European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award 2021 open until 31 March 2020
The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award is a project that each year identifies and rewards three EU territories, which show an outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy, irrespective of their size, wealth and competences. The territories with the most credible, forward-looking and promising plan are granted the label 'European Entrepreneurial Region' (EER) for the following year.
The EER label has been set up by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in partnership with the European Commission and is supported by EU level stakeholders such as SME United, Eurochambres, Social Economy Europe and EURADA.
'Since the launch of the EER initiative we have awarded twenty-seven territories from fifteen EU countries – among them regions bigger and smaller, metropolitan and rural, those more developed and those catching-up, territories centrally located and those more remote and peripheral. All of them have already shown us that regions and cities play a key role in boosting entrepreneurship and innovation and creating conditions for sustainable growth and jobs in the European Union', says CoR First Vice President Markku Markkula.
2020 EER award winning regions
- Gdansk & Pomorskie Region (Poland)
The City of Gdansk and the Pomorskie Region were jointly awarded for a coherent and comprehensive set of targeted actions dedicated to attracting, developing and retaining talents, nurturing start-ups and innovative SMEs and providing business education to young people. Those measures will give life to a strategy addressing the challenge of demographic changes and population ageing.
- Gothenburg Business Region (Sweden)
The Gothenburg Business Region was awarded for its efforts in improving the business climate and creating better conditions for SMEs by means of urban development and infrastructure investments in the six following strategic areas: skill supply, power of attraction, infrastructure and accessibility, land readiness, business climate and innovation power.
- Navarra Region (Spain)
The region of Navarra was awarded for its pioneering role in supporting entrepreneurship in Spain. The region’s 2020-2022 entrepreneurship plan sets out targeted actions to continue on the path of improving the enterprise survival rate, the annual growth and entrepreneurial activity rate. Navarra’s 'Smart Specialisation Strategy – Navarra S3' includes objectives such as promote entrepreneurship, reduction of regulatory burden, access to finance and markets and internationalisation.
Make your region win the EER Award 2021!
The 2021 edition of the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) Award from the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is now open to all EU territories being endowed with competences at a political level and implementing an overall entrepreneurial strategy (such as, for instance, regions, cities, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and Euroregions).
Cross-border territories with legal personality are particularly encouraged to submit applications.
The deadline for the submission of applications is 31 March 2020.
More information on the call for proposal, including all required documents and application forms, are available at the CoR’s website.
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