During the first days of June city teams across Europe were able to meet and discuss European activities, initiatives and funding programmes – finding common solutions for the future.
The SMC workshop is an important networking arena for its participants, and an inspiring event that might offer new perspectives on common challenges in the different regions.
This year marked the 3rd edition of the event, and the second time that the Stavanger Region European Office has been invited to partake. We organized the event together with representatives from the Brussels offices of the Cities of the Northern Netherlands, Turku-South West Finland, Pays de La Loire, Thuringia, North Sweden, Småland Blekinge Halland South Sweden.
This year, the Stavanger Region joined with two city teams: One from the University of Stavanger and one from Stavanger municipality.
Green skills for the future
The event started with the pre-recorded insights of Diedrik Samsom, Head of cabinet, under the Commissioner for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans.
In addition to the green transition, skills were also on the agenda.
2023 is the European year of skills, which aims to address skills gaps in the EU and boost the EU skills strategy to help reskill people with the focus on digital and green technology skills.
Considering this EU focus it was very timely to take part of the expertise of Miguel Fernandes Diez from DG EMPL in the European Commission regarding the Pact for Skills support for local skills strategies.
There was also an opportunity to learn about regional skills examples from the Netherlands and Finland, respectively ‘Center for Innovative Craftmanship Water’ presented by Anke Hoekstra, and ‘Turku skills program’ presented by Björn Grönholm.
European project development
Developing a European project can be a challenge in itself.
Our own Iver Jan Leren from the County Council of Rogaland , Ryan Titley, director of Projects at ERRIN (European Regions Research and Innovation Network), Diana Oancea, project advisor at CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) and Albert Edman from RISE/Viable Cities, discussed this challenge, shared their insights, and tips and tricks for writing a project proposal.
The use of drones for the (smart) city of Stavanger
Terje Rygh from the Smart City department in the municipality of Stavanger shared the development of the smart city of Stavanger, as well as presenting how drones could be used to monitor and combat environmental change in the region.
A central aspect is the multipurpose of drones, making it useful for police, in fires, and for monitoring i.e. sea levels, oil leaks, invasive species in woods and reefs etc. While exploring the possibilities for the usage of drones in different activities Rygh also talked about the Airmour – project where the city of Stavanger is a project partner, and test site. Airmour is a 3-year long EU-funded research and innovation project that will explore the use of drones in emergency medical services.
Smart specialisation
Charles Abbott from the University of Stavanger Business school contributed to another workshop where he spoke about Smart specialisation and innovation policies and raised the question:
How can small and medium sized city-regions design smart specialisation or regional innovation policies, which balance the need for ‘smart diversification’, with the need to involve all actors in the innovation system?
Three times = a tradition
The two-day event is indeed a social one.
After the first day of presentations and discussions, the networking between participants continued at the premises of the Thuringia EU Office, where they hosted a wonderful BBQ under the Brussels sun.
This inspiring and sociable event continues to be a success, and the feedback from the participants has been positive also this year.
If you have any thoughts on topics you would like to see addressed please contact us. We look forward to the next edition of the workshop!
A special thanks to the EU Office of the Cities Northern Netherlands for hosting the event, and to the Thuringia EU Office for organizing an amazing networking-bbq reception.
