Transports Archives - Assembly of European Regions

This tag is for all posts relating to transports.

AER working groups: it’s simple

4 July, 2022 By Johanna Pacevicius

The long-awaited guide for members willing to set up a new working group is finally there!

Working groups are for all AER members

All AER members can participate in working groups. Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a working group on a new topic.

It is possible to contribute to the work by:

Sharing needs and topics your region would be interested to work on
Offering expertise, flagging good practices you would like to share with AER members, proposing speakers
Participating in events organised by the Chairs of the Working Groups
Representing AER at thematic events: all AER members can be AER ambassadors!

To do this, contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius with ideas, proposals, requests.

How to propose a new Working Group

1. Identifying partner regions

Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a Working Group. A region, which would like to set up a working group should test the idea with other members and find supporting regions, in order to ensure there is a core group of regions that will be interested in dedicating time to exchange on the topic, and to be able to define activities that will be relevant to more than one region

Any AER member wishing to set up a Working Group should therefore find at least three supporting regions, which will contribute to shaping the activities, participate and contribute to the work. Either the AER member is already in contact with regions that could join the new Working Group, or they request the help of the AER Secretariat to contact regions that may be interested.

2. Submitting a proposal to the Executive Board

The region, which would like to set up a working group should develop a draft proposal for the focus of the Working Group and list a few potential activities to be presented to the EB together with supporting regions. The Draft Proposal for setting up the new Working Group, should:

mention the topic of the Working Group
clarify the focus of the exchange and dissemination of best practices
indicate the lead region and the supporting regions
propose a few activities which they would like to implement within the first two-years mandate
define an objective for the work of the Working Group (what will the activities help to achieve?)

3. The EB establishes the creation of the new Working Group

Once the proposal for setting up a new Working Group has been approved by the EB, an article is published about the new Working Group including information on:

the proposed focus
objective
lead region and supporting regions
envisioned activities

Regions interested to join the new Working Group and shape activities are invited to provide inputs by email.

4. Appointing a Chair

A first meeting of the working group will be organised in person or online, to appoint a Chair and agree on joint activities. The meeting will be announced beforehand on the AER website. The meeting will be open to all AER members. During this first meeting, Working Group members will agree on implementation details and responsibilities. Each Working Group decides on its own working structure

Role of the Chair of a Working Group

The Chair is responsible for the leadership of the Working Group and liaising with the Vice-President in charge of the Working Group policy area.

Each Working Group Chair’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as working group secretariat in liaison with the AER secretariat. The seconded officer is responsible for:

Co-organising events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
Managing the content of the meetings;
Drafting speeches and policy contributions;
The Chair will take the responsibility for the planning of the Working Group’s activities;

The Chair of the Working Group will inform the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area about the activities organised by the Working Group.
The Vice-President in charge of the related policy area will inform the Chair of the Working Group about upcoming events or EU policy developments, which may be of interest to the Chair and where the findings of the Working Group could be shared
When the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area is invited to external events, they will mention the activities of the working group

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

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Mobility as a Service: registrations are open!

31 May, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

On 17 June 2021 the Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility, Martin Tollén, Östergötland (SE) is organising a webinar on Mobility as a Service, also known as MaaS.

MaaS… I beg your pardon?

There is an increasing demand for innovative services supporting seamless mobility combining on-demand transport modes in conjunction with public transport, leading to the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) concept:

MaaS is a user-centric, intelligent mobility distribution model, in which users’ needs are met via a single platform and are offered by a service provider, the mobility operator.
Source: http://www.maas4eu.eu/project/

This user-centricity shifts the focus from providers to users, which also means re-evaluating the role of the public sector, defining what matters, what stakeholders want to achieve, who needs to be involved and how. This is why the topic is relevant for all European regions: the issue indeed goes much farther than mobility only. It is linked to regional development, innovation, governance, access to services and territorial cohesion, to name a few.

Mobility & the digital transformation

The digital transformation is central in the concept of MaaS, it both pushes the demand and supports the offer. Users generally expect public services to be as easy to access as any service provided by the Five Tech Giants (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) or Wallmart for instance. Which means the public sector is also re-inventing how it sees its role, and mobility is no exception to this general trend.

The webinar on MaaS organised on 17 June 2021 will strive to address questions such as:

What are the lessons learnt and success factors for MaaS?
What is the role of public organisations in the development of concepts and in terms of governance?
How should private and public stakeholders cooperate? Who should do what?
How to apply a city model of MaaS in rural areas?

Transport & the digital transformation at EU-level

For the 2021-2027 programming period, digital transformation is in focus and the European Commission has recently launched the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

The webinar will also provide an update on the European Commission’s New mobility strategy, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy, and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2) Digital programme. The information provided will be linked to the Green Deal and the wider topic of digital transformation.

For more information on the event and the draft agenda, please check the event webpage

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Mobility as a Service: low carbon mobility & improved accessibility

21 May, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

For the 2021-2027 programming period, digital transformation is in focus and the European Commission has recently launched the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. The Chair of the AER Working Group on Transport & Mobility, Martin Tollén from Region Östergötland (SE) is pleased to invite AER members and partners to a webinar focusing on Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

Focus: Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

The aim of the webinar is to share experiences on the topic of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) from urban and rural perspectives, as well as from different geographical contexts.

The webinar will also provide an update on the European Commission’s New mobility strategy, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy, and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2) Digital programme. The information provided is linked to the Green Deal and the wider topic of digital transformation.

Draft Agenda & Presentations

10:00	Welcome words Martin Tollén, Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports & Mobility
10:03	Update on transport & the digital transformation at EU-level Ebba Bjerkander, EU Policy Advisor, Central Sweden European Office Presentation
10:15	Examples of MaaS implementation in European regions Moderation: Edwin Mermans, Senior advisor international affairs Province of Noord-Brabant John Kuijs, Strategical advisor mobility Province of Noord-Brabant (NL) Presentation Siri Vasshaug, Project Manager, Nordland (NO) Presentation Jean Pascal Klipfel, Project Manager, Grand Est (FR) Presentation Katarina Jonsson Bratu, Senior Adviser Sustainable Mobility, Östgötatrafiken, Östergötland (SE) Sandra Viktor, Senior Environmental Officer, Linköping municipality (SE) Presentation Eleonora Sottile, Senior Research Fellow presso CRiMM – Research Center On Mobility Models, Sardinia (IT) Presentation Marko Javornik, Founder M8Lab, Ljubljana (SI) Presentation
11:15	Panel debate between regional representatives MaaS, lessons learnt and success factors? The role of public organisations in terms of development of concepts and governance? How to apply a city model of MaaS in rural areas?
11:30	Conclusion

What is the future of mobility?

1 December, 2020 By Valeria Simonte

New mobilities is a topic regularly discussed at AER to help better integrate and manage urban transport. We have exchanged experiences of mobility solutions during Nancy plenaries and discussed new initiatives through the leadership of Östergötland in the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility.

The AER is now pleased to invite you to share your opinion and knowledge in the discussions on future opportunities for urban areas’ space for mobility.

Share your views

ALICE, EPA, and POLIS are launching a large-scale survey at the European level on curbside management, and your contribution can make the difference. Through this short questionnaire, we would like to collect some information that could help steer the discussion on curb management and define the main opportunities and challenges to be addressed in the near future.

The focus of this survey is then on urban areas.
The results will be presented and discussed at the joint POLIS-ALICE-EPA working session on Flexible access & space management to discuss experiences with the management of public space, and assess what needs to be done to achieve integrated mobility in the years to come.

This survey will take only 5 minutes of your time and will not ask for any personal data. Your participation in this research is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw at any point. By clicking the button below, you acknowledge that your participation in this study is voluntary, you are 18 years of age or older, and that you are aware of your right to terminate your participation at any time.

Have your say!

What skills are needed in the future of mobility?

The evolution in the mobility sector requires the development of new skills and competencies, thus opportunities for the future workforce.
Therefore, the Assembly of European Regions is pleased to invite you to the webinar “New mobility services: Anticipating skills and job roles” that aims to bridge the gap between the skills and job roles needed for the New Mobility services sector and the workforce to come, organised within the Skillnet project co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme. The webinar will take place online on the 11th of December, 11:15 – 12:15 CET.

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

Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash

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Committee 1 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

3 November, 2020 By Johanna Pacevicius

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

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

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

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

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

Projects

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

SKILLNET

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

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

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

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

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

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

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! finished

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E-health in rural areas: finished

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

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

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

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

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

Project on rural development: planned

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

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

Good Practice Exchange

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

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

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

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

2020 AER Spring Committee Plenaries – Covasna: cancelled

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Organisation of the Regional Business Forum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mutual learning event on economy 4.0: Finished

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

Workshop ” connectivity vs sustainability?”: finished

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

New mobility services: ongoing

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

Workshop on sustainable transport and mobility: cancelled

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

Lowering emissions in transport: cancelled

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

Waste collection in rural areas: planned

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

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

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

AER Delegation at Smart City Expo World Congress: finished

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

Small hydropower plants: cancelled

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

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

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

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

Effective legislative frameworks: cancelled

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

Energy efficiency: planned

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

Advocacy/Lobbying

Building a Network of Intercultural Regions: ongoing

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

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

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

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

Protection of Romanian forests: finished

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

Joint initiatives for advocacy

AER Bureau Task Forces

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

-Task Force on Food Security

-Task Force on Cohesion Policy

-Task Force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities that add value to their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committee’s work programmes. The work programmes are developed in spring each year and the 2019/2020 work programme is available here.

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

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

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Call for Proposals: Research & Innovation Projects in response to COVID-19

23 April, 2020 By Aurelien Godin

If you are an organisations interested in submitting research and innovation proposals in response to short to medium-term COVID-19 specific needs in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Spain and Turkey, this call for proposals is for you. The Assembly of European Regions is happy to present this call launched by the Eureka Network. The Eureka Network is an intergovernmental organisation for market-driven industrial Research, Development and Innovation.

The call for project proposals may include but not limited to:

Infection prevention and protection
Sanitation technology
Diagnostics and testing
Therapeutics, vaccines and medicines
Disease-tracking technology, analytical solutions for health systems
Smart technology for COVID-19 patients
Smart technologies and support systems for critical production and supply chains under lockdown
Safe mobility: migration data and trends, regional risk monitoring, protection of isolated and risk groups, safe use of public transports
Education technologies and digital workplace.

This call for solutions for the COVID-19 Echo Period only concern organisations in the following countries (based on mutual consent between participating national funding bodies (NFB):

Austria (Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft – FFG)
Canada (National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program – NRC IRAP)
Denmark (Innovation Fund Denmark – IFD)
France (Bpifrance)
The Netherlands (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland – RVO)
Spain (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial – CDTI)
Turkey (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu – TÜBİTAK)

Application deadline: 15 May 2020.

You can apply here.The form must be completed in English.

Eligibility criteria

In order to apply to the present call, the partners must meet the following qualifications:

The consortium should include at least two organisations independent of each other from at least two of the participating countries.
Funding assistance follows each national funding body’s (NFB) funding regulations.
The project partners must express their willingness to cooperate, on a win-win/fair basis in the development of a new product, industrial process or service.
The product, process or service must be innovative and there must be a technological risk involved.
The project must have a civilian purpose.
The project should benefit all involved partners in a well-balanced consortium.
The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the technologic cooperation between the participants (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, etc.).
The duration of the project may not exceed 12 months.
Projects are expected to start by August 3 2020. Participants must discuss with their NFB about the expected start date of their activities. NFB regulations may apply.
Product, service or process implementation or market launch should happen no later than 6 months after project completion.

Important to note: Each participating NFB may apply additional eligibility criteria based on their national regulations. Applicants are strongly advised, prior to submitting the application, to contact their NFB to discuss their project idea, and verify their and their project’s eligibility.

Partners from other Eureka countries or countries outside of the Eureka network can also participate, but funding must be secured within the deadlines of the call.

More information here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the AER Secretariat.

Photo by Ousa Chea on Unsplash

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Committee 1 progress Report Spring 2020

25 February, 2020 By Shubhaangi Srivastava

Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy gather in plenary meetings. 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 2019 Committees’ plenaries in Örebro, 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 Örebro, planned activities were organized in 3 categories:
Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the spring 2020 plenary meeting in Covasna. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! ongoing

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

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

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

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

In Varazdin (HR), the annual Gala Ball of Varaždin County on 24 January 2020 was an opportunity to promote the project.

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

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

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

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

The experience of the CUBES project on grassroots approaches for sustainable regional development will also inform the discussions at the conference “Territorial Approaches to Regional Development” in Covasna on 11 March 2020.

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

AER will organise 5 workshops to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing as well as to support the implementation of pilot activities around the 5 key priorities of the EU action plan: post-arrival support, education, labour market integration, access to services, citizen participation & inclusion. AER will also organise 5 webinars on these topics, to share experiences regarding practical aspects such as housing, health services or the integration of services especially regarding the access to the labour market. These activities will be open to AER members, especially regions in the Intercultural Regions Network (see below “Lobbying”)

E-health in rural areas: planned

Members discussed the possibility to develop a pan-AER regional e-health rural project based on innovation and digitalization.

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

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

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

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