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Sides and Mains: EURADA’s EWRC 2021 event suggestions

By Ivana Rae Almora

 

The European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek) is known as the biggest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to cohesion policy. This year, #EURegionsWeek will take place online with the heading "Together for recovery". With a plethora of sessions to choose from, EURADA would like to share with you its session recommendations.

From a side event topic related to SME development in the framework of the Cohesion Policy, to main event topics such as decarbonisation and citizen engagement, we are sure you will find our suggestions to be of particular interest for your agency’s priorities.  

 

Cohesion Policy 2021-2027: Creating conditions for success (12th October, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM)

The session will delve into the previous and current Cohesion Policies, understanding the differences between its priorities and its possible implications to SME development in general. Afterwards, the accomplishments of two Interreg projects will be presented, all aiming to improve policy instruments related to SMEs in their region through funds granted by the ERDF from the previous Cohesion Policy (2014-2020). Several good practices that help SMEs to scale up will be used as a starting point to better address the recovery and growth of SMEs in the upcoming 7 years while ensuring that the policy objectives of the new Cohesion Policy are met. To register for this session, click here

SMEs have been recognized and described as important actors the EU can empower to help regions recover from the pandemic. This recognition is evident in the mentions about SMEs in the budget and recovery plan the EU has drafted for the next programming period. 

 

Smart citizens for decarbonisation (13th October, 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM)

The clean energy transition cannot be understood only as a technological change or as an industrial shift. It is a socio-economic-psychological process affecting the life of local communities. In this regard, how can civil society be better involved in the energy transition? What is their role? How do we ensure that challenges and benefits of decarbonisation are fully understood in mature carbon-intensive territories? How do we identify challenges and boosters? How do we address them? These are some of the questions that the workshop will discuss. To register for this workshop, click here

The European Union's energy policy towards green transition and the phasing out of coal and fossil fuel-based industries affects all European regions and cities, although the impact will be the largest in those directly and indirectly involved in their production. It is those regions that will be faced by the strongest socio-economic effects, and hence why the EU introduced the Just Transition Fund. Decarbonisation implies different social consequences, at the same time positive and negative. Regional and local authorities are implementing policies to make green deal a real inclusive and sustainable social transition and this session facilitates learning that could be applied to these policies. 

 

Fair and inclusive citizen engagement for a new city vision in the energy transition (13th October, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM) 

Smart sustainable technologies for the energy transition are becoming common and widely available, but what about their adoption and successful use in practice? How do you engage citizens and organizations in the design, implementation and exploitation of our future resilient and sustainable cities? These are the central questions that the workshop aims to shed light on. To register for this workshop, click here.  

The session will share insights, tools, and methods for citizen engagement and participation in building resilient and sustainable cities, ensuring fair and inclusive social change towards a clean energy transition. Hands-on experience with engagement practices will be presented by Espoo (FI) and Alkmaar (NL) and the audience will discuss future challenges. The outcomes will be presented in the form of takeaways for implementation.