EC allocates 375 million euros to “Regions for Economic Change” networks 08-11-2006 “Regions for Economic Change” is the name of a new initiative to be adopted
by the European Commission on 8 November. The network should help regions, towns
and cities with modernising their economies and improving competitiveness
between regions. It will be allocated a total budget of 375 million euros for
the period 2007-2013 to finance the setting up networks between member
countries, regions and towns. Regions for Economic Change is likely to include
urban regeneration and the redevelopment of brownfield sites.
The new Commission initiative will fall under the new Structural Fund scheme
of 2007 - 2013. The idea is to identify a series of key themes (20-25), and form
networks of around 15-20 regions for each theme. The main aim is for the regions
to exchange information and engage in best practices. A draft text is to be
presented to member states during the informal Council of Regional Policy
Ministers to be held in Brussels on 21 November.
In concrete terms, these networks will operate within the framework of the
Interregional Cooperation Programme (Interreg III C) and the Urban Development
Programme (URBACT). They will therefore be funded by the new European
Territorial Cooperation Objective of the Structural Funds. The main difference
with the way things are now is that regions and towns will retain the
possibility of building and managing their own networks but they will be invited
to do so in line with certain themes selected by the Commission (thirty themes
relating to the Lisbon priorities).
A Commission representative indicated that around five themes could be urban
related, for example dealing with urban regeneration or the redevelopment of
brownfield sites. Participation of private partners is not foreseen, although
they could be taken on board by participating regions for their expertise.
By presenting this new initiative to the Regional Committee of the European
Parliament on 7 November, the Commissioner in charge of Regional Policy, Danuta
Hübner, said that it was her intention to launch the first network on the theme
of innovation ("bringing innovative ideas faster to the market") before
Christmas. The aim is to work on a way to facilitate the transfer of knowledge
between research and practical applications for products and services.
The Commission has called on participating regions and towns to establish a
link between their work within the network and the bigger programmes financed
under the EU's Cohesion Policy. This should allow for a rapid spread of
successful practices.
To facilitate communication within the network and with the outside world,
special publications and a website will be developed. An annual conference will
be organised to coincide with the spring European Council. The first one will be
held in March 2007, which is also the scheduled date for the website to be
launched. By that time, information will be available on 50 projects in the
domains of research, innovation, information society, sustainable economic
development and financial engineering. Annual prizes for innovation will be
awarded to the best projects.
Source: European Information Service LinksRead the speech of EC Commissioner Hübner at the EP Committee on Regional Development back |
