Archive 2007
[18/12/2007] The second annual conference under Regions for Economic Change - "Regions For Economic Change – Sharing Excellence" will take place in Brussels on 25 – 26 February. The conference website is open today.
[24/11/2007] Commissioner Hübner made a speech on "Delivering innovation through Cohesion Policy" to the Informal meeting of regional policy ministers in the Azores. Her intervention was supported by a working document analysing how planned EU spending on innovation has increased to EUR 85 billion - a sum equivalent to 25% of the total new envelope for the 27 Member States. This value is more than 3 times higher than in 2000-2006. In her speech the Commissioner emphasised the role of networking in spreading good practice and that the positive results of the programming phase require the commitment of all partners for successful delivery.
[5-6/11/2007] The URBACT II programme was launched at the urban conference held in Berlin. The URBACT II programme was adopted by the European Commission on 2/10/2007. URBACT II will continue to promote the exchange of experiences between cities and European actors involved in urban programmes under URBACT (2000-06). The plans for the first call for proposals were presented at Berlin. The details of the call are planned to be published on the URBACT II website by end November.
[21/09/2007] The Portuguese Presidency of the European Union hosted the launch conference of the new 2007-2013 interregional cooperation programme, adopted by the European Commission on 11 September. The new programme (often abbreviated to "Interreg IVC") is a key element in “Regions for Economic Change” initiative and will receive funding of 321 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The first call for projects was opened with public authorities have until mid-January 2008 to respond. Press release
[19/09/2007] Commissioner Hübner intervened in the conference "Clusters Linked Over Europe: A European Network of Excellence for Cluster Management, Matching and Promotion" organised by the Cloe network a Regions for Economic Change Pilot Fast Track project under the Interreg IIIC programme. In her remarks she underlined the reasons why the Commission was happy to become engaged in the work of the networks and explained the value of the pilot network as a learning opportunity to test the Fast Track concept.
[31/8/2007] On 20-21 September 2007 in Lisbon, an Interregional Cooperation Forum will mark the launch of INTERREG IVC, the new programme for interregional cooperation, and show how INTERREG IIIC is already helping Europe's regions work together and improve regional development. The Forum will bring together 800 representatives of local, regional and national organisations and of the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions. It will help them build and promote ideas for new projects, and find out more about the INTERREG IVC programme and its funding opportunities. The event will be addressed by Danuta Hübner and Francisco Nunes Correia, the Portuguese Minister for Environment, Spatial Planning and Regional Development.
[13 July 2007] The deadline for RegioStars has been extended to 28 September 2007.
At Commissioner Hübner's request, we have extended the deadline in order to give those Member States and regions that were negotiating their operational programmes an opportunity to send us their innovative project applications.
Those regions that have already submitted an application will be able to revise or update their applications if they wish.
For further information please contact regio-stars@ec.europa.eu or call +32 2 2953893.
[5 July] Commissioner Hübner delivered an address "Regions for Economic Change: Striving For Excellence" - at a seminar "Beyond Best Practice: Taking New Knowledge Rapidly to the Market" in Cornwall, South West England. In her address the Commissioner outlined the next steps leading the launch of the INTERREG IVC and URBACT II programmes and to the identification of fast track networks. Further details of the 15 themes to be prioritised in the first call for proposals in autumn 2007 and of the assessment questions to be used to identify fast track projects are available : "letter to INTERREG IV C" - "Assessment questions"
[8 June 2007] the Committee of the Regions has adopted an opinion in support of the Regions For Economic Change initiative. The opinion prepared by Mr Ancisi states that "the initiative will provide a catalyst for good ideas that can make local and regional development schemes more effective". It calls on the Commission to be more transparent in relation to the implementation of the initiative and to ensure that regions and cities both have access to the Interreg IVC and Urbact II programmes. Commissioner Hübner spoke about the 4th Cohesion Report and Regions for Economic Change at the plenary session during which the opnion was adopted.
[4 June 2007] CLOE has been approved by the IIIC West Monitoring committee as a pilot project of the Regions for Economic Change initiative under the theme 'bringing innovative ideas quicker to the market'. The work programme, calendar and budget of the existing project have been amended in order to carry out capitalisation activities, include new partners from the new Member States and create deep delegations involving managing authorities and other decision-makers.
CLOE will in the near future develop on its web site a space for 'CLOE: the pilot project of Regions for Economic Change'.[30/04/2007] The draft operational programme for Interreg IVC has been published by the secretariat on its website following formal submission to the Commission after a final consultation round within the Programming Committee ending in April. It incorporates the fast track option described in the Regions for Economic Change communication: see in particular sections 4.4 and 6.2. Link: 
[24/04/2007] The summary proceedings of the conference "Regional Policy Responses to Demographic Challenges" on 25 and 26 January have been published and uploaded to the conference sources page. In 28 pages, the proceedings outline the discussions during the various plenary sessions as well as summaries of the nine workshops dealing with different aspects of the demographic challenge. The hard copy of the brochure contains the full set of conference materials as well as edited video highlights from the plenary sessions.
[21/03/2007] Approval in principle of a pilot network under Interreg IIIC
During March 2007 the Member States in the IIIC West Monitoring committee agreed in principle to use the CLOE project as a potential pilot capitalisation network. The Programme technical secretariat and the lead partner are now preparing a detailed proposal for a limited extension of this network until spring 2008. A final decision will be taken by the Monitoring Committee based on the work programme.The aim of the Interreg III C Project "Clusters Linked Over Europe – CLOE" is to exchange experience and information concerning the management and development of successful clusters.
Reflecting the planned role of regions in creating networks under the fast track option 2007-2013 the project itself has approached potential new partners to expand their network and are finalising proposals to test other elements of the fast track option (mainstreaming, action plans, etc.)[15/03/2007] The draft operational programme for URBACT II has been published by the secretariat on its website following a monitoring committee meeting on 15 March. It contains proposals approved by the Member States for the incorporation of the fast track option described in the Regions for Economic Change communication
Also at that meeting of the monitoring committee it was agreed in principle to use the REGENERA and UDIEX projects as potential pilot capitalisation networks. The Programme technical secretariat and the lead partners were invited to prepare detailed proposals for a limited extension of these two networks. A final decision will be taken by the Monitoring Committee based on the work programmes.[08/03/2007] Launch of RegioStars 2008
Regional policy Commissioner, Danuta Hübner, launches RegioStars 2008, the new annual awards event for innovative projects in regional development. The deadline for submitting the application forms is the 29th of June 2007, at the latest.
In order to highlight existing experience a new internet webpage on INFOREGIO is now active, making available 40 detailed case studies of innovative projects from the Period 2000-2006.
Press release
[07/03/2007] The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner opens the first annual conference under the Regions for Economic Change initiative on the theme Fostering competitiveness through innovative technologies, products and healthy communities.
Press release
[21/02/2007] The Conference brochure is published for the first annual "Regions for Economic Change" conference
The brochure for the conference "Fostering competitiveness through innovative technologies, products and healthy communities", taking place in Brussels on 7 and 8 March, is now available. The brochure presents the initiative "Regions for Economic Change" and sets in context the innovation performance of EU regions. In addition, it contains descriptions of 10 innovative projects in different spheres being funded by cohesion instruments.[25-26/01/2007] The Second "Regions for Economic Change" conference opens in Brussels: "Regional policy responses to demographic challenges" is the title of the second conference of the series 'Regions for Economic Change', organized by the European Commission's Regional Policy Directorate General.
Press release 
[12/01/2007] Launch of conference brochure for the Second thematic 'Regions for Economic Change' conference
The brochure on the conference "Regional Policy Responses to Demographic Challenges" on 25 and 26 January is now available on the website; it presents the political context, regional statistics and maps as well as descriptions of 10 projects funded by cohesion instruments dealing with different aspects of ageing society.Home
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