Urbact- best practices in urban development
Eurotowns participated in the 2008 URBACT annual Conference that took place in Montpellier in the south of France. From Sunday evening, November 30th, to Tuesday, December 2nd 2008 at midday, 450 participants representing 220 cities from forty countries attended the event. During the official plenary sessions Metka Cernelc Chair of the Urbact Monitoring Committee and Dirk Ahner Director General of DG Regional Policy at the European Comission talked about the future of the Cohesion Policy and the territorial cooperation programmes.
Urbact projects and the methodologies that Urbact program is encouraging where presented during the two days conference.
The main points discussed in the Urbact conference were:
- The integrated approach, economic growth and sustainable development.
- The collaboration between local communities, and public-private partnership.
- The knowledge sharing, dissemination and best practices.
Regional competitiveness, Urbact projects- mainstreaming, the way to learn more about local development policies, how to promote local development urban rule, or forget the rural-urbact separation and work closely, were some of the ideas highlighted in the conference.
We need to work on the basis of the real problems.
What is the impact of challenges in our cities?
A final roundtable showed how important is the collaboration and the exchanges of experiences in a globalised world. Four specialists and practitioners from India, Canada, Brazil and Cameroon compared their approaches on urban development with those found in Europe. To close the Annual Conference, the URBACT Secretariat invited specialists and practitioners from India, Canada, Brazil and Cameroon to compare their approaches on urban development with those found in Europe.
Eurotowns also participated in the 2009 URBACT annual Conference that took take place in Stockholm november 2009. Over 320 people attended the URBACT Annual Conference in Stockholm on November 25th, where URBACT projects discussed the challenges of integrated sustainable urban development in the context of economic downturn and environmental uncertainty.
Interactive thematic workshops focussed on innovation and creativity, human capital & entrepreneurship, cities and demographic change, preserving or creating urban identities, governance models, regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods, the implementation of the Leipzig Charter, and cities response to the economic crisis. There were sessions dedicated to URBACT methodologies, designed to foster the impact of transnational exchange and learning on local policies; the first URBACT Café was a success - offering participants an informal moment to exchange around tables with cities from their own country, on their experience and good practices; and the Master Class highlighted the importance of stakeholder participation, guided by international experts in community building.
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ENPI, EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD AND PARTNERSHIP INSTRUMENT
Cooperation with European Neighbourhood partner countries in the East and in the South on a regional basis, as well as cooperation among the partners themselves, is important. It complements national assistance programmes, addresses challenges with a regional dimension and promotes cooperation among partners on issues of mutual interest.
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CIP, COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATION FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
With small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as its main target, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) supports innovation activities (including eco-innovation), provides better access to finance and delivers business support services in the regions. It encourages a better take-up and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and helps to develop the information society. It also promotes the increased use of renewable energies and energy efficiency. The CIP runs from 2007 to 2013 with an overall budget of € 3621 million. The CIP is divided into three operational programmes.
Each programme has its specific objectives, aimed at contributing to the competitiveness of enterprises and their innovative capacity in their own areas, such as ICT or sustainable energy:
-The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP)
-The Information Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP)
-The Intelligent Energy Europe Programme (IEE)
More information: http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm
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PROGRESS PROGRAMME. Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
PROGRESS is the EU's employment and social solidarity programme. It was established to support financially the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, as set out in the Social Agenda. It also contributes to the achievement of the EU 'Lisbon' Growth and Jobs Strategy.
This programme replaces the four previous ones that ended in 2006 covering actions against discrimination, equality between men and women, employment measures and the fight against social exclusion.
PROGRESS is open to the 27 EU Member States, EU candidate and EFTA/EEA countries. It provides a maximum of 80% co-financing with some exceptions.
Current calls for proposals:
-Call for proposals for social experimentation (VP/2010/07). Deadline for submitting proposals is 31/08/2010
-Call for proposals for Pilot Project on Preventing Elder Abuse (VP/2010/015). Deadline for submitting proposals is 11/08/2010.
For more information: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=en
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