On 07/11/2014, KEPA organized in its facilities workshop on "Design for Public Sector" for executives of the Region of Central Macedonia. The workshop was organized in the context of the SEE Platform project, in which KEPA is partner of a consortium of 11 partners across Europe.

You are welcome to visit SCOW website to take a look to its new contents and specially the released news (including Project Partner specific activities). http://www.biowaste-scow.eu/

We also recommend you to sign up for SCOW newsletter so you can receive this periodic updated reporting. You can register and find the 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions via: http://www.biowaste-scow.eu/Newsletters

We are very glad to invite you to the 2nd SCOW Capitalisation Event that will take place in Barcelona by the end of February. You will be informed as soon as the dates are confirmed.

Fundación ONCE, in the framework of the European Network of Corporate Social Responsibility and Disability, cofinanced by the European Social Fund, is launching the second edition of the European Award for Social Entrepreneurship and Disability: Promoting Social Investment. This pioneering initiative in Europe aims to highlight projects of social entrepreneurship that target the field of disability.

MEPs approved the new college of 27 Commissioners, as presented by its President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday morning, with 423 votes in favour, 209 against and 67 abstentions. The new Commission now needs to be formally appointed by EU heads of state or government to enable it to take up duty on 1 November for a five-year term.

Design is an important tool for the development of entrepreneurship and mainly for the production of high added value innovative products and services that bring increased profits from business, was the central conclusion of the successfully implemented conference “Innovation ID ²⁰¹⁴”, which was held on Tuesday, October 21st 2014, by the Business & Cultural Development Centre (K.E.P.A.), the Goethe-Institut, the British Council and the Metropolitan Development Thessaloniki S.A. with the support of the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award at the premises of the Goethe-Institut.

The conference was aimed to inform existing and new entrepreneurs, executives and employees of small and medium-sized businesses in the city and the region of Thessaloniki, as well as students, about non-technological innovation.

Final registration statistics confirm the attendance of some 5,600 participants, 17% of whom registered on-site. Members of the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions brought the overall attendance to over 5,800 participants.

Welcomed by Iskra Mihaylova, Chair of the European Parliament's REGI Committee, Michel Lebrun, President of the Committee of the Regions, some 900 people attended the OPEN DAYS 2014 opening session, with the key speeches from Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, José Ángel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, Catiuscia Marini, President of the region of Umbria, Italy, and First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, and a video message from José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

Brussels, 3 October 2014 - The European Commission published today the 2013/2014 Annual Report on European SMEs. The report, prepared on a yearly basis, provides an overview of the size, structure and importance of SMEs to the European economy and their contribution to growth and jobs, as emphasised in the Small Business Act and Europe 2020 strategy. Comparisons with important partner countries outside the EU and with the large enterprise sector are also included.

The Autumn edition of Panorama contains several special features celebrating the 50th edition of the magazine. Primary among these is an exclusive interview with Commissioner Johannes Hahn in which he reviews the changes in cohesion policy during his term in office. An in-depth article on the recently published 6th Cohesion Report explores how cohesion policy is helping pull Europe out of the economic crisis and encourage innovative and green growth. The latest update on the adoption of Partnership Agreements focusses on Greece: their preparations for the new investment period are explained by a representative from the Greek Ministry of Development and Competitiveness

The Northern Greece Entrepreneurs Cultural Society, the Navarino Network, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) of the International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, City College, are organizing the 3rd Thessaloniki International Symposium in World Affairs, on October 12, 2014, at Olympion theatre.