Corina Crețu, Commissioner for Regional Policy, and Lambert Van Nistelrooij, MEP and RegioStars jury president, announced in the context of the European Week of Cities and Regions 2016 the winning projects of the 9th edition of the RegioStars Awards amongst 23 finalists in five different categories.
SMART GROWTH: Emerging opportunities in the global economy
‘Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster’, from Denmark, was the winner in this category. The project has succeeded in establishing Denmark’s cleantech industry in its field; it has created 1,000 new jobs and attracted 25 foreign companies to the cluster. The work it has carried out in key areas, including test, demonstrations, innovation, matchmaking and entrepreneurship, has earned its recognition both in Denmark and worldwide.
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: Circular Economy
The Portuguese initiative ‘Centro Bio: Bio-industries, Bio-refineries and Bio-products’ was awarded in this category. The project works with researchers and local farmers, foresters and entrepreneurs from Portugal’s Centro region to develop new industries from bio-products, improve business efficiency and train future scientists and entrepreneurs. So far, the research centre has created 53 jobs, four spin-offs, six start-ups and 24 R&D sub-projects.
INCLUSIVE GROWTH: Integrated living - building
The project ‘Academy of Social Economy’ from Malopolska (Poland), won in this category. Implemented by the Regional Centre for Social Policy in Krakow and co-financed by the European Social Fund, this initiative aimed at bringing together individuals from marginalised communities and organisations which could help them re-integrating into society and create a professional and comprehensive support infrastructure for social economy in the Malopolska Regions. Over 1,200 individuals benefitted from the project, as well as 245 social economy entities and 203 service entities.
CITYSTAR: Sustainable Urban Development
The city of Gdansk (Poland) was awarded in this category for the Revitalization of the historical Lower Town District. The revitalisation included investments in infrastructure and social fabric as well as social and cultural activities to tackle the specific problems in the area. The purpose of this initiative was to fight against social exclusion, incorporating activities for children and young people from disadvantaged families, and others directly at their parents.
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT: Making a difference by managing differently
The winner in this new category was the ‘Transparency Initiative Jonvabaliai’, from Lithuania, whose main goal was to improve the public perception of transparency in the use of EU funds. The project was centred on an interactive website, hosting a map with projects financed by the European Structural Funds.
In addition, this year, the project ‘Circular Ocean’, which seeks to inspire enterprises and entrepreneurs from the Northern Periphery and the Arctic to realise hidden opportunities of discarded fishing nets and ropes, received a ‘Public Choice Award’ based on the votes from attendees to the event.
The RegioStars Awards recognises good practices in regional development and highlights original and innovative projects which could be inspiring to other regions. This year the award received 104 applications.
For further information on the winners, click here.
Groups audience:
Citizen Focus
Sustainable Districts and Built Environment
Sustainable Urban Mobility
Integrated Planning / Policy & Regulations
Integrated Infrastructures & Processes (including Open Data)
Business Models, Finance and Procurement
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