Your region is ready to win the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award for an ambitious and outstanding SMEs and entrepreneurs strategy? Better be quick, application ends on 7 April 2017.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) yearly identifies and rewards three EU regions which show an outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy, irrespective of their size, wealth and competences. The three most forward-thinking and promising visions with a credible implementation plan are granted the label “European Entrepreneurial Region” (EER) for the specific year.
Who can apply?
All EU territories below the level of the Member State that are endowed with competences at a political level and able to implement an overall entrepreneurial strategy are welcome to participate. Within the EER scheme, "regions" are defined in the broadest sense, including communities, autonomous communities, departments, Länder, provinces, counties, metropolitan areas, large cities, as well as cross-border territories with legal personality such as EGTCs and Euroregions.
How to apply?
Submit an application consisting of the following items:
an application form, including a fact sheet on the applicant territory, an outline of its political vision, a description of foreseen governance mechanism to ensure efficient implementation of the EER actions, as well as an action plan and a communication plan;
a
declaration of political commitment demonstrating that the territory's EER strategy is endorsed by its political leadership (e.g. the regional assembly, the regional government or other authorised political bodies). The application form can be downloaded from the
EER web page
Assessment criteria:
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
What happens next?
The winners of the EER award 2018 will be announced during the award ceremony in July 2017. The implementation of the prize-winning regional strategies will be monitored throughout the award year by the EER jury, which is composed of CoR members, representatives of EU institutions and social partners. At the end of the year, the jury visits the awarded territories in order to verify the progress made and provide them with an objective outside view on their policies. The main results and achievements of the EER 2018 winners will also be shared and discussed among regional and local authorities through the EER network.
The deadline for the submission of applications is
7 April 2017. The application form and further information are available on the
EER web page.