The winner of the 6th edition of the EURADA Awards was SIMORA, the Regional Development Agency of Sisak-Moslavina county, Croatia. They were awarded the Best Development Agency of 2021 trophy. SIMORA’s candidature, named “Becoming gaming expert - capacities upskilling”, was introduced in order to boost the development of the gaming industry. This is achieved through:
Educational courses of 6 months’ duration in gaming (graphics and programming) for unemployed young people held in the incubator PISMO.
Financial support during those 6-month courses.
Mentorship and consulting by PISMO employees.
At the end of the educational process, beneficiaries have the possibility to set up their own start-up in the PISMO incubator and benefit from another set of financial support instruments aimed at their growth and scaling up. It was selected as the winner thanks to its highly successful implementation and has brought innovation to the gaming industry. If you would like to know more about SIMORA, please download and watch this promotional video.
The jury also decided to give out three special mentions to some best practices committed to excellence. The first one was awarded to the Regional Development Agency of the region of Murcia (INFO), Spain. INFO’s project “in Demand. Together for better health” aims at the development of joint Digital Health solutions between healthcare organisations and companies, with the support of regional funding organisations. It is implemented in three regions. It was well appreciated by the jury as it is a prime example of a highly innovative action providing good results and promoting the cooperation between different regions. If you would like to know more about INFO, you can watch this promotional video.
In the same category, it was decided to recognise the effort of the European Business and Innovation Center of Navarra (CEIN), Spain, in the field of health with its practice "Itinerary of health entrepreneurship at CEIN". With the aim of enhancing the efficiency of the innovative health ecosystem, CEIN launched ‘MEDTECH Navarra’, a consolidated program that has established a support framework to back the detection of entrepreneurial talent and to promote, reward and support the launch of new innovative health related business activity.
This was also selected as it was a very specific program, despite being difficult to implement in the long term. Finally, ZAFER Development Agency from Kütahya, Turkey, was awarded the third special mention for its practice: “ZAFER-INOperation: Improving the Adaptability of Employers and Employees in TR33 Region”.
This practice aims to increase the adaptability of employers and employees of SMEs in the TR33 region by promoting lifelong learning and encouraging enterprises, workers, and stakeholders to invest in human resources. This candidature was recognised for its specificity, creating modules of training not only for the private sector and SMEs, but also for public officers. If you would like to know more about ZAFER, please watch this promotional video.
In case you missed it, you can download and rewatch the Awards Ceremony through this link.
For more information on the EURADA Awards, simply follow this link. You can also contact our colleague Marta TEJERINA through Awards(at)eurada.org. The next edition of the EURADA Awards will take place next winter. Stay posted for more information about it and, of course, do not miss the opportunity to submit your agency’s favourite activity of the year as a potential winner of the EURADA Awards 2022.
