The European Commission launched a call on Friday 29 September for applications from European regions for inclusion in two pilot projects, one to help regions in “industrial transition” and the other to set in place inter-regional partnerships in key economic sectors.
Both pilot projects were announced in July by Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Crețu and Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen (see EUROPE 11832).
Five regions will be selected for the first of the two pilots which is aimed firstly at regions going through industrial transition but also at more developed regions. Those selected will receive tailored support from experts both at the Commission and outside (experts in financial instruments, business consultants, researchers, etc.). Up to €200,000 per region will be available to cover the costs of the external expertise, with the money coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Additional support from the European observatory for clusters and industrial change to help regions build cluster policies and link better local firms, research centres and academia will also be available. Furthermore, up to €300,000 from the ERDF will be allocated to support the early implementation of the economic transformation strategies in the regions shortlisted.
The Commission may repeat the call to shortlist five more regions, with a new and similar budget.
The aim of the second pilot project is, the Commission says, to “commercialise and scale-up ‘bankable’ interregional projects” in priority sectors, such as big data, bio-economy, resource efficiency, connected mobility, health and active ageing or cybersecurity. Transnational partnerships will include regional authorities from at least four different EU countries and involving universities, research centres, clusters and businesses.
Between five and ten inter-regional partnerships may be selected by the Commission and will benefit from tailored support by special teams established within the Commission and involving experts from several thematic departments and external experts, along the same lines as the first pilot project. Here again the ERDF will provide the support totalling €1 million.
Regions can apply until 31 October 2017. The results of the calls will be published in early December. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)