Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy,
today visited the East Midlands to witness first hand how European
money is being used to increase levels of innovation, productivity
and enterprise
This visit comes one year on from emda's official launch of the
region's new European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
Competitiveness Programme for the period 2007 - 2013. It is
currently worth around £246m (1) over the seven year
period.
Since it was launched in March 2008, 59 projects have received
financial backing totalling almost £31.7m. A further 33
schemes are currently in the pipeline with applicants requesting
over £17.3m of ERDF investment.
Danuta Hübner is one of the most senior figures in the
European Commission and has responsibility for regional policy and
structural funds. Her portfolio includes the ERDF programmes across
the 27 EU Member States and with a background in economics, she is
well placed to oversee this activity.
During her trip, Commissioner Hübner visited projects that
have received ERDF funding under the current and previous programme
which ran from 2000 to 2006.
These include the Environmental Technology Centre (ETC) at The
University of Nottingham, a facility which helps businesses improve
their overall competitiveness and performance through the adoption
of environmentally efficient technologies and practices.
Approximately £3.2m has been awarded to the ETC through
both ERDF schemes.
She also toured BioCity Nottingham, visiting companies such as
R5 Pharmaceuticals which develops and manufactures new medicines
and materials for clinical trials. The company is one of 60
firms based in the bioscience innovation and incubator centre -
which is amongst the largest facilities of its kind in Europe.
Biocity was formed back in 2003 by Nottingham Trent
University, The University of Nottingham and emda to develop the
bioscience and healthcare cluster in the East Midlands.
£4.4m of ERDF funding was invested through the previous
programme.
Commenting on how ERDF funding is being used to support economic
development and regeneration priorities in the region, Danuta
Hübner stated ahead of her visit:
"In these times of crisis, it is more important than ever to
make the best possible use of European funds. The East Midlands is
getting considerable support from the Cohesion Policy - more than
£420 million in 2007-2013 - and I am confident that the
region will maintain its impressive track record in making the most
of this EU investment. I am particularly encouraged that the
region's strategy emphasises 'smart investment' for research,
technological development and innovation." (2)
The ERDF programme aims to increase productivity through
innovation; improve resource efficiency in businesses; and boost
sustainable economic and enterprise activity in disadvantaged
communities. ERDF is a valuable source of funding for Local
Authorities, universities, business support intermediaries,
entrepreneurs, social enterprises and community organisations.
Dr Bryan Jackson emda's Chairman, saw this visit as an
opportunity to look back on what has been achieved for the
programme so far and highlight to the Commissioner how ERDF funding
is being used to boost the regional economy in difficult times.
During a session with stakeholders, many of whom are involved in
bidding for ERDF investment or in the governance of the scheme, he
said: "I am delighted to welcome Danuta Hübner to the
East Midlands. Her visit provides a great opportunity to
highlight how our Programme is both improving the region's overall
productivity, as well as ensuring that the more disadvantaged parts
of the region do not fall further behind.
"In the current economic climate these two aspects of the
Programme are more important than ever. It is crucial that we
make as much use as we can of the ERDF funding available to the
region to support both the short term, immediate needs of
businesses as well as investing in longer term activities that will
see us through recovery and into the upturn.
"Partners tell us our ERDF Programme is flexible enough at
present to respond to the unprecedented challenges we are facing.
We will, however, keep this under review alongside our
European Commission colleagues.
"In the meantime, I would like to highlight the strong and
diverse partnership base that is making our ERDF programme a
success and thank all those involved. We are now making
excellent progress in implementing the Programme, with projects
starting to deliver on the ground. We look forward to continuing
this work for the benefit of people and businesses living and
working in the East Midlands."
emda is responsible for managing the current programme, building
on the success of the previous ERDF Programme which ran from
2000-2006 and was managed in the region by Government Office East
Midlands (GOEM). More information can be found at www.eastmidlandserdf.org.uk .