Deadline: 29-Mar-22
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) opens applications for the 2023 edition of the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award. Under the overarching theme “Entrepreneurship and resilient communities”, cities, regions and municipalities can submit strategies on how they plan to support SMEs over the next two years.
The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award is a project that each year identifies and rewards up to 3 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 theme of the EER 2023 campaign is Entrepreneurship and resilient communities, stressing the role of local and regional actors in supporting a bottom-up entrepreneurial culture to “build back better” after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The EER label has been set up in partnership with the European Commission and is supported by EU level stakeholders such as SME United, Eurochambres, Social Economy Europe and EURADA.
The winners of the 2023 edition will be announced during the CoR plenary session in June 2022.
Aims
The aim of this initiative is twofold:
- to contribute to the implementation at a local and regional level of the policies on entrepreneurship and SMEs;
- to demonstrate optimal use of EU and other public funds oriented towards the development of policies and programmes supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs within the region.
Eligibility Criteria
- Open to all EU territories of Member States, including communities and cities as well as cross-border territories with legal personality such as EGTCs and Euroregions
- Possession of competences at a political level (not necessarily legislative)
- Ability to implement an overall entrepreneurial vision
- Regardless of their size, wealth or specific competences
- Open to territories that are already successful and those committed to implementing necessary changes
- Cross-border regions are particularly encouraged to submit applications
Necessary Documents
- Application form
- Fact sheet on the applicant territory
- An outline of the regions political vision
- A description of foreseen governance mechanism to ensure efficient implementation of the EER actions
- Action plan
- Communication plan
- 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).
For more information, visit https://cor.europa.eu/en/news/Pages/EER-2022-Launch.aspx