POTEnT has started in August 2019, and the 9 partners are committed to work together until 2022 and learn from each others how to increase the energy transition in their regions by improving local and ERDF policy instruments.
Despite the current crisis cities are facing due to the spread of COVID19 and the European governments’ unanimous decision to extend the lockdown measures, POTEnT partners are developing new strategies to keep the interregional learning process moving ahead.
While during the first semester all the partners have engaged with the first actions, in 2020 some of the core interregional learning activities will start, including mentoring days and the second thematic training which have been and will be realised remotely.
Deep analysis of each partner’s key priorities
POTEnT partners have welcomed 2020 holding mentoring days, reviewing their priorities, learning needs and objectives with the adivisory partner, Erasmus University. The needs and key priorities on the four project themes (Acquiring Local Skills, Stakeholder Engagement, Funding and developing local projects, and Smart Energy) together with the intended improvement of each region’s policy instruments have been collected and analysed in order to find similar needs and solutions in the Good Practice Register, which presents around 40 good practices coming from all over Europe.
Second thematic event
Partners are willing to keep the momentum and to find creative solutions to organise the second Thematic event, which was meant to be held in Ettlingen in March and was cancelled due to the corona virus emergency related measures. The thematic event will be rescheduled and replaced by a series of thematic meetings in May and June, tailored to the results of the first event in Pamplona (read here) and the analysis outlined above. With the thematic meetings partners will have the chance to exchange experience and find common solutions to the most pressing identified priorities: stakeholder engagement and awareness; training; energy communities; energy efficiency in public buildings; sustainable mobility; data use.
After the online events partners will define the calendar of the study visits, which hopefully will start after the summer break. Each partner will visit three partner regions to observe directly the most interesting good practices which could be included, with the needed local adaptation, in the Regional Action Plan.
Much will happen in 2020 within POTEnT: keep an eye on our website to have all the latest updates on what’s happening in our project!
