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Innovative actions for regional development - Cooperation in new sources of jobs -, 1995-1999

 
Under Article 10 of the Regulation governing the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2083/93 Official Journal No L 193 of 31.7.1993) the ERDF provides support for innovative actions in regional development through a number of pilot schemes. These innovative measures aim at developing new ways of introducing innovation and technology transfer in the regional agenda through demonstration projects.

The pilot project "Cooperation in new sources of jobs" is one of the eight priority areas identified for support under Article 10 for the period 1995-1999. The others concern:

- Internal inter-regional cooperation;
- External inter-regional cooperation;
- Cooperation in the Information Society;
- Cooperation in innovation and technology transfer;
- Cooperation with a cultural theme;
- Pilot projects in spatial planning;
- Urban pilot projects.

Based on the principles set out in, and the follow-up to, the Commission White Paper on "Growth, Competitiveness and Employment", the measures contained in the action have the dual goal of promoting the development of regional or local strategies and the establishment of pilot projects providing support for local employment initiatives in priority areas connected with better standards of living. These include:

- People-related jobs (children, elderly persons, etc.);
- Jobs relating to living conditions (renovation of housing, public transport, local shops, new types of tourism, etc.);
- Environment-related jobs (recycling, natural gas, pollution prevention, etc.).
To promote the development of regional or local strategies in the new employment areas and to test local job creation through support for pilot projects.
Two types of action are foreseen:

- Development of local and supranational strategies designed to help overcome obstacles to the development of local jobs. This action comprises:
. Increasing spending to boost the market for new products;
. Focusing on training in order to create new, higher calibre, jobs;
. Management of supply especially with regard to setting up new firms;

- Pilot projects designed to provide back-up for the introduction of specialized structures or the diversification of existing organizational, consultancy and financial engineering structures for the launching of such new activities.
The pilot project "Cooperation in new sources of jobs" is implemented by DG XVI of the European Commission within the framework of Article 10 of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regulation.

The action is executed by calls for proposals published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Priority for participation in the projects is to be accorded to local authorities and socio-economic actors in Objective 1, 2, 5(b) and 6 areas (see below). These actors must cover a coherent geographical area which should, except in exceptional cases, have a population of at least 200,000 and must undertake to work in partnership, in particular with associations (non-profit making organizations), socio-economic bodies and the private sector.

The Commission, assisted by a group of independent experts, is responsible for selecting the projects on the basis of the following criteria:

- Employment situation in the area, priority being given to areas where the unemployment rate is higher than the Community average;
- Standard of the partnership between the actors;
- Relevance of the analysis and of the proposed strategy for dealing with the area's unemployment problems;
- Assessment and methodology indicators;
- Commitment to disseminate results and experiences through a network;
- Measures which could be considered as likely to sustain the action.

As a rule, the Community's financial contribution towards the implementation of projects does not exceed the following percentages of the total cost of the project:

- 75% in Objective 1 (regions whose development is lagging behind) and 6 (sparsely inhabited regions) areas;
- 50% in Objective 2 (regions facing industrial decline) and 5(b) (vulnerable rural regions) areas;
- 30% in areas not included under any of the regional policy objectives.

The final selection of projects was scheduled to be completed by the end of March 1996.