for a woman with views to gender balance

Mandates last 2 years and are renewable

Candidacies can be sent to the Committee 2 Seconded Officer: Agneta Kardos at [email protected]

Committee 3 on Culture, Education and Youth

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

All positions are fill

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

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#ShineBright Youth entrepreneurship in Umbria

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On the occasion of the AER 2017 MYFER award, ShineBright on the region of Umbria, Italy, that presented a project on Creativity Camp.

The initiative aims at encouraging the development of an entrepreneurial culture in Umbria. Creativity Camp supports young people (18-29 yo) to acquire skills and competences related to the field of entrepreneurship and make them aware of their potential. The main objective is to stimulate the creation of innovative businesses through the enhancement of youth creativity and talent.

Young people are invited to present an innovative idea that will turn into a real business plan after an intensive 3-days-training. A board of experts and potential donors evaluate each idea during a competition.

The initiative answers a real local need of marketable skills, giving the opportunity for youngsters to put what they have acquired into practice.

For more information on Creativity Camp visit Umbria’s website.

 

Photo credits: Bryce Evans @Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@artofbryce

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Apply now for a LIFE Action Grant!

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The submission deadlines for LIFE Calls for proposals is getting closer! The LIFE 2017 Info Day and Networking event,  a side session of EU Green Jobs Summit within the EU Green Week, took place between May 29th and June 2nd. Several other partner events, such as the ‘Green is the new smart. Green jobs boosting regional economy’ (organised by the Pomorskie Regional EU Office), were also held during the EU Green Week.

AER is pleased to share some useful information and tips with you to succeed in the application process.

Why important?

Since circular economy and green jobs are a core topic of these events, AER got deeper insight on May 31st and June 1st. Both events referred to the opportunity for Europe having a leading role in paving the way for a transition to circular economy as well as pushing for more ambitious standards. For instance, Montpellier’s Master Degree Programme in Water Sciences contributes effectively to a more environmental friendly society by raising awareness about the challenges and opportunities that this green transition can bring.

3 projects as good examples were introduced during the event:

The Life 2017 Info Day and Networking Event, organised by the European Commission, was aimed at providing both information and the opportunity of networking for your project. On the other hand, the event of Pomorskie Regional EU Office took place to highlight the importance of green jobs in boosting regional economy, presenting business opportunities for local and regional economies and creating cleantech jobs.

How to get involved?

Firstly, you can apply for several calls for proposals which are already open as well as other funding opportunities such as Horizon 2020, COSME, InnovFin and EFSI. Secondly, AER has already published a partner search of E-Vai project which will be submitted for one of the LIFE Calls. If you are interested in this project, please contact the AER Secretariat for more information. Thirdly, two competitions were promoted during the EU Green Week: the 2020 European Green Capital and 2019 European Green Leaf Awards (the application is still open for both of them).

To get inspiration for designing a LIFE project, please check out the LIFE Project database. Or you can also contact the AER Secretariat and our partner network, ACR+, working on linking local and regional stakeholders in the field of circular economy. You can check out also the Circular economy industry platform launched by Business Europe for innovative solutions contributing to circular economy in Europe.

The Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform will have a coordination group in order to provide guidance, reinforce interaction between stakeholders on exchanges of good practices regarding the transition to circular economy. A call for expressions of interest to become a member of of this coordination group is open until August 31st. In addition to this, you can also share your best practices and/or learn more about smart specialisation boosting interregional collaboration. Therefore, please do not hesitate to register for the 2nd edition of the ‘Grow your region’ conference which will take place in Valencia (Spain) on November 8th and 9th.

The next EU Green Week Conference on ‘Green Cities for a Greener Future’ will be held in Brussels between May 22nd and May 24th 2018. More details on the programme will be announced soon.

What is new in LIFE Calls 2017?

After the introduction of the Climate Action Policy Priorities and the responsibilities of EASME, funding opportunities for traditional projects were explained.

Encouraging the delivery of results from research projects such as Horizon2020 is an additional point to get more scores. In this sense, some new elements were introduced to these new LIFE Calls, such as:

  • Defining and welcoming ‘close-to-market’ projects
  • More specifications regarding quantifiable impacts/benefits
  • Transferability and Replication Plan is mandatory deliverable for certain Calls
  • Sustainability: Exploitation Plan as part of the After-Life Plan as well as Business Plan for ‘close-to-market’ projects are mandatory deliverables for certain Calls
  • Focus on more concrete activities developing new tools to put into practice
  • Control on double-funding and value-added vs previously funded programs.

Within the framework of the LIFE Programme, the European Commission launched the 2nd Call for preparatory project proposals to support the European Solidarity Corps.

More tips for the application?

If so, please just click on this link to find key information.

Photo credits: @2017 Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/hohenschwangau-alps-alpsee-munich-532864/

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Interreg Europe for cultural heritage: do you want to join ProCHESS?

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Cultural heritage continues to be a key topic for many AER member regions. To this extent, we would like to inform you about an interesting project proposal that Umbria region (IT) is preparing on this topic in the framework of the Interreg Europe programme, priority axis 4 “Environment and resource efficiency (Investment priority 6c “Conserving, protecting, promoting and developing natural and cultural heritage”, specific objective 4.1: Improving natural and cultural heritage policies) and make you aware that Umbria is looking for partners to complete the consortia. Therefore, we invite our member regions to take advantage of this valuable opportunity!

Project summary

This project, called Promoting Cultural Heritage through Entrepreneurship Support and Simplification (ProCHESS), aims to improve and promote policies/instruments relevant for any European region facing an inadequate existing cultural heritage exploitation. It will focus on the exchange of experiences and strategies about creation of cultural and creative enterprises with the following subject targeted:

  1. Promoting qualified skills and competencies in the field of cultural heritage.
  2. Using international mobility schemes as tool of business creation for cultural and creative industries.
  3. Provide coaching and managerial support for young entrepreneurs in the field of cultural heritage.
  4. Reduce administrative and legal burden for young entrepreneurs and startups in the field of cultural heritage.
  5. Digital Agenda as an asset to assist young entrepreneurs and startups in the field of cultural heritage.

The project will be designed as follows:

  • Exchange of best practices between partners
  • Divided into five workshops with one specific focus theme each
  • Set up a long-term cooperation and partnership between regional partners
  • Involve regional stakeholders and key regional decision-makers to ensure the successful implementation of the selected good practices.

The partners searched for ProCHESS are:

  1. Leader regions (at least 3): Regional managing Authorities/public authorities experienced in some of the themes, assuming that the project will be designed to ensure that these partners can access and import relevant good practices;
  2. Learner regions (up to 5): Regional managing Authorities/public authorities with specific interest in the project.

If you wish to to join ProCHESS project and/or ask additional information about it, please get in touch with AER Secretariat by the 25th May.

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MYFER Award jury meeting

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Today, Tuesday 16 May early in the morning the jury of the Most Youth Friendly European Region Award met in Brussels, Belgium. Together, they evaluated the 10 shortlisted applications. After passionate debates, the  jury selected MYFER 2017’s grand winner. The winner will be publicly announced on  31 of May at the AER General Assembly in Austria. A special prize will also be awarded.

Candidates 

Ten candidates from various regions applied for the prize:

  • AP Vojvodina, Serbia : “Health education on reproductive health of high school students in the region of Vojvodina”,
  • Hedmark, Norway : “Youth County Council of Hedmark”,
  • Lower Austria, Austria : “Youth coaches for Lower Austria communities”,
  • Umbria, Italy: “Creative Camp”,
  • County of Vrancea, Romania : “Grow up in Vrancea – remigrated children in Vrancea county – educated, supported, counseled!”,
  • Umbria, Italy : “Business at school”,
  • Antalya, Turkey : “School league”,
  • Antalya, Turkey : “GEDAM”,
  • Catalonia, Spain: “New opportunities and unique programs”,
  • Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland : “Je participe ! / Ich mache mit!”.

Rules & Criteria

The Jury members evaluated thoroughly all the applications. The candidates were rated according to specific criteria such as the impact and regional dimension of the initiative, the involvement of youth in managing and developing the initiative, its sustainability and the level of social inclusion, gender equality and the respect of equal opportunities.

Diverse initiatives

The MYFER award gathers very diverse initiatives, promoting the principles of tolerance and equal opportunities. Additionnally, the award plays a precious part in raising awareness on youth inclusion in policy definition and implementation.

The projects presented this year reflect this diversity. Some, focused mainly on fostering youth participation and consultation in local politics. Others, touch upon very specific subjects, such as sexual health education or improving younger generation’s enrollment in businesses and entrepreneurship. Most of the applications emphasized clearly the importance of education and schooling.

In the end, each program greatly participated in promoting young people’s involvement in society, public matters, and politics. All initiatives worked hard to foster cooperation, youth inclusion, strong education, good health and employment.

Jury members

Sonja Steen, Chair of the MYFER Jury, President of the AER Committee for Culture, Youth and Education

Giovanni Briganti, President of the AER  Youth Regional Network Committee for Education and Culture, Member of the Youth Council of Brussels-Wallonie

Tinna Ros Steinsdottir, Child participation and network development Officer at Eurochild

David Garrahy, Head of policy and advocacy for the European Youth Forum

Sam Van Hoof, President of the European Youth Parliament Belgium, Member of the European Youth Parliament

Valentin Dupouey, Member of the Advisory Council on Youth, Council of Europe Youth Department

Organisations represented

Youth Regional Network (YRN)

Created by the Assembly of European Regions, the Youth Regional Network (YRN) is a platform of regional-level youth parliaments, councils and organisations from the wider Europe. YRN provides a truly unique forum giving young people from diverse regions a collective voice on the European stage while introducing a European dimension to youth policy in those regions.

Eurochild

Eurochild is a network of 165 organisations and individuals working in and across Europe to promote the rights and well-being of children and young people. Eurochild’s work is underpinned by the UNCRC and aims to work for and with children to promote their rights and well-being in policy and practice. This work feeds into Eurochild’s vision of a society where children and young people grow up happy, healthy and confident and respected as individuals in their own right.

European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Representing 104 youth organisations, both National Youth Councils and International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations, we believe youth organisations are the tool through which we empower, encourage, involve, represent, reach out and support young people. The Youth Forum brings together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe, organised in order to represent their common interests. We advocate for a Europe with stronger youth organisations, more youth participation, social and economic inclusion, youth rights and sustainable development.

European Youth Parliament (EYP)

The European Youth Parliament (EYP) is a unique educational programme which brings together youngsters from all over Europe to learn, exchange and debate. The EYP is an organisation for young people, by young people with a mission is to inspire and empower young Europeans to become open-minded, tolerant and active citizens.

Council of Europe Youth Department

The Youth Department of the Council of Europe provides funding and educational support for international youth activities aiming to promote youth citizenship, youth mobility and the values of human rights, democracy and cultural pluralism. It seeks to bring together and disseminate expertise and knowledge about the life situations, aspirations and ways of expression of young Europeans.

The Advisory Council on Youth is a Council of Europe body made up of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks in Europe which provide opinions and input on all youth sector activities of the Council of Europe. It also ensures that young people are involved in all activities of the Council of Europe. It is a unique structure world-wide for the active participation of young people at such a high decision-making level.

Information on MYFER

Most Youth Friendly European Region Award (MYFER)

Related articles

Awarding youth-friendly practices in European Regions

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EEA and Norway Grants: tackle “hard-to-reach” youth unemployment

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Youth employment is a top priority not only for the European Union. AER is fully engaged since years to support the implementation of concrete and effective actions. The AER Summer Academy 2016 was especially focused on entrepreneurship and the workshop “EU Regions – Partners forYouth” was the successful try to build a bridge between young adult and European Institutions. The first AER programme, Eurodyssey was the opportunity to improve skills and experience for more than 13.000 young adults since 1985.

EEA Grants and Norway Grants focus also on that emergency. AER is in direct contact with the department in charge of the programme, to bring the insight of AER regions point of view. At the end of April, AER was the only European network taking part to a consultation as stakeholder among the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions and other European institutions to give its point of view on a new programme of the EEA and Norway Fund on regionalisation.

EEA Grants and Norway Grants

The Grant is the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reduce economic and social disparities. The other overall objective of the grant is to strength cooperation, both transnational and bilateral with the donor countries.

The Grant is in line with the priorities set up by the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU cohesion policy, stressing the crucial role of regions and cross-border cooperation for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The call for Active Youth

Youth employment issues are the core of the call. Transnational partnerships are the tool to tackle them. Transnational partnership is crucial to boost the mutual benefit of the close cooperation of different organisations characterised by their own skills, knowledge and experiences.

Projects can foresee activities in three areas:

  • Innovation and exploration
  • Transfer of know-how and good practice
  • Analysis and research

The call supports pioneering solutions and unconventional practices that especially combine the three areas. The Call for Proposals presents some of the successful projects funded in the past.

Eligible organisations and target groups

The call is quite flexible in terms of types of eligible organisations. Public authorities of different institutional level, civic society organisations along with social partners, and business entities are part of the large spectrum of organisations that can take part of applications. Regions, associations of regions or organisations owned by regions are among the eligible organisations.

Those organisations need to involve young people, from 15 to 29 years old, with a special focus on the NEET group with more than 25 years old. Attention is given to vulnerable personal background or young coming from minorities.

Eligible countries

EEA and the Norway Grants focuses on countries whit considerable rate of youth employment, with rates up to 44%.

Eligible organisations that can lead the consortia have to be from one of those countries:

  • Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
  • Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
  • Portugal, Malta and Cyprus.

Organisations from Ireland, Italy and Spain can be part of the consortium. Expertise organisations from the other EU countries can join the consortia but not be funded by the grant.

How to apply and insights on finance

The transnational spirit should emerge since the design of the project. The application process is a two-step evaluation procedure. First the submission of a concept note then only shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a full application.

The minimum budget for projects is € 1 million. The grant will finance maximum the 85% of the total budget of the project.

The call has some peculiarities. Applicants can decide on the duration of the project. There is no limit on the maximum number of beneficiary partners and non-governmental organisations can cover part of the contribution in the form of voluntary work.

Save the date: the deadline to submit electronically concept notes is 1st August 2017 (12:00 noon CET).

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with AER Secretariat  to take part to this funding opportunity.

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Social entrepreneurship: partners wanted!

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Europe, as a community of shared values and a framework for collaboration, will only be able to endear itself to the majority of Europeans if it manages to carry a significant social dimension. A social dimension which visibly impacts the lives of Europeans in a positive way. Social entrepreneurship can help growing this social dimension.

Social inclusion: a real need in Europe

Social inclusion is a key aspect for Europe. It, therefore, is also a key policy goal. Indeed, many citizens are still not able to equally benefit of all the opportunities Europe has to offer. Women are still underprivileged in certain respects, young people and elderly people as well. Immigrants often have a hard time to be fully included in their new country. Minorities, such as the Roma or the LGBTI people and communities are also confronted to inequalities. The situation of people with disabilities is yet another illustration of inequalities and exclusion which have to be addressed.

Action plan: from ideas to projects

At the recent AER London plenary meeting, members discussed the actions they want to implement in the coming year. All three AER thematic committees held an individual session about the themes which should be addressed and the actions which would be relevant for members. In Committee 2 one of the prioritized themes was that of social inclusion. The discussion focused on the aspects of social inclusion to be put highest on the agenda but also which strategies would be most effective in promoting and stimulating social inclusion.

Regions attending the London meeting discussed who would be willing and able to lead joint projects and collaborative efforts of member regions in this broad field. The rule of the game being that no proposal could be made without specifically identifying for each action the regions which would be leading the implementation and those which would support it.

Social entrepreneurship, a tool for inclusion

In the discussion on social inclusion, considerable attention was being paid to social entrepreneurship as a method of practically strengthening social inclusion. It was widely recognized that involving the private sector and engaging individual employers are key to really making a difference when it comes to social inclusion and cohesion. Highly relevant is then how to engage entrepreneurs effectively. How to reach them, how to convince them, how to engage them, how to make them act effectively.

Exchanging good practices & developing a project

Participants in the discussion agreed that identifying and exchanging best practices would be very valuable and that the AER network provides an excellent and natural framework for such exchange.

Participants discussed the opportunity of getting co-financing from the European Union for good practice exchange in the context of an EU-funded interregional project. The region of Timis, for instance, presented a project idea focused on good practice sharing for social inclusion.

The province of Flevoland (NL)  shared it would be willing to look into the possibility of playing a role in initiating a project around social entrepreneurship, based on the exchange of best practices. Regions also interested in participating in a project focusing on social entrepreneurship are kindly invited to let this know

Regions interested in participating in a project focusing on social entrepreneurship together with the Province of Flevoland are kindly invited to contact AER Coordinator for European Projects and Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni or Rutger Schuitemaker at the Province of Flevoland

 

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The 100 Climate Solutions Project Campaign

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Important issues were highlighted by local and regional leaders at the COP22 conference in Marrakech, the most urgent one: access to finance for cities and regions. To find solutions to this problem, AER participated, in June 2016, in the launch of the R20 “100 Climate Solutions Project Campaign”.

This initial launch was made possible by a grant the R20 received from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

This worldwide campaign aimed to show investors that well-designed, geographically-balanced & green projects existed at subnational level. Little-to-no money is going to green projects at a subnational level partly because investors are not yet convinced that regions need help and can also deliver on high-quality projects.

AER’s role in the campaign was to identify serious regional green projects in Europe.

The campaign was much more successful than expected. Indeed, thanks to the support from numerous networks of cities and regions, and other organisations (ORU-FOGAR, ICLEI, FMDV, GIB, SALGA, TGO, ISWA, Gold Standard, ARC, BG, among others), the consortium led by R20 identified more than 650 green infrastructure projects, 36 of which came from AER member regions.

A first selection had to be made based on certain criteria, such as field of activities, objectives, expected impacts and results, CAPEX and return on investments. After an initial selection, some 400 projects were made public on the R20 website, where the project summaries can be downloaded (here).

We understand that many of you have been patiently waiting for an update on the campaign, and we thank you for your patience.

Now that we have collectively shown investors that high-quality projects exist, there is an increasing interest in investing in green projects at subnational level. The initiative is therefore going in the right direction but will not happen overnight.

AER is continuously working with its partner R20 to build an environment in which investors will help finance your projects.

 

The following positive steps have been achieved:

Training: together with the R20 we will soon be providing interested civil servants with two-day training sessions, allowing them to structure their projects in line with standards and requirements set by development banks and investors. These training sessions will also give regional projects exclusive access to the new SOURCE software to better prepare and present their projects to maximise access to international funding, including development banks, development finance institutions, private equity, pension funds, sovereign funds, etc. To know more about this please see HERE.

R20 and AER will offer such trainings during 2018. Algeria and South Africa have already benefited from such training sessions in March and April 2017.

Additionally, R20, with a number of top engineering infrastructure companies, has created dedicated Pre Investment Facilities (PIFs or project preparation facilities) on waste, renewable energy and energy efficiency. The best pre-structured projects will benefit from direct support for feasibility studies, thus fast-tracking the best projects to bankability.

Financing: AER, the European Investment Bank and the R20 are working together to facilitate access to European funds for European regions. Furthermore, an MOU has been signed between the R20 and an Impact Investment Fund Manager (Blue Orchard), to structure a first dedicated 350 Million USD fund. This fund will allow co-investment in the equity first loss junior tranche. In other words, this will allow final selected projects, among which some of the 36 European projects from AER members, to go to financial close and therefore unlock debt senior tranche, at best interest rates.

All of this may seem to be a long process, but it is the most efficient way to fast-track and develop large green infrastructure projects at sub-national level, hopefully making this business-as-usual in the coming years.

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#ShineBright Østfold

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At the AER Spring Committee meetings in London, the region of Østfold (NO) was recognised in the #ShineBright session in recognition of its leading role in the AER Summer Academy. Østfold holds the presidency of the Summer Academy Organising Committee and hosted the 2016 Summer Academy, which focused on youth entrepreneurship. The Summer academy was developed not only with the members of the Organising Committee but also with other regions and with the AER Youth Regional Network. In order to keep the costs low for attendees and allow young participants from Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Estonia, Sweden, Croatia to get involved in the workshops, Østfold even developed an Erasmus + project.

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Interested in joining a project to foster the dialogue among youth and policy makers?

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Following the successful workshop organised within the European Week of Regions and Cities 2016 “EU Regions-Partners for Youth”, Harghita County Council is now leading the drafting of a project proposal in the framework of the Erasmus+ programme – Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships in the field of Youth.

This project, titled “Youth Caravan”, aims to foster the dialogue between decision-makers and youth experts so that the voices of young people get to the decision makers. The target group that the project aims to reach is therefore composed by students, young people, teachers, teaching and administrative staff, youth workers, policy makers, youth policy experts resident in the countries involved in the project.

The main activities planned are the following:

  1. international / transnational meetings (“Youth Caravan”) that provide opportunities for young people to have dialogue with decision-makers, to be informed, to debate and to participate actively in terms of the structured dialogue about relevant issues the EU Youth Strategy;
  2. consultations with youth related to their democratic engagement in partner countries;
  3. consultations with youth established in partner countries: questionnaires, interviews;
  4. establishment of a common project platform by project partners, containing useful information for youth, in youth related topics like educational systems, employment, entrepreneurship, social activities, voluntary services, cultural programmes, travelling, etc;
  5. elaboration of a joint action plan containing proposals for the improvement of youth  policies and aimed to be shared with local/regional/ European decision making institutions.

Harghita County Council is now searching partners to complete the consortia, mainly coming from Italy and Spain. AER, together with the AER Youth Regional Network,  is a proud partner of this project and we wish to encourage our member regions and partners to join it as well.

If you are interested to join this project and/or to ask more information, please get in touch with AER Secretariat by 18 April at the latest.

 

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