Latest news

KEPA and the Municipality of Thessaloniki keep advancing together in and through design-thinking. KEPA is proud to announce that the European Commission, in the framework of Design for Europe project, recently approved funds to develop a pilot project on the regeneration of traditional urban markets in Thessaloniki. The project will have expert support from Design Council and its aim will be to deliver a comprehensive strategy to support the short and long term regeneration of the Kapani market. All this will be based on design-thinking methodology. The involvement of all stakeholders, from SME owners to customers and public authorities, to reach collaborative and creative solutions will be a cornerstone of the pilot.

This is not the first time KEPA collaborates with the Municipality of Thessaloniki using design-thinking and other creative approaches to tackle problems. Indeed, on 22nd-23rd of October, Resilient Thessaloniki, KEPA, Students for Sustainability and Youthnest organised together the Climathon challenge. The Climate-KIC Climathon is a global 24-hour climate change event which will take place simultaneously in major cities around the world. The 25 participants came together to address the city’s challenge of “Inspiring behavior change for a climate-friendly city”.

Under the leadership of the Design Council and Danish Design Centre, the Ambassadors at the Malta Business Bureau have benefited from expertise from across the network and have embarked on a new pilot initiative involving a series of workshops targeting 15 local companies from various services sectors. The workshops built capacity for the companies to perform a design diagnostic using self-assessment tools according to their specific requirements and develop design action plans for their companies.

The number of social enterprises in Europe is increasing and they are engaging in new fields. Many countries are introducing new legislation as well as new support schemes to boost the development of social enterprises. Both public and private markets offer new opportunities for social enterprises to start up and grow, reveals a new report published by the European Commission. Examples of underlying factors behind the development of social enterprises in Europe include:

The 3 winners of the 2016 Social Innovation Competition were awarded on 27 October 2016. The competition focused on refugees and migrants. An impact prize was also awarded to the project from the last competition that achieved the greatest results. Each winner received a prize of €50,000. The 2017 competition is expected to launch in February 2017.

Τhe European Commission has launched a public consultation in the context of the mid-term evaluation of the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). The consultation seeks feedback from stakeholders and participants or beneficiaries involved in the EaSI programme during the 2014-2016 period, but citizens and other organisations are also welcome to contribute. 

In order to reduce the administrative burden, respect the principle of proportionality, ensure sound financial management, and facilitate the implementation of the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds both for the Member States and the beneficiaries, the Common Provisions Regulation establishes a set of thresholds and limits on administrative requirements for operations benefitting from ESI Funds.

In the legislative framework for the 2014-2020 ESI Funds the partnership principle has been strengthened. Article 5 of the Common Provision Regulation (CPR) makes it compulsory for each ESI Fund programme to organise a partnership at all programming stages and at all levels.

The final version of the EU Regional Social Progress Index, released on October 11th 2016, measures social progress for each of the 272 regions of the 28 member states of the European Union. The index consists of three dimensions: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing and Opportunity described by 50 social and environmental indicators.

The European Commission has released the findings of an independent evaluation of EU investments done in the 2007-2013 period, with specific reports for each Member State. This evaluation highlights the added value of Cohesion Policy, while feeding into the reflection on the future EU budget after 2020.

The European Commission is inviting Europe's top innovators to join a High Level Group that will advise on the design of a potential European Innovation Council (EIC). The EIC aims at stimulating European innovative start-ups and SMEs to grow into world-beating businesses by providing support for innovators who are aiming to develop and deploy ground-breaking, disruptive innovations that can create new markets. 

Today WEgate, the online platform for Women Entrepreneurs, is being launched. It’s the creation of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and EASME, the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized enterprises. The WEgate platform is the European gateway for women’s entrepreneurship.