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Gdańsk/Pomorskie region (Poland), Gothenburg (Sweden) and the region of Navarra (Spain) win European Entrepreneurial Region Award 2020  

The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) label given by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) rewards regions with the most credible and forward-looking entrepreneurial vision. This year the city of Gdańsk in cooperation with the Pomorskie Region, the Business Region of Gothenburg and the region of Navarra were selected as winners for their outstanding strategies and commitment to boosting entrepreneurship within their territories.

President of the European Committee of the Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, congratulated the winners saying, "This year's European Entrepreneurial Region award is proof that by allowing the business community to flourish, regions and cities can create jobs and are the social fabric of Europe. The winners are an inspiration to us all proving that through cooperation, innovative thinking and building the right conditions locally, they are the drivers of sustainable growth in Europe."

"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", said CoR First Vice President Markku Markkula opening the award ceremony.

City of Gdańsk/Pomorskie Region, Poland

The joint application of the City of Gdańsk and the Pomorskie Region is based on a coherent set of growth-promoting activities. Demographic changes and population ageing is a challenge for the region, as well as for other territories in Poland. Gdańsk/Pomorskie's EER strategy is based on the recruitment and development of skilled human resources and investing in entrepreneurship. The region was selected based on its impressive set of targeted actions dedicated to attracting, developing and retaining talents, nurturing start-ups and innovative SMEs and providing business education to young people.

“The motto of freedom, solidarity, equality and openness, stands for so much more than lofty ideals - it is based on concrete growth-promoting activities. The Gdańsk and Pomorskie region supports each stage of entrepreneurship development: from educating, boosting pro-entrepreneurship stances, assisting in the formation of new businesses to providing support for business development, increasing innovation potential of companies and stimulating cooperation and expansion to new foreign markets, all of which are the staples of the Action Plan for the Development of Entrepreneurship 2020", said Alan Aleksandrowicz, Vice-mayor of the City of Gdańsk, and Mieczysław Struk, Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship.

Business Region Gothenburg, Sweden

The Gothenburg Region is one of Europe's fastest growing metropolitan regions by means of gigantic urban development and infrastructure investments. Gothenburg's EER strategy has a focus in improving the business climate and creating better conditions for SMEs to flourish. For this the strategy includes six strategic areas: skill supply, power of attraction, infrastructure and accessibility, land readiness, business climate and innovation power.

"The European Entrepreneurial Region Award 2020 makes us proud, indeed. Business Region Göteborg has one of the best European strategies for entrepreneurship! The core treasure however is the Region's ability to open up and listen to the entrepreneurial community, to address challenges together with no less than 35 stakeholders, and to act together in order to achieve and maintain a favourable business climate. This precious ability to co-operate will lead to 120 000 new workplaces by 2035. Inspired and motivated by this significant award, we will persistently hold on to one of Europe's best strategies for entrepreneurship", said Axel Josefsson, Chairman of the Gothenburg Region Association of Local Authorities and Chairman of the City Executive Board of the City of Gothenburg.

Region of Navarra, autonomous community of Spain

The region of Navarra as a pioneering region in supporting entrepreneurship in Spain, aims to improve the rate of entrepreneurial activity in the local population. The region is currently developing its 2020-2022 entrepreneurship plan that sets out targeted actions needed to continue on the path of improving enterprise survival rate, annual growth and entrepreneurial activity rate indicators. The region's "Smart Specialisation Strategy – Navarra S3", includes main pillars as promoting entrepreneurship, reduction of regulatory burden, access to finance and markets and internationalization.

"The Government of Navarre is committed to a socially and territorially cohesive Navarra, open and interconnected, made up of creative and entrepreneurial persons engaged in a modern and competitive economy, that stands out for its industrial strengths, its commitment to the environment, health and quality of life, in a setting of transparency and trust, to become a benchmark in sustainable development", said Manu Ayerdi, Vice-President of the Government of Navarra.

European Entrepreneurial Region award 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 jury - composed of CoR members, representatives of EU institutions, social partners and territorial associations - will monitor the implementation of the prize-winning regional strategies throughout 2020 with the aim of providing the winners with an objective outside view on their policies and the progress made during that year. Die EER 2020 winners can share and discuss their main results and achievements with other regional and local authorities as a part of the EER network.

Pictures of the event are available on flickr.

 

Contacts:
Carmen Schmidle
Tel. +32 2 282 2366
carmen.schmidle@cor.europa.eu

Denise Schmidt
Tel. +32 2 282 2273
denise.schmidt@cor.europa.eu

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