Programme description
Main objectives
The OP will contribute to promoting the competitiveness of the regional economy and the region's sustainable development and internal cohesion, as well as the region's contribution to the achievement of the key EU and national development goals:
- 35% of the OP resources are allocated to supporting the competitiveness of and innovation in SMEs.
- More than 6 % of the resources will boost research and technical development (RTD) and innovation, helping the country reach its national Europe 2020 target by increasing its GDP spend on RTD from 2.7% to 3.3 % (1.5% in 2011). In particular, the OP contribution is expected to foster RTD and innovation knowledge transfer to SMEs.
- Around 7.5% will be dedicated to promoting employment and enhancement of endogenous resources - contributing to achieving the national Europe 2020 target of 75% of 20-64 year‐olds in employment (69.1 % in 2011).
- More than 12% will be dedicated to promoting education and qualification - helping the country reach its national Europe 2020 target to bring early school leaving down to 10% (from 23.2% in 2011).
- Almost 12% of resources will be used to promote sustainable urban development.
- Almost 15% of the OP funding aims to support the shift towards a low-carbon economy (investments in energy efficiency and sustainable mobility); these funds will contribute to Portugal's national Europe 2020 target to have 31% of energy deriving from renewable sources (compared to 27.3 % in 2011). To ensure the sustainable development of the energy sector, the support will improve energy efficiency and sustainable mobility.
In the OP, the ESF thematic concentration is 17.7% of total ESF allocation. The ESF share of the OP is 17.1%.
Funding priorities
The Programme will focus on 9 main priorities:
- Competitiveness and SME internationalisation;
- Education and qualification;
- Research, technological development and innovation;
- Sustainable urban development;
- Employment and economic enhancement of endogenous resources;
- Social cohesion and inclusion;
- Energy efficiency and mobility;
- Environment and sustainability;
- Institutional capacity building and modernising the administration.
Expected impacts
- Increase the value of exports in % of business volume of SME to 15%;
- 65% of SMEs with 10 and more employees engaging in Innovation activities;
- 92% of pupils to benefit from upgraded primary and secondary schools;
- Increase the capacity of childcare or education infrastructure to cater for a further 4,777 children;
- Support some 80 research projects in the region;
- 22 more enterprises cooperating with research institutions ;
- Support some 25 sustainable urban mobility projects in the region, including cycle paths and development of intelligent public transport systems;
- Support the rehabilitation of some 734 households in urban areas;
- Entire population to benefit from improved health services, including 80 health and social utilities supported;
- Facilitate some 6,400 people into socially necessary jobs;
- Increase the % of households with improved energy classification by 4,121;
- Contribute to an annual decrease of greenhouse gases of some 17,323 CO2eq tons;
- Support to some 5,000 SMEs, with grants or other repayable forms of support;
- Contribute to create some 4,250 direct jobs.
Programme text
Programa Operacional Regional do Alentejo 2014-2020
Funds
Regional Development Fund (ERDF): 903.118.506,00 €
European Social Fund (ESF): 179.825.865,00 €
Thematic priorities
View the dataFinancial information
Total OP budget: 1.302.840.179,00 €
Total EU contribution: 1.082.944.371,00 €
View the data