European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira announced the winners.
‘These projects clearly demonstrate the added value of cohesion policy in responding to the needs of citizens. Cohesion policy has the power to positively impact citizens’ day-to-day lives – and there’s plenty more to come!’ she said.
For 2023, five of the categories were aligned with the EU’s policy priorities for the 2021-2027 period, a Europe that is: competitive and smart, green, connected, social and inclusive, and closer to citizens. The sixth category was created specifically for the European Year of Skills 2023. The seventh category was the public choice award.
A jury chose the winners of six of the categories, while the public voted for the winner of the seventh award.
A record 228 applications were submitted for all categories, and 30 finalists were shortlisted. The winners will each benefit from an EU-backed local communication campaign to promote their work.
Smart, green, and inclusive
Edificio Fundación Pasqual Maragall in Spain won the Competitive and Smart Europe category. The foundation built a state-of-the-art facility in Barcelona for research into Alzheimer’s and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
‘Thanks to the European Regional Development Fund, we deliver pioneering research to prevent, detect and eventually treat Alzheimer's disease,’ said Glòria Oliver of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation.
‘It’s a miracle that we are living so much longer, but on top of adding years to our lives, we should add life to these years.’
In the Green Europe category, the From mine to river. The Water Guardians project emerged the winner. Implemented in the Romania-Serbia border area, the project conducted research into the effects of mining pollution on soil and water, and identified how to reduce pollution and restore the area’s natural beauty.
‘All of us must be water guardians. Thank you for the prize, thank you for organising this wonderful event. I consider that all the finalists are already winners’, said Adriana Isvoran of the West University of Timișoara.
Dynaxibility4CE won the Connected Europe category for working to improve low-carbon mobility and air quality across Central Europe. The project equipped public transport authorities in seven cities and regions in Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland with tools to implement sustainable urban mobility plans.
Carsten Schuldt of the Leipzig Transport Authority said: ‘What makes the project special is that it covers the entire pathway from building pilots and having action plans in our partner cities, to guidelines for all the others, so it’s the transferability of what we did in connected mobility. Thank you, on behalf of all our partners, to the funding authority for putting connected mobility into focus.’
ProFem 2.0 triumphed in the Social and Inclusive Europe category. The project supports victims of sexual and domestic violence across Czechia through dedicated centres and an online platform. It has expanded its services to better meet victims’ needs, tripling the number of people it helps. ProFem is developing Czechia’s first comprehensive care centre for victims of sexual violence that brings all support services under one roof.
‘This topic affects a huge amount of women, a huge amount of men as well,’ said Iva Peterková of ProFem. More and better services are really needed. We are honoured to represent this project, which brings not just a change for women and survivors of sexual violence but also, we hope, systemic change.’
Special offers and skills
The jury in the Europe Closer to Citizens category selected EuregioFamilyPass as the winning entry. The project allows families in the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino Euroregion, on the Austrian-Italian border, to obtain a card that gives them special offers for cultural events, public transport and leisure and educational activities, as well as discounts on shopping. Nearly 200 000 people use the card.
‘We want to bring families closer to the Euroregion and the European Union. We foster cross-border mobility,’ said Silvia Ramoser of the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino Euroregion.
‘I’m really proud that this project is sustainable. It is continuing so that families can have these advantages in the future.’
Dutch project TechGrounds West won the European Year of Skills category. It aims to solve the mismatch between the supply of and demand for IT skills in the labour market by discovering hidden talents and helping them build careers. The project trained 227 people in Amsterdam’s New West district, and enabled 60 % of them to find work.
‘We’ve been working really hard for almost four years to change the lives of people in Amsterdam New West, Amsterdam South East, Utrecht, and Rotterdam,’ said Viktor Bos of TechGrounds.
‘We’re scaling up and, thanks to the EU funds, we were given the chance to experiment with bringing people from deprived areas without IT backgrounds to IT jobs. We learned a lot, we will continue to learn, we will continue with this for the years to come.’
Winner of the Public Choice award was Cultural Art Centre: museum and library. It has turned an abandoned building in Burgas, Bulgaria, into a cultural and educational centre housing a museum, the largest library in south-eastern Bulgaria with 600 000 books, and a community event space. In 2022, some 240 500 people visited the centre and the number of library members increased more than six-fold, from 4 000 to more than 26 000.
‘This award is magic! Thank you so much!’ said library director Jana Karshiyska.
Concluding the ceremony, Commissioner Ferreira said: ‘My warmest congratulations to the winners of this year’s Regiostars awards. Once again, I leave feeling inspired, having seen and heard about the innovative projects which are having a real impact on people’s lives across Europe.’
The Regiostars have been held annually since the European Commission introduced them in 2008.
Find out more
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_23_5767
