Complex problems need integrated and coordinated solutions. Globalisation and sustainable development are the biggest challenges that we need to face and solve. Territories, regions, cities and towns with different levels of development have similar problems, especially when policies and strategies are converging. However, small and medium size cities do not have similar avenues for comunicating with the European Union. Their needs are often more localised and highly oriented toward regional cultures.
Nations, regions and big cities have easy ways to represent their interests as they have formal channels of communication with the European institutions.
Medium and small cities have more specific needs, and the local level wants to be part of the process and represents the interests of the biggest part of the population today in Europe. Over 70% of population lives in urban areas while only 5% of this population lives in big cities.
{sidebar id=382 align=right} The best way to work in order to face such challenges for small and medium cities is to cooperate. Networking is a new way to work collaboratively in the same problems with a view to find common solutions and learn about other experiences.
Medium sized cities have a relevant role at economic and social levels. Cities play a significant role in the development and economic growth.
On the one hand towns and cities are more and more the job, business and education centres. On the other hand cities face up to important challenges like social inclusion, water supplies and waste, or exhaust fumes from urban transport.
For all this, the present situation requires new and better strategies to ensure a sustainable development and, at the same time, to stimulate the competitiveness.
{sidebar id=383 align=left} The Eurotowns network is an answer to all these interests. The network started in 1991 as the Medium sized cities network. The main aim of Eurotowns is to be the reference network for medium sized cities (with 50,000 to 250,000 inhabitants). Today Eurotowns is made up by 19 cities from 8 different European countries, and means to represent the interests of medium sized cities in Europe in order to improve their positions in the European Agenda.
Today the cities of Eskilstuna, Gävle, Girona, Hasselt, Heraklion, Jerez de la Frontera, Jyväskylä, Kavala, Leewarden, Manresa, Mikkeli, Mölndal, Reggio nell Emilia, Sabadell, Schiedam, Sundsvall, Ulm, Varberg and Vigo are part of Eurotowns.
One of the main aims of the network is to promote exchanges of good practices and work in order to accomplish the European agendas, recommendations and follow the main strategies. This is a strategy for positioning medium sized cities, focusing on knowledge economy, competitiveness and sustainability.
The mission of Eurotowns is, therefore, to develop a network of vibrant, socially inclusive and sustainable medium sized European cities, which act as a catalyst for urban innovation, creativity and renewal.
Eurotowns has an annual program of activities that helps the network to establish a distinctive policy agenda for Europe’s small and medium sized cities. At the same time, all cities act as a forum for partnership work and collaboration that eventually facilitates access to funds to develop new projects.
Concerning the political agenda the Eurotowns policy goals are based on the main cities concerns. Most of them run in parallel to the Lisbon-Gottenborg Strategy and the recommendations of the Territorial Agenda and the Leipzig Charter.
The innovation side of Eurotowns is that the network is working to built Europe integrating the cities concerns and the EU recommendations. The other characteristic of Eurotowns is that it carries out all projects with a nucleus of local stakeholders made up by citizens, public and private institutions -all of them fully involved in the subject or the action plan.
{sidebar id=289} So far the network has worked in three specific areas: knowledge economy, innovation and providing effective and efficient sustainable mobility. For the future the network wants to expand the areas of work and focus on lifelong learning and the development of education and skills, and the quality of the physical environment, ensuring that growth is socially inclusive – everyone in society benefits.
Eurotowns is organised in task teams that work for the implementation of the agenda. One of the best practices and project experiences is “Capture, the knowledge network”.
The aim of the project has been to disseminate the knowledge economy, to promote growth and regional economic development through technology transfer and the stimulation of knowledge-based companies of network members.
All the project partners have been deeply involved in different projects and task teams to optimise all the industries related to the knowledge economy, creativity and innovation skills, business innovation, growth and regional economic development through technology transfer and the stimulation of knowledge-based companies of network members.
The way to work in order to transfer the knowledge to the local level was involving the local stakeholders and the methodology based on the exchange of ideas and good practice and the mobility of human capital in Europe.
The activities developed consisted basically of Study Visits, Staff Exchanges, Network meetings and Masterclasses with 250 participants. The range of issues that the program has developed was completely adapted to local complex problems:
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Innovation
Incubation
Technology Transfer
Creative and Cultural Industries
Entrepreneurship
Digital media
Water technology
The exchanges have produced unexpected results; many cities have discovered new production areas that were just latent. For instance the exchange between Manresa and Brighton on creative industries has helped Manresa to identify a new flourishing sector. Other exchanges have showed different ways to organise public services (libraries, incubators) and how to organise activities to generate more opportunities for the knowledge economy sector.
The results have built a strong partnership at local level between science, business, government and civil society. At the same time, we have realised that the new knowledge economy is mainly based on a cultural change and with talent, innovation and creativity.
The diversity of experiences such as incubation for start ups, creative industries or technology and science parks has provided the network with new strategic lines to develop that have been brought together in the CLIQ project.
{sidebar id=385 align=left}At present Eurotowns is working in CLIQ and MMOVE projects, which have just started in November 2008.
The CLIQ project will enable partners to improve the way local and regional authorities promote an innovative culture in business Projects. The main aim is to optimise innovation in SMEs and among entrepreneurs in medium sized towns in order to keep up with the challenges of globalisation.
The long-term perspective of CLIQ is to optimise the benefits of globalisation and innovation to SMEs and entrepreneurs in medium sized towns, with the objective to strengthen Local Authority policy and capacity to support innovation more effectively.
MMOVE aims to improve the effectiveness of sustainable mobility policies implemented by local authorities in small and medium sized cities in Europe and to improve awareness amongst regional level policy makers on the importance of supporting these policies within regional development frameworks. The final aim is to develop better mobility management policies for Europe’s medium sized cities.
The formal structure of the network works as an association, with a General Assembly, an Executive Council, a President and a coordinator. Both the Presidency and the Secretariat are currently settled in Manresa (Spain). All the structure is intended to improve conditions for medium sized cities of all over Europe.
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For more information: www.eurotowns.org
