Brussels, 11/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Five projects financed by the European structural funds will be publicly recognised on Thursday 14 June at the prize-giving of the RegioStars competition. Every year, this competition looks for the best practices in regional development, so that they can be used as a source of inspiration for other regions. Out of 107 contenders, the most original and innovative projects are selected. These 24 projects are divided into five categories, which cover innovative services (7), eco-system services (5), projects taking account of demographic change and active ageing (4), the integrated development of deprived urban areas (4) and information and communication (4). Competition covers all regions from Portugal to Sweden via Hungary; other projects are characterised by their cross-border nature. Under the leadership of Luc Van Den Brande, the former president of the Committee of the Regions, the jury will reveal its favourite project from each category this Thursday. This is the fifth time the competition has been held, and the call for applications is already open for the 2013 crop.
The closing ceremony will be held on the eve of another key conference on cohesion policy, organised by the European Commission: “Regions for economic change 2012”. This year's theme will be “The power of research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation.” (MD/transl.fl)