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You are here: Home / Archives for Event 2019 Spring Plenaries

A European Folk Festival

13 December, 2019 By Johanna Pacevicius

Varaždin County is organising an international folk festival on 25-29 June 2020. This event will feature 10 ensembles from 10 countries for 5 days of festivities.

The idea of this international festival arose after the Spring 2019 Plenaries in Örebro (SE). Members of Committee 3 developped their workprogramme and decided to work on making culture accessible to all and specifically to youth.

This European folk festival aims to contribute to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage by bringing together folk ensembles from all over wider Europe. It will include folklore workshops for children as well as a symposium on traditional culture in education.

The objective is to get the festival to become a part of CIOFF®, the International Council of Organisations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts. CIOFF® is an Official Partner of UNESCO, accredited to the UNESCO ICH Committee. Created in 1970, the duty of CIOFF® is safeguarding, promotion and diffusion of traditional culture and folklore.

How to participate?

AER regions can share this invitation to their regional and local folklore ensembles. Folklore ensembles can register by writing to Maja Zuber by 1 February 2020. Important information to provide include:

  • name of the ensemble
  • number of members (in the ensemble)
  • type of performance (instrumental, vocal, vocal-intrumental, dancing, dancing & singing, etc)
  • it must be typical and represent the region!
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Integrated care systems: a practical approach

11 April, 2019 By Johanna Pacevicius

To innovate healthcare and improve the patient’s journey, more integrated care systems are essential. A range of opportunities is available to AER members in the context of the Scirocco Exchange project on integrated care, as the AER Project workshop showed on the occasion of the AER Committees Spring 2019 Plenaries in Örebro.

The patient at the centre

The objective of integrated care systems is to provide health and social care in a flexible, personalised, and seamless way.

The integration of care can be

  • vertical, involving patient pathways to treat named medical conditions that transcend organisational boundaries and connect community-based generalists with largely hospital-sited specialists

or

  • horizontal, involving peerbased and cross-sectoral collaboration to improve overall health closing the traditional gap that often exists between health and social care or vertical, ensuring better.

The objective is to bridge delivery, management, and organisational gaps. An integrated e-care approach harmonizes and coordinates the management, organization, and delivery of services. This ensures healthcare services provide quality and efficient solutions to the needs of patients.

Peer learning to scale up

Despite the vast amount of literature and experiences on the topic, the deployment of integrated care systems is often still a bumpy road. Peer learning is therefore at the heart of the Scirocco Exchange project.

This project, of which AER is a proud partner, builds on the outputs of the very successful Scirocco project, which brought together Scotland, Norrbotten, Puglia, Olomouc and the Basque Country to assess strengths and weaknesses, facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues and transfer good practices via twinning and coaching.

The key to the deployment of complex changes is peer learning. But peer learning rarely happens spontaneously, it needs to be encouraged and facilitated. With its almost 35 years experience in mutual learning and good practice transfer, AER was the ideal partner for this task. AER will therefore facilitate the transfer of knowledge in Scirocco Exchange.

Scirocco Exchange will:

  • Maximise the use and improve access to existing knowledge and evidence in order to increase the capacity of regions to implement integrated care
  • Determine precisely how to improve capacity of regions to redesign and improve their healthcare systems in order to speed up the adoption and scaling-up of integrated care
  • Tailor the capacity-building support and improvement planning to local needs and priorities in health and social care management hub

What’s in for AER members?

First of all, the SCIROCCO tool for integrated care:

Regions working on innovative solutions that support the delivery of integrated health and care can use the SCIROCCO online self-assessment tool. This tool was tested in 60 regions and organisations in Europe and beyond, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, and the US. The Scirocco self-assessment tool is used to identify the maturity of the health and social care systems for the adoption and scaling up of integrated care solutions.

  • This online self-assessment can be used by stakeholders, be it at the level of a hospital, a city or a region
  • The outcomes of this process help to inform stakeholders involved about the readiness of their local environments for integrated careand identify priority areas for action.
  • The SCIROCCO tool was also tested with multidisciplinary teams to capture the perceptions of all stakeholders involved in integrated care.
  • This participatory tool facilitates the discussions and negotiations within the teams in order to reach consensus and agreements on the maturity of the environment for integrated care.

The Scirocco online self-assessment tool for integrated care is presented and explained on the Scirocco website, a set of set of videos and a tutorial explain how to use it.
Note: Because local stakeholders aren’t necessarily fluent in English, the tool was translated to Italian, Spanish and Czech and is being translated in Slovak, Slovenian, Lithuanian and Polish.

Second, the Scirocco Knowledge Management Hub:

AER member regions which have already implemented successful practices in the field of integrated care can share expertise with other regions in the world via the Scirocco Knowledge Management Hub and test the hub to improve it. This Knowledge Management Hub is being developed to maximise the use and improve access to existing knowledge and evidence. (No, not yet another repository with difficult to find information). this hub will help regions find relevant resources depending on their own needs. Interestingly this hub will also be used by fellow projects financed by the European Union’s 3rd Health Programme.

  • Regions can share expertise for the Knowledge management Hub: tools, guidelines, good practices
  • Regions can identify experts who could contribute to the different knowledge transfer activities, in training webinars, study visits, mentorship, etc
  • Regions can identify experts who would be able to advise for the elaboration of regional improvement plans
  • Healthcare managers, national and regional authorities in charge of designing and commissioning healthcare services can test the Hub and help the consortium to improve it

The resources of the Knowledge Management Hub will be accessible to all and the more the Hub will be used, the better it will get.

Get in touch!

For more information on how to use the Scirocco self-assessment tool and how to contribute to the Scirocco Knowledge Management Hub, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Policy & Knowledge Transfer

Johanna Pacevicius

Mobile: +33 6 24 29 19 37
E-mail: j.pacevicius(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: johanna.pacevicius
Languages: fr, nl, en, pt

Articles by Johanna

  • Thematic Coordination
  • Committees
  • Mutual Learning

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The Committees’ 2019-2020 work programme is out!

3 April, 2019 By Johanna Pacevicius

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Örebro, AER members identified the topics which matter most for them and on which they want to develop joint actions on with fellow regions. The development of the work programme was 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.

Committee for Economy & Regional Policy

The planned actions in the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Policy can be summed up as follows:

Innovation & SMEs :

-sharing experiences & mutual learning on simplification of legislation
-exchange of experiences on attraction & retention of workforce
–organisation of a mutual learning event on a current & transversal aspect of innovation & industry in Brussels on 4 december 2019

Rural development

-exchange of experiences on waste management in rural areas
-initiating collective action for the protection of Romanian forests
-develop a project for good practice exchange on farming practices
-sharing experiences on investments & financing of infrastructure in rural areas
-develop a project together with the Committee on Social Policy & Public Health on e-health in rural areas

Energy & climate change

–organisation of a roundtable on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in regional planning, during the EU Green Week in Brussels on 15 May 2019
-exchange of good practices on small hydropower plants
-exchange of experience on multistakeholder engagement around the topic of energy, partnerships, and advocacy towards different levels of governance
-sharing good practices around gas exploitation: environmental & economic impact on national tourism strategy on Norway in Sweden in particular
–organisation of workshop at European Week of Cities and Regions in Brussels in October 2019
–organisation of a workshop on energy efficiency
-Breakfast briefing on competition

Transports & mobility

-exchange of good practices and engage a shared reflexion on how to achieve zero emission transports
–organise a workshop during the European Sustainable Development Week in Brussels on clean energy hubs
–organise a side event at Smart City Expo World Congress

Committee for Social Policy& Public Health

The planned actions in the AER Committee for Social Policy & Public Health can be summed up as follows:

Social inclusion

-exchange experiences and identify solutions around the issue of isolated elderly people in rural areas
-share information on the inclusion of children with disabilities in school
-exchange experiences around the care and wellbeing of children whose parents have moved abroad for work (specifically in Romania)
-identify good practices for the support of young orphans who are 18 and are no longer supported by institutions

Health innovation

-compile achievements of the AER e-health network in the past 13 years
-mapping of e-health systems and integrated care in Europe via the Scirocco Exchange project
-develop a project together with the Committee on Economy & Regional Development on e-health in rural areas

Committee for Culture, Education & Youth

The planned actions in the AER Committee on Culture, Education, and Youth can be summed up as follows:

Culture

-mutual learning around culture for all and how to, in particular, reach out to young people
-mutual learning on culture &

Education

-share knowledge, experiences and practices to address the issue of brain drain and move from brain drain to brain gain
-exchange around the issue of governments investing in education and “losing” their qualified workforce and identify elements of resilience or compensation for territories which “lose” qualified workforce
-exchange experiences on lifelong learning for 50+ people in order to improve wellbeing and employability

Youth

-share experiences on early school leaving and the issue of young people who are not in education and not in employment. In particular explore practices around building confidence and encouraging young people.
-Organise a workshop, potentially at the Eurodyssey Forum, on the Eurodyssey programme to increase the number of applicants for the first youth mobility programme in Europe

The AER Action Plan & planning cycle

The AER Committees’ work programmes are developed at the Spring plenaries each year and are then consolidated into the AER Action Plan, which is adopted at the General Assembly.

The AER Action Plan brings together all the activities carried out within and via the AER network, be they large or small, including the Committees’ work programmes. The Action Plan is constantly updated during the year. It is the Executive Board, which approves actions to be added to the AER Action Plan, in order to ensure alignment with values and priorities.

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Food in Focus at Spring Plenaries in Örebro

1 April, 2019 By Erica Lee

The AER Spring Committee Plenaries, which took place from 26-28 March 2019 in Örebro County, Sweden, revolved around food, innovation and health.

The seminar ‘Food for Action!’ A regional approach to innovating food systems, was an exemplary opportunity for regions to share how they innovate food systems to achieve nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets, climate and environmental sustainability, circularity and resource efficiency, and innovation and empowering communities.

Moderated by Tina Wu, Member Relations Coordinator the seminar saw participants engage in a multisensory activity on Sensory research within the field of Gastronomy – a multisensory perspective in order to promote healthy eating” delivered by Åsa Öström, from Örebro. This delightful and delicious experience was followed by inputs on nutrition & mental health by Robert Jan Brummer, another expert from Örebro County. AER members Olimpia Neagoe, Dolj (RO), Peter Medved, Eastern Slovenia (SI), Erik Lagethon, Oppland (NO), Thomas Norrby, from the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD), were among the participants who then shared insights from their regions and networks on the all-encompassing issue of food, nutrition and innovation.

Keeping with the theme of food a Breakfast Debate was organised on youth entrepreneurship, and all participants to the Joint Plenary had the opportunity to join a dinner reception at Örebro Castle where they were greeted by Governor of Örebro, Maria Larsson and President of the Regional Executive Board Andreas Svahn, and treated to a vast menu of local specialities including Hjalmaren Pikeperch.

A number of other successful workshops that took place at the Plenaries included:

  • Energy and Climate Change: the SDGs as a policy framework
  • Transports & Mobility: Open Data & Blockchain
  • The AMID workshop on multilevel cooperation for migration policies
  • Available opportunities for AER members in current projects

As always, the three AER Committees

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

held their dedicated plenary sessions and outlined achievements made over the last six months and spent some quality time reflecting on the work programmes for the upcoming year. More on this to follow!

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Elections results for the AER Spring Committee Plenaries

29 March, 2019 By Editor

The elections took place at the AER Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro on the 26th and 27th of March. Each Committee elected its President & Vice-Presidents as well as the Chairs of the Working Groups and Subcommittees. The election of the Committee Presidents will be confirmed by the AER General Assembly in Cyprus.

Committee 1 for Economy & Regional development

Committee President: Kenneth Backgård, Norrbotten (SE) (View application)

Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility: Michiel Scheffer, Gelderland (NL) (View application)

Chair of the Working Group on Investment, Business & SMEs: Maricel Popa, Iași (RO) (View application)

Committee 2 for Social policy & Public health

Committee President : Mihai Ritivoiu, Timis (RO)(View application)

Vice-President for Health Innovation : Kenneth Johannesson, Värmland (SE) (View application)

Chair of the E-Health Network : Donna Henderson, Scotland (UK) (View application)

Committee 3 for Culture, Education & Youth

Committee President : Radimir Čačić, Varazdin (HR) (View application)

Vice-President : Aleksandra Djankovic, Vojvodina (RS) (View application)

Chair of the Sub-Committee on Youth : Hrvoje Kovač, Varazdin (HR) (View application)

Chair of the Sub-Committee on Culture: Fereshteh Jalayer, Värmland (SE) (View application)

The presidents of the three Committees will be confirmed by the General Assembly.

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Candidates for AER Committees’ elections

15 March, 2019 By Editor

The AER Election Committee has been screening applications for open positions within the Committees. 

The elections will take place at the AER Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro on the 26th and 27th of March. Each Committee will elect its President & Vice-Presidents as well as the Chairs of the Working Groups, Subcommittees and representatives for Equal Opportunities. The election of the Committee Presidents will be confirmed by the AER General Assembly in Cyprus.

Applications approved by the Election Committee

The list of approved applications can be found below:

Committee 1 for Economy & Regional development

  • Committee President: Kenneth Backgård, Norrbotten (SE) (View application)
  • Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility: Michiel Scheffer, Gelderland (NL) (View application)
  • Vice-President for Rural Development, Energy & Environment: position currently held by Kenneth Backgård. If elected Committee 1 President, this position would be vacant. Applications still welcome.
  • Chair of the Working Group on Investment, Business & SMEs: Maricel Popa, Iași (RO) (View application)
  • One female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

Committee 2 for Social policy & Public health

  • Committee President : Mihai Ritivoiu, Timis (RO)(View application)
  • Vice-President for Health Innovation : Kenneth Johannesson, Värmland (SE) (View application)
  • Chair of the E-Health Network : Donna Henderson, Scotland (UK) (View application)
  • One male and one female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

Committee 3 for Culture, Education & Youth

  • Committee President : Radimir Čačić, Varazdin (HR) (View application)
  • Vice-President : Aleksandra Djankovic, Vojvodina (RS) (View application)
  • Chair of the Sub-Committee on Youth : Hrvoje Kovač, Varazdin (HR) (View application)
  • Chair of the Sub-Committee on Culture: Fereshteh Jalayer, Värmland (SE) (View application)
  • One male and one female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

That’s not all…

Applications are still welcome, so please do not hesitate to contact Ulla-Britt Höglund, Seconded Officer to the Election Committee Acting Chair.

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Committee 1 Progress Report Spring 2019

8 March, 2019 By Editor

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. Sa years 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 spring 2019 plenary meeting in Örebro. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

“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): finished

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.

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

SEED was a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018
After two years of dedicated work, the SEED project has met its objectives.

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

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: finished

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

Open data and blockchain in transports, Working group meeting: ongoing

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), will meet on March 28th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro.
The content will be the following:

  • The use of Open Data in public transport
  • Blockchain in logistics

The Sustainable Development Goals as policy framework: ongoing

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

New mobility services: ongoing

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.

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

The AER Secretariat disseminated 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 was 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 in May or June 2019 to help members use the programme.

Food: short supply chains & quality food: ongoing

The Working Group on rural development organised 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.

Youth entrepeneurship: ongoing

Members expressed the wish to develop youth entrepreneurship actions in link with Committee 3. EMAX, a Swedish organisation, which organises innovation camps presented their work on the occasion of the Autumn Committee 3 plenary meeting. They will also organise a Breakfast Debate on youth entrepreneurship on the occasion of the Spring 2019 plenary meetings in Örebro (SE).

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised 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, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and projects promoting inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

Workshop on Life Cycle Approaches to Regional Sustainable Development: finished

Following the September 2017 workshop on life cycle approaches for renewable energy, circular economy and regional development, members of the working group on energy and climate change were invited to participate in a workshop in Bordeaux, France in 4 and 5 March 2019.
This workshop was intended as a consultative forum to gather advice, experience and further case studies to facilitate this move. It will help to develop an outreach programme on Life Cycle approaches to sustainable regional development.

Autumn Plenary, Vojvodina: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by the region of Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here.

Plenary meeting: Committee for Economy and Regional Development: finished

On the occasion of the 2018 Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings in Vojvodina, 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.

Panel discussion at the Vojvodina plenaries on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

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.

Sustainable Urban Mobility, Working group meeting: finished

The Working Group on Transports and Mobility decided in Spring 2018 to work on sustainable urban mobility. At the Autumn Committees Plenary meetings, Miroslav Tadic, UNDP Climate Change Portfolio Manager shared the experience of UNDP in Serbia.

Meeting of the Working group on Energy and Climate Change: finished

The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change met in September 2018 on the occasion of Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings. On this occasion, the workshop “The SDGs as a policy framework” took place. Many regions are very active in this space. Oppland, Norway and Varmland, Sweden provided case studies.

Meeting of the Working group on Rural development: finished

The Working Group on Rural Development met in September 2018 on the occasion of Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings. On this occasion, the workshop “Waste management in rural areas” took place. 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.

Webinar on New Mobilities: canceled

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: canceled

Organisation of an international event on Biomass in Vojvodina (RS) in collaboration with AER members. It was replaced by an International Business Summit

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.

Waste management in rural areas: finished

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

Study visit on food production: cancelled

The idea was to focus the study visit on the approach to food production in order to see how microfirm became large company, which was implemented in the Norrbotten region. The initiative could potentially have been linked with the TAIEX EIR peer learning opportunity of the European Commission. This idea was not implemented.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

The AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities. It shares regular updates on the work of the EIP-SCC with members

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

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 negotiations.

AER was present at this year’s UN climate meeting, which took place in Katowice, Poland. The highlight of AER’s involvement was when AER President Magnus Berntsson spoke at the high-level segment 12 December on behalf of all the regions and municipalities of the world.

AER at the OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs: finished

Eva Hallström from Värmland, chairing the AER working group on energy and climate change, represented AER while speaking at the 1st OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs, which took place at the OECD Headquarters in Paris.

The Roundtable brought together cities, regions, national governments, international organisations, private sector and other key stakeholders to identify trends and challenges in the localisation of the SDGs, including the experiences and key findings from the pilots of the programme “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs”.

Joint initiatives for advocacy

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

AER Bureau Task Forces

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

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

-Task Force on Cohesion

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 AER Action Plan.

Photo by Ryan Yao on Unsplash

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Committee 2 Progress Report Spring 2019

8 March, 2019 By Editor

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 Spring 2018 Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. A year 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 spring 2019 plenary meeting in Örebro. It gives an overview of the situation, 1 year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

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

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.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

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.

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 AMiD project will provide opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): finished

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.

Last 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.
After two years of dedicated work, the SEED project has met its objectives and is wrapping up its activities.

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): finished

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 took place on 15-16 November in The Hague.

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions: finished

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

HOME4LIFE – Certified smart and integrated living environments for ageing well: pending approval

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:project rejected

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: project rejected

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

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.

Social Entrepreneur Key competencies – SEK project: project rejected

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: project rejected

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.


Good Practice Sharing

Equal access to healthcare: ongoing

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 servicesThe AER Transversal Group on Equal Opportunities held regular phone calls to identify joint actions on the topics identified by the Group.

Autumn Plenary, Vojvodina: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by the region of Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here.

Breakfast Briefing on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children: finished

Committee 2 members decided to share experiences on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children. In this context a Breakfast Briefing was organised on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children in Novi Sad on 27 September 2018, which was led by the European Programme for Integration and Migration, an initiative of currently 25 private foundations, which has the goal of strengthening the role played by civil society in advocating for constructive approaches to migration in Europe.
A background article on youth on the move was published by the AER Secretariat.

Plenary meeting: Committee for Social Policy and Public Health: finished

On the occasion of the 2018 Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings in Vojvodina, 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 Health Innovation, other positions were left open for future candidacies.
On the occasion of Committee 2 plenary meeting in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), members decide to focus on social entrepreneurship & inclusion
Good practices from Umbria (IT) and Maramures (RO) were presented.

Panel discussion at the Vojvodina plenaries on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

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.

Meeting of the Working Group for Equal Opportunities: finished

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.

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised 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, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and projects promoting inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

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
After the 2018 Spring plenaries, no concrete initiatives were identified. This was mainly due to the fact the AER e-health network didn’t have a chair to give impulse to its activities. At the Spring 2019 Committee 2 plenary meeting, members will elect a new chair and get an opportunity to define new actions they would like to implement jointly.

Leadership programme for policymakers on e-health, integrated care systems and health innovation: cancelled

The AER e-health network wants to share good practices on leadership for the deployment of integrated care systems. After the 2018 Spring plenaries, no concrete initiatives were identified. New opportunities may arise with the implementation of the Scirocco Exchange knowledge hub which will be developed and will also provide tools to improve readiness to change, leadership and governance in general.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

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

Joint initiatives for advocacy

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

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 sergee bee on Unsplash

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Committee 3 Progress Report Spring 2019

8 March, 2019 By Editor

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 Spring 2018 Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. A year 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 Spring 2019 plenary meeting in Örebro. It gives an overview of the situation, 1 year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

“Road to the Future”: ongoing

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.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

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.

Bridging the gap project: cancelled

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.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): finished

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: finished

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.

EMAX, a Swedish organisation, which organises innovation camps presented their work on the occasion of the Autumn Committee 3 plenary meeting. They will also organise a Breakfast Debate on youth entrepreneurship on the occasion of the Spring 2019 plenary meetings in Örebro (SE).

Equal opportunities Committee 3: ongoing

Members expressed the intention to follow up on activities on culture and health as well as wellbeing, education and culture to fight obesity.
The AER Transversal Group on Equal Opportunities held regular phone calls to identify joint actions on the topics identified by the Group.

AER Training on youth mobility at European College of Cluny: ongoing

In the framework of the cooperation with the European College of Cluny, AER will offer a training on youth mobility for regional policy makers in the first year the College will be operating. The Eurodyssey Steering Committee will be developing and implementing this training.
Regular meetings are taking place between AER Secretary General and the Cluny Steering Committee.

Raise awareness on added value for members of Eurodyssey programme: ongoing

Promote youth mobility for all across wider Europe via the Eurodyssey programme & ensure all AER members are aware of the opportunities the programme offers. The Catalonia President will lead the action and the Eurodyssey Steering Committee and Eurodyssey members will participate as well.

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and projects promoting inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

Autumn Plenary, Vojvodina: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by the region of Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here.

Plenary meeting: Committee for Culture, Education and Youth : finished

On the occasion of the 2018 Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings in Vojvodina, 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.

Panel discussion at the Vojvodina plenaries on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

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.

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised 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, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

Activities around youth mental health: finished

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: cancelled

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.

LGBTIQ rights: cancelled

Members at the Committee 3 plenary meeting expressed interest in working on LGTBIQ rights and sexual identity in education systems. After the 2018 Spring plenaries no concrete initiatives were identified. In case this topic is still relevant to members steps for implementation need to be defined at the Spring 2019 plenary meeting.

Sex and relationship education in schools: cancelled

Members at the Spring 2018 meeting expressed interest in exchanging experiences on sex and relationship education in schools. After the 2018 Spring plenaries no concrete initiatives were identified. In case this topic is still relevant to members steps for implementation need to be defined at the Spring 2019 plenary meeting.

Virtual reality: planned

Creation of an informal network of regions with a focus on immersion and visualisation of world heritage and cultural heritage. Best practices, exchange of methods and exchange of “products”, I.E. VR, AR & MR visualisations of different cultural heritages, museums and schools. Gävleborg (SE) will lead the action, other supporting regions are Västragötaland (SE) and Västernorrland (SE).

Cooperation around Cultural Routes: finished

Västra Götland is particularly interested in developing cooperations around walking and hiking paths along cultural routes through the path of St Olov. Västra Götland is a “missing link” in the path from Santiago de Compostela to Nidaros and is developing this path. The path should be completed by 2031 for the big celebration of St Olov.
Members have been made aware of initiatives around cultural routes. So far no additional activities were planned. In case this topic is still relevant to members steps for implementation need to be defined at the Spring 2019 plenary meeting.

Digitalisation in education: cancelled

Nordland (NO) expressed interest in working around the topic of digitalisation in education. The AER Secretariat disseminated information via the website and mail on opportunities in this field, in particular a project development workshop held in Brussels, which was attended by Varazdin (HR). No additional activities were initiated.

banner for advocacy

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

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 Cohesion Policy

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

Joint initiatives for advocacy

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

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 Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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Innovating food systems: what are regions doing?

5 March, 2019 By Editor


Policymakers from all over wider Europe will gather at the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro (SE), where AER is organising the seminar “Food for thought Action! A regional approach to innovating food systems” on March 27th. Regions will share how they innovate food systems to achieve:
– nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets
– climate and environmental sustainability
– circularity and resource efficiency
– innovation and empowering communities

Ensuring the knowledge flow in AER

The findings from this exchange of experiences will allow for mutual learning and improvement of regional policymaking across wider Europe and will provide elements to support the work of the AER Bureau Task Force on Food. This event will be an opportunity for members to learn from each others and to contribute to the “Food 2030” priorities.

A transition to sustainable food systems

Global food systems have played a huge role in improving food security and nutrition. Yet these systems are also at the heart of our global health and sustainability crises. Indeed Food, mobility and housing are responsible for almost 80% of the environmental impacts of consumption. Sustainable food systems have therefore a major role to play in making cities and regions better places to live in.

Using the FOOD 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy as a framework, regions will share how they innovate food systems on four major topics.

1. Nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets

Achieving healthy diets, adequate nutrition, good health and wellbeing for all in a sustainable manner is at the core of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. ​Regions often play a central role in improving the capacity of food systems to deliver better nutrition.
According to the Committee Of the Regions (COR), regional authorities should prioritise to serve as role models by selling and providing healthy, local and seasonal foodstuffs that ensure sustainability and to make their contribution to Goal 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns).
In Örebro, AER members will present examples around nutrition ranging from food for well being and good mental health to the sensory evaluation of food and its impact for the eating experience.

2. Climate and environmental sustainability

Stimulating and sustain the development of a food production system that respects the environment is an integral and indivisible part of the Agenda 2030 process.

In this context regions can act at different places in the food system, be it at the level of production, transformation, logistics and transports or distribution and finally waste management. A holistic approach is therefore needed. Mutual learning at the seminar on 27 March will help AER members to spot potential weaknesses in their regional food systems and share challenges and solutions with peers.

3. Circularity and resource efficiency

Food 2030 aims at implementing resource-efficient circular economy principles across the whole food system that can contribute to reduce its environmental footprint and to minimise food losses and food waste.Regions will share experiences regarding regional food innovation hubs and shorter food supply chains to transform and revitalise the agri-food sector.

4. Innovation and empowering communities

Innovation is one of the most important topics in regional development policies. To innovate food systems multistakeholder collaboration and ecosystem development is needed. This should lead to the development of new products, processes, business models and services. The idea being to facilitate the creation of innovation-based jobs in the agro-food sector. But innovation needs to be social as well, to meet the needs, values and expectations of society in a responsible way

AER 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries

Multiple times per year, AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of experience exchange.

The 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries will be hosted by the region of Örebro in Sweden, from 26 till 28 March 2019.

This year, food will be in the spotlight. AER members will discuss how they innovate food systems to improve nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets, climate and environmental sustainability, circularity and resource efficiency and last but not least, innovation and empowering communities.

How to prepare

To make the most out of the series of meetings and opportunities for networking at the AER plenary meeting in Örebro it is very important you gather information about your regional food system. Here are questions you can ask your colleagues in the relevant departments:

  • What are the main challenges for food systems in the region?
  • What are the region’s strengths and weaknesses?
  • What is the thing the region does best, regarding food systems?
  • Which stakeholders would need to be involved more? What may be difficult when it comes to involving them?
  • Would you like to find contacts in other regions, who work on food systems?

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The Committees’ work programme development explained

4 March, 2019 By Johanna Pacevicius

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

Just do it!

Many things change, but the n°1 rule doesn’t: everything is possible!

The main idea is the following: if you want to carry something out within the network, just do it! Any idea is welcome!
The actions members can implement via the committees are diverse: project development, organisation of a workshop, seminar, international conference, study visit, brokerage event, breakfast briefing, webinar, collection of good practices, elaboration of a political report based on the experience of regions etc.
To have it included in the work programme, members should:

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

Picking a topic has never been so easy

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 three AER Committees work on:

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

Because the topics addressed by the Committees are rather broad, many policy areas can be addressed within the different Committees. Recent activities give an idea of what is possible but shouldn’t be considered as a limit.

Committee 1 works on issues covering innovation, economic development and SMEs, transport and mobility, renewable energies and rural development. Food and sustainable food systems are a topic of particular interest in this context. For the past year, there has been a strong focus on supporting the collaboration of regional innovation stakeholders. Members, in particular, discussed the implications of the development of the sharing economy on regional policymaking and new emerging roles.

Committee 2 supports members in implementing e-Health services and exploring the potential of integrated care. It aims at building leadership on change management and innovation in the public sector. Inclusion is a key topic. In this context, members discussed welcoming unaccompanied migrant children and catering for the needs of youth on the move in general. They also worked on how to welcome migrants with disabilities in a more integrated way.

Committee 3 focuses on culture, education and youth policies. The Committee published a handbook with good practices on culture for inclusion. Youth entrepreneurship was also discussed at meetings. Another main topic has been cultural heritage. Committee 3 is developping an exchnage programme for civil servants and is also collaborating closely with the European College of Cluny for the development of a post-master degree.

How this will be done

As with the Arad Spring Plenaries, participants will be seated around round tables, where each table will work around one topic (or set of related topics). They will share their own ideas & jointly develop actions on the different topics the Committees are working on.
The 3 plenary meetings will be held separately and consecutively so that members are able to participate in all meetings, allowing for synergies & cooperation between Committees.
Members of the AER Youth Regional Network, the Summer Academy and the Eurodyssey programmes are invited to join the process as well so that they can provide ideas on how their work could integrate and feed the work of the committees.
At the end of the session the different actions will be brought together on a flip-chart and organised according to the 3 main categories:

  • Advocacy/ Lobbying
  • Projects
  • Good practice Exchange


Actions will be discussed together after which the work programme will be adopted

How to prepare

In order to get involved AER members can

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

What is a Committee?

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

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

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An integrated approach to the Sustainable Development Goals

4 March, 2019 By Editor

The Committees’ Work Programmes for 2018-2019 demonstrates a strong commitment towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of the main topics members decided to work on last Spring, was the use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework.

Experience exchange and advocacy

In this context, the AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change exchanged experiences during a workshop in September 2018 in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS).

Working Group Chair Eva Hallström also attended a meeting represented AER at the 1st OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs, which took place at the OECD Headquarters in Paris. The roundtable brought together cities, regions, national governments, international organisations, private sector and other key stakeholders to identify trends and challenges in the localisation of the SDGs, including the experiences and key findings from the pilots of the programme “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs”.

The 2030 Agenda

Since its inception in 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Agenda (Agenda 2030), calls on governments, businesses and citizens to collectively mobilize to end all forms of poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are designed to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

Using the SDGs as a policy framework

AER members are working with the Sustainable Development Goals in the regions. This is why they are interested in learning from peers how they use the SDGs so they can improve the efficiency of policies and avoid pitfalls. Indeed, regions and cities are key actors for addressing the most urgent societal challenges European economies are facing as well as for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. In Europe, regions and cities hold competencies in the provision of basic and social services, health, education, urban planning and resource, and waste management, among others. However, there is no one size fits all when it comes to the mainstreaming process. Each region needs to take into account their own realities and circumstances. ​

The need for an integrated approach

The OECD stresses the importance of an integrated approach in the implementation of the SDGs. Many SDGs are interconnected with each other; an integrated approach implies managing trade-offs and maximising synergies across targets.

For example progress in achieving SDG 1 No poverty, has direct and indirect positive impacts on health and wellbeing (SDG3), Quality education (SDG4), Gender equality (SDG5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG6), and potentially also leads to reduced inequalities (SDG10).

On the other hand, for instance, using coal to improve energy access and deliver on SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy, would accelerate climate change and acidify the oceans. This would undermine SDG 13 Climate action and SDG 14 Life below water. It would also exacerbate other problems such as damage to health from air pollution, which in turn would affect SDG 3 Good health and wellbeing.

A first step towards integrated implementation is to understand the linkages among the SDGs, both at the goal level and among targets. In this effort, several tools have been designed to tackle integration and policy coherence.

Different tools for different needs

Many stakeholders struggle with the use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for regional policy-making. In this context, the European Commission published on January 30th a Reflection Paper on a Sustainable Europe by 2030: the paper reviews challenges and debates on how the Sustainable Development Goals can be best achieved and how the European States and regions can best contribute by 2030.

David Tremblay identified gaps for an integrated implementation and analysed different tools for addressing SDGs connections. Among them, the SDG Acceleration toolkit is an online compendium of methodologies and guidance for analysing interconnections among the SDGs, assessing how to contribute to help stakeholders at all levels understand synergies and trade-offs and identify and unlock barriers for strategising, prioritising and accelerating progress.

AER 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries

Multiple times per year, AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of experience exchange.

The AER Working Group on energy and climate change is chaired by Eva Hallström, County Councilor from Värmland (SE). Delegates will meet on March 27th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro for a workshop on implementing the SDGs at regional level. This will allow regional representatives from all over wider Europe to exchange experiences in the implementation of the SDGs at regional level and their integration into policies, plans, and strategies. Participants will discuss experiences in order to bring back new ideas back home for policymaking and identify opportunities for joint initiatives.

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AMiD workshop: multilevel cooperation for migration policies

28 February, 2019 By Editor

On the occasion of this year Spring Plenaries in Örebro (SE), AER is organising a workshop on multilevel cooperation for migration policies.

What is AMiD about

The AMiD-Access to services for Migrants with Disabilities project aims to support an efficient management of the reception and integration of asylum seekers and migrants with disabilities in the EU.
AER is an important partner in the consortium, representing local authorities. Timis (RO), Värmland (SE) and Valencia (ES) have an active role in the Community Advisory Board (CAB), which gathers partnership members, European Regions and external experts from service providers.

A multistakeholder approach

In the migration context, cooperation and coordination between governments, local and regional authorities, civil society and other relevant stakeholders is needed.

At the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions, regions already discussed how to successfully harness the benefits of diversity for better social cohesion outcomes, through multi-level and multi-actor cooperation.

The AMiD project itself uses a multi-actor approach – involving civil society organisations and regional authorities. The workshop will devote particular attention to the local level and to the role of regions in the multi-level governance of migration and integration.

The workshop: get involved!

The AMiD workshop will take place on March 28th from 9:00 to 10:00 in Örebro. The idea is to have an interactive 60-minutes workshop which will allow participants to share their experiences and to learn from the experience of their peers in other regions. The main focus will be on multistakeholder cooperation and how this results in better outcomes in inclusion policies.
Highlights of this workshop also include a presentation of the AMiD Needs Assessment Tool, which should help regions address the needs of migrants with disabilities in an effective and integrated way.
The AMID project is an example of the way AER gets involved in EU-financed projects, with the aim to provide extra benefits and services for members.



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Blockchain in logistics to be discussed at AER plenaries in Örebro

20 February, 2019 By Editor

Blockchain is still a relatively new type of technology. It is expected to see major growth from 2021 to 2025 and to reach maturity in 2026 and beyond.

Excuse-me… blockchain?

According to DHL Trend Research, blockchain can be defined as a distributed ledger technology that can record transactions between parties in a secure and permanent way. Blockchain allows information to be verified and exchanged without relying on a third-party authority.
Blockchain is therefore especially interesting to exchange data in a secure way.

Blockchain in real life: why, how what?

Blockchain has applications in areas as diverse as healthcare, music, food systems, birth wedding and death certificates, personal identification, supply chains or finances.
In logistics for instance, data sharing across the supply chain could enable higher levels of transparency and access among relevant supply chain stakeholders. Furthermore, it can achieve cost savings by powering more automated and error-free processes and foster innovation in logistics services.

Efficiency and transparency in transports

Blockchain could represent an huge opportunity in the transportation industry. Indeed it could increase the efficiency and transparency of the entire shipping process including matching shippers with carriers more easily, streamlining payments, reducing the number of intermediaries and more.
In this context, region Örebro joined the consortium of the EU-funded project Smartlog, which aims at optimizing logistics management and services along the EU transport corridors ScanMed and North Sea-Baltic. Their goal is improved solutions regarding transportation, warehousing, cross-docking, inventory management, packaging and freight forwarding.

More information here.

Policy learning around blockchain at AER working group on Transports and Mobility meeting

 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), will meet on March 28th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro. Members will exchange experiences on innovative technologies, and new mobilities with a focus this time on Open data in public transports and blockchain.
Robert Högberg, Smartlog project coordinator for the Swedish project partner Region Örebro County, will present the experience of the Region and share about the new challenges. Participants will discuss experiences in order to bring back new ideas back home for policy making and identify opportunities for joint initiatives.

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

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AER working group on Transports & Mobility to share experiences on Open data

20 February, 2019 By Editor

Open data is data that anyone can access, use and share. Governments, businesses and individuals can use open data to bring about social, economic and environmental benefits.
There are many areas where open data can be of value:

  • 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.

Innovating mobility

Public transport companies are big producers of data. This data can be re-used to create or improve services both private and public.
Public transport can be a good starting point for cities looking to open up useful data sources as part of their agenda, as it has potential to:

  • Customers and users, by improving their journey experience, saving them time through information services delivered by developers; and
  • Transport organisations, by enabling them to operate more efficiently while demonstrating openness and transparency to those who, directly or indirectly, fund them.

Open Data may increase operational efficiency and improve accessibility. Data can also be used to advocate for more pro-transport policies such as improving safety, to develop pollution-reducing solutions, and to create new services to bring more people out of individual cars and into more sustainable options.

AER is not new to the topic of open data: at the AER 2018 Autumn Plenaries in Vojvodina a panel debate on the role of Open Data and the role it can play in governance, start-ups and innovation took place.

Open data at AER working group on Transports and Mobility meeting

Multiple times per year, AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of experience exchange.
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), will meet on March 28th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro. Members will exchange experiences on innovative technologies, and new mobilities with a focus this time on Open data in public transports and blockchain.
Regional experts will share examples. Together, participants will discuss what are the stakes for regions in Europe in 2019 and identify opportunities for joint initiatives.

Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash

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