ESPON Programma 2013 (en)

ESPON 2013 Programme

Press Release No 10/2009

New ESPON Calls: up to 14.910.000 Euro for Research Proposals and Expression of Interests

Researchers, experts and stakeholders in the public and private sector from 31 European countries are invited to become involved in up to 31 new projects on new analyses under the ESPON 2013 Programme. Public authorities are in particular invited to express their interest and ideas on future targeted analyses based on ESPON results tailored to meet their needs.

The new ESPON Calls for Proposals and Expression of Interests were presented during the Info Day on New Calls and Partner Café` for potential beneficiaries, which took place in Brussels on 16 September 2009. More than 230 participants attended the event, among them policy makers, scientists, experts, representatives of universities around Europe and national, regional and local authorities.

Peter Mehlbye, Director of the ESPON Coordination Unit, said “ We are delighted to welcome this large number of participants at the launch of the New Calls for Proposals and Expression of Interests. These Calls represent a major European effort increasing the knowledge and fact about the European territory, types of regions and ongoing dynamics . “ Researchers, experts and stakeholders now have until 11 November 2009 to submit proposals for new applied research and for expressing interest in additional targeted analyses under the ESPON Programme ”, he added.

Representatives from the European Commission DG Regio and the Swedish ESPON Monitoring Committee Member presented the policy demand behind the need for further ESPON results.

Nicola De Michelis, head of the unit responsible for economic analysis and additionality in the Directorate General for Regional Policy at the European Commission, welcomed these calls for almost 15 million euro, which represents one third of the ESPON 2013 Programme budget. He emphasized that the number and quality of the proposals are critical for the success of ESPON as “ The eleven applied research projects will feed the intergovernmental debate on the territorial agenda, one of the main objectives of the ESPON Programme”, he said. Among these eleven projects, “ the Commission is particularly interested in the outcomes of the work on secondary growth poles, territorial cooperation and access to services. The Targeted Analysis will help regions and Member States to gain a better understanding of the policy implications of this research, another major ESPON objective” he added.

Sverker Lindblad, Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications in Sweden, addressed the audience with the need for more territorial analyses and evidence. “ Each region in Europe is unique and need specific solutions, but there is always something to learn from other” he said. He also asked for more mutual learning between researchers and practitioners and saw ESPON's Targeted analyses as a tool for that.  

Participants learnt about opportunities for taking part in ESPON project activities, the content of the calls, the eligibility criteria and the modalities for applying. In the afternoon, the programme included an ESPON Partner Café creating a forum for dialogue between potential project partners for setting up Transnational Project Groups. Participants had the opportunity to discuss on common interest in ESPON Calls.

Stakeholders and scientists already involved in ESPON activities presented their experience in being part of the ESPON Programme. Professor Cliff Hague, ESPON Contact Point from the UK, spoke about his experience of ESPON projects. He said “ ESPON can give practitioners benchmarking and customised research, and also contacts and networks. It is a stimulus for creative action.  Policy-makers can get a territorial perspective to challenge sectoral ‘spatially blind’ policymaking, and can engage with current, evidence-based dialogues on cohesion ”. “ ESPON can give researchers a chance to work with leading European researchers in transnational teams. Being in an ESPON project puts you in touch with the wider ESPON ‘family’ of researchers, and enables you to relate research to policy and practice .” He added.

As “ambassador” of the Call for Expression of Interest, Maria Herrero Canela, Diputació de Barcelona, presented what the Expressions of Interest on Targeted analyses offers to the public authorities. “ESPON is an opportunity to get expertise in adopting a spatial EU approach in terms of challenges faced, approaches adopted, procedures instigated” she said. “It is also a communication tool between researchers and policy makers; a way to work in research teams and establishing academic contacts in the EU and to achieve a European spatial perspective” she added.

As voice of scientists, Tobias Chilla, University of Luxembourg, presented the view of beneficiaries of the ESPON Scientific Platform and Tools. “Excellent networking opportunities and synergies and learning about political processes is one of the most relevant opportunities for the scientists” he said.

The Call for Proposals for Applied Research includes the following 11 themes:

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  Attractiveness of European regions and cities for residents and visitors
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  European patterns of land use
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  Territorial cooperation in transnational areas and across internal/external borders
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  Transport accessibility at regional/local scale and patterns in Europe
• - 

  Secondary growth poles in territorial development
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  Territorial dimension of the innovation and knowledge economy
• - 

  European perspective on specific types of territories
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  Continental territorial structures and flows (globalisation)
• - 

  Indicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial cohesion and development
• - 

  European seas in territorial development
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  Territorial and regional sensitivity of EU Directives

Under the Calls for Expression of Interest for Targeted Analyses up to 10 new project ideas will be implemented.

The projects under the Calls for Proposals for Targeted Analyses shall address the following two targeted themes: Potential of Rural Regions/PURR, Transnational Support Method for European Cooperation/TranSMec.

The theme of the project under the Call for Proposals for the Scientific Platform is “Territorial Indicators/Indices”.

Under the Call for Proposals for Transnational Networking Activities by the ESPON Contact Point network up to 7 proposal can be selected.

For more information:

Programme of the Info Day, speakers` cv, list of participants, presentations given during the day, link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/2112/2327/2633/index_EN.html

Call for Proposals for 11 themes of Applied Research, link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/1496/2621/2628/index_EN.html

Call for Expression of Interest for Targeted Analyses , link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/1496/2621/2629/index_EN.html

Call for P roposals for Targeted Analyses, link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/1496/2621/2646/index_EN.html

Call for Proposals in support o f the ESPON Scientific Platform, link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/1496/2621/2630/index_EN.html

Call for Proposals for Transnational Networking Activities of the ESPON Contact Point Network, link:

http://www.espon.eu/mmp/online/website/content/programme/1455/1496/2621/2631/index_EN.html

Interested in ESPON?

The ESPON 2013 Programme is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the EU Member States and the Partner States Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

It shall support policy development in relation to the aim of territorial cohesion and a harmonious development of the European territory. ESPON shall support Cohesion Policy development with European wide, comparable information, evidence, analyses and scenarios on framework conditions for the development of regions, cities and larger territories. In doing so, it shall facilitate the mobilisation of territorial capital and development opportunities, contributing to improving European competitiveness, to the widening and deepening of European territorial cooperation and to a sustainable and balanced development.

The Managing Authority responsible for the ESPON 2013 Programme is the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructures, Department of Spatial Planning and Development of Luxembourg. More information: www.espon.eu