The European Commission's Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs is launching the second edition of European Social Economy Regions with the aim of building effective networks of social economy and social innovation stakeholders. Deadline for application is on 31st of January 2019.
The Greek capital used innovation to overcome the economic and social crisis of its past years. The European Commission recognised Athens' extraordinary efforts and awarded it with the title of the European Capital of Innovation 2018 and a €1 million prize. The runner-up cities - Aarhus (Denmark), Hamburg (Germany), Leuven (Belgium), Toulouse (France), and Umeå (Sweden) - received €100,000 each. The prize money will be used to scale up local innovation activities and work together with other cities.
The EIT invites applicants to submit their proposals with a view to forming a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in the domains of Urban Mobility and Added-value Manufacturing. The deadline for the submission of proposals is the 12th July 2018.
Managing authorities and other relevant bodies responsible for public procurement are invited to apply for a pilot project aimed at promoting the strategic use of public procurement in projects co-funded under the EU Cohesion Policy. Deadline for application: 20 April 2018.
In order to facilitate strategic interregional collaborations and strong industry involvement, and to create a project pipeline for smart specialisation investments across Europe, the Commission intends to mobilise European Strategic Cluster Partnerships. They should be composed of cluster organisations, business network organisations, technology centres and science parks aiming to boost inter-regional collaborations and innovation activities amongst groups of SMEs in specific thematic areas, related industries and value chains. Moreover, they should relate to the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Industrial Modernisation. Deadline: 8th March 2018.
In January 2018, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) will open a Call for two new KICs in the areas of Urban Mobility and Added-value Manufacturing. Information on the competition, evaluation criteria and FAQs are available on the website.
The third Interreg Europe call for project proposals intends to support policy learning among relevant policy organisations with a view to improving the performance of regional development policy instruments.
RegioStars awards identify good practices in regional development and highlight original and innovative projects that are attractive and inspiring to other regions. There are many innovation related award categories this year, including "Smart Specialisation for SME innovation", "Energy Union: Climate action", "Education and training" and "Cities in Digital Transition". Deadline for submitting applications: 10 April 2017.
