Thousands of EU projects across the EU will open their doors to citizens, who can also take part in several contests. Visit an aquaculture research centre in Ílhavo, Portugal, a language school equipped with the latest IT equipment in Split, Croatia, or take a guided tour in Vienna to spot and visit EU-funded projects in the city.

BEDA European Design Forum: What is the future of design support across Europe? 8 June, Vilnius. BEDA is the authority for design in Europe. Once a year, we bring those that operate in and around the design industry together to focus on a big issue. In 2017, this one-day forum asks the question: What is the future of design support across Europe?

The conference, titled "Social Innovation – Research and Policy of the Future: towards a comprehensive innovation policy" on 24th and 25th October in Brussels, is going to be one of the key events on social innovation in the year 2017. It is planned to explore the future of social innovation research and policy by bringing together leading social innovators, academics and politicians to discuss:

The Council of the European Union has adopted today its conclusions on making cohesion policy more effective, relevant and visible to the citizens. The ministers pointed out that cohesion policy is an essential policy of the EU, important now and in the future as a stable and predictable investment and cooperation framework to reduce the disparities between levels of development of Europe's regions.

The report 'Getting Skills Right - Financial Incentives for Education and Training systems' was published yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report has been financed under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).

This conference aims to raise awareness among decision makers and the procurement community about the benefits of strategic procurement, with an emphasis on sustainability, social responsibility and innovation. It will feature speakers recognised for their expertise and leadership in the field. 

In a report published today on EU regions which are lagging behind in terms of growth or wealth, the Commission identifies clear paths to support regional growth strategies, with the help of EU funds. The report assesses what supports or hinders the competitiveness of these regions and why they have not yet reached the expected levels of growth and income for the EU.

One of the key elements of the Cohesion Policy reform for 2014-20 was the introduction of preconditions for Member States to receive money from the European Structural and Investment Funds. A first assessment published today shows that this additional step has a high value, and that the preconditions proved to be a powerful incentive for Member States and regions to carry out reforms which would have otherwise been delayed or not necessarily implemented. 

In the first edition of Award for Good Administration organized by the European Ombudsman, the ESI Funds Open Data Platform won the award in the 'Open Administration' category. The platform features all the five Structural Funds, 28 countries, 530 programmes and covers 42% of the EU budget. It provides intuitive visualisations of the investment themes and meets the demands for detailed data on EU funds (in 2016, it was viewed 1.8 million times).

The second edition of the high-level Smart Regions event, due to take place this 1-2 June in Helsinki, will provide the opportunity to national and regional authorities to share experience of how smart specialisation has been implemented in their countries and regions. In 2014 smart specialisation strategies were introduced in the European Union's Cohesion Policy as the basis for research and innovation investment. As a result, over 120 strategies have been established to shape investments from 2014-20.  It is now time to assess what has been achieved, exchange experience and reflect on how the impact of projects can be maximised on the ground and what lessons should be drawn for the future.