Tweede ronde calls voor ESPON 2013 programma (en)

Press Release

The second round of calls for proposals of the was presented at an Info Day in Bruxelles on 9 September 2008. Present as well were Kamila Matoušková, representative of the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, being the EU Presidency in January 2009, along with a representative of the European Commission, by more than 100 participants, amongst them policy makers, scientists, experts, representatives of European universities and officials from EU, national, regional and local level.

The ESPON Info Day focused on the presentation of the three calls for proposals opened on 20 August 2008 and the conditions for taking part. The Info Day gave potential beneficiaries the possibility to pose questions and receive answers related to the open calls. Several themes related to the calls had been discussed including territorial effects of climate change, agglomeration economies, cross-border polycentric metropolitan regions, success for convergence regions’ economies, potential of rural regions, territorial diversity and territorial indicators and indices.

As part of the ESPON Info Day, participants had the opportunity to network at the ESPON Partner Café, creating a forum for direct dialogue between potential project partners, enabling them to identify potential consortia of partners that carry through ESPON projects. Commenting ahead of the event, Peter Mehlbye, Director of the ESPON Coordination Unit, said: “The event will offer participants the opportunity to share their interest and point of view with the aim to building partnerships of expertise that can submit proposals for ESPON projects”.

The ESPON Partner Café aimed at channelling exchange of information on research interest, skills and resources. In order to help potential partners in the process of partnership building, an overview of potential partners will be available on the ESPON website. To be included in the overview, interested partners should fill in the “Partner Information Form” available on the ESPON Website.

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The 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 be facilitating the mobilization 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 is the Ministry of the Interior and for Spatial Development of Luxembourg.