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East of England: Delivering an Olympic Legacy
The East of England is hosting 2 events – the mountain biking at Hadleigh Farm, Essex and the canoe slalom at the Lee Valley White Water Centre, Hertfordshire - in the 2012 Olympic Games.
With the support of Vicky Ford MEP, the East of England Brussels Office hosted an event -The East of England: Delivering an Olympic Legacy - in the European Parliament on June 20th 2012 to demonstrate how the 2012 Olympics will leave a hugely positive socio-economic legacy to the people of the East of England.
Councillor Stephen Castle, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for the 2012 Games & Chairman of Nations & Regions, and Stephen Bromberg, Head of Communications at the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, provided an overview of the impact that each venue is having upon its respective locality. Helen Reeves, Canoe Slalom Bronze Medallist at the 2004 Olympic Games, spoke about her career and the power of sport in delivering socio-economic goals.
In addition to providing a powerful demonstration of how the East of England is delivering a lasting legacy from the 2012 Games, the event showcased the region as a key player in the growing EU funded sports project arena.
Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), official supplier of anti-doping facilities to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, kindly sponsored the event.
You Tube footage of the event can be accessed here, with photographs from the event available here.
“ERDF for Low Carbon Economic Growth; Investing in the future”
Thursday 14th June 2012, Thon EU Hotel, ‘France’ room Rue de la Loi 75, B1040 Brussels,
3.30pm Keynote speech, HMA Jonathan Brenton, British Ambassador to Belgium
3.45pm David Morrall, ERDF in the East of England,
Low Carbon Smart Specialisation; challenges, opportunities and relevance to the next 2014-2020 programme
4pm Priority Axis 1, Promoting Innovation and Knowledge Transfer:
Project exemplar: InCrops and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, Dr Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley, Adap+ Low Carbon Group
The SME viewpoint: Dr. Rosane Hazelman Cunha Curtis, Rothamsted Research
Priority Axis 2, Stimulating Enterprise and Supporting Successful Business:
Project exemplar: OASIS (Offshore Algae Supply Infrastructures), Simon Broome, Oasis Network Coordinator, Cranfield University,
The SME viewpoint: Abigail Flack, Analogue Associates
Priority Axis 3, Sustainable Development Consumption and Production:
Project exemplar: Rev Active,
Simon Best, Rev Active project manager, Breckland Council
The SME viewpoint: Richard Bridgman, Chairman of Warren Services Ltd.
5pm Agnes Lindemans, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG REGIO;
East of England ERDF delivering EU 2020 objectives.
5.15pm Questions and Answers
5.30 Conclusions, David Morrall
Photographs from the event are available here
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Energy Efficiency in the Logistics Chain
Monday 18th June 2012, 3-5.30pm, Thon EU Hotel, ‘France’ meeting room, Rue de la Loi 75, B1040 Brussels
15.30 Keynote address
HMA Jonathan Brenton, British Ambassador to Belgium
15.45 Introduction “Energy Efficiency in the logistics Chain”
George Kieffer, Deputy Chairman, East of England ERDF Local
Management Committee
15.50 Dryports and green aspects of a new freight terminal
Leif Bigsten, Municipality of Falköping, Sweden
16.05 Dryports and carbon reduction
Richard Morton, Communication Officer, Dryports Project, Interreg IVB NSR
16.20 Low Carbon Freight Dividend Project, ERDF East of England
Lisa Brazier, Project Manager, Low Carbon Freight Dividend
16.35 Low Carbon Freight Dividend, the SME perspective
- Chris Dryson, Aceona
- Dennis Simmonds, WS Logistics
16.55 Policy context and perspectives on post 2013
Maud Skäringer, Thematic Co-ordination and Innovation, European Commission, Regional Policy DG
17.10 Discussion Forum
Chaired by George Kieffer
17.30 Networking Reception
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Open Days 2011: Investing in Europe’s Future: Regions and Cities delivering smart sustainable and inclusive growth.
The Open Days series of events is the key annual event for Europe’s cities and regions and will take place in Brussels from 11th/13th October 2011.
Investing in Europe’s Future: Regions and Cities delivering smart sustainable and inclusive growth is the Open Days 2011 theme and there will approximately 100 sessions – workshops, debates and exhibitions - for circa 6,000 participants in total. Open Days is organised by the European Commission in partnership with regions and cities from all over Europe, and includes contributions from companies, financial institutions, international associations and academic organisations.
Since 2003, the OPEN DAYS has become an annual key event at which cities and regions showcase their capacity for creating growth and jobs, implementing European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local level for good European governance. Conceived and developed by the EU Committee of the Regions and the European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional Policy,
Open Days provide the ideal framework for those organisations closest to the citizen – local authorities, voluntary organisations, private industry and universities; amongst others – from across the EU to showcase good practice in the field of smart and sustainable inclusive growth, to share experiences with others and to impact on the political debates among EU institutions and Member States. Watch Cllr Kay Twitchen, Vice-Chairman of Essex County Council and Full Member of the Committee of the Regions, explaining this process on You Tube (4mins 19 seconds into the video)
The East of England will once again be to the forefront of Open Days with the East of England Brussels Office co-organising a seminar entitled Innovation for a Healthy Future (registration code 12A40) featuring experts from Norway, Poland, Portugal, Denmark and the East of England. Professor Terry Mughan, Anglia Rushkin University, will be speaking about improving access to the care market for SMEs and describing early findings from the CURA B project (ERDF, 2 Seas cross border co-operation programme) on Wednesday 12th October.
The seminar will be followed by a facilitated project partnering session, featuring expert speakers from the public, private and academic sectors; designed to help broker partnerships to develop applications for forthcoming funding calls. East of England partners in the healthcare field are therefore invited to contact the with ideas for potential projects. The Brussels Office will then circulate partner searches during September to attract potential partners to this bid development session.
In addition, this year the East of England will be joining other European regions in showcasing our EValu8 project – the East of England’s contribution to the UK Plugged in Places electric vehicle charging network.
The EValu8 team will be working together with Region Västra Götaland (Sweden), Castilla y León (Spain), General Electric, the Basque Country (Spain), City of Gothenburg (Sweden), Galicia Region (Spain), Electric Mobility Norway and Steiermark Austria at the E-Vehicles: the way to succeed – Examples of PPPs” workshop to highlight the work being undertaken to promote the use and expansion of electric vehicles in Europe.
The workshop – registration code 12A24 - will take place on Wednesday 12th October 2011 and will focus on the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in delivering electric vehicle infrastructure.
EValu8 has a total project cost of £7 million and will see 600 charging posts being installed. The project will seek to generate confidence and interest from businesses and the public that electric vehicles are a viable alternative for a range of journey types.
The full Open Days programme is available here with registration for all events accessible here.
Please contact for more information about how your organisation could benefit from participating in Open Days 2011.
Open Days 2010: East of England to the Fore in Setting EU Competitiveness, Co-operation and Cohesion Agenda
Organisations and individuals from the East of England were to the fore in setting the EU Competitiveness, Co-Operation and Cohesion Agenda during The 8th European Week of Regions and Cities Open Days events held in Brussels, Belgium from 4th - 7th October 2010.
The Open Days provide the ideal framework for organisations closest to the citizen – local authorities, voluntary organisations, private industry and universities; amongst others – from across the EU to showcase good practice in the field of strengthening regional competitiveness, territorial co-operation and social and economic cohesion, to share experiences with others and to impact on the political debates among EU institutions and Member States. Watch Cllr Kay Twitchen, Vice-Chairman of Essex County Council and Full Member of the Committee of the Regions, explaining this process on You Tube (4mins 19 seconds into the video)
Sarah Murray, Team Leader in the East of England Brussels Office commented:
“The Open Days eventallowed us to illustrate the East of England’s capacity for creating growth and jobs, implementing European Union cohesion policy and demonstrate the importance of the local level for good European governance. This year’s event was particularly important as it takes place on the eve of an intensive debate about the reform of Cohesion Policy post-2013, which will influence the level of EU structural funding available to the East of England.
Our office worked with partners to exhibit some of the best practice that is taking place in the region to demonstrate the value of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) to the East of England - a relatively prosperous region in a wealthy member state - in order to secure future funding opportunities.”
Continuation of funding beyond 2013 is important both to ensure that leading knowledge regions, such as the East of England, continue to be the powerhouses of the EU’s competitiveness but equally to address structural issues which persist in our economy, as indicated by pockets of deep deprivation.,
The East of England low carbon focus in its ERDF programme was exemplified by the InCrops project - a new virtual enterprise hub which stimulates commercial activity in the alternative and non-food crop sector and contributes to the low carbon economic development of the region – which was presented by Dr John French, from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, during Open Days.
A record number of partners – see full list below - lead chaired or participated in a range of seminars and exhibitions over the course of the week which kept the East of the England in the vanguard of EU policy development. Theatre Is, an Arts Council Regularly Funded Organisation with young people from Thurrock, Hertfordshire and Luton; performed at the Berlaymont Esplanade during the Open Days and, as the video shows, drew a large and appreciative crowd.
- David Morrall, Europe and International Director at the East of England Development Agency (EEDA);chaired a seminar on Putting eco-innovation at the heart of regional economic growth
- Cllr Kay Twitchen, Vice-Chairman of Essex County Council and Full Member of the Committee of the Regions, chaired a seminar entitled From knowledge to growth: stimulating the green economy
- University Campus Suffolk led a session entitled “Positioning for Competitiveness: The role regional universities in promoting economic growth
- Peterborough City Council along with IBM led a seminar featuring its Sustainable City Visualisation project’ and had a stand in the “Meeting Place” exhibition area
- Mark Mitchell, chair of COVER (Community and Voluntary Forum Eastern Region) and chief executive of Community Action Dacorum spoke at a seminar The European Social Fund support for administrative capacity
- Southend on Sea Borough Council was represented by their North West Europe BAPTS (Boosting Advanced Public Transport System) project which is delivering a seminar entitled Think global, act local territorial cooperation of cities for European model solutions on clean urban transport
- Gareth Jones, UKCEED (UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development), Peterborough spoke at seminar on Better cluster support services for green innovation
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