REGIOSTARS Awards 2014
There are five RegioStars Award categories for 2014:
- SMART GROWTH: SME innovation
- SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: Green growth and jobs through Bio-economy
- INCLUSIVE GROWTH: Creating jobs for the young generation
- CITYSTAR: Investment projects in sustainable urban public transport
- INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION: Investment projects in sustainable urban public transport
Award criteria
- Innovative character of the project
- Expected sustainability of the project under cat. 1 to 4: Evidence could include development towards self-financing or demonstration that the project has or will be part of a succession of projects sequentially funded by other EU financial instruments.
- Expected sustainability of the project under cat. 5: Evidence could include development towards self-financing.
- Project's results in enhancing local, regional and interregional partnerships: Evidence could include demonstration that the project was inspired by another region's project/programme or shared with another region.
Chairman
Mr Luc Van den Brande (BE) - European Commission, Special adviser to Commissioner Hahn for multilevel governance issues in cohesion policy and the EU2020 Strategy.
Category 1: Smart growth: SME innovation
Ms. Christine Oughton (UK), SOAS, University of London - Professor of Management Economics
Category 2: Sustainable growth: Green growth and jobs through Bio-economy
Mr Niels Götke (DK) - Research Ministry, Danish Agency for Science - Technology and Innovation (DASTI), Head of Division
Category 3: Inclusive growth: Creating jobs for the young generation
Mr Gábor Kátai (HU) - Szimpla, Head of the Information and Youth Office
Category 4: CityStar: Investment projects in sustainable urban public transport
Mr Siegfried Rupprecht (DE) - Rupprecht Consult, Owner and Executive Director
The RegioStars Awards Jury has announced the finalists for the RegioStars 2014 awards which honour Europe's most inspirational and innovative regional projects. The RegioStars Awards Jury singled out 19 finalists from 80 projects supported by EU cohesion policy funds on the basis of four key criteria: innovation, impact, sustainability and partnership.
The finalists come from regions and cities in 17 Member States: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
They will be showcasing their projects before the awards jury, chaired by former Committee of the Regions President Luc Van den Brande, on 8 October during the 11th annual European Week of Regions and Cities – OPEN DAYS 2013. The winners will be announced at the Award Ceremony presented by Commissioner Hahn in Brussels on 31 March 2014.
The 2014 finalists, in no particular order, are as follows:
Category 1 - SMART GROWTH: SME innovation
- "JIC Innovation Park" – South Moravia (CZ)
- "The Road Towards Entrepreneurial Poland" - Masovian Voivodeship (PL)
- "Art on Chairs" – North (PT)
- "NovaMedTech" - East-Mid Sweden (SE)
- "Innovating For Growth" - London (UK)
- "CATE" - Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak (ETC – SE, DK, NO)
Category 2. SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: Green growth and jobs through Bio-economy
- "Ecoponto em casa" – North (PT)
- "BEACON" - West Wales and the Valleys (UK)
- "ORGANEXT" - Euregio Meuse-Rhine (ETC – BE, DE, NL)
- "ARBOR" – North West Europe (ETC – UK, IE, DE, LU, NL, BE)
Category 3. INCLUSIVE GROWTH: Social innovation - Creating jobs for the young generation
- "Einstiegszeit" (All aboard for young people in Brandenburg) – Brandenburg (DE)
- "SAS – Springboard for the active guidance of young job-seekers" – Limousin (FR)
- "Ideas! New enterprises!" – Umbria (IT)
- "Fifteen Cornwall Apprenticeship Programme" – Cornwall (UK)
- "Mini Europe" – Province of Flevoland (ETC – NL, UK, SE, ES, HU, RO, GR, IT)
Category 4. CITYSTAR: Investments projects in sustainable urban public transport
- "Ecological transport" – Gdynia (PL)
- "Transport in Kielce" – Kielce (PL)
- "Swansea City Bus Station" - Swansea (UK)
- "Ticket to Kyoto" (T2K)" - Brussels, Bielefeld, Manchester, Paris, Rotterdam (ETC – BE, DE, FR, NL, UK)
RegioStars 2014 Winners
The overall aim of Scandinavian Game Developers has been to ensure that entrepreneurs in the Scandinavian gaming industry can establish viable companies and survive in a highly competitive business environment.
Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Regional Policy and Luc Van den Brande, former Committee of the Regions President have announced the winners of the prestigious RegioStars 2014 Awards to Europe's most promising and innovative regional projects. In this 7th edition of RegioStars, the Jury singled out 19 shortlisted finalists from 80 projects on the basis of four key criteria: innovation, impact, sustainability and partnership. 4 projects outshined the competition: in Paredes (North Portugal), Cornwall (UK), West Wales and the Valleys (UK) and the Polish region of Gdynia.
The winners for 2014 are:
Category 1: Smart Growth - "Art on Chairs" - More information on the project
Category 2: Sustainable Growth - "BEACON" - More information on the project
Category 3: Inclusive Growth - "Fifteen Cornwall Apprenticeship Programme" - More information on the project
Category 4: CityStar - "Ecological Transport" - More information on the project
This year's event came at a crucial time as Member States are finalizing their strategic investment plans, the so-called "Partnership Agreements" on how to spend the European Structural and Investment Funds over the next seven years. The Awards Ceremony showcased the first projects reflecting the reform of Cohesion Policy.