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Regional representatives gather in Vojvodina, Serbia

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The AER travelled to Vojvodina, Serbia for its Autumn Plenary from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available  below. The key takeaways from the plenary are as follows:

  • There will be a strong collaboration in the coming months between the Committees, where mutual learning and experience exchange take place, and the Bureau Task Forces, where the findings from the Committees will be used to develop policy messages. For example, the three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration will work closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December.
  • The Task Force on Cohesion Policy, which is currently under the responsibility of the Committee for Economy and Regional Development, will be transferred to the Bureau.
  • The regions of Umbria (IT), Maramures (RO) and Brussels Capital (BE) discussed support for social entrepreneurs and the impact of such on improving regional and national policy frameworks. A discussion on the potential creation of an exchange programme for entrepreneurs from different regions took place. Interested regions should contact the Policy and Knowledge Transfer Coordinator.
  • Talks progressed on the new Civil Servant Exchange Programme. It will be co-organised with the European College of Cluny and will provide high quality training and education as well as placements in regional administrations. Please fill out this survey if your region would like to participate in the programme.
  • Emax Sweden presented their concept of a Youth Innovation Camp which could be deployed elsewhere in Europe. A workshop on the development of such a Youth Innovation Camp will be held during the Spring 2019 Plenary in Orebro (SE). Please contact the Programmes Coordinator for further information.
  • A handbook on the use of SDGs as a policy framework could be developed. Interested regions should contact the Policy and Knowledge Transfer Coordinator.
  • A webinar will be organised in January 2019 to further help regions make use of the TAIEX EIR programme for peer learning in the field of environmental policies. Please contact the Project Unit for further information.

Detailed recap

The plenary was officially opened on Tuesday 25 September with a video message from Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia. In it she stressed the importance of regional cooperation as a means to promote integration. She also reiterated her support for the European Union, saying that it is the ‘first and foremost priority’ for Serbia.

The opening ceremony was followed by the joint plenary. At this we were very pleased to recognise the outstanding contributions of three AER regions: Umbria, Vienna and Scotland. All three were rewarded a ShineBright Recognition Award for their commitment to the AER core priorities.

We were also very pleased to hear from the latest AER and Eurodyssey member, the region of Sardinia, Italy. Massimo Temussi, Managing Director fo the Sardinia Employment Agency ASPAL, provided an overview of active labour policies in the region.

The AER Project had the opportunity to provide and overview of their work with this video.


Finally, we gave a warm send-off to Agneta Granström, County Council Commissioner, Norrbotten County Council, Sweden, who will be leaving politics. She has been an active and engaged member of the AER for several years.

A panel debate, focusing on the role of Open Data and the role it can play in governance, start-ups and innovation took place in the evening. Panellists were:

  • Brigitte Lutz, Open Data Coordinator, City of Vienna
  • Margriet Nieuwenhuis, The European Data Portal
  • Geert-Jan Waasdorp, The Intelligence Group
  • Ton Zijlstra, The Green Land
  • Moderator: Slobodan Markovic, UNDP Technical Advisor on Digital Governance

The discussion focused on how public institutions collect and generate enormous quantities of data in areas as varied as unemployment, air pollution, hospital consultations etc and how this data can best be re-used to create or improve both public and private services. There is a need to change the political perception of Open Data and instead view it as opportunity for policy-making.

On Wednesday 26 September our focus turned to the activities of our three Committees:

  • Economy and Regional Development
  • Social Policy and Public Health
  • Culture, Eduction and Youth

All three outlined achievements made over the last six months, including regional projects which have recently gained funding to work on integrated care systems, social entrepreneurship and social inclusion. Jean Luc Vanraes, president of  the Committee on Economy and Regional Development initiated a discussion on the Sharing Economy and the role it can play in the regions. While many AER regions are very familiar with collaborative services such as Uber, Airbnb and Deliveroo, the sharing economy landscape is very diverse and includes companies, which are very social and very green as well as classic larger corporations. The stakes are furthermore very different for larger cities or for rural areas, where collaborative services can compensate gaps public services. Bruxelles Capitale region will organise a conference on this very topic on 4 December in Brussels. Further information will follow on this in the coming weeks but we do hope you can join us.

At the plenary for the Committee on Economy and Regional Development members decided that the Task Force on Cohesion Policy, which for historic reasons was under the responsibility of this Committee, should be transferred to the Bureau for coherence purposes, as it is the Bureau which is in charge of the identification of policy messages and advocacy activities.

Martin Tollen, Östergötland (SE) was re-elected Chair of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility, other positions were left open for future candidacies

At the plenary for the Committee on Social Policy and Public Health members said farewell to Agneta Granström, Vice President of the Committee and Chair of the AER e-Health network. Albert Castellanos, Catalonia (ES) was elected Vice-President for Inclusion & Social entrepreneurship, other positions were left open for future candidacies.

At the plenary for the Committee on Culture, Education and Youth a discussion took place on the launch of the Civil Servant Exchange Programme, an initiative proposed by Radimir Čačić, President of this Committee. This programme will be hosted at the European College of Cluny, in the region of Bourgogne, France and is expected to be operational by 2020. If your region is interested please fill out this survey.

Emax Sweden presented their concept of a Youth Innovation Camp which could be deployed elsewhere in Europe. A workshop on the development of such a Youth Innovation Camp will be held during the Spring 2019 Plenary in Orebro, Sweden

Two workshops took place in the afternoon. The AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change looked at use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework. Many regions are very active in this space. Oppland, Norway and Varmland, Sweden provided case studies.

A presentation on the ways in which The UNDP in Serbia is helping stakeholders from the private and the public sector to reach the SDGs, provided useful insights to participants on how to structure support: Areas for action are

  • improving legislation;
  • encouraging private investments and providing information on funding opportunities;
  • supporting the development of infrastructure for renewable energies such as biomass;
  • sourcing innovation through prizes and open data challenges;
  • supporting engagement of society through awareness raising; and
  • matchmaking.

The AER Working Group on Transport and Mobility looked at Sustainable Urban Mobility, with Miroslav Tadic, UNDP Climate Change Portfolio Manager, providing the foundation for the discussion. The region of Östergötland, Sweden is particularly engaged in this field.

Mathieu Mori explained the main advantages of an EGTC, especially for interregional projects on transports. Regions interested in developing an EGTC to develop project should get in touch with the EGTC platform of the Committee of the Regions for support.

AER is involved in the New Mobility Services Initiative of the European Commission. This initiative was set up within the Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Cluster of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). The engagement in this partnership has proven very beneficial for Östergötland as it allows to source knowledge, innovation and qualified advice. Other regions are invited to take part in the New Mobility Services Initiative. On 10 October, a seminar on “Sustainable Urban Mobility in the Smart City: How to make change happen?” in Brussels will be an opportunity to learn more about this initiative and meet stakeholders. Interested members can register here.

On the occasion of the AER Black Sea Summit, the AER partnership with the Arge Donau Working Community was reinstated. This will be of interest for members who would like to develop partnerships along specific transport corridors too.

On Thursday 27 September a breakfast debate on ‘Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children’ was held with guest speaker Sarah Sommer, Senior Programme Manager at the European Programme for Integration and Migration, a collaborative fund supporting civil society projects in the fields of migration and integration. This topic was chosen by the President of the Committee on Social Policy & Public health Mihai Ritivoiu based on the discussions, which took place during the Spring plenaries in Arad. At the EPIM the focus is on youth on the move, rather than unaccompanied children only, in order to not leave out other vulnerable youth. The difficulty with youth on the move is not scale, as such, but the fact that good solutions still have to be developed. This can only happen through pilot projects, mutual learning between stakeholders and involving users in a feedback loop to evaluate the effectiveness of measures. Further collaboration with EPIM and partners will be developed to prepare the mutual learning event on migration to be held on 18 December in Catalonia, which will feed the work of the Bureau Task Force on Migration.

Following this our Working Group on Rural Development met to discuss waste management in rural areas. Svetlana Marusic presented the situation in Vojvodina (RS) and Olimpia Neagoe, Chair of the Working Group, presented a project which is being implemented in Dolj (RO) and which is substantially supported by EU funding. Sustainable Waste Management involves both considerable investments in infrastructure and a lot of work on behavioural changes. The main takeaways are:

  • things take time;
  • changing behaviours requires a lot of work, awareness raising and discussions, in all regions;
  • it is worth working on it, investing time, energy, creativity and money in changing the way things are done; and
  • it should be more expensive to behave badly than to do the right thing.

The workshop finished with a presentation on the TAIEX EIR programme of the European Commission which finances study visits, workshops and expert visits to help regions improve environmental policies and learn from their peers abroad. Regions interested in using the programme can check the Commission webpage explaining the procedure to benefit from it here. A webinar will be organised on this topic in January 2019.

The AER Group on Equal opportunities has regular phone meetings and met as well in Novi Sad to discuss the development of a Code of Conduct for AER.

View photos HERE and HERE. 

View press conference videos HERE.

Presentations & background articles

Joint Plenary meeting

New AER Member: Sardinia’s Agency for Active Labour Policy (ASPAL), by Massimo Tenussi

The AER Programme for youth mobility: Eurodyssey (and how to join), by Andres Muñoz Rojo

Eurodyssey from the youth point of view: video

The AER Summer Academy: video by 2018 host region Maramures

Address by Monica Gundahl, Interim Chair of the Election Committee

Debate on Open data

Background article on Open Data

Regional Business forum

Peer review in Flevoland, NL, by Rutger Schuitemaker

Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TR

Economic Development of West Region Romania, by Mihai Ritivoiu

Vojvodina Development Agency, RS

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Economy & Regional Development

Introduction, by Snezana Sedlar

General presentation & info on the Sharing Economy, by Jean-Luc Vanraes

Background article on the sharing economy & the stakes for regions

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Social policy & Public Health

SCIROCCO Exchange: knowledge transfer to help regions implement integrated care systems, by Andrea Pavlickova

Umbria, IT: support to Social Entrepreneurs, by Ana Ascani

Maramures, RO: ASSOC, a good practice with high impact, by Florian Sălăjeanu

General Presentation, by Mihai Ritivoiu

Background article on social entrepreneurship & the stakes for regions

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Culture, Education and Youth

Speech by Aleksandra Djankovic

The new AER Civil Servants Exchange programme, by Larisa Križan Breljak

Emax, youth innovation camp, by Janis Lancereau

General Presentation, by Radimir Čačić

Workshop on Using the SDGs as a policy framework

The SDGs to achieve Climate Goals in Serbia, by Miloslav Tadic

Localising the SDGs in Oppland, NO, by Hakon Noren

Environmental Work in Värmland, SE: a political affair, by Eva Hallström

Workshop on sustainable urban mobility

The New Mobilities Initiative of the EIP-SCC, by Martin Tollén

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Serbia, by Miloslav Tadic

General Presentation, by Martin Tollén

Background article on New Mobilities & AER’s work in the field

Breakfast Debate “Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children”

Background article on youth on the move

Workshop on waste management in rural areas

Waste Management in Vojvodina, by Svetlana Marušić

The integrated waste management project in Dolj, RO, by Olimpia Neagoe

General presentation, by Olimpia Neagoe

Summer Academy Organising Committee meeting

Background article on the Summer Academy Organising Committee meeting

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Umbria and Maramures: the power of social entrepreneurship

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The AER Committees are a space for experience exchange, which enable mutual learning and regional policy innovation. During the 2018 Spring plenary of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health, members identified social entrepreneurship as a topic of high interest. This is why the President of the Committee  on Social Policy & Public Health, Mihai Ritivoiu invited Umbria (IT) and Maramures (RO) to share their experience on social entrpreneurship and initiate a discussion among members.

Pioneering social change

A social entrepreneurship does business focusing on a social purpose trying to bring a social change in the society. The Business encyclopedia says that the “social entrepreneurs combine commerce and social issues in a way that improves the lives of people connected to the cause. They don’t measure their success in terms of profit alone – success to social entrepreneurs means that they have improved the world, however they define that.”  Indeed, the main aim of social entrepreneurship is to bring a positive change in the society. After recognizing the social problems, the entrepreneurs achieve their objectives by using market-based strategies. At the European level, the definition of a social enterprise is built along three dimensions: an entrepreneurial dimension (with earned income generated by the sale of goods and services on the market, including through public contracting); a social dimension (the pursuit of an explicit social aim and delivery of products and services with a social connotation); a governance dimension (accountability, participation and transparency).

A diverse reality

Many commercial businesses would consider themselves to have social objectives, but social enterprises are distinctive because their social or environmental purpose remains central to their operation. The following examples show the wide spectrum covered by social entreprises:

  • Meet My Mama is a French foodtech startup that helps women with different cultural backgrounds to share their traditional dishes by cooking in events, organizing caterings or delivering food;
  • Soma Water creates a home water filtration solution that use the proceeds of the sales to bring safe drinking water to over 663 million people who don’t have access to water;
  • CO2 online is a German social enterprise focused on the environmental benefits. This enterprise assists private households in decreasing their consumption of energy and with this lower their CO2 emissions. At the same time, consumers benefit from lower energy bills;
  • Le Mat is a social franchise system of social entrepreneurs operating in tourism, hospitality and local development through the creation of hotels, hostels, and bed and breakfasts, as well as other tourism services. A specific feature of this social franchise is that it allows social franchisees to adapt their model to the local context, in terms of culture, geography, architecture, production of goods and social aspects.

In these examples is highlighted the rich variety of missions carried out by social entrepreneurs. Moreover, companies could have as goal to solve problems, hire people in need or both, open schools in far-flung areas, educate women in need, allow farmers and poor individuals to access low-interest credits, establish plants for waste treatment, plant trees and so on.

Social entrepreneurship: the driving force of regional development

According to OECD European Commission, Social entrepreneurship plays an important role in addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges while fostering inclusive growth, shared prosperity, and social inclusion. In response to the crisis and austerity, social enterprise demonstrates the ability to address societal needs and build social cohesion. Moreover, social entrepreneurship contributes to job creation, especially at local level, as well as to democratic participation and improvement of welfare services delivery.

Discussion at AER plenaries: Umbria and Maramures example of good practices

Nowadays, many questions have risen around social enterprises. Are they efficient? What is their social impact at a regional level? How can a region measure the social impact of a social enterprise? Last but not least, the most common argument is: how do you find the balance between social purpose and the economic success of the enterprise?
These and many other questions will be discussed in Vojvodina thanks to the experience that will be shared by Umbria region (IT) and Maramures (RO). Ms. Anna Ascani -dirigent of the department on social affairs and international relations at Umbria region- will present good practices developed in the last years in her region. She will show the different successes and obstacles that Umbria region is facing. While Mr. Florian Sălăjeanu -president of Asociația Profesională Neguvernamentală de Asistență Socială ASSOC Baia Mare in Maramures (RO)– will deepen the link between the scope of social enterprises and the meaning of social inclusion.

 

Photo Credits: Rawpixel on Unsplash.

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Committee 2 Progress report Autumn 2018

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme and to evaluate progress every six months.

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. Six months later it is time to evaluate progress, celebrate achievements and share experiences!

Evaluating progress

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

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the autumn 2018 plenary meeting in Novi Sad. It gives an overview of the situation, 6 months after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

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

The SCIROCCO Exchange project, under the 3rd Health Programme, is based on the SCIROCCO project, which has resulted in the development of an online self-assessment tool for integrated care. The project will run from end 2018 to end 2020. It will support regions, mainly health and social care authorities for the adoption and the scaling-up of integrated care. The maturity matrix, 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 strengths and also gaps in their capability managing the many activities needed in order to deliver integrated care.

The lead partner is the Scottish Government Health Agency Service, a new AER member. The consortium is composed by 14 organisations.

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

  •  Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

This year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels.

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

  • HOME4LIFE – Certified smart and integrated living environments for ageing well

AER joined this project as supporting partner, upon the request of AGE Platform which is partner in the consortium. No budget or specific tasks assigned.

This project has been submitted within Horizon 2020 – CSA on “Supporting investment in smart living environments for ageing well through certification” and aims at the development of a European certification scheme fostering safe investments and supporting physical and technological retrofitting for what concerns age-friendly environments and accomodation.

The results of the evaluation should be known in 2018.

  • INTEGRATE PERMED project – The inter-regional linking infrastructure for implementation in personalised medicine (reserve list)

The INTEGRATE PERMED has been submitted under the Horizon 2020 Programme. It aims at linking the efforts in personalised medicine across European Regions by mapping them and then exchange of experiences between selected regions. The project will focus on breast cancer as a launching pathology to maintain focus. After validation, the approach will be replicated to other pathologies.

  • PATHWAY project – Pathway to social entrepreneurship

The PATHWAY project, under the Erasmus+ Programme, aims at providing learners with a training programme which meet their needs in the sector of social entrepreneurship. It also aims to raise awareness on the role social entrepreneurship can play in local development, fostering also be the establishment of links and cooperation between different stakeholders.

The multiplier event will be a collateral activity of the AER Summer Academy

  • Social Entrepreneur Key competencies – SEK project

Submitted within the Erasmus+ Programme, the Social Entrepreneurship Key competences (SEK) project strives for providing learners with specialized training in the sector of social entrepreneurship with a special focus on tourism.

Within this project, AER is in charge of organising an international information day, which will be the opportunity to share the project outcomes and to foster networking. AER is also in charge of a training session to test training course for social entrepreneurs. On top of that, AER will perform advocacy work in order to raise the attention on the project findings at regional and EU level.

The activities realised by the AER will take place in the scope of the Eurodyssey and the AER Youth Regional Network.

  • PIKTOGRAMA project – Visual thinking for social innovation

PIKTOGRAMA is a project submitted within Erasmus+ Programme. It focuses on design thinking approach as a method to empower non-profit organisation and implement original visual thinking tools to face new EU societal challenges (e.g. climate change). The project aims at raising awareness on this approach and the advantages it has in the social innovation context as well as stimulating its use by training the youths.

The project will provide regions with recommendations regarding design thinking, which can be an interesting method for non-profit organisations to approach social challenges.

The multiplier event will be a collateral activity within the Youth Regional Network General Assembly, thus creating synergies between AER programmes and the project.

  • Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

The project will launch an integrated campaign “Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” with ongoing press functions and an activity mix which will allow us to achieve indirect and direct reach of the target audience.
The campaign centers on the stories of locals in regions in each of the five selected countries (Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Spain), as a highly-relatable focal points to convey the positive impact of Cohesion policy in people’s everyday lives.

The project is led by AER with the international communication agency MC Group (DE). The application was submitted to the DG Regio on the media calls for proposals.

The project is part of AER’s work on Cohesion Policy.

  • Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

The MOCHA team is led by the Imperial College London and involves 19 scientific partners from ten European countries and 30 country agents from each European Member State and EEA country. MOCHA appraises the differing models of child health that are used across Europe. The project identified gaps in knowledge, on surveillance of children’s primary care and children’s specific needs in primary care, lack of coordination of care, models of care that are not based on current child health epidemiology, and low prioritisation of children’s needs in e-health strategies. AER is a member of the Advisory Board. AER is benefitting from the connection with the MOCHA experts, which have been invited at AER events (workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir, workshop on social capital for integrated care in Norrbotten) and also shared expertise and advice for the development of the project on youth mental health led by Catalonia and Norrbotten. The project is now in the final year where results will be published. The final conference will take place on 15-16 November in The Hague.

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

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

  • Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:

-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children

Committee 2 members decided to share experiences on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children. In this context a Breakfast Briefing is being organised on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children in Novi Sad on 27 September, which will be led by the European Programme for Integration and Migration, an initiative of currently 25 private foundations, has the goal of strengthening the role played by civil society in advocating for constructive approaches to migration in Europe.

  • Exchange of experiences on social entrepreneurship (ongoing)

On the occasion of the Committee 2 plenary meeting in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), members will discuss Social Entrepreneurship: multi-stakeholder collaboration & social cohesion. Good practices from Umbria (IT) and Maramures (RO) will be presented

  • Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital will organise a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE). This event organised upon the invitation of Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes, aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions are welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

  • Leadership programme for policy makers on e-health, integrated care systems and health innovation (planned)

The AER e-health network wants to share good practices on leadership for the deployment of integrated care systems

  • AER e-health network activities (planned)

The AER e-health network has achieved the objectives it had set at its creation. The plenary meeting in Arad was the opportunity to set new objectives. These include good practice sharing on

-risks of digital exclusion
-business models
-data protection, profiling & mass surveillance
-Artificial intelligence, bots

  • Equal access to healthcare (planned)

The AER Group on Equal Opportunities has identified equal access to health as the main topic to be addressed in Committee 2. This includes:

-vulnerable groups: meet them where they are & help them
– exchange good practices on reducing barriers to care & access to services

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • AER 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 & Institutionnal Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for 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 Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

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 Committees work programmes and the AER action plan.

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Committee 1 Progress report Autumn 2018

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme and to evaluate progress every six months.

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. Six months later it is time to evaluate progress, celebrate achievements and share experiences!

Evaluating progress

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

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the autumn 2018 plenary meeting in Novi Sad. It gives an overview of the situation, 6 months after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

  • Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. On the one hand, this project aims at raising awareness on the importance of programmes, projects and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. On the second hand, the project will encourage the participation of citizens and stakeholders to turn them in active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy.

  •  Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

This year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels.

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

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

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

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

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

  • REFIT Project – New regulative frameworks to foster innovation in the transport sector: not accepted

The REFIT project, under the Horizon 2020 Programme, will improve the regulative framework to make it consistent with the development of new forms of mobility, including shared used mobility, having in mind to safeguard the interest of the users and to attend societal goals.

The main result will be the creation of a user-friendly governance tool facilitating regulatory processes to support the deployment of innovative transport technologies and services in the EU.

  • Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:

-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital will organise a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE)

  • New mobility services (planned)

Good practice exchange on electric cars (production of batteries) and infrastructure

Participation of the working group in the REFIT H2020 project on policies to support New Mobility Services

  • Meeting of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility (ongoing)

The Working Group on Transports and Mobility plans to meet in Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019 on the occasion of the Committees Plenary meetings

  • Webinar on New Mobilities (planned)

The Working Group on Transports & Mobility will organise a webinar on New Mobilities for all AER members. Date & topic tbc

  • International event on Biomass in Vojvodina (tbc)

Organisation of an international event on Biomass in Vojvodina (RS) in collaboration with AER members

  • The Sustainable Development Goals as policy framework (ongoing)

The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change is organising a workshop on using the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework on September 26th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS)

  • Using the SDGs to communicate AER activities (planned)

Oppland suggested that as many of the AER activities are contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, AER should promote the 2030 Agenda, raising visibility of how AER and its member regions are contributing to reach goals.

  • Study visit on the energy transition (finished)

The main focus of the study visit, was the bottom-up approach for the energy transition, which was implemented in the region. This multi-stakeholder cooperation was materialised by the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). The shared goal is to make the province energy-neutral by 2050. Local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, have 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.

Participants shared good practice and experience and in particular:

observe Gelders’ Energy agreement working process
meet with Gelders’ Energy agreement regional partners
carry out visits to observe regional results
participate in a serious game on energy and the diverging interests of stakeholders to exchange about challenges.

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

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

The TAIEX-EIR programme will be presented at the Autumn plenaries in the workshop of the AER Working group on rural development.

The AER Project Unit will also organise a webinar to help members use the programme.

  • Food: short supply chains & quality food (ongoing)

The Working Group on rural development is organising a side event on the occasion of Smart City Expo World Congress on the topic of food. Findings of this side event will feed the work of the Bureau Task Force on food.

  • Waste management in rural areas (ongoing)

The Working Group on rural development is organising a workshop on waste management in rural areas on September 27th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS)

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC (ongoing)

The AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility will organise a workshop or a seminar to share the work of the EIP-SCC with other AER members.

Related activity: Mapping exercise what is going on the field of new mobility services and test locations in general transports.

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • Financing climate action: ongoing

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

  • AER 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 & Institutionnal Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for 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 Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

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 Committees work programmes and the AER action plan.

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Committee 3 Progress report Autumn 2018

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Culture, Education and Youth gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme and to evaluate progress every six months.

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. Six months later it is time to evaluate progress, celebrate achievements and share experiences!

Evaluating progress

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

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the autumn 2018 plenary meeting in Novi Sad. It gives an overview of the situation, 6 months after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

  • “Road to the Future” (accepted)

Road to the Future” is a project submitted under the Erasmus+ programme, within the Key Action 3 – Support for Policy Reform, and it is designed around the European Parliament Elections in 2019. First, it will encourage debate among young European on the European elections and increase young voters turnout. This will be realised through training of youth activists, leaders and the development of tools and resources. After the elections, the project will continue the training for trainers and mentors, based on the ideas collected during the first phase. This will ensure 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 is JEF Europe – Young European Federalist. AER represents local and regional authorities. The consortium is composed by 21 organisations, mainly national JEF associations.

AER is responsible to connect young people and decision makers, especially via the involvement of the YRN.

“Road to the Future” will last 16 months, from September/October 2018 to December 2019/January 2020, depending on its actual start.

  • Bridging the gap project (canceled)

Dialogue between elected politicians and Youth representatives aims to promote the active participation of young people in democratic life and foster debate around the major issues affecting youth. After several exchanges, the project initiator, the Province of Vojvodina (RS), and the potential coordinator, Timis County Council (RO), agreed that there the conditions to finalise the submission were not met.

  • Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

The project will launch an integrated campaign “Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” with ongoing press functions and an activity mix which will allow us to achieve indirect and direct reach of the target audience.
The campaign centers on the stories of locals in regions in each of the five selected countries (Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Spain), as a highly-relatable focal points to convey the positive impact of Cohesion policy in people’s everyday lives.

The project is led by AER with the international communication agency MC Group (DE). The application was submitted to the DG Regio on the media calls for proposals.

The project is part of AER’s work on Cohesion Policy.

  •  Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

This year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels.

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

  • Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:

-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

 

Good Practice Sharing

  • Civil servants exchange programme (ongoing)

This programme will be a follow-up programme of the former Centurio programme, which was implemented for several years in AER and was very successful. The programme supports innovation in the public sector & capacity building by allowing civil servants to be placed in another region for a few months, learn processes and practices there and share their experience when they come back. The action is led by Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, Varaždin (HR)

  • Identify best practices on Youth entrepreneurship (ongoing)

Committee 3 would like to exchange good practices on youth entrepreneurship and identify best practices in Europe.The idea is to develop curricula, which could be applied in different region.

Contacts have been established with EMAX, a Swedish organisation, which organises innovation camps to identify areas for cooperation.

  • Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital will organise a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE). This event organised upon the invitation of Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes, aims to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions are welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

  • Youth Mental Health (planned)

On the occasion of the 2018 Spring plenaries in Arad members decided to refocus the cooperation, which initially was oriented on project development (see here the 2017-2018 action on youth mental health) activity on good practice sharing and awareness raising through

-workshops
-webinars
-data collection
-gathering of prevention resources
-potential topic for a future Summer Academy
-advocacy activities

These activities have yet to be organised, regions are welcome to take the lead.

  • Youth Mental Health: participation in “Young Carers in a Changing World” event (canceled)

Over the Summer the AER Secretariat has been in touch with the President of the Greek Carer Network (EPIONI), who is also a board member of EUFAMI – European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness, and of the World Federation for Mental Health.

EPIONI is organising an event at the Office of European Parliament on Mental Health in Athene (GR) the 28 September 2018: “Young Carers in a Changing World” and invited AER members working on youth mental health to speak at this conference. Members involved in youth mental health were not available to contribute to this event.

  • AER Summer Academy 2018 – Cultural Heritage for Regional Attractiveness (finished)

This aim was to create opportunities for inter-cultural exchanges & debates among people from European regions, supporting citizens understanding of the relevance of culture & cultural heritage as a means of promoting social inclusion, equality, combating discrimination as well as increasing the attractiveness of their regions.

 

Advocacy/ Lobbying

  • Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

  • AER 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 & Institutionnal Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for 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 Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

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 Committees work programmes and the AER action plan.

 

Photo by Providence Doucet on Unsplash
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Coming to Vojvodina? Join our Summer Academy meeting!

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If you have not yet heard about the AER Summer Academy, then you should join us at our next meeting on Thursday 27 September – during the AER Autumn Plenaries in Novi Sad (Vojvodina, SRB)– in order to find out more about what this initiative can offer your region. Registrations for the Plenaries are closing on Friday 14 September! 

What is AER Summer Academy’s mission?

According to its Statute –recently approved by the AER General Assembly– the programme aims to:

  • To facilitate the exchange of experience and good practices between regions on issues of common interest.
  • To facilitate exchanges between policy makers and young people.
  • To support mutual learning.
  • To promote regional democracy in Europe & implementation of the principle of subsidiarity.
  • To provide an opportunity for regional representatives to build networks with their peers across wider Europe.
  • To foster interregional co-operation.
  • To highlight regional good practices and promote the host region
  • To promote European construction, European identity, between young people

Join our Summer Academy Organising Committee !

The AER Summer Academy Organising Committee (SAOC) is looking for new regional partners. There are many benefits to hosting an AER Summer Academy, including opportunities to:

  • learn about EU affairs;
  • network with experts and European counterparts;
  • promote the cultural heritage of your region; and
  • empower young people.

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday 27 September on the sidelines of the Plenary in Novi Sad. It will be a good opportunity for non-member regions of the Summer Academy to know more about this programme. You will have an opportunity to meet the members of the SAOC, watch a short video of the past edition in Maramures, listen to Vojvodina’s proposal for 2019, and provide comments and feedback to the committee members. Please, do not hesitate to contact Andrés Muñoz Rojo at the AER Secretariat for further information.

Looking forward to seeing you in Novi Sad!

Photo credits: @Maramures County Council

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Brussels Capital: the Sharing Economy & the way forward

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The sharing economy will be at the heart of discussions on the occasion of the Autumn plenary meeting of the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Development chaired by Jean Luc Vanraes, Brussels Capital (BE)

The sharing economy: reshaping the way we do business

In 2011 TIME Magazine described the sharing economy as one the ten ideas that will change the world (Walsch). Today the sharing economy is effectively reshaping the way we do business. It is a rapidly growing socio-economic trend disrupting traditional business sectors by revolutionising the way people share goods and services and interact with one another. It has allowed a substantial amount of flexibility for work and business, blurring the boundaries between employment and unemployment, consumer and provider, employee and self-employed and between the professional and non-professional delivery of services.

A need for public action

The rise of the sharing economy has created opportunities for citizens and regions, but being a new form of economy, it has also raised issues that will need to be resolved. It can contribute to job creation and be an important driver of regional competiveness, innovation and sustainable economic growth. However for this, European public authorities need to establish a proper policy, regulatory and legislative environment that serves to aid rather than hamper the sector, while also addressing issues faced by market operators and protecting consumers. The Sharing Economy is a still emerging, but rapidly growing sector. As such regions are often still in the process of figuring out how best to adapt to it.

Mutual learning event on the sharing economy

As is now a tradition and has been promised during the elaboration of the Committee 1 work programme, Brussels Capital will host this year again a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. This year it will be the Sharing economy, which will be in the spotlight. Previous editions of this unique annual event have included:

-A mutual learning event on bringing diverse stakeholders find a common language in the field of e-health

-A mutual learning event on Artificial Intelligence, its opportunities and challenges for regions

These events always bring together very diverse stakeholders who engage in genuine exchange. The idea is to share and discuss initiatives which can be implemented right away. Another major asset of these events is to discover projects and initiatives and hear of stories first hand. Stakeholders from the private and public sector, industry specialists, entrepreneurs, and policy makers will gather to identify opportunities and points of action of the sharing economy.

This year’s event will take place late November or early December and will be organised in partnership with AER and Catalonia.

Back to basics, what is the Sharing Economy?

A reality that spans from “very social and green” to “rather cynical”

The sharing economy covers a wide variety of sectors including everything from sharing mobility and accommodation to food, goods, domestic and business services. Most citizens will have likely engaged with, personally benefitted from, or at least have heard of some of the companies operating or services provided by this new business trend. Uber and Airbnb are two of the bigger names associated with the sharing economy, which has sometimes led to skepticism and misunderstandings towards the sharing economy as a whole. There is however a wealth of other examples for profit and not-for-profit organisations operating in the field including

  • COVIVO, a Grand Est (FR) example of shared mobility solutions offering carpooling for companies and communities, which was presented at the AER workshop on smart green and integrated transport systems
  • Couchsurfing, a service that connects members to a global community of travelers to find a place to stay for free or share their home and hometown with travelers
  • Deliveroo or Takeaway are food delivery services
  • To Good To Go is app-based solution which allows users to act against food waste, by buying food that is still fresh at a great price instead of stores throwing away their unsold food.
  • Paupiette is a platform which facilitates intergenerationnal lunches between students and older people at an affordable price
  • The Repair Café movement was started in Amsterdam in 2009. There are now 1,003 centres worldwide, with hundreds in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands and 18 in Britain. Each is a community hub where local residents can bring in broken items and get them repaired for free, as well as network, learn skills, socialise and help others. Local expertise, tools, repair manuals and materials are all on hand. Melding education, social inclusivity, sharing economy practices and sustainable action, the cafés have become nodes in the circular economy, teaching its principles from the bottom up.
  • Other platforms propose cultural experiences, the selling or exchange of services, including care or education services, sharing gardens etc

A concept still under construction

While the sharing economy is being widely talked about, the definition and the boundaries delineating what exactly falls into the sharing economy still remain unclear (European Commission, 2016 & Teffer, 2017: 4). The sharing economy is the term most popularly used by the general public, but it is sometimes also referred to as the “peer-to-peer economy”, “on-demand economy”, “platform economy” and “gig economy” among others. The European Commission prefers to refer to it as the “collaborative economy”.

Having access to, not owning

It involves individuals having access to, as opposed to ownership of, goods and services. It is a peer-to-peer commerce which allows people to share, borrow or exchange goods and services between one another through online platforms. Individuals make use of the ‘idle’ or ‘surplus’ capacity of their assets usually in exchange for some type of payment or service. Sharing in itself is nothing new but it is the possibilities that have opened up through the use of technologies that has changed the game. It has made sharing easier and cheaper than ever enabling it on a scale that would not have otherwise been possible. Through the collaborative economy people are empowered to become not only consumers but providers. This form of business has become popular because of the numerous social, environmental and economic benefits it can have.

Business support in a changing world

While Europe has been relatively slow at embracing this new business phenomenon in comparison to others such as the US or China, the European Commission expressed its support for the sharing economy through its communication on ‘A European agenda for the collaborative economy’ issued in June 2016. Through this the European Commission has provided guidance aimed at supporting consumers, businesses and public authorities to engage confidently with the sector. It has shown its commitment to facilitating the balanced development of the collaborative economy as a means of encouraging the adoption of new and innovative services where quality and productivity is improved. As stated by the European Commission “these new business models can make an important contribution to jobs and growth in the European Union, if encouraged and developed in a responsible manner” (European Commission, 2016).

Discussion at AER plenaries

If the sharing economy has had so much success so early on it is because it has been able to address the needs of consumers. As such authorities at all levels including the regional level will need to find ways of working with it because it’s here to stay and it’s only going to continue growing. This is why the President of the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Development and Chair of the Working Group on SMEs, Business and Investments, Jean Luc Vanraes, decided to initiate a discussion on the sharing economy on the occasion of the AER Autumn Committee Plenaries taking place between the 25-27 September in Vojovdina.

 

References
Walsch, B. (2011) 10 Ideas that will change the world. Time Magazine
Teffer, P. (2017) The ‘sharing economy’ lacks a common definition. Euobserver
European Commission (2016a) Fact sheet: A European Agenda for the collaborative economy. Press Release Database
European Commission (2016b) Press Release: A European Agenda for the collaborative economy. Press Release Database

This article was written by Mariangela Clendon, Eurodyssey Intern in Brussels Capital working for Bruxelles International and supporting Committee 1 Seconded Officer Pierre Gérard

Photo by Robin Benzrihem on Unsplash
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Breakfast debate in Vojvodina: Youth on the move

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On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, a Breakfast Debate will be organised on 27 September on “welcoming unaccompanied migrant children” .

Youth on the move: a current topic

The topic of this Breakfast Debate has been chosen based on exchanges held at the previous plenary meeting in Arad, where several regions expressed their interest in sharing experiences around the unaccompanied migrant children.  According to the European Commission, in recent years the number of children in migration arriving in the European Union -many of whom are unaccompanied- has increased in a dramatic way.

A child-rights perspective

The proposal by the President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public health Mihai Ritivoiu is to take a child rights perspective for this Breakfast Debate, as all AER members are signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For this reason, AER invited the  European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) to lead the Breakfast Debate.  This collaborative fund has considerable experience in supporting civil society projects in the fields of migration and integration. Hearing from their experience, learning about good and bad practices in Europe, will help move the conversation forward. It will also be an opportunity for regions to share their own experiences too and engage in mutual learning.

The European Programme for Integration and Migration

EPIM is an initiative by the Network of European Foundations. As a collaborative fund, EPIM links the resources and expertise of foundations to strengthen the role of civil society in building inclusive communities and in developing humane and sustainable responses to migration, based on Europe’s commitment to universal human rights and social justice.

EPIM supports civil society in building effective pan-European coalitions and in shaping pan-European solutions by promoting a constructive interplay between policies and practices at all levels. This is done in domains such as:

  • promoting alternatives to immigration detention,
  • contributing to the development of humane and effective asylum systems;
  • enhancing community cohesion,
  • enabling mobile EU citizens to exercise their free movement rights; and
  • working with children and youth on the move for their protection and empowerment.

Under its Thematic Fund on long-term prospects and protection of children and youth on the move in Europe, EPIM supports civil society organisations and public bodies -or authorities- seeking to address gaps in policy and practice and the struggle for communities to provide adequate protection as well as long-term perspectives for the life of children and youth on the move in Europe.

The projects EPIM supports seek to strengthen the approach of alternative models of care embedded in the communities and supporting inclusion on an individualised level which is widely recognised as the most beneficial for all children. They also seek systemic impact at policy-level for more comprehensive frameworks addressing children in migration in agendas at national, EU and global level.

Here a brief video that synthesizes how EPIM works:

Mutual learning at the core of better policymaking

AER members exchange experiences to learn from each other and improve regional policies. Mutual learning is at the core of AER’s actions, since its creation and is what makes the network special. While AER members have exchanged about migration long before the Syrian crisis, the topic has received increased atention since 2015

  • The December 2015 AER Autumn Bureau focused on “Facing the Migration & Refugee Challenges”. This led to the sharing of experiences from regions along one of the migration routes and the exchange of diverging point of views. Members adopted a declaration stating the need for adequate support and re-affirming the willingness of AER to support its members in this.
  • In April 2016 the Committees’ Spring Plenary in Timis (RO) focused on “Communication & actions in times of crisis”. The events aimed at sharing experiences and helping policy makers to fight populist rhetorics, while implementing fair and effective policies.
  • In November 2016, in Izmir (TR) the Autumn plenary meetings were an opportunity to further pursue exchanges on topics as varied as migrant entrepreneurship and the health of refugees
  • In 2017 AER, together with the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities and 10 other partners, developped a project on the Access to services for Migrants with Disabilities: the AMiD project
  • In January 2018 AER organised an event together with Friends of Europe on the Syrian Refugee Crisis, which led to a series of Policy Insights and Recommendations
  • In March 2018 AER published a handbook with good practices on “Culture for the Inclusion of Refugees and Migrants”, in which are shared AER’s members’ experiences in the use of culture to increase the inclusion of refugees and new arrivals in their regions. This collection of best practices aims to inspire readers and motivate regions to continue exchanging experiences on this important topic.
  • On the occasion of the 2018 Bureau and General Assembly  in Lillehammer (Oppland, NO) a Task Force on migration,  to identify further policy messages and convene advocacy efforts.

The Breakfast Debate on welcoming unaccompanied children serves the same purpose: learning from peers in wider Europe and inspiring policy making in the regions.

Yes, but money

AER strives to facilitate exchanges which provide its members with ideas to inspire and tools to implement. The Breakfast Debate will therefore also provide insights on opportunities for projects both via The European Programme for Integration and Migration and European Union programmes.

The European Commission has  for instance recently opened a call for projects on “Care for migrant minors, including unaccompanied minors“. The objective of the call is to finance projects focusing on the exchange of good practices and provision of the necessary training so as to support the implementation, expansion, improvement of alternative care systems (such as family-based care, or foster care, or supervised independent housing arrangements) or of effective alternatives to detention. The deadline for the submission is 31 January 2019. The Breakfast Debate will be an opportunity to discuss potential partnerships too.

 

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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Östergötland (SE) leading the way in AER’s engagement on new mobility services

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Through the leadership of Östergötland in the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility, AER is involved in the New Mobility Services Initiative, of the European Commission. This initiative was set up within the Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Cluster of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC).

Bringing stakeholders together for smarter mobility

The European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities brings together cities, industries, SMEs, investors, researchers and other smart city actors to accelerate innovation and cooperation. The New Mobility Services initiative is a market-changing undertaking supported by the European Commission which brings cities and regions together with other stakeholders to show-case innovative mobility solutions and support their replications.

Shaping the infrastructures of tomorrow

The New Mobility Services initiative was launched to help better integrate and manage urban transport, contributing to the development of collective systems for seamless multi-modal mobility, and create an open and collaborative marketplace for new mobility services in Europe.  The New Mobility Services is establishing strategic partnerships between industry, European cities and regions. As a result cooperation is développante between private and public partners including companies, NGOs, research centers & universities, and policymakers. These cooperations aim to shape the urban systems and infrastructures of tomorrow.

Leading the work of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility

The AER working group on Transports and Mobility, which is chaired by Martin Tollén, member of the Transport and Urban Planning Committee of Östergötland (SE), meets regularly to exchange experiences on innovative technologies, public transports systems and new mobilities.

Recent activities included:

Martin Tollén participates in the activities of the New Mobility Services initiative of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities on behalf of AER. Members of the Working Group, receive regular updates on developments and opportunities at meetings.

Engaging diverse regional stakeholders

In the context of his engagement in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities, Martin Tollén met the local and regional representatives of Region Östergötland to discuss the engagement of the region’s stakeholders in the New Mobility Services group. This meeting led to the involvement of more experts and stakeholders from the region in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities.

Representatives of Östergötland participated in two partner meetings of the New Mobility Services in February and June 2018.
In June 2018 Region Östergötland had a follow-up meeting with the New Mobility Services’ coordinator of the working group on Parking solutions. Östergötland also invited two of its major municipalities Linköping and Norrköping to this meetings as well as the public transport company Östgötatrafiken.

Examples of working points

On the occasion of the New Mobility Services General Assembly in Sofia the Region Östergötland provided some inputs to what kind of challenges its region is going to foresee at the local level. This meeting is an opportunity for smart city actors to exchange best practices, present projects, find partners, and stimulate discussions helping the development of innovative ideas.
The main points which were pointed out were:

  • Enable usage of open data and find new ways of using open data in public transport to improve and simplify the travelling for passengers;
  • Combine mobility solutions with the ambition of taking market shares from cars and increase the users of the public transport company (Östgötatrafiken);
  • Develop new payment methods by external suppliers and use it in the public transport company;
  • Pilot projects with linkages to the car sharing company in Östergötland to improve the parking solutions offered by transport companies in the public sector.

As an outcome of the meeting the municipalities of Östergötland and the public transport company Östgötatrafiken are interested in being engaged in New Mobility Services initiatives. They are also ready to use their cities as testbeds for future projects.

Östergötland Region underlined the fruitful partnership is holding with the New Mobility Services. This partnership is an opportunity to act in a concrete manner what concerns mobility.

Presentation

It is possible to find synthesised all the main points about the New Mobility Services presented in the occasion of the General Assembly in Sofia (Bulgaria) the 27 June 2018. 


Upcoming events

  • Meeting of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility on sustainable urban mobility, with the participation of Miroslav Tadic, UNDP Climate Change Portfolio Manager.
    Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS) 26 september 2018 16:30-17:30
  •  Workshop during European Week of Cities and Regions “Sustainable Urban Mobility in the Smart City, How to make change happen?”
    Speakers include: Stephanie Trpkov Energy Consultant World Bank Group, Tesla Benelux (tbc), Anna Domènech Abella, Section Manager External Affairs Nissan Europe, Barcelona, Martin Tollén, County Council Region Östergötland, Sweden and Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility, Stefan Büchele, Deputy Director of International Cooperation at e-mobil BW State Agency for New Mobility Solutions and Automotive Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart, Henriette van Eijl – DG MOVE European Commission.
    10 October 2018 in Autoworld Museum, 10.15 – 14.00h, Parc du Cinquantenaire 11, Brusselsspeakers
  • Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) is an unmissable event combining the latest solutions and technologies, and inspirational keynotes on improving life in cities. Smart City Expo World Congress, 13-15 November 2018 in HALL 1 & 2, 9.00 – 19.00h,  Gran Via Venue, Barcelona

 

Photo credits: Joey Kyber on Unsplash

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Autumn plenaries : message from the Election Committee

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During the 2018 Autumn Plenaries in Vojvodina, elections will be held. With views to the preparation of these elections, the Election Committee wishes to inform AER members about open positions.

The AER Election Committee

The Election Committee actively informs and encourages members to apply for positions within AER. It inventories and prepares for the elections at both the General Assembly and the Committees.

Its members are :

Chair : Brian Greenslade, Devon (UK)

Monica Gundahl, Värmland (SE)

Gloria Vitaly, Oppland (NO)

Natalija Martincevic, Varazdin (HR)

Message regarding the elections at the Autumn plenaries

Looking forward to seeing colleagues in Novi Sad where there will be elections for the following positions.

Committee 1

Chair of the Working Group on Transport currently Martin Tollén

Chair of the Working Group on Investment, Business and SME’s currently Jean-Luc Vanraes.

Chair of the Task Force on Cohesion Policy currently Michiel Rijsberman.

Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility

More information about Committee 1 Presidium members and ongoing mandates

Committee 2

Representative for the Equal Opportunities Group, 1 female, vacant

Vice President for Inclusion & Social entrepreneurship, vacant

More information about Committee 2 Presidium members and ongoing mandates

Committee 3

Chair of the Sub Committee on Youth currently Marta Vilalta.

More information about Committee 3 Presidium and ongoing mandates

During our meeting in Novi Sad I will hold a meeting of the Elections Committee to start planning for the large batch of elections next year. Will contact Election Committee members separately about timing for this.

I will be making a short presentation about upcoming elections during our meeting in Novi Sad.

All best.

Brian Greenslade

by Brian Greenslade, Chair of the Election Committee

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Regional Business Forum in Vojvodina

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On the occasion of the Autumn Committee Plenaries in Vojvodina from 25-27 September 2018 a Regional Business Forum is being organised together with the Enterprise Europe Network and the Vojvodina Chamber of Commerce and Development Agency. 

Sharing experiences to support the business community

The Regional Business Forum will gather in one place Regional chambers of commerce and Regional agencies in charge of investments, support for SME and promotion of business and commerce from wider Europe. The event creates a possibility for collaboration and good practice sharing. This event is an opportunity for regions to promote their business potentials and achievements through both dialogue and bilateral meetings.

The Forum will be a place to exchange on the support for SME, promote business and commerce, incentive the possibility to collaborate and share best practices between regions.

The programme includes a one-day conference, a high-level panel debate on Open Data for startups together with all the policymakers from AER member regions, B2B meetings and different study visits.

Open Data for startups: a high-level panel debate

The high level panel debate will bring together speakers from startups, regional policymakers, experts on design and data to discuss why, how and for what regions should open their data and look at challenges and opportunities. Policymakers and representatives from the business sector will discuss how opening public data supports the emergence of startups in regions.

B2B meetings powered by Enterprise Europe Network

Business-to-business (B2B) meetings will be organised in the framework of the Regional Business Forum in Vojvodina. Enterprise Europe Network will facilitate these B2B meetings to help delegates find business partners based on their own interests. The Enterprise Europe Network helps businesses innovate and grow on an international scale. It is the world’s largest support network for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions. The network is active in more than 60 countries worldwide and brings together experts renowned for their excellence in business support.

The B2B meetings will be organised via the Enterprise Europe Network matchmaking tool. These will be organised in advance. To request B2B meetings participants have to fill in the required information when registering for the event.

Study visits

The study visits organised in the framework of the Regional Business Forum will feature:

  • the BioSense Institute, the Research and Development Institute for Information Technologies.
    BioSense cross-fertilizes the two most promising sectors in Serbia: ICT and agriculture. BioSense performs multidisciplinary research in the fields of micro and nanoelectronics, communications, signal processing, remote sensing, big data, robotics and biosystems. The goal is to support the development of sustainable agriculture and create a positive impact to the lives of people. BioSense aims to incorporate all efforts and results of various research groups into a unique BioSense integrated system for agricultural monitoring. BioSense Institute coordinates or participates in a large number of international research projects, including Horizon2020, FP7 and Eureka.
  • Unimet, a metal transformation company based in Serbia

Registration

Further information including the programme, the B2B platform, the practical information and the registration can be found in on the Regional Business Forum website. To request a B2B meeting, participants need to fill in the relevant fields in the registration form.

Photo Credits: Viktor Krč,  Unsplash

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Public open data in the spotlight at Vojvodina plenaries

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On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, AER members will discuss how opening public data supports the emergence of startups in regions. The panel will bring together speakers from startups, regional policymakers, experts on design and data to discuss why, how and for what regions should open their data and look at challenges and opportunities.

Open Data… why?

Everyday, public institutions collect and generate enormous quantities of data in areas as varied as unemployment, air pollution, hospital consultations, trends in construction, petrol & diesel prices, wood harvesting, production of organic milk or the evolution of criminality. This data can be re-used to create or improve services both private and public.

  • Innovation: access to reusable data inspires innovative services and new business models. For the period 2016-2020, the market size for Open Data is estimated to be 325 billion EUR.
  • Transparency: publishing data about processes, spendings, priorities, use of services, outputs, and making it accessible is an essential part to improve transparency and governance
  • Efficiency: by using Open Data, Member States are forecasted to make 1.7 billion EUR in efficiency savings by 2020.

From pollution tracking to employment

Examples of data re-use include for instance the tracking of hourly pollution levels in sixty cities in the world by Plume Labs. This French startup uses data made public by different agencies engaged in a policy of Open Data, such as Airparif in Paris to feed its air pollution forecast app and help citizens better chose the times and places they cycle, work out or play outside with their children.

Another startup, Sun Energia in Finland uses open meteorological data for an application which calculates the costs and benefits of a potential switch to solar energy, by
assessing the solar energy production for a specific building and estimating savings. Open meteorological data is one of the inputs for this analysis.

Arbeidsmarktkansen in the Netherlands, uses public open data on employment and the economy to help organisations and individuals evaluate their actual value on the market and orient their strategies.

The stakes for regions

Opening public data means changing the way information/ data is approached. It requires quality management at the level of data collection: data need to be accurate, comparable, consistent etc (comparing apples with apples, not apples with strawberries…)

Data also needs to be usable and accessible. Publishing data which is difficult to find and to understand or difficult to link with topics which matter for citizens, is likely to result in failure. This is why, in order to harness the potential of open data, organisations need to have the end-user in mind. To define who is the end-user, what their needs could be and ensure a variety of end-users can access and use public open data, it is essential to work hand in hand with civil society, businesses, academics. While this can seem complex, this is also one of the places where the magic of open data can start operating.

Indeed by engaging with stakeholders, by asking for advice on what matters, what is useful, what helps, organisations accept to be challenged. They accept to transform in order to deliver better services. Publishing data in itself is not an objective, what matters with open data is the whole process with and for society.

This is why open data policies and strategies are essential. By developping policies, organisations aim to stimulate and guide the publication of data but also to gain advantages from its use. In the video below Anneke Zuiderwijk from the Delft University of Technology explains the different stages of an open data policy.

Panel debate at AER autumn plenaries

The high level panel debate on Open Data for Startups in Novi sad on 25 Septembre will be an opportunity to hear from renown experts what are the stakes for regions in Europe in 2018:

  • what is the feedback from initiatives across Europe and beyond?
  • how has open data changed the life of citizens?
  • what are the barriers and enablers?
  • how much does it cost?
  • how to ensure the data will be used?
  • how to increase data litteracy and capabilities?
  • how to make data inclusive and sustainable?
  • …

Useful links

Use cases of Open Data on the European Data Portal

CEF Digital Service Infrastructures: Public Open Data
Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funded sector specific Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) deploy complex trans-European digital services based upon mature technical and organisational solutions in diverse areas

Delft University of Technology online course for professionals on Open Data Governance and Use (overview of videos)

Photo by Edu Lauton on Unsplash
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Open call for projects on Public Open Data

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The European Commission has published a call which can be of interest to regional stakeholders. This call for projects is organised in the context of the Connecting Europe Facility and focuses on public open data.

Why public sector open data?

Public sector information within countries, across borders, and between sectors can be used for all sorts of applications. Real world examples of Open Data re-uses include transportation apps in France, the reorganisation of waste management in Mexico, insights on comorbidity in Spain, or property development in Great Britain. Crossborder and cross-sectorial synergies however are unlikely to be achieved without the deployment of infrastructure at EU level. Improved access to public sector information is therefore an essential component of the EU strategy for stimulating new business opportunities and research and addressing societal challenges.

Objectives of the call for projects

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a funding instrument for targeted infrastructure investment at European level. It supports the development of high performing, sustainable and efficiently interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital services.

In the framework of the EU Digital Single Market, the European Commission aims to encourage access to public data to help drive innovation. The Connecting Europe Facility call CEF-TC-2018-5: Public Open Data will award 18.5 million Euros in the form of grants for generic services. They will help European public administrations and businesses to operate with each other across borders.

This call addresses the need for services providing access to high-performance computing, storage and data management facilities. The goal is to increase the high-performance computing and data capacities of the European data infrastructure, and to promote the use of high-performance computing and data across borders in the public interest.

What’s next at AER?

Twice a year, on the occasion of the AER Committees’ plenaries, regional policy makers meet to share experiences, learn from each other, assess progress of joint initiatives and create collective intelligence.

This Autumn, we will gather in Vojvodina (RS) from 25-27 September for the plenaries, which will be organised together with a European Regions Business Summit (Chambers of Commerce of all over Europe).

The two audiences will come together for a panel debate on Open Data & regions, with a particular focus on Open Data for innovation & startups. The panel will gather speakers from startups, regional policymakers, experts on design and data to discuss why, how and for what, regions should open their data and look at challenges and opportunities.

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