Region Västra Götaland, home to 49 municipalities and 1.7 million inhabitants, is responsible for medical care, public transport, and regional development, in addition to providing access to culture, and fostering growth and sustainable development. We work to increase our regional attractiveness and competitiveness by collaborating on many levels with our 49 municipalities, academia, the private sector, and other public and international organisations.
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Belgium
Västra Götaland is a European innovation leader, with a long tradition of being a forerunner in technical development and a strong industrial base. The region is home to several large industries such as Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, SKF and Astra Zeneca, and provide a well-established infrastructure for innovation with its five universities, six science parks, eight incubators and one third of all Swedish test beds. As much as 25 percent of Sweden’s R&I investments are invested in Västra Götaland and we are an active partner in the EU with a track record of many successful R&I projects. Region Västra Götaland’s programme Strengthening the innovation potential 2022-2025 is also the regional strategy for smart specialisation (S3). The strategy points out five focus areas: 1) Sustainable Industry, 2) Health and Life Science, 3) Food, Bio-based Materials and Renewable Energy, 4) Sustainable Mobility and Transport, 5) Tourism and Culture and Creative Industries.
Management Board members
International partners from Be.CULTOUR project community traveled to West Yorkshire from 27 to 30 May to learn more about key events and destinations in the district, including Bradford 2025, exchange successful approaches and build collaborations. The visit was organised in the frame of the peer-learning activities of Be.CULTOUR, where Saltaire Inspired, an arts charity creating contemporary art events in Saltaire Industrial Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the 16 mirror ecosystems. Among the visitors, 3 ERRIN members took part in the event, presenting their innovative approaches toward circular cultural tourism and experience as Capitals of Culture: the City of Leeuwarden, APT Basilicata and the City of Savonlinna.
CHARTER Alliance publishes a new report mapping cultural heritage stakeholders, looking at cultural heritage as an economic sector and labour market with interacting stakeholders in anticipated roles, whose dynamics, skills and competencies will affect the quality of heritage as a resource and common good.
During the recent European Research and Innovation Days, the European Commission announced the 2nd wave of signatories to the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change Charter, with a further 100 regions and local authorities signing. Of the now 215 signatories, a staggering 100 are associated with ERRIN member cities and regions.
Last month, ERRIN’s project MOSAIC ran an open call to find cities and regions preparing for the Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, interested in collaborating with MOSAIC on their citizen engagement activities. ERRIN is pleased to share that 14 ERRIN members are being engaged under this initiative.
Be.CULTOUR is one of ERRIN’s new projects led by the Italian Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development. It will mobilise five ERRIN members from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Working Group to offer real-life settings to co-create and test human-centred innovations for circular cultural tourism.
ERRIN is part of the successful CHARTER consortium led by the University of Barcelona to develop sectoral skills, funded by the Erasmus+ programme. As part of the consortium, ERRIN also involves five members of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Working Group to take part in the project’s regional activities.