This tag is for all posts relating to transports.

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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AER Spring Committee Plenaries

17 December, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

The spring plenaries of the three AER committees took place in Örebro (Sweden) from 26 till 28 March 2019.

Work programmes

During the statutory plenary meetings of the Committee on Economy & Regional Development, the Committee on Social Policy and Public Health and the Committee on Culture, Education and Youth, AER members developped jointly the Committees’ 2019-2020 work programmes. Only one rules apply for this exercise: everything is possible!

Thematic activities

The seminar and on site thematic activities revolved around food, innovation and health.

The seminar ‘Food for ~~thought~~ Action!’ A regional approach to innovating food systems, was an 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
-innovation and empowering communities.

A Breakfast Debate on youth entrepreneurship was organised

The following workshops took place:

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

Presentations

Joint plenary 26 March

-Presentation video of Örebro

–The SDGs at regional level, Ida Texell Member of the Swedish delegation Agenda 2030

–Update on the AER strategy on projects: Luca Magri, AER Coordinator for Finance of EU projects

–Update on AER Bureau & advocacy: Vania Freitas, AER Coordinator for Institutional Relations

–Presentation video of the 2019 Summer Academy in Vojvodina

Seminar ‘Food for ~~thought~~ Action!’ A regional approach to innovating food systems

–Sensory research within the field of Gastronomy – a multisensory perspective in order to promote healthy eating, Åsa Öström, Örebro (SE)

–Nutrition & mental health Robert Jan Brummer, Örebro (SE)

–Olimpia Neagoe, County Councillor of Dolj (RO), Chair of the AER Working Group on Rural Development

–Peter Medved, Eastern Slovenia (SI), Secretary of the Development Council of Cohesion

–Circularity in household waste and biogas production, Erik Lagethon, Oppland (NO), Adviser Regional Development production

–Thomas Norrby, European Network for Rural Development (ENRD), Sustainable and circular food value chains, value in rural regions & inclusive territorial development

Committee plenaries

–Committee 1 plenary meeting

–Committee 2 plenary meeting

–Committee 3 plenary meeting

Workshop of the Working group on Energy and climate

–The SDGs – involvement in all political areas, Helena Lindemark, Founder and Vice President of 2022 Initiative Foundation

–The SDGs – the political vision at regional level, Mats Gunnarsson, Regional Opposition Councillor

–Ambitious Climate Goals & the implementation of the SDGs, Therese Hjelseth, Area manager Energy & Climate, Örebro (SE)

Workshop of the Working group Mobility & transports

–Open data in public transport: Carin Carelind, Head of IT, Östgötatrafiken, Sweden

–Blockchain in logistics: Robert Högberg, Project Manager SmartLog, Region Örebro County, Sweden

–Challenges ahead for regional airports: Roger Estefors, AER expert on regional airports

–2018 Report on regional airports, Roger Estefors, AER expert on regional airports

AMID workshop on multilevel cooperation for migration policies

–The Partnership for Social Innovation in Örebro County

Workshop on available opportunities for AER members in current projects

–Scirocco Exchange project on integrated care systems

Topics & Context

Find all articles regarding the background and content of events as well as progress reports and information on elections here:

-Spring Plenaries Background & content

Other information

Detailed Programme

Working documents

FINAL IMPORTANT INFO EMAIL TO PARTICIPANTS

PRACTICAL INFO

GDPR Compliance

Please note that photography and video recording may take place during this event. If you do not wish your image to be recorded, please contact the AER secretariat.

Please also note that a list of participants will be published on this website in due course. Only the names and organisations of the individuals will be listed. No contact details will be made public. For any queries, please contact e.lee(at)aer.eu.

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New rules, new roles for governments in a Sharing Economy

11 December, 2018 By Editor

The Sharing Economy is disrupting not only transports and tourism, it may soon drastically change the way we envision public services, raising new questions for policymakers. On 4 December 2018 the “The Sharing Economy: Reshaping the way we do business” event, co-organised by AER, Brussels Capital and Catalonia brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges.

Governments in the Digital Age

The digital transformation changes the way institutions work, share information and organise power. This is why the topic is recurring in different AER thematic activities be it e-health, transports, food… Indeed it touches upon governance and multistakeholder cooperation.

With views to the sharing or collaborative economy, it poses new challenges to governments in terms of taxation but also for the protection of citizens, security of users and workers, or with respect to the support to innovation and SMEs. As Lluís Juncà, General Director for Economic Promotion, Competence and Regulation at the Generalitat de Catalunya, explained, this raises the question as to what governments should support and how. How should they regulate to the benefit of citizens? Different governments have taken steps to, at the same time provide protection to workers, and impose taxes. The disruption however goes further than taxes and insurances and involves changes in the very role of governments. This regards the way governments:

ask for data (for instance from shared mobility or hospitality stakeholders)
share the data they generate or collect
collaborate with other entities to provide the seamless services citizens want to access at the tip of their fingers.

These questions were specifically addressed in the discussion group moderated by Anna Merino Castelló, who is an economist, expert in competition, better regulation and digital markets and has worked extensively with the Catalan government to define their sharing economy policy. This group included François Gerard, Managing Director at Helpper, an interface which connects people who need help, for instance for the groceries, with people who can help and would like to sell such services. A cooperation has already started in Flanders with a local government in order to help people with low incomes to access services via Helpper. Yves Muyters, is Project Manager at KlaarIsKees, a similar company, which allows individuals to either propose their paid services or, at the end-user level, to ask for support for a task. Mayo Fuster, Director of research on the collaborative economy at the Dimmons Research Group of the Open University of Catalonia, is well known for crowdsourcing the Barcelona policies on the sharing economy. She provided numerous examples on collaborations between the public sector and the entrepreneurs from the Sharing Econonmy in Catalonia. Èlia Ferrer, Public Affairs Manager at mytaxi The Taxi App, explained how for citizens what matters is the easy access to a service and its capacity to answer a specific need.

Business in a changing world

The group moderated by Aurora Sanz, Lawyer at Grant Thornton, focused on the support to entrepreneurs. The sharing economy representing a wide span of very different types of businesses, it can be difficult for governments to navigate. Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Development highlighted the difficulty to decide how to tax new services in the context of a new economy. A harmonised tax on digital services at global level in 2020 will simplify the situation. Mar Alarcón, CEO of SocialCar, a car sharing company explained how close contact with the Catalan government when developping the company, enabled them to provide feedback on existing legislation and advise on needed changes. This contact also ensured the company was gathering right type of data, regarding mobility and usages, to inform the government. Camille Lepinay shared experiences from the EU-Give project, a pilot project on the sharing economy initiated by the European Parliament, while Philippe Eiselein from the Chair on Social Entrepreneurship at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel presented elements of success for social entrepreneurs. Together the group agreed that key success factors were:

people: A team can change the business plan along the way, ideas do evolve. Investors are very serious about people and teams.
space for interaction between peers: to achieve this, some would recomend the support and creation of incubators while others thought there were actually too many incubators
a clear vision

Skills and Competences

Governments also face challenges in the field of education and training, as it is likely that children and students today will have jobs which don’t even yet exist. In this context David Vuylsteke, founder of PiggyBee, a crowdshipping company and Lieza Dessein, Project manager at SMart, a cooperative supporting freelancers and empowering enrepreneurs, insisted on the need for peer learning, ceativity from an early age and acceptance of failure. The sharing economy is rarely adressed in economy lessons and more contacts and cooperations with entrepreneurs can be very beneficial for students. The digital transformation is not only about digital skills, it is also very much about interpersonnal skills, the ability to build connections and networks, to engage others. Creative hubs are a powerful tool in that respect as they provide a space where entrepreneurs meet others in a more engaging and facilitated way than mere co-working spaces.

Ethics: what is good, what should be supported?

The founder of Consumo Colaborativo, a Spanish language blog dedicated to exploring the trend of collaborative consumption Albert Cañigueral, facilitated a discussion around ethics, inclusion and how to define what is good and should be suported in the sharing economy. He reminded participants that technology doesn’t exist in the void, it exists in a legal and cultural context. The discussion brought together Víctor Moyano, a Project Manager at the Fundación Creafutur, a public-private initiative which identifies business opportunities with positive social and environmental impact, raises awareness and advises stakeholders, Xavier Marichal, the CEO of USITOO, a platform where users can borrow “things” instead of buying them and Dimitri Berliner, cofounder of Communa, an organisation which develops shared spaces in empty buildings. Contributors found that the platform economy intersects with several aspects: legal, social, taxation. More people are willing to share and provide services and while platforms are providing massive opportunities, key questions to be addressed to know what kind of stakeholders should b supported by governments could be:

-how to ensure these services are accessible?

-What about decent working conditions?

-How is the value generated by those activities shared?

-What is the model of governance of the business?

In general there is a need to make a difference between the many types of stakeholders of the sharing economy who can have diverging purposes. As Lieza Dessein mentioned in her keynote address, the narrative of the original sharing economy has been adopted by companies from the platform economy, which do not share collaborative values. This has created confusion both for users and for governments. Lieza Dessein proposed that the cooperative and sharing economy stakeholders reinvent a new narrative to be able to differentiate themselves from the other platforms.

Contributors in the discussion group on ethics, inclusion and social cohesion also suggested that “frictions” be potentially created to slow dow the pace of the sharing economy to adjust and make improvements on access, benefits, etc. The codes of conducts and guidelines adopted by some regions could be replicated in other regions and combined across different levels of governance (national, regional, local). At the moment regulation across Europe is uneven, which is why contributors in this groups advocated for harmonised rules.

Mutual learning for policy innovation

This was the third year in a row that AER organised this special kind of mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic together with Brussels Capital. Previous events focused on “E-health: let’s find a common language” and “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge?“. Stakeholders from the private and public sector, industry specialists, entrepreneurs, and policy makers engaged in genuine exchange. The idea being to share and discuss initiatives which can be implemented right away, not to develop an official declaration. This contributes to creating an environment of trust and free speech.

A major asset of these events is also to discover initiatives and hear of stories first hand. Entrepreneurs presented their work in the afternoon, which prove both exciting and interesting. Moreover, participants also had the opportunity to test Scooty’s shared electric scooters during the break, which was very entertaining.

In a setting where each participant is a contributor, this event aimed to generate new ideas, challenge people to think further and inspire policymaking.

Presentations, pictures and the list of participants are available on the event webpage.

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AER discusses food sustainability and governance in the digital age

10 December, 2018 By Editor

On the occasion of the elaboration of the AER Committee 1 work programme for 2018-2019, members decided to develop activities around quality food, short supply chains and sustainable development. In parallel, on the occasion of the Spring Bureau, members decided to initiate a Task Force on Food to develop policy messages on food for advocacy. The approach of the Task Force was from the beginning very holistic, including health, innovation and education. In this context AER decided to seize the opportunity to organise a side event at Smart City Expo World Congress to prepare a session on Food, Sustainability & Governance in the Digital Age.

Complex challenges

Food lays at the core of sustainable regional development as it touches upon topics as diverse as the densification of cities, the digital transformation of all sectors, food supply chains and waste management, multilevel governance and citizens participation. The challenge of providing the inhabitants of cities with affordable, safe and nutritious food is both urgent and complex. Moreover, the health and wellbeing of citizens and consumers are directly affected by the way cities and regions themselves are shaping a sustainable food environment. Globally over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. According to the United Nations, by 2050, over six billion people will be living in cities.

The supply of food is still highly dependent on transport, which is heavily dependent on burning fossil fuels. The impacts on the environment and the climate are dire. 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.

The AER session at Smart City Expo World Congress looked therefore at governance and citizens participation in the Digital Age to support sustainable food production and consumption. Reflecting about food supply chains as well, experts discussed how territorial approaches lead to more sustainable food systems.

Bringing together different voices

Three experts, representing regional governments, academia and civil society, shared their experience and perspectives on food. The session was organised in an interactive way, where regular inputs from the public helped move forward with the discussion.

Raimondo Mandis, Member of staff of the President of Sardinia as expert in agriculture, Member of the national council of Slow Food and President of Slow Food Cagliari, presented the experience of his region. Key success factors to increase the sustainability of food systems and lower the climate impact of food in Sardinia haved been:

Transversal approaches: when different sectors work together they realise that what is waste for one sector is raw material for another. The example of artichokes
Awareness raising and education are key elements to engage citizens and help them generate a positive impact on more sustainable food supply chains and food waste reduction
Innovation in terms of processes and products

Samuel Féret, Senior project manager at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM IAM) and project manager of the Interreg Europe project ECOWASTE4FOOD shared findings from this project which looks in depth at how to minimise food waste at user level, indeed around half of food waste in developped countries originates at end-user level. This project found that many initiatives exist at regional and local level to close the loops:

Donation of food surpluses and redistribution to less privileged people is very developed in almost all EU countries, regardless support from public authorities. These practices are rooted in local charity and solidarity networks that involve food processors, retailers, food banks and local charities.
Innovative solutions arise from new interactions among the food system at local level. Food residues from the industry of leftovers rescued by gleaners can be re-processed into new food products.
A more circular food economy is emerging from bottom-up solutions to reduce food waste.

Elisa Bodenstab, Founder of international youth exchange project “Perpetuum Mobility Germany” and representative of citizens initiative “Verwenden statt verschwenden” shared the experience of her organisation, which collects food which is still good but can no longer be sold and redistributes it. Elements which help the emergence of citizen-led initiatives for sustainable food systems are:

empowerment: most initiatives arise from peoples’ needs. They identify a problem and try to find a solution. The main obstacle for many is the lacking belief in themselves. They have an idea, but don’t dare to realize it, because their knowledge might not be sufficient. The belief that they can change something is the basis to start social enterprises, which tackle problems in society.
mutual encouragement: when stakeholders start an initiative, others who share the same mindset, start noticing and join. ‘Verwenden statt Verschwenden’ for example arose when a couple of people, who noticed how much food is being wasted everyday, started talking, made a plan and put it into action.
multilevel cooperation between stakeholders: if governments, businesses, NGOs and communities work hand in hand, the probability to succeed is way higher.

Governments can think their action in this context and encourage initiatives by raising awareness on the topic, showing support, increasing the legitimacy of initiatives and developping multi level cooperation to share common aims at different levels.

Identifying areas for action

Samuel Féret shared that, based on his experience, in the very short term, it is urgent to implement harmonised measurements of quantities lost on the farm and wasted in the food supply chain, both at regional and national levels. It is also urgent to coordinate an annual reporting which will help to diagnose the critical areas for actions as well those where progress reach encouraging milestones, so to identify good practices that should be replicated.

Raimondo Mandis underlined the need for awareness raising and citizens participation as well as support to innovation in the sector.

Elisa Bodenstab insisted on the need for a holistic approach to food systems. One point of focus sector is the food waste management and overproduction. 18 Million tons of food are being thrown out in germany each year, which is 1/3. Instances should be motivated to waste as little food as possible or also being fined for doing the opposite. Another area is food packaging. It is not only responsible for a huge amount of waste, but also not always economically reusable. Finding alternative ways of packaging or also just packaging less already has the potential for a big impact.

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Regional representatives gather in Vojvodina, Serbia

25 September, 2018 By Editor

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

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

Detailed recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View photos HERE and HERE.

View press conference videos HERE.

Presentations & background articles

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Economy & Regional Development

Introduction, by Snezana Sedlar

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

Background article on the sharing economy & the stakes for regions

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Social policy & Public Health

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

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

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

General Presentation, by Mihai Ritivoiu

Background article on social entrepreneurship & the stakes for regions

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Culture, Education and Youth

Speech by Aleksandra Djankovic

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

Emax, youth innovation camp, by Janis Lancereau

General Presentation, by Radimir Čačić

Workshop on Using the SDGs as a policy framework

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

Localising the SDGs in Oppland, NO, by Hakon Noren

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

Workshop on sustainable urban mobility

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

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Serbia, by Miloslav Tadic

General Presentation, by Martin Tollén

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

Breakfast Debate “Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children”

Background article on youth on the move

Workshop on waste management in rural areas

Waste Management in Vojvodina, by Svetlana Marušić

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

General presentation, by Olimpia Neagoe

Summer Academy Organising Committee meeting

Background article on the Summer Academy Organising Committee meetingFollow AER!

Committee 2 Progress report Autumn 2018

13 September, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

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

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

Evaluating progress

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

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

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

Projects

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

The SCIROCCO Exchange project, under the 3rd Health Programme, is based on the SCIROCCO project, which has resulted in the development of an online self-assessment tool for integrated care. The project will run from end 2018 to end 2020. It will support regions, mainly health and social care authorities for the adoption and the scaling-up of integrated care. The maturity matrix, at the core of the project, offers a tool for regions to better deliver integrated care for their citizens while at the same time empowering citizens. With this tool regions can assess their current status, revealing areas of strengths and also gaps in their capability managing the many activities needed in order to deliver integrated care.

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

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

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

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

HOME4LIFE – Certified smart and integrated living environments for ageing well

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

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

The results of the evaluation should be known in 2018.

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

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

PATHWAY project – Pathway to social entrepreneurship

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

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

Social Entrepreneur Key competencies – SEK project

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

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

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

PIKTOGRAMA project – Visual thinking for social innovation

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

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

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

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

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

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

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

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

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

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

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

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

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

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

Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children

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

Exchange of experiences on social entrepreneurship (ongoing)

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

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

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

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

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

AER e-health network activities (planned)

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

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

Equal access to healthcare (planned)

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

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

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

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

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

AER Bureau Task Forces

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

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

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

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committees work programmes and the AER action plan.Follow AER!

Committee 1 Progress report Autumn 2018

13 September, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

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.

Evaluating progress

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

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

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

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

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

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

New mobility services (planned)

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

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

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

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

Webinar on New Mobilities (planned)

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

International event on Biomass in Vojvodina (tbc)

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

The Sustainable Development Goals as policy framework (ongoing)

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

Using the SDGs to communicate AER activities (planned)

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

Study visit on the energy transition (finished)

The main focus of the study visit, was the bottom-up approach for the energy transition, which was implemented in the region. This multi-stakeholder cooperation was materialised by the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). The shared goal is to make the province energy-neutral by 2050. Local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, have pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society.

Participants shared good practice and experience and in particular:

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

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

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

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

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

Food: short supply chains & quality food (ongoing)

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

Waste management in rural areas (ongoing)

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

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC (ongoing)

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

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

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

Financing climate action: ongoing

AER Bureau Task Forces

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The 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.

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

22 August, 2018 By Editor

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

Bringing stakeholders together for smarter mobility

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

Shaping the infrastructures of tomorrow

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

Leading the work of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility

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

Recent activities included:

Breakfast Debate on Urban Mobility, led by Philipp Rode, Director of LSE Cities and joint Research Director of the “Towards New Urban Mobility” paper
Workshop on the digitalisation of transports & information about the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), a milestone on the path towards cooperative, connected and automated mobility (COM(2016) 766)
Cooperation with Revolve Media to highlight regional good practices in the field of transport and provide visibility to active AER members
Contribution on new mobilities & artificial intelligence at the AER event on Nov 30th “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge?”
Working Group meeting on cross-border mobility, transport corridors and the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities

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

Engaging diverse regional stakeholders

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

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

Examples of working points

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

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

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

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

Presentation

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

Upcoming events

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

Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) is an unmissable event combining the latest solutions and technologies, and inspirational keynotes on improving life in cities. Smart City Expo World Congress, 13-15 November 2018 in HALL 1 & 2, 9.00 – 19.00h, Gran Via Venue, Barcelona

Photo credits: Joey Kyber on UnsplashFollow AER!

AER & the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC

10 July, 2018 By Editor

On 7 June 2018, on the occasion of the Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC conference, AER Secretary General Mathieu Mori presented the experience of AER member regions which are part of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). AER aims to strengthen the cooperation with the European Corridors to help regions cooperate more along territorial axes which matter for them and engage regions across corridors.

Facilitating cooperation along European corridors

The main objective of the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC is to facilitate territorial cooperation among its members and promote integrated development of the multimodal from the regional and local perspective. The EGTC is a legal framework that helps public entities of different Member States to work together and develop projects under a new entity with full legal personality.
The conference has been the occasion to underline the importance of a joint and coordinated development of an European Corridor.

Case studies from AER members

At the workshop about “Experience with the EGTC as a legal Form” AER Secretariat Mathieu Mori spoke about AER’s members within EGTCs and illustrated four case studies:

Central European Transport Corridor EGTC, a Baltic-Adriatic transport corridor;
Euroregio Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, a cooperation between Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino in different projects;
Euroregio Senza Confini, an association between Veneto (IT), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (IT) and Karnten (AT);
EGTC Alzette-Belval, brings together the regions of Grand Est (FR), Region Wallonie (BE), Luxemburg and the german regions of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland (DE).

He gave an overview of their objectives, fields of actions, their expectations for the future and presented the experiences of each with a look at the common points in order to see if the Interregional alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor is a good example of interregional cooperation and if EGTC is a good tool for cross-border cooperation. The conclusion shared by Mathieu Mori showed that in all the case studies EGTC is considered as a useful tool for cooperation and it has facilitated the dialogue between different institutions, being a neutral place of cooperation and a stable partner.
It is possible to see the presentation and find synthesised the main outputs presented at the conference (presentation here).

Together in one corridor

The Interregional Alliance for the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC has been established three years ago. This alliance gather 21 members from cities, regions and ports along the corridor.
The EGTC acts as an interface, as an intermediate entity facilitating consultation and dialogue between the different levels of government and between the various stakeholders from public and private scope. One of the purposes is to influence positively the sustainable development of the EU territory through the creation of one shared strategy between corridors.

Follow Up

Communication is now established between AER and the EGTC Platform coordinated by the Committee of the Regions
The Working Group on Transport and Mobility will discuss the collaboration with the Rhine Alpine corridor and other corridors at the AER Autumn Committee Plenary in Vojvodina.
This will be an opportunity to plan the development of cooperations between and alongside European Corridors

Useful Links

Interactive map of European Transport and Mobility corridors

EGTC Platform

Photo credits: Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTCFollow AER!

Culture & Transports, what else?

24 May, 2018 By Editor

Because of the challenges they represent, but also thanks to the opportunities they can bring, culture and transport are two high topics on AER’s agenda and for many European regions.

This is why we would like to update you on what has been done and to provide you some inputs on the opportunities that can arise and on what can be done.

What has been done so far?

*Culture

In Nancy Committees plenaries, culture was a hot topic. A breakfast briefing on the role regions can play for the development of culture as well as the influence of culture for regional development was conducted. The regions shared also their experiences on this topic. Furthermore, a debate was held on culture and digitalisation, with a key question: what effects, either positive or negative, digitalisation can have on culture? Funding opportunities were also displayed.

The region of Gävleborg (SE) has shared with other regions the Virtual Reality Project, which aims at using its exceptional cultural heritage, as well as enhancing its recognition by citizens to promote an inclusive society. Cultural heritage will be displayed to citizens through tasting, hearing of musing. Within this project, cultural heritage is made accessible to the greatest number, and awareness is raised thanks to seminars.

*Transport

Regarding transport, the AER Working Group on Transport & Mobility is particularly active and has joined the New Mobility Service Initiatives of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities. It supports the cooperation of cities and private organisms on urban transport to foster the creation of an open and collaborative marketplace for new mobility services in Europe. At the Spring Plenaries in London, a briefing breakfast on Urban Mobility has been conducted, which gives insight on urban transport policy in some cities, and the challenges they face regarding multi-modality, new transport services, among others.

Let’s keep going with these topics

2018 is the Year of Cultural Heritage, so in the following months, culture will continue to be resolutely linked with heritage. AER is already really committed. Thus, the theme of 2018 Summer Academy, which will take place in Maramures (RO), is Cultural Heritage for Regional Attractiveness.

Transport is an on-going topic and the Working Group on Transport continues to be active. It is involved in the REFIT project, which has recently been submitted. This project will led to the creation of a user-friendly governance tool facilitating regulatory processes to support the deployment of innovative transport technologies and services in the EU while carefully considering concerns and expectations of citizens and users.

We invite you to look at funding opportunities to design projects on those fields if they are of interest for you regions. Here are examples we have selected for you:

The Interreg Adrion has launched its second call for proposal, and offers opportunities on the topic of cultural heritage. The deadline to submit project is 26 June 2018.
Interreg Europe has launched its fourth call for proposals. The priorities include culture, especially the protection and promotion of natural and cultural heritage and transport, for example through the promotion of sustainable multi-modal urban mobility. The deadline to submit project is 22 June 2018.
Likewise, the Urban Innovative Action (UIA) will launch its 4th call on October 2018. One of the topic is “digital transition” and it takes into consideration sustainable urban mobility.

If you want to know more on culture and transport or would like to develop project on these topics, please do not hesitate to contact the AER Secretariat.

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

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Committee 1 Annual Report June 2017 – May 2018

7 May, 2018 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 developped and implemented within Committee 1 between the 2017 General Assembly in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) and the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels under the moral patronage from Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

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

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

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

Citizens for Cohesion. 351 times closer to Europe: cancelled

Building on the work previously done by AER on cohesion policy, the regions of Catalonia (ES), South Ostrobothnia (FI), Trentino (IT) and West Slovenia, together with AER Cohesion Policy Task Force lead on a project on awareness raising. While the project received a very good evaluation it was not accepted.

Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation early 2017, we collaborated with ERRIN to stimulate project development. This resulted in the organisation of the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week.

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

YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project. The AER Secretariat Project Unit will explore calls for projects if there is still interest in developping such a project.

MULTIPLE, MULTI-layer Governance PoLicy-making for the Environment: cancelled

MULTIPLE aimed to build an ecosystem of policy-support tools and methods for a more effective, efficient policy making in the field of environmental policies. Its aim was to support the entire policy cycle from issue identification to policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation by the use of open data systems. The project was not accepted.

Migrant Entrepreneur Support Scheme Against Gap of Economic System: cancelled

This project proposal aimed to share approaches and lessons learnt for migrant entrepreneurship support schemes. Migrant entrepreneurship had been raised in specific during the 2016 Spring plenary meetings in Timis. The proposal brought together public administrations, business support organizations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, educational institutions and other organisations active in the field across cities, regions and countries. The project was not accepted.

From local to global: Connecting the Dots in the EU’s 2030 energy transition: cancelled

The theme of this project proposal was to contribute to a coherent energy transition across the EU and support progress towards a low-carbon economy in light of the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets and policy framework. The consortium was led by EURACTIV.

The AER Secretariat collected letters of support from member regions: Abruzzo (IT), Catalonia (SP), Gelderland (NL), Trentino (IT). The aim was to highlight, compare and contrast Member States’ initiatives to achieve the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets, supporting the energy transition as well as the transition towards a competitive and low-carbon economy, by sharing information on best practice at the local level (regions, cities, towns) and the connection with global agreements. The project was submitted under the LIFE+ programme but was not accepted.

RAINBOW project – Raising Awareness INitiative for a Beautiful Open World: cancelled

RAINBOW aimed to transform the 2030 Agendas into policies and to launch concrete actions at local level, in order to improve the management of the territories, whilst continuing innovating and learning from one another. It focused on interdependencies between developing countries and the European Union, with focus on the neighbouring areas. ALDA was the initiator of the project. The project was not accepted

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

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

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

Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

The 2018 Spring Committees’ Plenaries took place in Arad (RO) on 20-22 March. The events featured a debate on innovation ecosystems, a workshop on integrated care systems, a lounge meeting on equal opportunities, a meeting of the working group on transports, a Breakfast Briefing on implementing democracy in regional policy making, a presentation of the social inclusion policies in Arad, a meeting of the Summer Academy Organising Committee and the Committees Plenary meetings.

The Committees’ Plenaries were an opportunity to develop the Committees’ work programmes.

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

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

Study visit on the Energy transition: finished

The main focus of the study visit, which took place from 17-19 April, was the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). This collaboration between local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, has pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society. See the event page.

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

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

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
The Health Revolution
Culture In a Digital World
Skills and Competences: racing with machines
AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

Follow up on photonics: finished

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

Conference on biomass: finished

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

Partners this year were the OECD Mission in Serbia and the Central European Initiative, with expert lectures from representatives from World Bioenergy Association, State Ministries in Serbia, University in Novi Sad, the Environment Agency Austria, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and KfW (German government-owned development bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).

Cooperation with the World Sustainable Energy Day: finished

On the occasion of the AER Committees plenary meetings in London, members highlighted their interest in participating to the World Sustainable Energy Days in a meaningful way. A delegation of AER representatives from across Europe was able to attend the World Sustainable Energy days for free on behalf of AER.

Workshop on Public procurement for green innovation: finished

This workshop was advertised in the AER network by Oppland and was organised in the framework of the INTERREG Sweden-Norway the Bioeconomy Region project involving 4 AER members: Hedmark, Värmland, Østfold and Oppland. It aimed to address the following questions:
• How can innovative public procurement accelerate take-up of green technologies and stimulate innovation?
• How is innovative public procurement adopted in regional and local authorities to implement bioeconomy?
• How are public authorities cooperating with clusters, SMEs, industry and companies?
• What are the greatest challenges to implementing large scale innovative public procurement?
The AER Secretariat provided support with the identification of potential speakers and connected them with the organisers.

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

Awareness raising on sustainable mobility: ongoing

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

AER Chair of the working group Martin Tollen contributed to the Smart Airports event in Germany

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

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

Digitalisation of transports: ongoing

Promote the digitalisation of transports networks both in urban and rural areas (see below as well)

Promotion of knowledge about innovative technologies in transports: ongoing

The sharing of knowledge is being carried out via:

–Workshop on the digitalisation of transports & information about the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), a milestone on the path towards cooperative, connected and automated mobility (COM(2016) 766)
–cooperation with Revolve Media to highlight regional good practices in the field of transport and provide visibility to active AER members
–contribution on new mobilities & artificial intelligence at the AER event on Nov 30th “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge?”
–New Mobility Services of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities & Communities: involvement in the European Innovation Partnership on Sustainable Cities and Communities: within the the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility, AER is involved in the New Mobility Services initiative. AER Chairman of the Working Group on Transports and Mobility, Martin Tollén attended the first meeting of this Action Cluster.

The New Mobility Services initiative is a cooperation between private and public partners (quadruple helix type of cooperation, brings together companies, NGOs, research centers & universities, and policy makers). The purpose is to establish strategic partnerships between industry and European cities & regions to develop the urban systems and infrastructures of tomorrow. It is mainly focused on urban mobility. It is open for all European regions and cities to join or to send their stakeholders

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

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

Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

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

Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

Following the publication of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on May 2nd, AER’s reaction can be found here

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

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

COP23 Local and Regional governments Leaders´ Summit: finished

AER was a partner to the Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leadersat the UN climate change conference (COP23) held from 6 to 17 November in Bonn, Germany, under the Presidency of Fiji. The event gathered more than 330 political leaders and 1000 delegates. At the Summit, local and regional leaders adopted the Bonn-Fiji Commitment to Deliver the Paris Agreement at All Levels, a pledge that signals their commitment to bring forward a critical shift in global development.

AER also contributed to a number of other events, including:
-8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, organised by UNEP and Climate Action.
-World Climate Summit 2017, organised by R20 and BlueOrchard, in collaboration with World Climate.
-Side Event  “Mountains in motion: Climate Action in the Alps, the Carpathians and the Pyrenees”, co-organised by the Region of Abruzzo.

R20 Summit: finished

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

Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negociations. AER is now providing members with privileged access to a training on the SOURCE system which allows stakeholders to access funding for their climate action.

33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: finished

AER has a partnership status with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It sends high-level representatives to the meetings of the Congress and sits in the Chamber of Regions Bureau. On 19 October, the AER President, Magnus Berntsson, took part in the 33rd Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and addressed the Chamber of Regions during the debate on “Regional Co-operation and democracy in Europe: the role of European regional associations and organisations”. At the Session, the AER and the Congress expanded their existing collaboration by signing a Joint Action Plan for 2018-2020. The document reiterates the commitment to work together on various issues of mutual interest, notably regional democracy, youth participation and cultural diversity.

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

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

Sustainable biofuels: finished

AER member regions have been exchanging experiences on the topic of sustainable energy for many years and developped different projects on the topic, such as for instance the MORE4NRG and R4GG projects or the global engagement with the R20

The region of Oppland is very active in AER on the topics of energy and the circular economy. In 2016 the YRN Spring Plenary was hosted by Oppland and delegates visited a recycling plant which produces biogas was also featured in the Autumn 2017 edition of Revolve Magazine as an outstanding regional good practice.
Description of the action. The region of Oppland proposed to exchange experiences on the topic of 2nd generation sustainable biofuels, for example from waste and forest resources.

Legislation on biogas: finished

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

Committee 3 Annual Report June 2017 – May 2018

7 May, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

This report is the compilation of actions developped and implemented within Committee 3 between the 2017 General Assembly in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) and the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

Involvement of YRN in AER projects: ongoing

AER is supporting the YRN’s participation in European Projects in 2 main aspects:

support in the development of own projects, as in the case of the development of an environment project based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). YRN representatives met with AER Coordinator for European Projects & Private Partnerships Agnese Pantaloni to learn about project development steps and potential funding opportunities. The YRN will work on the definition of an EU project.
Systematically think of including the YRN when AER is invited to join a consortium

Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

On the occasion of the Nancy plenary meeting a project development workshop on youth mental health was held to further identify areas for potential collaboration on the topic of youth mental health and the desired scope for such a project. During the Committees Plenary meetings in London, Committee 2 and Committee 3 decided to join forces for the development of a European project on youth mental health. This is the follow-up of a workshop which was held in Izmir and which identified the difficulty for young people to relate to others as a shared challenge for many very diverse regions in Europe. During the AER General Assembly a first project development meeting was held to discuss the type of focus and funding programmes. In the context of this project development the AER Secretariat also engaged with diverse experts from organisations working on mental health and held a meeting with DG EAC on youth mental health.

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner, members decided to refocus this 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

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

Youth Caravan: cancelled

This interregional project was developed to follow-up on the workshop organised by Harghita at the 2016 EWCR. It aimed to foster the dialogue between youth and policy makers. The YRN had the possibility to participate to the main project meetings (mainly the youth consultations and the final conference) having travel & accommodation costs covered, they would have had the possibility to contribute to the elaboration of the joint action plan as well as to be involved in the other project activities. This was supposed to be a 3 years project starting in autumn 2017.

Project development, Cultural Heritage: planned

On the occasion of the Plenary meetings in London a project development workshop was organised on the topic of cultural heritage. Several topics were suggested for project development, such as cultural heritage routes and digitalisation. The region of Nordland presented their project proposal, Via Querinissima, which was also presented on the AER website. The AER Secretariat supported the region for the consortium building.

AER in particular contributed to the development of project idea based on the promotion of the heritage to young generations of edible landscapes. The aim was to raise awareness on the importance to transfer to young generation the immaterial heritage that shaped landscapes through the production of edible local traditional products and give to the landscape a future. This project was not awarded funding.

Other regions regions discussed potential areas for collaboration. AER regularly receives invitations to join projects or requests for support to consortium building. These are generally shared on the AER website.Regions willing to get support for the development of a project can contact the AER Secretariat.

Summer Academy “Cultural heritage for regional attractiveness” Europe for Citizens project: planned

In order to support the implementation of the 2018 AER Summer Academy in Maramures and further develop its impact for citizens the host region developped a Europe for Citizens project proposal which has just been submitted.

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

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

Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

The Committees’ Plenaries were an opportunity to develop the Committees’ work programmes.

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
The Health Revolution
Culture In a Digital World
Skills and Competences: racing with machines
AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

Cultural heritage: ongoing

On the occasion of the workshop on cultural heritage, AER members shared their experiences, challenges and good practices. Another means of sharing good practices is via the AER website. The region of Gävleborg for instance shared their vision and activities in the context of the European Year for Cultural Heritage

AER Most Youth Friendly European Region: finished

The MYFER award ceremony took place on the occasion of the AER GA in Lower Austria and recognised the particularly impressive achievements of Vojvodina and Catalonia. The evaluation and selection of the projects was carried out together with representatives from the AER Youth Regional Network, Eurochild, the European Youth Forum (EYF), the European Youth Parliament (EYP), and the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe Youth Department. Each of the projects submitted received a detailed evaluation and advice for improvements. The youth-friendly initiatives shared were highlighted in a series of #shinebright articles on the AER website in order to inspire other regions.

Awareness-raising & engagement about Eurodyssey: ongoing

While Eurodyssey is the oldest AER programme its achievements and the way it works are not always well known to AER members. Eurodyssey provides young Europeans a work experience abroad. This has proven to be extremely positive in increasing employment perspectives for young people. The programme is for youth 18 to 30, unemployed or recently qualified, living in a participating region. The work placements are organised and financed by the host regions. Since its creation, over 10,000 young people have benefited from Eurodyssey work placements. New regions can join and benefit from the programme. The feedback from the last Eurodyssey Forum can be found on the AER website and the next Eurodyssey Forum will take place in Brussels Capital Region from 18-20 April.

Culture for Inclusion

On the initiative of Nina Björby, Chair of the Subcommittee on Cuture a Handbook was developped, which brings together several good practices from all over Europe and aims to serve as an inspiration and a basis for collaboration. The AER Handbook of good practices on Culture for the inclusion of migrants and refugees was published in March 2018.

Par/Tea, culture and inclusion: cancelled

This initiatives aimed to integrate migrant people by organising cultural events. The exchange of cultural values and learning by dialogue are the 2 main objectives. The idea was for the events to be organised as non-formal gathering of people on a weekly basis and more formal workshops.
Vojvodina initially foresaw to organise a “PARtea” seminar end 2017 and discuss results with AER members. This initiative was cancelled.

Culture & Health: cancelled

Follow-up on previous actions and conferences in Istanbul & Västerbotten on topics such as culture on prescription, culture and sports. After the workshop on culture and health in Nordjylland an AER handbook on Culture and Health was published in 2015. Regions willing to engage in further policy learning on this topic can contact the Secretariat to define activities they can lead within the AER network. The Secretariat did not receive expressions of interest from regions wanting to develop concrete policy learning activities.

Compilation of good practices on school dropouts: finished

The region of Västernorrland brought together regions to share good practices to combat early school leaving through the AER working group on school dropouts. They set up an Erasmus+ project to further develop the exchanges and mutual learning. They finalised the work with a very useful handbook which brings together good practices from 11 regions in wider Europe.

Awareness raising on YRN activities: ongoing

Awareness raising on YRN activities is carried out through:

information on the AER website
communication around YRN activities, such as high-level meetings, conferences or capacity building activities
inclusion of YRN representatives in the AER slack teams for online collaboration
invitation of YRN representatives to AER activities, partnership development, and plenary meetings

Training on European regional affairs: ongoing

AER is a partner of the European College of Cluny, a new training offer 100% dedicated to local democracy, territorial engineering and innovation in Europe. An AER delegation participated in the Cluny Summer School to further develop the collaboration for the training as well as for the AER Summer Academy. In the framework of this cooperation with the European College of Cluny, AER has proposed to 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, as decided during the meeting in Sibenik Knin in October 2017.

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

Following the publication of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on May 2nd, AER’s reaction can be found here

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

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

Committee 2 Annual Report June 2017 – May 2018

7 May, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

This report is the compilation of actions developped and implemented within Committee 2 between the 2017 General Assembly in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) and the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner, members decided to refocus this 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

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

Active and Healthy Ageing Network AHA-NET: cancelled

The project proposal aimed to implement a Leadership programme for the coaching and training of future reference sites. The development of a Leadership Programme for e-health innovation was agreed on by Committee 2 in 2012. Since then the methodology has been developed and ad-hoc training academies have taken place on the Silver Economy and integrated care systems. This project would have provided an ideal framework for the deployment at larger scale of this programme.

ACT2Bridge project – Actions to Support Regional Ecosystems on Health Innovation Research: postponed

This project aims to encourage and increase the participation of European regions with a low level of health-related research and innovation activity in European research programmes through benchmarking and mutual learning. An increase in their R&I activity is expected to leverage health services, and thus, into social and economic benefits for these regions. Within this project AER is leading the Working Package “Benchlearning and knowledge exchange between regions”, having as one of the main objective of to support our regions to reach equivalent levels of development in the different areas.

This project has not been financed but, considering the high standard of the consortia and the good evaluation it received, it is planned to be submitted again in the forthcoming calls.

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

The project will guide key actors to respond adequately to the disability implications in the identification process and to the cultural implications in the relocation process. It will result in the creation of a Specific Needs Assessment Tool to be circulated among all actors dealing with migrants assessment.

AER leads the Working Package on “Tuning of Outcomes to European Local Authorities” and is the project partner that will ensure the perspective of the regions is included in the adaptation of the projects outcomes and tools.

The project kicked-off in January 2018. In April a second meeting focused on good practices, in particular the JUMA Refugees Map Services and the Washington Group Set of Questions on Disability

AMiD is a two-year project: from 01/2018 to 01/2020.

European network for harmonising self, society, and systems to facilitate integrated care, COST action proposal: cancelled

This project led by partners we have been working with previously aimed at pursuing the work of AER in the field of integrated care systems. The project was not accepted.

Project development, Social inclusion of vulnerable groups: ongoing

With views to the preparation of a project gathering regional good practices on inclusion a debate took place on the occasion of the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. The idea with this project is to define a general approach to inclusion, helping policy makers appraise their policies and develop effective policies for inclusion. As the topic received a lot of interest, a workshop on inclusion was organised on the occasion of the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad.

Project development, Combatting isolation and social exclusion: ongoing

The region of Timis would like to develop a project to address the isolation of 2 social groups:
-orphans, who at the age of 18 find themselves without support and homeless because orphanages do not support youth after their 18th birthday.

-elderly people, who often live on their own and would need minimal support and company.

The idea is to gather good practices which have been implemented in similar contexts and to look at transferability and adaptation of such good practices.

The debate at the Autumn 2017 Committee 2 plenary showed that these issues are recurring issues in different regions. These topics will also be addressed on the occasion of the workshop on inclusion at the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad. The idea is to identify good practices for potential benchmarking and transfer.

Project development, Public-private cooperation for social inclusion: cancelled

In order to initiate a project for good practices exchanges on the collaboration between regional governments and the private sector for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, AER published an article outlining the different issues at stake. Following the publication of this article several regions have expressed interest in developping a project. As no lead partner was identified for the project development the project was canceled

Project development, Equal Health: cancelled

Possible project (seek funding opportunities). Exchange of experiences from different programs offering parental support. As this project idea was not further specified, the activity is cancelled.

DIGIT-ABLE project: planned

Building on the work previously done by AER on digitisation and inclusion, Committee 2 is leading on a project setting up a “European Platform on Vulnerable People in the Information Society”, mapping best practices and socio-economic impact of the digital empowerment of disadvantaged people.

The DIGITABLE-EU project aims to raise the knowledge about the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people in EU countries and to trigger the sharing of knowledge and good practices in order to increase the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people. In order to achieve this goal, this project will work on four main priorities:

Networking with public authorities (national/regional/EU level), social business actors, civil society organisations, international associations focusing on improving the quality of life and social inclusion of the different vulnerabilities targeted by the project as well as digital literacy.
Establishing a metrics for evaluating the quality and impact of practices for digital inclusion of vulnerable people, for the vulnerabilities covered by the project: People with disabilities; Elderly people; Marginalised young people and children (based on socio-economic status); Unemployed or those facing social problems; Migrants.
Realise an interactive online catalogue of best practices, accessible via a dedicated website;
Disseminate the catalogue through dedicated events

The project was submitted on September 2017 under the Horizon 2020 and it will run for 24 months. The coordinator is INSIEL SpA (Friuli Venezia Giulia – IT).

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

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

Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

The Committees’ Plenaries were an opportunity to develop the Committees’ work programmes.

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
The Health Revolution
Culture In a Digital World
Skills and Competences: racing with machines
AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

Follow up on ALEC: ongoing

The Arctic Light E-health conference is an emblematic example of a succesful cooperation between an AER member region and the AER network. The workshop on data of the AER e-health network in Nancy followed up on issues addressed during the conference. Articles elaborating on topics of the ALEC conference, which are of specific interest to AER members should be published.

Healthcare without harm: tbc

The idea which was presented on the occasion of the Committe 2 Plenary meeting was to combine the topics of healthcare and environment. Activities have not yet been specified and can range from the publication of articles on the AER website showcasing good practices to the organisation of a mutual learning event (online webinar, workshop in Brussels or on the occasion of another AER event). Any such activity needs to be lead by an AER region and supported by a few others. The idea will be submitted at the Spring plenaries to identify whether this is an area where different regions would like to cooperate on.

In the meantime the AER Secretariat has connected the region of Värmland, which proposed this topic, with Diane Whitehouse, an e-health expert who has done research on this topic and whom AER members have had the opportunity to meet at the AER event on artificial intelligence.

Equal opportunities: tbc

Members were interested in sharing experience through articles on the AER website, exchange of good practices, and the sharing of regional data. Members interested in doing so can get support from the AER Secretariat.

This action needs to be further specified, especially in the context of the priorities the AER group on Equal Opportunities has defined for Committee 2: Health Inequalities (gender and socio- economic)

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

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

Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

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

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

Following the publication of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on May 2nd, AER’s reaction can be found here

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

AER participation in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing: ongoing

AER is a member of the B3 Action Group on integrated care systems. In this framework AER has a commitment towards raising awareness & building capacities for integrated care systems. Participating in the EIP-AHA enables AER to connect with the right stakeholders, provide state of the art knowledge on health innovation and raise the voice of regions in European discussions on health innovation.

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

AER at Regional Airports Conference in Naples

26 April, 2018 By Editor

AER expert on regional airports, Roger Estefors has been invited to speak at a panel on “Changes in airline strategies and their impact on regional airports” at the ACI Europe’s 11th Regional Airports’ Conference & Exhibition. Roger Estefors provides members of the AER Working group on Transports and Mobility with regular updates on changes in legislation affecting the ability of regions to support their regional airports and indeed their connectivity. In the below article, he shares insights on the upcoming conference, which will take place from 14-16 May in Naples (IT).

AER has been contributing to the ACI Europe events for the last five years. From an AER perspective it is of great value to have the opportunity to take part in an event were a broad representation of European Regional Airports are present. The connections and the information available at these events provide elements to address questions such as development and business models, regulations and threats or opportunities for the AER member regions in the management of their own regional airport.

This year’s programme feature a broad spectrum of current issues and addresses the strategic pillars of dynamic regional development. The event will also host the 27th meeting of ACIs Regional Airports’ Forum, a most active group created in 2006.

Among the items to be discussed we can notice that Brexit will be on the agenda as well as the implications for regional airports with a high percentage of British passengers.

Another item on the conference agenda, which is relevant to many AER regions with smaller airports, is the degree of benefits from implementation and use of remote technologies.

One of the sessions during the conference will focus on the effects on regional airports due to the shift within the more dominating airline companies’ strategic thinking. Notable is that large airline groups continue their consolidation. LCC (Low Cost Airline) Companies such as Ryanair, in the first line, are now changing their strategy on which airports they serve. The dynamic effects of these shifts in strategies entail an increasing risk for the smaller players to be outnumbered. Further developed business models by the dominating LCC companies towards Long Haul LCC in combination with new and more efficient regional aircrafts will change route dynamics.

Airport Council International Europe, ACI Europe, represents over 500 airports in 45 European countries. The member airports facilitate over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe with 2 billion passengers, 20 million tonnes of freight and 23.7 million aircraft movements in 2016. The member airports contribute yearly to the employment of 12.3 people, generating some € 675 billion GDP in Europe. ACIs European operations are executed from its office in Brussels and its mission is primarily based on airport operators of all sizes, along with national airport associations, educational establishments and world business partners.

Roger Estefors, from Västerbotten (SE), is the expert on regional airports for the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility.Follow AER!

Call for support for paper on increasing CEF Transport budget

5 April, 2018 By Editor

The Commission is currently revising the Connecting Europe Facility for the next funding period as of 2020. Many AER members are involved in CEF projects. As you might know the CEF funding is closely linked to the TEN-T maps. For regions which are on the Comprehensive network, it is currently very difficult to get funding because most of the funding is allocated to the Core network. The TEN-T maps are not up for revision yet, but we can try to influence the way the budget is divided between the Core network and the Comprehensive network for the next funding period.

For this purpose, a paper has been written advocating for an increase in the CEF Transport budget for the Comprehensive network in the new EU Multi-annual Financial Framework. Please find attached the paper. It is important to get as many regions on board as possible to bring more weight to the paper. You are therefore invited to support the paper.

The Province of Flevoland supports this initiative and it is important that as many signatures as possible are collected for this – whether your region is located on the Core Network or on the Comprehensive network.

To sign the paper: we will just put all the logos of all the ‘signing’ regions on the paper. No actual signature is needed – please just answer this email and attach your logo to indicate your willingness to support the paper. This paper will be handed to the Commission during the TEN-T Days in Slovenia on 26 April 2018.

See the draft paper here

Please give your feedback before the 19th of April. If you have any query about the content of the paper you can get in touch with Rutger Schuitemaker: [email protected]

Innovating mobility

Open data at AER working group on Transports and Mobility meeting

Work programmes

Thematic activities

Presentations

Topics & Context

Other information

GDPR Compliance

Please note that photography and video recording may take place during this event. If you do not wish your image to be recorded, please contact the AER secretariat.

Please also note that a list of participants will be published on this website in due course. Only the names and organisations of the individuals will be listed. No contact details will be made public. For any queries, please contact e.lee(at)aer.eu.

Governments in the Digital Age

Business in a changing world

Skills and Competences

Ethics: what is good, what should be supported?

Mutual learning for policy innovation

Complex challenges

Bringing together different voices

Identifying areas for action

Presentations & background articles

Joint Plenary meeting

Debate on Open data

Regional Business forum

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Economy & Regional Development

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Social policy & Public Health

Plenary meeting of the Committee on Culture, Education and Youth

Workshop on Using the SDGs as a policy framework

Workshop on sustainable urban mobility

Breakfast Debate “Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children”

Workshop on waste management in rural areas

Summer Academy Organising Committee meeting

Evaluating progress

Projects

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

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

HOME4LIFE – Certified smart and integrated living environments for ageing well

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

PATHWAY project – Pathway to social entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneur Key competencies – SEK project

PIKTOGRAMA project – Visual thinking for social innovation

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

Good Practice Sharing

Welcoming unaccompanied migrant children

Exchange of experiences on social entrepreneurship (ongoing)

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

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

AER e-health network activities (planned)

Equal access to healthcare (planned)

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

AER Bureau Task Forces

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

Evaluating progress

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

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

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

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions

Good Practice Sharing

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy (ongoing)

New mobility services (planned)

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

Webinar on New Mobilities (planned)

International event on Biomass in Vojvodina (tbc)

The Sustainable Development Goals as policy framework (ongoing)

Using the SDGs to communicate AER activities (planned)

Study visit on the energy transition (finished)

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

Food: short supply chains & quality food (ongoing)

Waste management in rural areas (ongoing)

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC (ongoing)

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Financing climate action: ongoing

AER Bureau Task Forces

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

Bringing stakeholders together for smarter mobility