The European Year of Skills is coming to an end after the Pact for Skills Forum (21- 22 March) and the Closing event, taking place on 30 April, which will reflect on the achievements of the past year and on its legacy.

The work to achieve the goals set by the skills agenda to make our industrial ecosystems more globally competitive is not finished. For this reason, the ERRIN Design & Creativity WG will host an in-depth discussion with a diverse panel of actors from the cultural and creative industries involved in implementing the Pacts for Skills at different levels.

Moreover, the meeting will offer ERRIN members an overview of the current developments in the Large Scale Partnership for CCIs and some concrete ongoing examples in a dialogue with the European Commission.

It will be a moment of insight but also an invitation to engage with those already working on this issue to share ways of implementation at the regional level.

While carbon neutrality addresses all carbon dioxide emissions, net-zero encompasses all greenhouse gas emissions (including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide). In other words, it represents a more ambitious approach to achieving climate goals.

Net-zero technology is a growing field, and the EU aims to ensure its leadership through the upcoming Net Zero Industry Regulation. One of the regulation’s ambitious targets is that net-zero technology manufacturing capacity in the EU should meet at least 40% of annual demand by 2030 or be close to this level. The EU’s strategies to achieve net-zero goals include funding strategic net-zero projects, simplifying bureaucracy, developing innovative testing environments, and establishing net-zero industry academies. These academies enhance expertise and contribute to the creation of jobs based on net-zero technologies (European Commission, 2023).

Jamk University of Applied Sciences (Jamk) also wants to contribute to goal attainment, initially through the National Development Fund (AKKE). With this funding, Jamk launched a “Net Zero Industry Academy” project on 1 February 2024. The project aims to identify net-zero technology-related competence and development needs in Finland by the end of November 2024. Additionally, it seeks to create a training model tailored to their requirements, which will be piloted in the future. Ultimately, Jamk aims to establish a net-zero industry academy aligned with the EU’s net-zero regulations and industry demands. Current net-zero technologies include solar electricity and heating, electrolysis devices, fuel cells, wind power, sustainable biogas/methane, battery technology, and carbon capture and utilisation (European Commission, 2023).

Additionally, one of the project's main goals is to engage a wide range of companies and other stakeholders with whom the net-zero approach can be further developed in Central Finland and Finland. The unique testing, development, and training environment at Saarijärvi Bioeconomy campus provides an excellent foundation for operating the Net Zero Industry Academy, leveraging expertise across different educational levels. With the green transition, net-zero technologies offer tremendous business growth potential for Central Finland and Finland!

Riikka Kumpulainen

Vanhempi asiantuntija, Senior Advisor

Biotalousinstituutti, Institute of Bioeconomy

Teknologia, School of Technology

+358505759454

firstname.lastname@jamk.fi

The Health Working Group meeting will update colleagues on the European Commission’s initiatives linked to staff and skills shortages and training and up-skilling of the health workforce, exploring how regions and their health and innovation ecosystems can be involved in these initiatives. The event will take place at the ERRIN offices on 15 May from 14:30-16:00.

Three partnerships on the health workforce and skills will be presented, along with an update from the European Commission. There will be time for questions for each of the speakers.  

Please register using the register button on the right, which is available once logged in. 

The draft agenda can be found on the right. 

On the occasion of the 9th European Cluster Conference, Mobile Heights is pleased to invite you to Brussels for an informal networking cocktail. You will have the chance to meet the entire Mobile Heights team, as well as representatives from various organisations in the Swedish and European innovation ecosystems. We hope to see you there!

The event will take place at Rue du Luxembourg 3, Brussels, on 6 May 17:30-19:30.

Please confirm your participation no later than 30 April to alma.sandberg@mobileheights.org 

ABOUT MOBILE HEIGHTS

Mobile Heights is a non-profit ICT cluster organisation and networking community promoting innovation and growth in the digital world by connecting business, academia and society. Our focus is the Future Digital World in the areas of:

• Digital Health,
• Digital Society and
• Digital Manufacturing & Materials.

Mobile Heights was founded in 2009 by Sony, Ericsson, Telia, Region Skåne, Lund University, and Malmö University. Today, we have more than 120 members in Southern Sweden. Mobile Heights has its headquarters in Lund, Sweden, and is a Gold Labe Cluster. 

Find out more here.

On 18 April, the RESIST project, in which ERRIN is a partner, organised a webinar for the stakeholders from the regional ecosystems involved in the project. The webinar focused on existing solutions to foster citizens' engagement in Climate Change adaptation activities.

During the event, three solutions were presented:

CoTowns: technology to reward citizens who contribute to a sustainable urban environment.

CoTown is a new and innovative startup that offers services and solutions for cities that aim to become more sustainable. This technology provides civic engagement programmes and a platform that empowers communities and engages citizens in behavioural change. People are encouraged to develop positive behaviours, which are rewarded with a local digital currency. This currency can be used to support local businesses and make it easier for people to give back to their community. By promoting positive behaviours and offering incentives, CoTown makes it easier for people to get involved in local support efforts.

Maptionnaire: a platform to design and manage community engagement.

Maptionnaire is a digital tool for marking places, routes, and spaces on a map, facilitating the sharing of experiences and opinions. It helps collect data from stakeholders and residents to facilitate decision-making processes. The tool generates standardised reports based on responses, fulfilling bureaucratic requirements. The engagement webpage allows comments and feedback, making collaborations simple and inclusive. Maptionnaire aims to increase transparency and trust in local communities and involve them in decision-making.

MI4pADAPT DiY manual for Stakeholder and Citizen engagement.

This manual was created as part of the EU Mission Implementation Platform for Adaptation to Climate Change (MIP4Adapt) and is intended for regional and local authorities. It aims to help them engage stakeholders and mobilise citizens in climate change adaptation planning. The manual provides guidance on the six main steps of the climate change adaptation planning process outlined in the Regional Adaptation Support Tool (RAST) and offers proven tools and methods to facilitate a "whole-of-society" approach that includes everyone. The manual is based on four key concepts: communication, engagement, connection, and action enablement.

In the upcoming months, RESIST will launch a call for Regions interested in joining the Community of Interest project and participating in its mutual learning programme.

The RESIST project is a five-year EU-funded project coordinated by SINTEF in collaboration with INOVA+, which will support twelve regions across the EU in their efforts to build resilience against the impacts of climate change. Three ERRIN members: Southwest Finland, Central Denmark, Catalonia, and the fourth region of Central Portugal will be the frontrunner regions (Large-Scale Demonstrators - LSDs) testing adaptation solutions to key climate-related challenges in their area. Each of these four regions will be twinned with two other regions with similar biophysical characteristics. Southwest Finland will work with Normandy (France) and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (Greece); Central Denmark with Blekinge (Sweden) and Zemgale (Latvia); Catalonia with Puglia (Italy) and Baixo Alentejo (Portugal), and Central Portugal with Vesteralen (Norway) and Extremadura (Spain), many of them being ERRIN members.

The project, in accordance with the EU Mission: Adaptation to Climate Change and through its four pilot regions, will test adaptation solutions to five key climate challenges: floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and soil erosion. The project involves 56 partners from the EU, Norway and Ukraine.

The New European Bauhaus Task Force is looking for a new leader to join the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen – South Tyrol, Helsinki EU Office, Scotland Europa and Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region in the leadership.

Being a Task Force leader allows members to advance regional priorities and set the agenda for their Task Force and the wider network, strengthening collaboration between members in their thematic area.

The goal of the NEB Task Force is to follow the EU-level developments of the initiative as well as showcase activities carried out at the local level to demonstrate concrete examples and results and build momentum towards a stronger NEB initiative. One of the main objectives of the task force is to develop members' understanding of the NEB initiative and, consequently, their capacity to maximise their engagement with it, particularly engaging their local ecosystems and building new collaborations. As an NEB partner, ERRIN aims to strengthen the policy dialogue with the EU institutions, with the NEB Task Force driven by the most active members in the NEB topic.

To expand the expertise of the leaders’ group, we are looking for a member with deep knowledge and interest in the New European Bauhaus Initiative and connected sectors (architecture, energy, social inclusion, arts, etc.) and awareness of regional needs, experience and expertise in this area. Among other criteria, we will consider the capacity and the portfolio of the candidate and the member organisation (e.g. involvement in related EU projects or initiatives), as well as geographical and gender balance among leaders.  

Please express your interest by emailing francesca.pozzebon@errin.eu, stating your professional motivation and what you would like to achieve as a Task Force leader by 10 May 2024 EOB.

Converging technologies, such as bio- and nanotechnologies, engineering, digitalisation and big data, have transformational power to drive research and innovation towards the healthcare of the future. Prominent academics and policymakers will delve into compelling topics and technologies and the potential of the different European partnerships and infrastructures during the captivating two-day conference ‘The Convergence of Technologies Enabling R&I for the Healthcare of the Future’ conference on 28 and 29 May 2024, in The EGG, Brussels.

Next to a programme full of insightful keynotes, this conference is a great opportunity to get more insights into the potential of technologies and innovative approaches for better well-being and health.

This Belgian presidency conference is coordinated by the Department for Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flemish government, in collaboration with the Research Department of the Public Service of Wallonia, the Department for Care of the Flemish government and Sciensano, and is co-financed by DG RTD of the European Commission. 

Read more and register here.

Cities and regions play an essential role in the transition towards a more circular society as they operate in key sectors like waste management, mobility, energy, land use and many others.

CircularInvest is one of the Project Development Assistance projects (PDA) operating under the EU's Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI). It supports project promoters by providing the support they need to develop investment-ready circular economy projects at local and regional scales. CircularInvest will help cities and regions implement circular strategies by removing obstacles and closing the gap between circular economy project promoters and investors.

CircularInvest´s PDA services are tailored for circular projects with a sufficient level of maturity that offer a minimum viable product/service or scalable prototype and adopt a clear business model that demonstrates the projects´ economic potential. The projects should be innovative, providing unique benefits or advantages to customers compared to existing alternatives and generate positive impacts (environmental, economic, social) in one or more territories (sub-national, local or regional) in one or more countries eligible in CircularInvest.

Through CircularInvest´s services, circular economy project promoters will have the opportunity to:

• Benefit from tailored mentoring sessions delivered by experts to improve the supported projects´ circularity, provide/review a business plan and help secure funding.
• Participate in peer-to-peer online workshops with the other supported circular economy project promoters.
• Join online and live pitch sessions with potential investors.
• Take part in knowledge transfer, networking events, and the Circular Investment Readiness Network. 
• Promote their projects through CircularInvest channels.

More information

You can find the call information here. Deadline for application is 13 September 2024, 17:00 CET. Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the CircularInvest platform (see section 5 on Application submission). Paper or email application submissions are not admissible.

ERRIN is one of ten contracting partners in the European Circular Cities and Regions Initiative Coordination and Support Office and also manages the CCRI-Helpdesk. ERRIN assumes the Community Management’s role in setting up multi-stakeholder dialogues during this four-year project, reaching out to cities and regions and maximising their growth in circular economy implementation. Based on the selection results of an open call, 12 selected Pilots benefit from four years of knowledge-sharing with technical support to speed up their circular policy implementation. More specifically, the 12 Pilots will demonstrate and facilitate the replication of at least one Circular Systemic Solution in a specific territory. Furthermore, the 25 selected Fellows liaise with the Pilot group to engage in this multistakeholder learning process, liaising them with industry representatives, research and technology organisations and civil society stakeholders across Europe. CCRI is aiming for the highest ambition and best ideas to capitalise on cross-sectorial cooperation and innovation and the most significant potential for transferability of these Circular Systemic Solutions (CSS) to other cities, regions and territorial clusters.

Interested in joining the CCRI Community? Sign up for the CCRI Newsletter and participate in the upcoming CCRI events. 

The European Commission has launched  new calls for proposals to support research and innovation for its five EU Missions and the New European Bauhaus (NEB).

ERRIN encourages all members and their stakeholders to express interest in the EU Missions and NEB calls through the ERRIN Project Development Tool (PDT). As calls become available, they will appear on the PDT, enabling ERRIN members to connect with stakeholders who have expressed interest in the same calls, fostering collaboration and partnership opportunities. Based on the expressions of interest received for the Missions and NEB calls in the coming month, ERRIN Working Groups and Task Forces can look to organise dedicated project development activities.  

External actors interested in potentially coordinating project proposals under the calls are welcome to present their project ideas through the partner search functionality on the ERRIN website.

ERRIN is also organising an online information session on the functionalities of the PDT for its wider membership on Tuesday 7 May at 14:00. Learn and register here by Friday 3 May.  

Potential applicants will receive a comprehensive overview of the diverse range of topics at the EU Missions Info Days organised by the Commission on 25 and 26 April. In addition, the calls under the New European Bauhaus Destination and the cross-cutting activities will be presented in separate sessions.