Open call: Technical Assistance

Between 11 September and 20 October 2023, a call for expression of interest was launched for EU regions to receive Technical Assistance foreseen under Pillar 1 of the Talent Booster Mechanism. This call was open to 46 EU regions from 11 Member States that are experiencing an accelerated decline of their working age population and lagging levels of tertiary education.

Read more about the call below.

Introduction

In January 2023 the European Commission published a Communication on Harnessing Talent in Europe’s regions, with a focus on the undergoing significant demographic changes in EU, marked by an ageing population, declining birth rates, and an exodus of young, skilled workers from several regions. In order to help regions address demographic challenges, the Communication announced the launch of the Talent Booster Mechanism, which is a dedicated eight-pillar mechanism that seeks to boost talent in regions facing or at risk of facing a talent development trap. The Mechanism supports EU regions affected by the accelerated decline of their working age population to train, retain and attract the people, the skills and the competences needed to address the impact of the demographic transition.

As part of the Talent Booster Mechanism, Pillar 1 – Technical Assistance – directs assistance to the regions selected out of 46 eligible EU regions with a view to support regional and local authorities in developing strategic thinking and actionable frameworks to address the untapped potential of their tertiary educated labour force and to mitigate the challenges linked to demographic change and brain drain, supporting the identification of needs and priorities and providing advice and methodological support.

To receive this support, a call for expression of interest for Technical Assistance opened from September 11 to October 20, 2023.

Detailed information about the call

For more details on the Technical Assistance provided by Pillar 1 of the Talent Booster Mechanism, please review this guidelines document accompanying the call for expression of interest:

Eligible regions

The target group of the Technical Assistance under Pillar 1 of the TBM were the 46 regions identified by the European Commission as being in a talent development trap - experiencing an accelerated decline of their working age population and lagging levels of tertiary education:

*The regions addressed by the communication on "Harnessing talent in Europe’s regions" were based on the previous Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2016. The latest NUTS 2021 classification sees a split of the former 2016 NUTS 2 Region HR04 in Croatia into 3 separate Regions: HR02 (Panonska Hrvatska), HR05 (Grad Zagreb), HR06 (Sjeverna Hrvatska). All 3 of these regions were therefore invited to apply for technical assistance via Pillar 1 of the Talent Booster Mechanism.

Find more about the selected regions here: Selected regions

Who could express interest?

From these regions, the eligible applicants were the regional public administrations with implementing powers at NUTS 2 level, in the countries where these are in place: Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal.

As an exception, it was proposed that in the Member States where there are no NUTS 2 regional administrative bodies, the eligible stakeholders could be regional development agencies, managing authorities of Regional Operational Programmes, other regional public administrations or national Ministries responsible for selecting one region and submitting its application within the set deadline.

Examples are detailed below:

• Romania: Regional Development Agencies as Managing Authorities of the ROPs
• Bulgaria: Regional Development Councils
• Hungary: Ministry of Territorial Development with a pilot for one of the regions, to be preselected at national level
• Croatia: Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds with a pilot for one of the regions, to be preselected at national level

These types of administrative entities could have an active role in liaising with implementing stakeholders within the project.

For the particular case of Hungary and Croatia, the Ministry would be proposing the region they would like to represent. They would need to submit the application form within the same deadline.

What type and scope of technical assistance will be provided?

The purpose of the support is Ito assist regional and local authorities in addressing their untapped potential for tertiary educated labour force and mitigate the challenges linked to demographic change and brain drain, supporting the identification of needs and priorities and providing advice and methodological support in order to attract, retain and develop talents.

The level of resources is expected to be in the range of 55 expert-days per region. This range may differ depending on the scope of the technical assistance needed and the overall demand for the support. At the end of the exercise, each region will receive a dedicated strategic roadmap in the form of a report including an action plan. In addition to the strategic report, the selected regions also have the possibility to request an analytical paper on specific issues that need deeper analysis, and to discuss their particular challenges and development vision in the context of the four working groups that are part of the Harnessing Talent Platform.

Selection of regions

The 46 eligible regions are spread across 11 EU Member States. The Technical Assistance is being delivered to 11 EU regions, with the objective of providing support to one eligible region per Member State.

The selection criteria were based on:

• Clarity of motivation to receive expert support.
• Relevance and articulation of a specific challenge in the view of diagnosis included in the Communication.
• Demonstrated operational readiness to engage with the experts.
• Demonstrated potential for embedding results of the support in the Cohesion policy interventions.

How to apply

Applications are closed.

Timeline

1. 11 September – 20 October 2023

   Call for members open
2. October – November 2023

   Selection of regions
3. November 2023

   Results are communicated to selected regions
4. December 2023 – May 2026

   Implementation process with the regions