Today, Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, awarded the REGIOSTARS 2023 Awards to seven outstanding and innovative projects across Europe that have been supported by Cohesion Policy funds, in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The projects show how the European Union (EU), through the Cohesion Policy, promotes change on the ground and strengthens economic and social development across the EU. The awards ceremony took place
For the 2023 edition, a total record of 228 applications were submitted to vie for the top prize in six different categories, as well as a public choice award, and 30 finalists were selected, including Portugal with the ‘Aldeias do Xisto’.
Category 1 – A Competitive and Smart Europe: The Spanish project, ‘Edificio Fundacion Pasqual Maragall‘, topped the list in this category. The Barcelona-based foundation now boasts state-of-the-art infrastructure that enables research, digitalisation and collaboration with other EU countries to combat Alzheimer’s disease.
Category 2 – A Green Europe: The ‘From mine to river. The Water Guardians’ Interreg project, located on the border of Romania and Serbia, won in this category. Two universities and an NGO teamed up to design a solution to reduce pollution caused by mining activities and to restore the natural attractiveness and aesthetic of the border area.
Category 3 – A Connected Europe: An Interreg project operating in Germany, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Poland took the prize for this category. ‘Dynaxibility4CE‘ improves low-carbon mobility and air quality across the Central European region by equipping public transport authorities with planning strategies and the necessary tools to deal with new mobility trends.
Category 4 – A social and inclusive Europe: The winner is ‘ProFem 2.0‘ from the Czech Republic. The project offers support to victims of domestic and sexual violence through dedicated centres and an online platform. The project showed the ability to support victims across the country by establishing specific structures at national level.
Category 5 – A Europe closer to the citizens: ‘EuregioFamilyPass‘, a card offering numerous benefits to families (for example, access to cultural events, public transport and education) in the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino region between Austria and Italy, was the winner in this category.
Category 6 – Topic of the year – European Year of Skills 2023: ‘TechGrounds‘ from the Netherlands secured the top place in this category. The project solves the mismatch often present in the IT labour market by activating hidden talents and offering a guided approach to IT, from onboarding tips to dedicated trainings.
As in previous years, the public was invited to vote for their favourite project among the 30 finalists selected. This year’s public favourite and the project that received the highest number of online votes was the ‘Cultural Art Centre: museum and library‘ in Burgas, Bulgaria. Thanks to Cohesion funds, an abandoned building was reconverted into a cultural and educational centre and is now home to a museum, the largest library in South-East Bulgaria with 600,000 books, and a space which can be used for community events and workshops.
Announcing the winners, the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira said:“My warmest congratulations to the winners of this year’s REGIOSTARS awards. Once again, I come away inspired, having seen and heard about such innovative projects that are having a real impact on people’s lives across Europe. These projects clearly demonstrate the added value of the Cohesion Policy in meeting the needs of citizens at local level. The Cohesion Policy has the power to make a positive impact on citizens’ daily lives – and there’s much more to come!””
REGIOSTARS Awards
The REGIOSTARS Awards are the yearly competition organised by the European Commission since 2008, which have become Europe’s label of excellence for EU-funded projects under the Cohesion Policy which demonstrate the innovation and inclusiveness of regional development.
They have inspired regions to implement an increasingly impactful EU Cohesion Policy that meets the needs of citizens at local level.
This year, hundreds of projects competed in five categories aligned with the political objectives of the 2021-2027 programming period, along with a specific category established for this edition – in this case, related to the 2023 European Year of Skills.
There were therefore six categories to compete in, as well as an overall public choice award, where the public voted for their favourite project from the list of finalists.
Among the 228 applications, 30 finalists were selected to present their final proposal to a panel during the annual European Week of Regions in October 2023.
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Source: InfoRegio/CE