Brussels, 01/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 31 March Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn presented the RegioStars 2014 Awards for the best regional projects.
The winners were chosen from 19 shortlisted projects co-financed by investments from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund.
In the Smart Growth category, the “Art on Chairs“ project from Paredes in North Portugal won the award, for breathing new life into the traditional furniture industry.
In the Sustainable Growth category it was the BEACON project that won. This was developed in West Wales and the Valleys (UK). The project focuses on biorefining: a process using non-food crops to create biomass to be used in products instead of crude oil. In the Inclusive Growth category the “Fifteen Cornwall Apprenticeship Programme” from Cornwall in theUK won the RegioStars prize. This offers a chance to 130 unemployed young people to train as chefs. Finally, the “CityStar” project won the Ecological Transport category award. This project improves transport in the cities of Gdynia, Gdansk and Sopot in Poland with the introduction of electric trolleybuses that are both accessible and comfortable.
Hahn underlined the fact that these finalists should be a source of inspiration for other regions and cities throughout Europe because of their “innovative and dynamic approaches” to the use of Structural Funds for boosting growth and creating jobs. He added that “they demonstrate that EU Regional Policy relies above all on the energy and creativity locally”. (MD)