november, 2018

28nov11:0013:00EU-Cohesion Policy: Strengthening Innovation in Europe´s Regions11:00 - 13:00 Event Type:Regional Summit in cooperation with the Region of Lower Austria and the #CohesionAlliance

Time

(Wednesday) 11:00 - 13:00

Event Details

Cohesion Policy provides financial assistance to the member state regions, with the aim of increasing economic growth and improving social cohesion. While a lot has been achieved by Cohesion Policy, the regions need this support to be continued post 2020 if the EU and all its regions are to thrive in the current highly competitive global environment.

Innovation is the key element to boost growth and jobs in Europe, tailor-made strategies should enable each region to identify and develop its own competitive advantages. Therefore, based on the previous initiative “regions4cohesion” and the “CohesionAlliance”, the importance of innovation in the context of Cohesion Policy has to be underlined.

The Regional Summit as “Joint Summit of the regions and the CohesionAlliance” demonstrates that for regions and cities the prolongation of EU-Cohesion Policy for all regions is indispensable for the Future of Europe and the discussions in the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027.

The Regional Summit will concentrate on the focus of EU-Cohesion Policy post 2020 considering the current circumstances and key challenges (for example, digitisation, Industry 4.0, climate change, globalisation, demographic change).

There will be two panels concerning the following topics: 1) “Development of regional ecosystems for innovations” and 2) “Innovation through cooperation”.

Different approaches and strategies, depending on the needs and challenges of the regions and best practice examples should show the wide range in the field of innovation. Taking into account the regional experiences in the last periods, their planned strategies for the new period as well as their remarks on the present Commission proposals on Cohesion Policy post 2020 (new possibilities or missing points) will be discussed.

There will be two panels concerning the following topics: 1) “Development of regional ecosystems for innovations” and 2) “Innovation through cooperation”.

Different approaches and strategies, depending on the needs and challenges of the regions and best practice examples should show the wide range in the field of innovation. Taking into account the regional experiences in the last periods, their planned strategies for the new period as well as their remarks on the present Commission proposals on Cohesion Policy post 2020 (new possibilities or missing points) will be discussed.

Download here the Event Agenda

Organizer

Knowledge4Innovation Forum in cooperation with the Region of Lower Austria and the #CohesionAlliance

Host

Lambert van Nistelrooij MEP 

 

Speakers for this event

  • Bergkvist, Erik

    Bergkvist, Erik

    Chair of the Executive Committee, Region Västerbotten

    Dr. Erik Bergkvist, Chair of the Executive Committee, Region Västerbotten. PhD in Economics, Umeå University 2001. Member of the Social Democratic Party since 1981. Priority policy areas are regional development, child and youth policy, international relations and welfare financing. Member of the Social Democrats party board. Vice-chairman of the Norrland Trust Fund (Norrlandsfonden), vice-chairman of Almi Nord, as well as member of the Västerbotten County Council. Dr. Erik Bergkvist has been very active in the European policy debate. Among other issues, he has emphasized the need for a stronger cohesion policy in Europe to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges. As well as championing the position of regions in policy-making, building partnerships and promoting solidarity within Europe and between regions, especially in the European part of the Arctic. He is member of the Executive Committee of the Baltic Sea Commission and member of the CPMR (Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions) political bureau.

    Chair of the Executive Committee, Region Västerbotten

  • Coyle, Seamus

    Coyle, Seamus

    Chairman, Irish Northern and Western Regional Assembly

    Councilor Seamus Coyle is an elected Member of Monaghan County Council and a regional representative sitting on the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. For 2018 Seamus was elected as Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) for the region overseeing the introduction of the first Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies in Ireland and providing the oversight on our BMW Regional Operational Programme. His area of focus for 2018 is the continued delivery of EU structural funds 'to the regions; and by the regions in Ireland'. As an elected member representing border communities Brexit plays a considerable role in the Chairpersons strategic priorities. Seamus is also a full-time farmer.

    Chairman, Irish Northern and Western Regional Assembly

  • De Nichilo Rizzoli, Melania

    De Nichilo Rizzoli, Melania

    Regional Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Lombardy Region Government

    Melania De Nichilo Rizzoli is Regional Minister for Education, Training and Employment of Lombardy. She was born on May 31st, 1956 in Rome. She is a surgeon. As a Member of the Italian Parliament (Chamber) from 2008 to 2013, she was involved in the Social Affairs Committee as well as in the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on mistakes in the health field and on the causes of regional health deficits. She is author of several informative texts on health and social matters. In the current Regional Legislature, on March 29th, 2018, President Attilio Fontana appointed her as Regional Minister for Education, Training and Employment. In the Lombardy Region Government, she is in charge of these subjects: education, training, work, employment and corporate crises, training tools for job placement.

    Regional Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Lombardy Region Government

  • Droba, Juraj

    Droba, Juraj

    President of the Bratislava Region

    Juraj Droba is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur and businessman, who was elected as a President of Bratislava Region in 2017. He was a Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic from 2010 to 2017, serving as a Vice-chairman of the Mandate and Immunity Committee as well as a Member of the Permanent Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Prior to his political career, Juraj was a Director of External Affairs and a Member of Executive Management Board in T-Mobile Slovakia. Juraj graduated as a Master of Political Management from the George Washington University in Washington D. C. and holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. His passions are languages and sport, which he studied at Comenius University in Bratislava and Rijksuniversiteit in Gent. Juraj lives in Bratislava with his son.

    President of the Bratislava Region

  • Eichtinger, Martin

    Eichtinger, Martin

    Minister for Housing, Labour and International Relations, Lower Austria

    Martin Eichtinger received his J.D. from the University of Graz in 1983 and went on to acquire a Diploma in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center. He joined the Austrian Foreign Service in 1986 and served as personal secretary to the Foreign Minister. His diplomatic assignments included Mexico and Washington, D.C., where he headed the Austrian Press and Information Service from 1992-1999. Between 1999 and 2007, he was Chief of Cabinet of the Austrian Special Representative for Payments to Former Forced and Slave Laborers of the NaziRegime, Director for International Affairs at the Austrian Federation of Industry, manager in a private company, Chief of Staff and later Secretary General of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Austrian Ambassador to Romania and the Republic of Moldova. From July 2010 to January 2015, he was Director General for Cultural Policy at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. From 2015 until 2018 Martin Eichtinger served as Austrian Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since January 2018, he is a Member of the Government of Lower Austria, responsible for Housing, Labour and International Relations.

    Minister for Housing, Labour and International Relations, Lower Austria

  • Halme, Esa

    Halme, Esa

    Region Mayor of Tampere Region

    Mr Esa Halme is the region mayor of the Council of Tampere Region since 2010. He is an architect specialised in landscape architecture by education. Prior to starting at the Regional Council of Tampere Region he worked as an executive director at the Regional Council of Päijät-Häme. He has worked at engineering and architecture companies, Regional Planning Authority of Provincial Vaasa and Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). Mr Halme has either chaired or been a member of numerous regional development and planning related committees and working groups on European, national and regional level. In addition he has published papers on European structural funds and urban planning.

    Region Mayor of Tampere Region

  • Lambertz, Karl-Heinz

    Lambertz, Karl-Heinz

    President, European Committee of the Regions

    Karl-Heinz Lambertz was elected as President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) in July 2017 after serving a two and a half year term as First Vice-President. He is also a member of the Belgian Senate representing the German-Speaking Community. Born on 4 June 1952 in Schoppen, Karl-Heinz's interest in politics came early in his career having served as President of the German-speaking Youth Council (1975-1980). After a number of functions linked to his academic background in law, he became Member of Parliament of the German-speaking Community in 1981. Between 1990 and 1999 he held numerous Ministerial posts in the German-speaking Community Government before being elected its Minister-President (1999-2014). He was then President of Parliament until 2016 before taking post as Senator. Karl-Heinz has been a CoR member since 2001 and was President of the CoR's PES Group (2011- 2015). Since 2000, he has been a Member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in which he is currently Vice-President. He is married to his wife Sylvie, has two children and four grand-children.

    President, European Committee of the Regions

  • Mikl-Leitner, Johanna

    Mikl-Leitner, Johanna

    Governor, Lower Austria

    Johanna Mikl-Leitner studied Business Education at the University of Economics and Business in Vienna and worked as a business consultant. From 1990 to 1993 she was a trainee at the Federation of Austrian Industries before becoming the deputy publishing director at “Signum Verlag” from 1993 to 1995. In 1995 Johanna Mikl-Leitner became the head of marketing and in 1998 the executive director of the Lower Austrian’s People’s Party. In 1999 she became a Member of the Austrian Parliament. From 2003 until 2011 she served as the Minister for European Regional Policy, Social-, Labour- and Family affairs of the Government of Lower Austria. From 2011 until 2016 she took up the role as Federal Minister of Interior of Austria before returning to regional politics where she served as deputy Governor of the Government of Lower Austria in 2016. Since 2017 she is the Governor of Lower Austria.

    Governor, Lower Austria

  • Netolicky, Martin

    Netolicky, Martin

    President of Pardubice Region

    Martin Netolicky, born in 1982 is Czech Social-Democratic politician and President of the Pardubice Region since 2012. He had studied law and entered his active political career in 2000 as a member of Czech Social Democratic Party. Lately, he was elected a member of municipal assembly of his native town Ceska Trebova. As a president of the region he hold also a various other functions within the Association of the Region of the Czech Republic.

    President of Pardubice Region

  • Paasch, Oliver

    Paasch, Oliver

    Minister President of the German Speaking Community, Belgium & President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR)

    Oliver Paasch was born in Malmedy on 21.10.1971 and is a Belgian politician of the German-speaking ProDG party (free citizen list). Between 2004 and 2014, he held several ministerial posts in the Government of the German-speaking Community. Since June 2014 is he the incumbent Minister-President of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Before his political carrier, he studied Law at the University of Namur and Louvain-la-Neuve and worked as a bank manager at Crédit Général in Liege and as Manager of the Business Centre of CBC bank in Verviers

    Minister President of the German Speaking Community, Belgium & President of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR)

  • Pauk, Goran

    Pauk, Goran

    President, Croatian County Association

    Goran Pauk, born in 1962, studied economics at the University of Split. He started his professional career in the private companies and after that, he worked in police administration, first as a chief of police administration and later as Police official for economic crime. Since September 2006 he is county prefect of Šibenik-Knin county and in October 2017 was elected for the president of the Croatian Association of Counties for the second mandate. Also, Mr Pauk is head of Croatian delegation in The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. He was honoured with the medal of the Croatian president Dr Franjo Tuđman with the Order of Nikola Šubic Zrinski for heroism in war.

    President, Croatian County Association

  • Rijsberman, Michiel

    Rijsberman, Michiel

    Regional Minister, Province of Flevoland

    Regional Minister for the Province of Flevoland, responsible for European affairs Cohesion policy related functions as Regional Minister: • IPO spokesperson on cohesion policy on behalf of the Dutch Provinces in Brussels (IPO is a member of CEMR) • Committee of the Regions (CoR) member of the COTER group o CoR rapporteur for the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund o CoR rapporteur for the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union • Assembly of European Regions (AER) chair of the taskforce on cohesion policy • Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) member of the cohesion policy core group • Responsible for regional economy on behalf of the Randstad Region (a partnership between the provinces of Utrecht, North-Holland, South-Holland and Flevoland). N.B. Randstad Region is a member of the Vanguard Initiative.

    Regional Minister, Province of Flevoland

  • van Nistelrooij, Lambert

    van Nistelrooij, Lambert

    Member of the European Parliament (MEP)

    Member of the European Parliament (MEP)

    Member of the European Parliament (MEP)

  • Weinmeister, Mark

    Weinmeister, Mark

    State Secretary of European Affairs, Land of Hesse

    State Secretary Mark Weinmeister studied various subjects. He studied German, History, Pedagogy, and Politics at the University of Göttingen. He then spent time in various positions until he became a Member of the Hessian Parliament from 1999 to 2008. He then worked as State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection until he became State Secretary for European Affairs to the Minister of Federal and European Affairs and Commissioner of Land Hesse to the Federation in January 2014.

    State Secretary of European Affairs, Land of Hesse

Speakers

Moderator: Tim Cupal, Brussels correspondent, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF

Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President,  European Committee of the Regions

Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor, Lower Austria

Martin Eichtinger, Minister for Housing, Labour and International Relations, Lower Austria

Oliver Paasch, Minister-President, German-speaking Community of Belgium

Goran Pauk, President, Croatian County Association

Martin Netolicky, President, Pardubice Region

Esa Halme, Region Mayor, Tampere Region

Mark Weinmeister, State Secretary for European Affairs, Land of Hesse

Seamus Coyle, Chairman, Irish Northern and Western Regional Assembly

Michiel Rijsberman, RegionalMinister, Province of Flevoland

Juraj Droba, President, Bratislava Self-Governing Region

Erik Bergkvist, Chair of the Executive Committee, Region Västerbotten

Melania de Nichilo Rizzoli, Minister for Education, Training and Employment, Lombardy Region

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