The Be.CULTOUR project, in which ERRIN is a partner, is hosting its final conference in Naples on 5-6 June.

Leveraging the interest of its Cultural Heritage and Tourism Working Group, ERRIN managed to mobilise Pilot Heritage Sites from its members' ecosystems in Cyprus, Spain (Aragon), Italy (Basilicata), Sweden (Vastra Gotaland), Romania (North-East Romania) to build a member-driven community of practice which - together with the Vojvodina Region (Serbia) - constitutes the heart of the project's activities. ERRIN is also leading a community of 16 additional regions, following closely the Pilot Heritage Sites innovative action plans, while being responsible for peer-learning activities and exchange of good practices, both online and onsite.

During the conference, the Be.CULTOUR Community will share the insights and results achieved during more than three years of intensive work to define and implement a European circular cultural tourism model, engaging stakeholders’ innovation networks in 6 pilot heritage sites in less-known and remote areas and 16 mirror innovation ecosystems.

On Thursday 6 June from 15:00 to 16:30 ERRIN will host a dynamic session outstanding examples from Be.CULTOUR Community of Interest, sharing the diverse approaches and strategies implemented by the regions and enhancing cooperation among different regional stakeholders.

Livestream of the event will be possible by registering here by Monday 3 June 2024. Please find more information here.

The Monitoring and Measuring Working Group of Living-in.EU is organising its first meeting in 2024 on Friday, 31 May 2024, from 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST). This event will be held online only and will be open to all interested participants.  

The meeting will tackle the existing initiatives and projects implemented at European, regional and local levels to measure and monitor digital transformation. Organised as a comprehensive information session, it aims to:  

• Explore the wider landscape of tools used to monitor and report digital maturity at the local and regional levels.
• Share good practices and learn from existing tools created and implemented by local and regional authorities. 
• Understand the synergies between the different instruments and initiatives to ensure that local and regional authorities' needs are taken into account at the EU level.

A first roundtable will be organised with different representatives to present the Digital Decade (European Commission), the Digital Maturity Assessment for Digital Innovation Hubs (JRC), regional indicators (Eurostat), as well as different projects from ESPON.
 
Moreover, a second roundtable will give opportunities to local and regional authorities to present their own monitoring solutions and tools to other participants and European institutions representatives. 

You can register for the event through this link.   

The European Innovation Procurement Awards (EUIPA) recognises powerful cases of public and private buyers (procurers) on using innovation procurement practices across Europe. It aims to support the community of European procurers to share, work together and inspire each other in the design of innovative procurement processes, and particularly in the delivery of modern and efficient public services.

On 30 May 2024, from 14:00 to 15:00 (CEST), the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) is organising an informative webinar to learn more about the European Innovation Procurement Awards (EUIPA). 

You can register to the event through this link.

This year, two prize categories were identified: Innovation procurement initiative and Facing societal challenges “Net Zero Industry Procurement". The winners in each category can be rewarded with up to EUR 75 000. Submission can be made in your national language. The prize competition is open to different types of procurement initiatives:

• Procurements of R&D,

• Procurements of innovative solutions,

• Initiatives that trigger several innovation procurements (e.g. innovation procurement programmes setup by procurers themselves or by policy makers in their city/region/country).

The prize competition is expected to be published on 26 June 2024 and remain open until 26 September 2024. You can find more information on the dedicated webpage here. 

Innovation often occurs in isolation, with minimal public engagement. However, this is gradually changing. By placing the general public at the centre of the research and innovation process, we can better understand and address people's needs, values, and expectations, creating innovations that truly resonate with them.

What is the added value of this approach to innovation, where the public is engaged through actual open innovation or knowledge valorisation? What are the pitfalls if you don’t engage them? To answer these questions, the REINFORCING project will host a series of training workshops.

The first workshop in the series will take place online on 18 June between 14:30-16:30 CET. The workshop series will combine theory with practical examples, exploring the benefits of citizen engagement in innovation settings and opening up opportunities for participants to reflect on how this could apply to their own innovation processes.

For whom is the workshop?

This workshop will be relevant to researchers and innovators, professionals from business incubators, start-ups, SMEs, technology transfer units, funding agencies or public bodies related to innovation – anyone with experience in R&I processes who is curious about the role that societal engagement could play.

Learn more about the workshop here,

EU Committee of the Regions rapporteur’s expert will present the CoR water resilience opinion. This will be followed by water resilience case studies,  featuring technology and nature based solutions from across Europe,  including the South of France and Grenada in Spain and a cutting edge LIFE project - a circular water management strategy for the harvesting and reuse of rainwater in cities.

To register to the event, please click here.

Deadline for registration is this Wednesday 29 May.

Please note that only fully registered participants can be given access to the building.

Pratical Tips: 

- To access the meeting room please enter by entrance at Rue Van Maerlant, 2 (and NOT the regular Committee of the Regions entrance on Rue Belliard)

 - Coffee is being served on the second-floor reception area from 09:15

Dear colleagues,

ERRIN has decided to support an initiative launched by the Regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (France) and Emilia-Romagna (Italy) to defend the future of Cohesion Policy. In view of the ongoing discussion on the future of cohesion policy after 2027 and the signals from the Commission regarding the possibility of including elements of the RRF model (i.e centralisation of the policy), a number of regions from various Member States have prepared a joint letter to President Von der Leyen with a request for a meeting on this issue and presenting main regional postulates. 

The attached letter was addressed last week to Ursula von der Leyen requesting a meeting with European Regions with the support of 111 European Regions.

We are reaching out to you today to secure additional support from European Regions from all possible countries that consider it useful to defend cohesion policy.

Given the wish of other regions to adhere, the organisers would like to resend the letter with new logos at the end of this week. Every interested region can therefore still provide their regional logo by Thursday 30 May at the latest.

We therefore ask that you come back to us to confirm if your Region agrees to be a co-signatory to the letter. Please also send your logo file which will be inserted in the letter to the following emails: aki.ishiwa@regione.emilia-romagna.it and marion.chauveau@nouvelle-aquitaine.fr

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

The EU project PREPARE is looking for speakers with expertise on instruments like Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and/or Open Innovation to foster collaboration between public procurers and innovative companies following demand-driven approaches, to join a workshop on 27 June in Brussels. Those with experience or interest in incorporating procurement of innovation policies in Smart Specialisation Strategies are also invited to contribute.

If you are experienced in exploring new models to incorporate innovation in the public sector, you are our target to be a speaker!  

In order to apply as a speaker, please contact Carlos González: carlos.gonzalez@ticbiomed.net

The event will take place in person on 27 June from 9:00-12:30, at Avenue des Arts 3, Brussels (Region of Murcia office). Learn more and register here.

PREPARE brings together 4 regions that are interacting with the local ecosystems to design novel policies that promote demand-driven co-creation for the benefit of local public services, SMEs and citizens.

During the upcoming workshop, regional stakeholders related to innovation policies and their counterpart offices in Brussels will be invited to:

• Understand the benefits of the collaboration between public organizations and local innovators.
• Learn the feedback acquired from the local stakeholders of the Prepare regions.
• Share their own experiences and interests.
• Make proposals to design policies adapted to the regional realities.
• Access to a database of 300+ knowledge resources.

Gothenburg European Office, EurEau and Svenskt Vatten invite you to their EU Green Week Partner Event: An ambitious EU Chemicals Strategy and a broad PFAS restriction – a requisite for urban water resilience, discussing which key actions we see as necessary for tackling PFAS pollution in our water bodies.

By focusing on upstream (control at source) measures, the Polluter Pays Principle and introducing a ban on PFAS chemicals, they consider how ensuring an ambitious implementation of the EU Chemicals Strategy can help meet the zero-pollution ambition and increase coherence of EU water policy, ensuring we all have enough safe and affordable water to fulfil all of society’s needs. 

The event will take place in Rue du Commerce 31, 1000 Bruxelles, on 4 June 2024, 14:00 - 16:15 CET.

To register for the event, click here.

Please note! Due to a limited number of on-site places, your registration is pending confirmation. Register before 3 June 2024 CET: 16:00.

Moderator

• Svenskt Vatten, Senior Environmental Advisor, Anders Finnson

Speakers

• European Commission (DG ENVI), Policy Officer, Valentina Bertato 
• EurEau, Secretary General, Oliver Loebel 
• Chemsec, Senior Chemicals and Business Advisor, Jonatan Kleimark
• City of Gothenburg (The sustainable waste and water department), R&D Manager, Lena Blom

The EU project Prepare brings together four regions (Murcia, Spain; Oulu, Finland; Skåne, Sweden; and Bucharest-Ilfov, Romania) that are interacting with the local ecosystems to design novel policies that promote demand-driven co-creation for the benefit of local public services, SMEs and citizens. Prepare aims to help unlock the potential of innovation procurement to turn regional needs into opportunities.

The project's first round of insights, resources and best practices will be shared in a public workshop. Regional stakeholders related to innovation policies and their counterpart offices in Brussels are invited to:

• Understand the benefits of the collaboration between public organisations and local innovators;
• Learn from the feedback acquired from the local stakeholders of the Prepare regions;
• Share their own experiences and interests;
• Make proposals to design policies adapted to the regional realities;
• Access a database of 300+ knowledge resources.

The event will take place in person on 27 June from 9:00-12:30 at the Region of Murcia office in Brussels.

Please register here before 25 June.

14% of the EU’s GDP is spent through public procurement. The acquisition of innovation by public administrations does not only improves the services offered to citizens but also provides business opportunities to local entrepreneurs. This is why the EC has launched instruments like Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) or Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) to foster collaboration between public procurers and innovative companies. However, regions cannot directly transpose these instruments due to their complexity and high funding requirements. Therefore, the Prepare project aims to address the need to explore new models that tap into the promise of incorporating innovation in the public sector while increasing business competitiveness, and that are adapted to the reality of regions.

Together for EU Tourism (T4T) is excited to invite you to participate in the "Food Waste Management in Tourism" webinar. The event will take place online, on 10 June 2024,10:00–12:00 (CET).

This webinar aims to raise awareness about the general issue of food waste and specifically within the tourism sector, provide actionable guidance for stakeholders, and showcase effective practices for reducing food waste. By the end of the webinar, participants should have a clearer understanding of the critical role that sustainable food management plays in achieving broader sustainability goals. They will gain access to tools, strategies, and best practices that can inspire and facilitate the implementation of effective food waste reduction programs within their operations. The discussions and insights provided will also contribute to broader industry efforts to transition towards more sustainable and regenerative food systems in tourism.

The webinar is open to all interested participants, so we encourage you to share the registration link with your network.

To register for the webinar, click here.