​European Entrepreneurial Region 2020 edition open for applications

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has opened the call for applications for the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) 2020 award during the European SME Assembly on 19 November in Graz, Austria. The EER award is open to all EU regions and cities that are ready to implement an ambitious strategy to support their SMEs and entrepreneurs. The deadline to apply for the EER 2020 label is 27 March 2019.

Each year, the EER label is awarded to three EU territories with an outstanding, future-oriented strategy to promote entrepreneurship and support small and medium-sized enterprises in their territories. All EU regions, cities or any other local or regional institution with the political competence to implement an entrepreneurial vision are invited to hand in their application, irrespective of their size or wealth.

"We all know that we need more entrepreneurs and more growth-friendly business environment in Europe. Cities and regions play a crucial role here: locally, we can strengthen economic ecosystems in which entrepreneurship can flourish. The EER winners are as diverse as Europe can be and let me emphasize that this is not a club reserved for top performers only. The label is open to less prosperous territories that developed an ambitious strategy allowing them to move forward from their specific starting point", stated CoR Member Michiel Scheffer, regional minister for Economy, Education and Europe in the Dutch province of Gelderland, representing one of the three winners of the 2019 edition.

The EER jury will monitor the implementation of the awarded regional and local strategies throughout the awarded year (2020). At the end of the year, the jury – composed of CoR members, representatives of EU institutions and social partners - will visit the awarded territories in order to verify the progress made, provide them with an objective outside appraisal of their policies and gain new insights and inspiration for the further development of the EER scheme.

The main results and achievements of the EER 2020 winners will also be shared and discussed among regional and local authorities through the EER network. Over the past eight years, the network has grown to 27 awarded territories from 15 EU countries (find all winning strategies here), giving it the critical mass necessary for a fruitful exchange of good practices, peer-learning and successful cooperation among past and present EER winners.

The deadline for the submission of applications is 27 March 2019. The application form and detailed information about the assessment criteria are available on the EER web page:

https://cor.europa.eu/en/engage/Pages/european-entrepreneurial-region.aspx

Note to the editors:

The SME Assembly is the most significant event for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. The conference takes place once a year during the European SME Week. Together with the network of SME Envoys, the assembly creates the governance structure of the Small Business Act. This year the Assembly took place in Graz Austria from 19-21 November 2018.

Contact:

Carmen Schmidle

Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2366

Mobile: +32 (0)494 735787

carmen.schmidle@cor.europa.eu