A first call on innovative actions in support to the New European Bauhaus will be launched in Autumn.
- 05 September 2022
Following the signature of a contribution agreement with the European Commission, the region Hauts-de-France is in charge of the implementation of the European Urban Initiative from 29 August 2022.
With a budget of around EUR 450 million for the period 2021-2027, the European Urban Initiative aims to foster innovative solutions to challenges faced by cities and to help cities tackle these challenges by building administrative capacities and increasing knowledge sharing between cities. The first innovative actions’ call for proposals of EUR 50 million will be published in coming weeks in support of the New European Bauhaus (more details on the call content available at New European Bauhaus - EUI).
Commissioner for Cohesion Policy and Reforms Elisa Ferreira said: “Cities are faced with several acute challenges concerning notably their sustainability, the fight against poverty, the integration of migrants, the necessary resilience to health crisis, the adaptation to demographic change and the good management of the digital revolution. Approaches involving citizens in urban development play an important role in tackling these challenges. I congratulate the Region Hauts-de-France for the signature of the Contribution Agreement to implement the European Urban Initiative and I am convinced that it will make the initiative a success. I am glad that a first innovative actions’ call of the EUI will be launched very soon in support of the New European Bauhaus that very much contributes to cities’ innovation and creativity to flourish”.
President of the Region Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand said: “We thank the European Commission for its support in the implementation of the European Urban Initiative. We are a region strongly involved in European cooperation to find new answers jointly to challenges that have never been so important. The success of the urban innovative actions with very concrete projects in our cities, the experience and expertise acquired by our region have encouraged us to engage in this new initiative. Indeed, we need to find innovative answers to the problems that cross our cities in order to make them more sustainable and attractive. To do this, it will be essential to include the relevant partners and citizens in urban development and we are delighted to be able to support them in their projects through the European Urban Initiative and see the development of innovative solutions across Europe to solve the multiple challenges our cities are facing”.
Background
On May 5th, 2021, the European Commission published a call for expression of interest for the selection of an entrusted entity for the indirect management of the European Urban Initiative (EUI). Subsequently, the Region Hauts-de-France (the current Urban Innovative Actions’ Entrusted Entity) was selected to become the new Entrusted Entity for the EUI.
The European Urban Initiative is a novel instrument of the urban dimension of Cohesion policy in the 2021-2027 programming period. The five Policy Objectives of Cohesion policy focused on Smarter, Greener, More Connected and More Social Europe as well as a Europe closer to Citizens will mobilise substantial investments in urban areas. A minimum 8% of the ERDF resources in each Member State must be invested in priorities and projects selected by cities themselves and based on their own sustainable urban development strategies.
The new Policy Objective ‘a Europe closer to Citizens’ has been introduced to the main policy framework as an enhanced commitment to integrated territorial development and includes a specific objective to foster sustainable urban development. It provides local actors with opportunities to take the lead in identifying and addressing their diverse challenges, and above all, to tap into their local development potentials.
Within this new Cohesion policy frame, the European Urban Initiative aims at supporting cities, encouraging them to be bold on innovation and to spread the benefits of tested solutions across Europe while supporting capacity building and evidence-based policy-making, and knowledge sharing, on sustainable urban development.
The European Urban Initiative builds on the Urban Innovative Actions of the 2014-2020 programming period, however, with new features, such as a closer definition of targeted urban innovations and expected impacts, a stronger focus on the sustainability and operational readiness of proposed actions and the support to transfer solutions to other urban areas across the EU.
The European Urban Initiative will also provide support to the Urban Agenda for the EU, and to the intergovernmental cooperation on urban matters.
The European Urban Initiative will receive an European Regional Development Fund contribution of EUR 450 million (in current prices) that is to be indirectly managed by the European Commission over 2021-2027.
More information on the European Urban Initiative key features and on the upcoming innovative actions’ call for proposals, please visit www.urban-initiative.eu