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Assembly of European Regions

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Stimulating Innovation in AI

6 December, 2017 By Editor

Supporting innovation, Attracting Innovators

At AER’s event on artificial intelligence (AI) attendees broke into five roundtable discussion groups, each addressing an area of AI important to stakeholders. Contributors highlighted the changes they expect to see in their fields with the progression of AI and its implications for their work. The group titled supporting innovation, attracting innovators was to discuss how regions can support innovation in AI the purpose of doing so. For an hour, they engaged in lively debate over issues such as the financing of AI projects and investment stimulation in a market dominated by GAFA.

Accordingly, group contributors brought extensive expertise in public sector technology investment and included Jean-Luc Vanraes, the President of AER Committee 1 and Chair of AER’s Working Group SMEs and Investments, along with Marie-Josée Blais the Assistant Deputy Minister of Science and Innovation Sector in Québec. As the chair of AER’s Working Group on SMEs and Investments Mr. Vanraes helps to distribute knowledge on SMEs throughout AER and to its members. Ms. Blais’ primary responsibility is the development and implementation of Québec’s research and innovation strategy which has invested 2.8 billion dollars into stimulating innovation in digital technology in Quebec.

Other contributors brought first-hand knowledge of the financial and environmental needs of the AI industry with Pierre Cherelle of Spin-off Axiles Bionics a division of the Brussels Human Robotics Research Centers and Edwin Mermans from the New Mobility Services Initiative of the EIP-SCC Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility working as contributors. The New Mobility Services Initiative is an outgrowth of the EIP-SCC which seeks to facilitate cooperation between cities and the private sector in order to integrate and manage urban transport, as well as contribute to the development of universal systems for “seamless multi-modal mobility”. Their work directly benefits cities and their citizens while offering apathy to growth for innovative enterprises. For those interested, more information about the New Mobility Services Initiative’s actions can be accessed through the embedded link here or at the bottom of the article.

Earlier this year, VUB Robotics won the Best Startup Award at the highly regarded conference IROS’17 in Vancouver, Canada. After ten years of research BHRRC have become industry leaders. developing a new technology which combines advanced robotics and human biomechanics to replicate the unique combination of flexibility and strength in the ankle. As they begin to bring the fruits of their labour to the market, the quality of life for amputees looks to be dramatically improved. Moderating the group was Jonathan Duplicy a scientific advisor from Innoviris who acted as AER’s event partner and who are implementing the Brussels Capital Region’s new 4 million Euro programme dedicated to producing innovation in AI.

Major Changes Expected

In the knowledge based economy of the 21st century, innovation in the technology sector acts as a primary driver of economic competitiveness and growth. Thus, many of the changes predicted by the discussion panel were around boosting the European digital economy. Chiefly, contributors claimed that people can expect a push in the coming years to create multiple Silicon Valleys in Europe to foster innovation in AI. To give life to Europe’s own Silicon Valleys contributors said that work will need to be done in building the support systems and infrastructure these entities need to establish themselves and thrive.

One area of improvement will be getting entrepreneurs the capital they need to finance their operations with co-funding of projects such as public-private partnerships expected to increase to allow cash-strapped regions to stimulate innovation. To avoid burying start-ups in fees and paperwork, legal frameworks in the field of AI will become more flexible. Helping to provide resources specific to innovators’ needs will be the emergence of AI hubs consisting of incubators which will supply things like co-working spaces and allow for the exchange of best practices. Additionally, they noted that the approach to stimulating innovation will require a two-pronged approach consisting of top-down national plans to regulate and fund innovation, and bottom-up demand driven creation of SMEs. Moreover, contributors expected continual integration of the latest AI technology from research hubs and academia into business and industry which will improve productivity.

Challenges Expected

Although the development of AI promises to improve the lives of many, the road to fostering innovation will be far from easy. Many of the challenges outlined by contributors centered around creating a business environment where companies can succeed. One test anticipated by contributors is the removal of administrative barriers which increase the amount of time and resources required for companies to get off the ground. Even when companies succeed in bring their product to the market, an obstacle will be breaking up monopolies on AI in the tech sector which stifle the growth of start-ups. For entrepreneurs to gain access to financing in the first place, contributors said that Europe must work towards further cultivating an entrepreneurial culture. They believe that regions will have to become far less risk adverse to investment in technology development and research, particularly in early stage ventures. Granting innovative projects early on will help compensate for high costs needed to develop AI, according to contributors.

When it comes to financing for projects, attracting partners for PPPs may prove to be a difficulty for regions who have historically experienced minimal growth in the tech sector. Moreover, to maximize efficiency regions contributors said regions must cooperate to avoid industry overlap and ensure that competitive advantages are being built. Finally, participants expected to encounter difficulties in articulating a positive vision about the benefits of such a complex technology to organisations and public bodies dealing with AI.

Personal experiences

Mr. Mermans talked about how the Smart Cities and Communities partnership has been making headway in using electronic data collection from citizens and different devices to come up with innovative solutions to some of the environmental, societal and health challenges facing European cities today. Some of the work done in co-funding projects and in coordinating existing city initiatives and projects through resource pooling have already contributed to lower pollution and congestion levels in cities.

Indeed, participants affirmed that regions have the financial and intellectual capacities to be at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution, citing Innoviris as an example who have funded numerous scientific research projects based locally in Brussels. Particularly insightful was the experience of Quebec who created a national innovation strategy by developing the infrastructure to connect AI stakeholders such as corporations, academia, and investors. This policy has borne fruit in extensive investment in AI in Quebec, helping Montreal become one of the global leaders of AI and deep learning.

Regions as Leaders in Innovation

While the United States and Asia have produced hundreds of tech start-ups, Europe’s pace has not been nearly as prolific. Many European tech start-ups have been bought out by US companies while talented computer scientists have left for Silicon Valley. Events such as AER’s AI help provide a forum where participants can learn from each other’s expertise and experiences, giving a starting point for ideas which will once again make regions leaders in AI innovation.

 

171018 V1.1 New Mobility Services

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AER/R20 – Training to get money for your infrastructure projects

18 September, 2017 By Mathieu Mori

Following the successful “100 climate solutions projects campaign“, an AER/R20 partnership to show the public and private financial world that regions had green projects worthwhile investing into, the R20 is now offering regions training in better projects structuring. Financiers are not only looking for interesting projects, they also need the projects to be presented in a way that stick to their frames of analysis.

This is why the World Bank and a consortium of development banks has mandated the R20 to teach regions how to use SOURCE, a dedicated software, recognised by most public financial institutions in the field of project design that has been launched by the World bank, R20 and AER in April 2017 in Washington. SOURCE is a global, standard, reliable, secured and user-friendly project preparation software, designed to maximise public sector financing options – including PPPs – by providing well-prepared projects in a consistent and transparent way to the international community of contractors, investors and lenders.

AER and R20 will offer 3 training sessions to AER members.

The first training session, to occur at the beginning of 2018 in the AER office in Brussels (date to be communicated soon), will be open in priority to the AER member regions who have contributed to the “100 climate solutions projects campaign”.

The two other sessions will be open to all AER members.

In parallel to the project identification (100 climate solutions projects campaign) and the project structuring (SOURCE training), AER and the R20 are working towards their next objectives: project bankability and projects financing. Hard work  and good progress have been done over the past months. Announcements about where we have got to will be made by Magnus Berntsson in Bonn during the COP23 Summit of Local and Regional Leaders and communicated to AER members at that time. Stay tuned!

To know more about SOURCE: brochure

Illustration: picture in Geneva

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AER series on investments: Episode 2

31 March, 2017 By Editor

Episode 2 of the AER series on investments focuses on the EFSI technical and advisory services available to regions for a sound and smooth implementation of the Juncker Plan.

Reaching the real economy

At the Opening Conference of AER Committees’ Plenaries in London, Florentine Hopmeier, Team Leader for the Investment Plan for Europe, European Commission, presented the latest features of the Investment Plan. She insisted on the EFSI technical and advisory services in particular. Regions had the opportunity to discuss and ask her questions about the challenges their facing. The European Fund for Strategic Investment is mobilising at least € 315bn for access to finance and strategic investments and is already supporting projects from areas such as research & innovation, digital economy, energy union, transport or the circular economy.

To facilitate the process of developing projects and matching with the investment opportunities, the EFSI has been equipped with the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH), for advisory services, technical assistance and providing expertise and with the European Investment Project Portal (EIPP), to improve transparency and to help matching investment opportunities proposed by project sponsors with investors’ interest. We will go through the main accessible services.

EFSI technical and advisory services for project development

To address the main financial and non-financial obstacles the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) is providing support to the investment environment, during the project development and preparation. It is a partnership between the EIB and the European Commission and both contribute to its financing.

Project promoters, public authorities and private companies can ask for technical assistance and receive advices from high-level experts in order to get their project ready and suitable for investment opportunities. Here are the main programmes available:

  • JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions), provides EU Member States with assistance during all stages of the project cycle, from development to capacity building and provides you an independent quality review. Here is the detailed description of the services, which are free of charge.
  • ELENA (European Local ENergy Assistance), provides investment preparation support related to energy efficiency and renewable energy across the 28 EU Member States. You can contact ELENA providing a brief description of your entity and the planned investment programme. The ELENA team will review the information and assess if the project meets the eligibility criteria and they will actively support you during the application process.
  • EPEC (European PPP Expertise Centre), supports the public sector’s ability to deliver better Public-Private Partnerships, through market intelligence, helping the PPP legal framework, the processes of preparing, approving and managing PPPs. This is mainly done through network activities, policy advice and project development support. Through the helpdesk facility they provide responses to immediate questions or find the relevant expertise needed.

The fi-compass  platform supports and enhance the use of EU funds. Searching by topic or by country gives access to guidance and manuals, providing practical know-how and learning tools on financial instruments. Through events and learning opportunities the platform enables the sharing of experiences in using the financial instruments and supports in the management.

InnovFin Advisory guides its clients on R&I projects in order to improve their structure and the access to finance. The services provided are many such as business modelling, strategic planning, eligibility criteria, governance, innovative financial instruments and they are provided independently of the EIB’s lending/investment decisions. You can submit you request writing a detailed description of the project, including business plan highlights and the expected budget commitment.

Bridging opportunities to investors

The European Investment Project Portal (EIPP) is a web portal where investors can search for project opportunities across Europe, choosing the size, sector and geographical position. Project promoters seeking for investors have only to register their proposal to the portal  and filling out a project application. The publication is free for public authorities.

In this way the project opportunities gain visibility and the investors can choose the solution which better fit their willings. The matching process between the interested sides becomes smoother and easier. This simple and user-friendly portal enables the transparency of the EU investment opportunities and at the same time makes them attractive to investors worldwide.

Useful link

Presentation on Investment Plan for Europe & EFSI 2.0

Related articles

AER series on investments: Episode 1

Committees’ Spring Plenary

Investing in the future: new perspectives for the regions

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Impact investments: sustainable returns to society

16 January, 2017 By Editor

With the economic and financial crisis of the recent years, governments had to commit themselves to balance their budget and reduce public debt and deficit. These constraints have put limits to national expenditures, meaning that many social issues have been left aside because of a lack of funds.

However, youth education, social inclusion, healthcare, climate change all have a significant impact on economic development. In order to be addressed these issues need to attract investment.

What is social impact investing?

Finding innovative mechanisms to finance social improvements is not something new. Some countries have already been searching for new financial sources and for ways to better and more efficiently use tight public budgets. Many public-private partnerships have been developed in order to gather resources and improve some social conditions. Many banks helped the financing of social projects too.

Also at european level, in 2013 the EIB Group launched the first pan-European public-private partnership, the Social Impact Accelerator (SIA). It addressed the growing need for availability of equity finance to support social enterprises, promoting social inclusion, alternative sources of employment and contributing to growth. SIA reached its final closing in July 2015. More lately, the Juncker Plan and the EFSI are facilitating public-private partnerships, providing technical assistance and resources in favour of projects in specific sectors.

However, we have started to talk about impact investment. The need of greater availability of resources and better investing structures lead to think to new approaches. Companies, organisations or development funds have been attracted by impact investment, addressing social and environmental issues. According to the strategy  and the budget adopted, to the investor expectations, the project can also set a financial return below the market rate. From this idea of impact investment many initiatives and good practices have come out.

Alternative approaches and initiatives

A recent example is the Social Impact Bonds case. They are “payment by results” investments. In particular they are agreements involving public authority, investors, a service provider and an intermediary organisation. They allow to have a return to the investment only if the project developed delivers positive and measurable social outcomes.

United Kingdom has been one of the first country to use the tool of social impact bonds. Its pilot project at Peterborough Prison it’s the world’s first social impact bond used since 2010 to finance rehabilitation at work. In 2012, with the government assistance UK launched also the world’s first social investment bank, realizing projects in healthcare, education and many other social issues.

Ireland, in its Public Service Reform Plan 2014-2016, proposed Social Impact Investing (SII). This involved using private capital to fund initiatives addressing social problems, and funding is linked to results. The State agreed to repay the private investor only if the established outcomes were achieved. The project aim was searching for private sector investment partners in the housing sector in order to provide long-term, sustainable and stable homes for homeless families in the Dublin region.

Consortium for Development of Polesine (CONSVIPO), Italy. A Territorial Pact was developed to support and reinforce the local economy through information about the financial opportunities offered by regional, national and European actors, aimed at public and private initiatives. The main goals: development of the territory, establishment of a permanent local cooperation and partnership network, support sustainable development programmes and initiatives regarding the promotion of equal opportunities.

In support of the social impact investment sector, the Global Social Impact investment Steering Group (GSG) was established in 2015, as a successor of the SII Taskforce established by G8. It’s composed by members from 13 countries plus the EU and other government and network organisations. Its aim is to promote a unified view of impact investment, facilitating knowledge exchange and encouraging policy change in national markets.

AER activities in the field

Regions are exactly the places where the citizens’ needs are and also where often the gap between financial and social players needs to be fixed. This is why AER is addressing investment issues in particular via its Spring plenary meetings on 21-23 in London. Moreover, AER has been invited to participate in the Commission’s A High-Level Task Force on financing social infrastructure and maximising public in order to ensure the regional perspective is taken into account in what could become the drafting of the Juncker Plan II.

Links

AER Spring 2017 Plenary meetings

Related articles

Long term Investments, the EU and you

Investing for green projects

 

Photo credit @Flickr – askal bosch http://tinyurl.com/gtpdzhy  

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E-health, connect the dots: connect people

19 December, 2016 By Editor

In areas involving multiple stakeholders, communication is important to avoid misunderstandings and improve collaboration & co-creation

This is the absolutely the case of e-health! While this health innovation area involves many different kinds of activities and stakeholders, it is still often difficult to generate common understanding. it is therefore urgent to create opportunities for genuine discussion and sharing of experiences. In an ever changing environment, bringing stakeholders together is fundamental to let ideas develop and cooperation happen.

Share experiences

AER is proud of the success of the event it organised on December 1st in Brussels, “E-health: let’s find a common language!” together with Brussels Capital region and partner networks. The objective was to increase collaboration and improve communication among stakeholders, beginning at the regional level. Results were very positive. The format was developped in a way to maximise experience sharing and mutual learning. This event managed to bring together companies and organisations working on e-health via group discussions, enhancing the participation and the exchange of ideas.

Don’t stop the music

In order to allow for the discussion to continue and for participants to be able to connect with organisations which were present on the spot here is a short introduction on some of them:

Uw Compaan

Uw Compaan ( www.uwcompaan.be ) provides an out-of-the box computer tablet for grandparents: this simple-to-use tablet makes it easy to communicate with friends and family, to read the news and to use medical applications. It is our mission to bridge the digital divide & connect generations and our vision to create a society where seniors can remain longer actively healthy and independently.

St. Jude Medical

St. Jude Medical is a global medical device company committed to providing innovations that embrace eHealth solutions to tackle the challenges of an ageing society, so more people can live longer, healthier lives. Our approach is to provide comprehensive solutions to improve patient outcomes, maximise operational efficiencies and reduce costs.

Trainm

TRAINM (Technologies, Robotics and Innovative NeuroModulation), an innovative technology-based neuro-rehabilitation center in Antwerp, Belgium, is the first and only outpatient neuro rehabilitation center to offer patients personalized high intensity therapies by a team of doctors and therapists, coupled with non-invasive brain stimulation, neurotechnology, virtual reality, neuro gaming, artificial intelligence and robotics to enable better recoveries for patients than is otherwise possible.

CORAL

CORAL is an European network of regions collaborating in the field of Ambient Assisted Living and Active and Healthy Ageing. Through a process of open innovation to solve the barriers implementing AAL and AHA solutions and services. CORAL focuses on regional policies about Active and Healthy Ageing and Ambient Assisted Living.

EHTEL

Our health and care systems needs more than new technologies; they also need innovative practices, where technology is only an enabler e.g. for new care process, new services. The biggest challenge they face is scaling them up or transposing them from one place to another one, from one health and care system to another one. This is about managing the change, adapting existing business models, engaging citizens and professionals. Collaborative tools and methods as well as capacities need to be built for scaling-up innovation in healthcare. This is urgent and the EHTELconnect service offering is our contribution to address this challenge.

EUREGHA

European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) is a network of local and regional health authorities. EUREGHA was created on January 30th 2006 following an opinion of the Committee regarding patient mobility and open coordination on health quality care. EUREGHA aims to create synergies between regional and local authorities and EU stakeholders in the field of health issues with a very simple but important focus: working together for more sustainable and efficient health care systems.

Upcoming events

The ALEC 2017 event on 1-2 February will be an opportunity to further improve the dialogue between stakeholders. AER will in particular moderate a workshop on tapping into social capital and the engagement of carers and patients in integrated care systems.

ALEC 2017

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E-health: how to find a common language?

1 December, 2016 By Johanna Pacevicius

Regional governments and their stakeholders, in particular, companies shared experiences on 1 December 2016 at the “E-health: let’s find a common language” event hosted by Brussels Capital at the Committee of the Regions. The event aimed at providing participants with information on funding opportunities in the field of healthcare,  new connections, tested ideas to improve communication between stakeholders, inspiration and mutual understanding.

Genuine exchanges

cor-1E-health brings together stakeholders which are not always used to work together. While improving cooperation is on all lips, the consequences of miscommunication are often under-estimated. The so-called geek gap is costing millions to the economy. The cultural clash between different stakeholders prevents them from building trust and deepen cooperation.

The event, therefore, was designed with a strong focus on enabling participants to take an active role. Because purpose-driven networking is often more of a wishful thought than a reality, every single element of the event was aimed at facilitating the exchange of experience between participants from different stakeholder groups.

Engagement & openness

hob

AER President Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, welcomed guests and underlined the longstanding engagement of AER in the field of e-health, with in particular the creation of the AER [email protected] network in 2006. Expertise has grown over the years and shifted from rather technical discussions to the transformative power of e-health in the public service. Several projects have been developed within the network and carried out, in particular, the Smartcare ICT-PSP project, which was the largest EU deployment project on integrated care systems. Other projects such United4health and Engaged supported regions in the deployment of telemedicine and created mutual learning across Europe around smart health.

eric-v-merrienboerNorth Brabant Minister for Spatial Planning and Finances Eric van Merrienboer delivered an inspiring speech on the need for open cooperation as a sine qua non condition to achieve the desired results or realise innovations. This open cooperation is based on 4 main elements:  taking your own responsibility, knowledge, skills, respect for each other. “An organisation such as the AER is ideally suited to act as a role model and leader”, he said, because regions in and outside the European Union make it possible to identify and approach other stakeholders “to find a common language in the exchange of knowledge and skills, but also to actually do business with each other”.

Sharing the small things

Each delegate had the opportunity to explain how they work on a set of topics in small and rather informal discussion groups. Participants put across challenges they are confronted with, in particular, which stakeholders they find difficult to engage or even to communicate with and why they would like to see the communication with these stakeholders improve. Hearing from others what they find difficult helps to get new perspectives.

Participants enriched the discussion with examples which they have seen improve common understanding between stakeholders. Often examples can seem insignificant as such but as a group and through the discussion they can actually be illuminating.

It is often by sharing the small things that common understanding starts to emerge because it refers to the practical aspects and the “how do we start”

Discussion groups were organised around the following topics:

  • Public-private partnerships

Moderated by Marco D’Angelantonio from HIM SA, with contributions from Pieter van den Haak from ParkinsonNet, Kees Kools from the Care Innovation Center West-Brabant, Wil Philipsen from Fresh Idea Factory and several regional representatives.

  • Pre-commercial procurement / procurement for innovation

Moderated by Freja Hagsund from EUREGHA, with contributions from Lynda Jones and Jane Brady from the Welsh government as well as Dr. Ramon Maspons from the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS, as per the acronym in Catalan) and many other stakeholders

  • Translating Research and Innovation into practice through collaborative engagement

Moderated by Marc Lange from EHTEL, with contributions from Prof. Dr. Bart Neyns from UZ Brussels, Bas Goossen from MiBida and other participants.

  • Patient-centered innovation

Moderated by Lonneke Rompen from ParkinsonNet, with contributions from Nilofar Niazi, from TRAINM, as well as other organisations and regional stakeholders.

  • Capacity building in care system

Moderated by Olivier Naeyaert from UZ Brussels, with contributions from Paul De Raeve and Kostas Aligiannis from the European Federation of Nurses (EFN) and many other delegates.

Inputs were captured and synthesised by rapporteurs, who disclosed them in the plenary session.

Hands-on inspiration

A study visit to the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center in Brussels was an opportunity to discuss public-private partnerships. The visit provided insights on the latest technological  innovations and trends and was an opportunity to speak about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. This video on the Seeing AI project showcases for instance how artificial intelligence is enabling blind people to “see” what happens around them, recognising people’s age and emotions or reading from a menu in a restaurant. Microsoft has also recently announced a quartet of initiatives aimed at “solving” cancer via artificial intelligence.

Cross-sectoral cooperation

Cooperation was probably the word most heard during the whole event. It all started with the cooperation between Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional development and Economy and Agneta Granström, President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health, who decided to initiate a cooperation on e-health early 2016. Indeed while demographic change should be an opportunity to develop IT innovation and e-health technologies, SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and more than ever before regions need to support their companies in being able to take advantage of the growth potential of e-health & the silver economy. This is why the AER [email protected] network and the Working group on Business, SMEs and Investments held a joint meeting at the Timişoara Start up HUB on the occasion of the Spring plenaries this year and recently organised a workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir.

Networks as facilitators and bridges

The event was designed and organised together with networks AER collaborates with regularly in the field of health. CORAL, EUREGHA and EHTEL played a significant role in the success of this event by providing their expertise, but maybe more specifically by acting as facilitators and as bridges between different stakeholders.

Related upcoming event

alec2017-comALEC, Accelerating Digital Health is organised for the fifth time in Norrbotten (SE) and will be an opportunity to discuss how to bridge health gaps in the age of digital everything. The conference is a place for meaningful connection with peers and experts from all over the world in an incredible environment where time and space seem to obey to different rules. These two days of inspiration, networking and skill development will enable participants to futher engage for the digital transformation of health and society as a whole and develop tools to design better health for all.

Once again ALEC will present a great line-up of top-level digital health thought leaders, policy makers and business innovators who will deliver inspiring and informative keynotes on The Digital Transformation of Healthcare and Health Equity in the Digital Age.

Regions, which would like to share their experience in change management for digital transformation should contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius.

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MORE4NRG, Regions are boosting green growth: The examples of Prahova and Gabrovo

26 March, 2010 By Editor


Brussels (B), 26 March 2010

A MORE4NRG workshop was organised today in relation to the Sustainable Energy Week – an initiative from the European Commission that aims to highlight best regional practices in the field of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.

“Bringing together 11 partner regions* from all over Europe as well as the Assembly of European Regions (AER), the MORE4NRG project aims to develop sustainable energy solutions while highlighting the importance of regional action in this area. Regions certainly play a crucial role in the exchange of good practices in the field of energy, and through their know-how they contribute to boosting green growth not only at the local but also national and European levels”, said Anne Bliek, Chair of the MORE4NRG Monitoring Board and deputy Queen’s Commissioner in the province of Flevoland (NL).

The objective of the seminar was to highlight the results of the peer reviews conducted in the regions of Prahova (RO) and Gabrovo (BG). Recommendations from these audits must be now imperatively analysed by the authorities of the two regions and translated into appropriate action plans.
In order to improve energy efficiency within its territory, the region must first assess the consumption of energy in different public and private utilities such as factories, services and public buildings. The energy audit should serve as a departing point for any new reliable and effective regional energy strategy. Once the energy audit is done, appropriate energy efficiency measures should be quickly implemented where important energy profits can be released at relatively low price.

Conclusions of the Prahova energy audit

  • Putting in place measures to support the use of sustainable energy sources such as green certificates or preferential tariffs.
  • Establishment of public-private partnerships (PPP) in the area of research and innovation
  • Evaluation of the regional potential to produce geothermal energy. The region extracts significant quantities of fossil fuels such as coal: it would be wise to use the existing drilling sites to capture the heat of the earth, which is an abundant source of non-pollutant energy.
  • Increasing use of the European funds to support green economies, such as INTERREG, 7th Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) or ELENA (new financial instrument established jointly by the European Commission and European Investment Bank).

Conclusions of the Gabrovo energy audit:

  •  Within the enterprises, it is very important to make sure that the leaders are well informed so that they can teach the employees everything regarding the defence of energy efficiency.
  • Promote the establishment of PPPs in order to foster the implementation of renewable energy sources and energy services in public premises.
  • Create a local energy agency as a link among all relevant stakeholders and to support the implementation of the regional energy policy.
  • Implementing a mechanism to benefit the joint use of local and foreign capital, obtaining a multiplication effect (WGr).

AER is a network that allows its members to share their experiences and best practices. Following these purposes, this seminar has served as an opportunity to strengthen the main role of the regions for the establishment of a well performed energy policy in Europe. Today, with the current Europe 2020 strategy, it is particularly important for regions to play their role as main actors in order to successfully implement the European policies.

* Flevoland (NL) – lead partner, Abruzzo (I), Gabrovo (BG), Lazio (I), Maramures (RO), Noord-Brabant (NL), Norrbotten (S), Patras Science Park (GR), Prahova (RO), Valencia (E) and Västernorrland (S).

Note: next peer reviews will take place in the regions of Abruzzo (I) and Western Greece (GR) in June 2010.


MORE4NRG is an INTERREG IVC project to strengthen the delivery of regional strategies for renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by exchanging best practices on sustainable energy policies and jointly developing an integrated monitoring tool for measuring the effect of regional sustainable energy strategies. www.more4nrg.eu

For more information: [email protected]

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AER commits to improving healthcare systems and calls upon other levels of government to follow suit

20 March, 2009 By Editor


Katovice, Slaskie (PL), 20 March 2009.

“Despite the crisis, or maybe because of it, regional politicians must take responsibility and see to it that healthcare services are available for all citizens both horizontal and vertical”  said Christina Wahrolin, County Councillor of Värmland (S) and Acting President of the Committee on Social Policy and Public Health of the Assembly of European Regions (AER). “The economic crisis the world is currently experiencing will inevitably have social and health consequences, it will therefore be crucial to keep a large share of the budget dedicated to health in clear respect of the principles of solidarity. AER is calling for the other levels of governance not to overlook this central field,” Mrs Wahrolin added.

Today, AER member regions tackled the crucial issue of financing regional healthcare, agreeing on the importance of using new technologies for the benefit of health. Regions should now agree to major initial investments and regular adjustments to budgets, together with the more than ever necessary involvement of the European Union.

Moreover, regions should have the tools to enable them to attract and retain healthcare professionals, in particular through continuing education. Acknowledging the growing mobility of healthcare professionals, AER will further develop exchange programmes, based on regional solidarity. AER calls upon the EU to support these programmes and encourages the European Commission to discuss their creation in more detail.

The development of public-private partnerships (PPPs) can solve many public financing challenges. AER mandated the County of Devon County (UK), which is pioneering PPP work with schools and education, to provide information on further developments for their potential advantages.

Mariusz Kleszczewski, Deputy Marshal in charge of Public Health of the hosting region Slaskie, expressed his satisfaction with the opportunity to share regional projects and experiences in healthcare related fields: “Unfortunately, like in many other countries, the situation of health system is difficult in Poland, although it was extensively reformed in 2003. But we always try to find efficient solutions, and I had the privilege to explain our region’s “saving plan for hospitals” launched last month, through which we strongly believe the citizens of Slaskie will have better access to healthcare in the future.”

Through the work of its members and their exchange of best practices, AER aims to contribute to resolving healthcare inequalities – whether they are geographical, social, gender or minority-based – and contribute to the economic revival of Europe in a flexible and long term approach.

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Some Photos of the Event

 

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Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as an essential tool in sustainable transport policies

7 May, 2003 By Editor

 


Proposals from European regions

Strasbourg, 7 May 2003

The Commission came out with a communication titled “Developing the trans-European transport network: Innovation funding solutions, Interoperability of electric toll collection systems” on April 23rd. An essential component of this paper is Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

The AER had held numerous consultations on the subject. The highlight of these initiatives to date being the Workshop on “Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): An essential tool in sustainable regional transportation policies” held in Lyon, France on April 11, 2003.

In Lyon, over 100 participants, including Regions from all over Europe and national authorities and experts, stated that PPP is an indispensable condition for the further development of the Trans-European Networks in an enlarged Europe. The workshop, however, demanded that a European legal framework for PPP be soon defined to serve Regional and citizen interests while reaffirming the importance of public services.

They also indicated some guidelines for a successful PPP: 

  • a transparent and clear definition of responsibilities between the private and the public sectors: in particular, establishing an accountable system for sharing of risks between the public and private sectors 
  • increase consultation between the Regions and the EU 
  • greater co-ordination between the EU cohesion and transport policies

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