Core ERNACT regions met virtually on the 23rd of November for the second International Management Committee meeting of the year, at a time when Europe's regions and cities are keenly awaiting the new cooperation programmes in the 2021 - 2027 EU budget period.
The members reviewed the readiness of the network to capitalise on the increased digital transformation opportunities in the new EU programmes. ERNACT, with the disruptive digital technology capacity developed in the present programme, reviewed and prioritised 10 new project ideas, including European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH).
They were assisted in this task with expert input from members' representative offices in Brussels: Teresa Lennon from Irish Regions Brussels Office; Aitor Mintegui, Basque Government's Representation in Brussels and Maria Nyroos, West Finland European Office.
In addition, three guest regions, with an interest in joining ERNACT, attended to learn more about how the network operates, including staffing, the 2022 budget, interaction between members and the progress of ERNACT's 30-year anniversary.
ERNACT is currently managing 17 international projects with a €15 million budget. Last year alone, four new projects were approved and 10 live projects were awarded extra funding and/or time extension. The network is eagerly awaiting decisions on seven proposals already submitted for funding to various programmes.
"It has already been signalled that digital transformation will play a bigger part than in the previous budget period", commented ERNACT General Manager Colm Mc Colgan. According to him, disruptive technologies will play a big part in future cooperation between European regions and cities and the ERNACT network aims to ensure that its member regions are ahead of the game. "We are deepening staff's expertise in disruptive technologies and we have commenced experimenting with (AI) Artificial Intelligence, (VR) Virtual Reality, and project collaboration and eLearning platforms".