The European Association of Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) builds up a community through assembling a network of members from Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) across 23 different countries. The main focus of EURADA is centring on the continuous development and improvement of the economy of their regions.
EURADA, being based in Brussels, has an important role as a representative of its members in front of the European Institutions. With the aim to facilitate the cooperation of the RDAs at a regional level and European institutions and development agencies at a national level, EURADA’s mission is to reinforce and better organise cooperation with the European Commission and other institutions to utilise the opportunities that Europe can provide.
RDAs are public-civic societies that work as intermediates between regional governments and the civic sphere. Their activities are focused on the economic development and competitiveness of the regional organisations at international level, supporting businesses in their internationalisation processes and improving their policies and strategies. RDAs have played a key part in the creation of bottom-up regional policy in Europe providing numerous benefices. As diverse as the countries to which they belong, European RDAs engage in a wide range of activities, including promoting economic development, improving business efficiency and competitiveness, assisting companies in internationalising within their territories, promoting employment, and contributing to sustainable development. Find out the international list of members in this link: https://www.eurada.org/about/members
But how does EURADA achieve that cooperation between the regions and European institutions? Among other activities, EURADA gathers its experts to facilitate participation in European projects and make them more efficient and accessible with the use of European Funds. Consequently, access to these types of resources allows them to exchange information and expertise to achieve their goals as well as to identify potential partnership or business opportunities efficiently.
Connecting development agencies with each other within Europe allows for the establishment of a common channel to approach social and economic challenges by bringing together common interests. EURADA takes the role of informing, promoting, and disseminating initiatives and programmes (such as funding, training, investigation studies, events, etc.) that may be of interest to members or external practitioners. The topics are linked to regional innovation and exchange of good practices. The purpose of supporting these enterprises is to improve their industrial capacities and therefore their growth opportunities. Many of the projects relate to digital transition, circular economy, access to international markets, finance and cohesion policy. Discover EURADA’s different on-going projects in detail on this page: https://www.eurada.org/projects
To reinforce cooperation among the members and the external stakeholders, EURADA has three working groups: Digitalisation WG, Smart Heritage WG and Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) WG. Each Working Group gathers a network of expertise on the topic aimed at creating a community of professionals to:
- facilitate the exchange of practices and knowledge.
- generate new ideas and cooperate at the EU level.
- disseminate best practices.
- engage partners and followers to work on common initiatives and projects.
- increase the support provided for local and regional agencies and SMEs.
Information on EURADA’s current active Working Groups, past events and future opportunities can be accessed via this link: https://www.eurada.org/euradaactivities/working-groups
EURADA focuses on fostering and making the most of European resources while acknowledging that European level cooperation is necessary to develop a common European space. Through the analysis and study of these resources and services, EURADA offers the best and most appropriate opportunities to its members. At the same time, a space for exchanges of knowledge and practices between the members and other stakeholders that directly affect regional development is then created.
“Helping to secure borders are not barriers, bringing Europeans closer, helping to solve common problems, facilitating the sharing of ideas and assets, and encouraging strategic work towards common goals.” European Commission
Learn more about EURADA at https://www.eurada.org/