The annual European Week of Regions and Cities is the most important kermesse entirely dedicated to regional policy: practitioners coming from all over Europe reunites in Brussels to showcase best practices and achieved results, as well as to discuss hot topics. This year we wish to renovate and increase our commitment: in fact, REPLACE applied to become an official #EURegionsWeek partner to shed a light on the interregional cooperation efforts deployed to promote the transition toward a circular economy.
#EURegionsWeek has steadily increased its centrality and visibility in the past 17 years, reaching a record number of 9000 participants and 330 sessions in 2019. Last year, REPLACE organized an official side event to launch its start, as part of its Kick-off Meeting, and dedicated its platform to the discussion of the results so-far reached in the transition toward a circular economy and to highlight future objectives. with the participation of various European projects dealing with circular economy and a representative of the European Commission.
The 2020 edition (12-15/10/2020), focuses on Green Europe, Cohesion and Cooperation and Empowering Citizens: central stage will be granted to European territorial cooperation since 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the Interreg programmes; and, ultimately, this year edition represents also a special recurrence for REPLACE: it’s first formal birthday!
With the hope of continuing and reinforcing its presence in such essential event for regional policymakers and public authorities, REPLACE has arranged a varied partnership to submit applications to become an official partner in the 2020 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities.
REPLACE presented an application for a stand, with the scope of enhancing its visibility while engaging visitors through interactive activities, in association with its predecessor Horizon 2020 SCREEN project, to showcase the developed tools and methodologies for a transition toward a circular economy that empowers regional authorities and their stakeholders.
In partnership with other 2 projects, REPLACE applied also for a 90 minutes event: Policy Laboratory on Circular Economy. The collaboration wants to highlight the efforts made in different programmes in the field of the circular economy, promoting also transversal synergies:
- Interreg Europe project REPLACE
- Horizon 2020 project DIGIPRIME
- Interreg North Sea Region project Circ-NSR
The purpose of the Policy Laboratory on Circular Economy is to enlarge the cooperation and exchange opportunities by opening the floor to all meeting participants, generating a collaborative learning and exchange environment among peer professionals working in regional policies dealing with the circular economy to grant them space to share their experiences, present best practices, highlight barriers and identify remedial measures. Being the latter the heart of cross-regional cooperation, the proposed event honours #Interreg30 and celebrates its very soul, while showcasing its powerful potential.
