The European Entrepreneurial Region initiative (EER), which rewards innovative policy strategy in regions of the EU, has been renewed for the period spanning 2021 to 2025.
Regions which are granted EER status are permitted to use the ‘European Entrepreneurial Region’ label for a year, indicating their achievements in entrepreneurial innovation and ‘future-oriented strategies’. For the first time, EER 2021 will incorporate a theme in its campaign, promoting ‘Entrepreneurship for a green and sustainable future’.
Markku Markkula, First Vice President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), said: “Regions and cities can best deliver on the new European Commission’s political priorities by leveraging entrepreneurship and SMEs, mobilising resources for research and innovation, investing in education and skills and promoting internal and external collaboration and knowledge transfer.”
The European Entrepreneurial Region scheme is now in its 10th year. An evaluation conducted by the European Committee of Regions on the occasion of the programmes 10-year anniversary found that: ‘the initiative has to a large extent fulfilled its objectives, generating positive results both for the CoR and for the EU Regions. The results of the evaluation, supplemented by a constructive feedback obtained from the EER regions, provide a strong basis for a continuation of the EER scheme and for its further development.’
Vice President Markkula added: “To address the most pressing economic and societal challenges of our times, we also need to mobilise EU regions’ and cities’ efforts in driving forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, promoting entrepreneurship for a green and sustainable future is the lead theme for the EER 2021 campaign. This way we are encouraging EU regions and cities to mobilise resources and propose initiatives supporting the sustainability shift of their economies.”
The 2020 EER award has been granted to the Gdansk & Pomorskie Region in Poland, the Navarra Region in Spain; and Sweden’s Gothenburg Business Region. Applications for the 2021 round will be open until 31 March 2020.
