ICONANNUAL

Greetings
Dr. Johannes Hahn
European Commissioner for Regional Policy
Though, on the way to turning an ambitious idea
into a tangible achievement, even the most brilliant
minds might need to encounter the right person
and to find the fitted support. Though at different levels,
this is exactly what iconvienna – the European Business
and Investment Forum – has been successfully doing for
the last ten years, and this is also exactly what cohesion
policy does: providing this support and making those
encounters happen. Helping brilliant ideas come true.
Without any doubt, some of the greatest challenges we
have to face together today relate to cities: it is all about
finding out ways to make them smarter and greener, all
about coming up with solutions to improve the quality of
life they offer. Cities account for 85 % of Europe‘s GDP.
They are home to more than two thirds of European
citizens. They are more and more attractive to people and
businesses. This attractiveness is not only an incredible
strength for Europe, but also a unique opportunity to
develop innovative and visionary projects. Without
a true involvement of cities, the objectives set by the
Europe 2020 Strategy to achieve a smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth will never be reached. We need
buildings that use energy more efficiently for citizens to
live and work in. We need smarter development schemes
to host the increasing urban population, and smarter
transportation maps to let them go wherever they want.
I know that all the brilliant ideas to address these major
challenges are out there. They just need a helping hand.
Bearing that in mind, the main reason why I decided
to put forward a structural reform of cohesion policy
is precisely so that it can support smarter projects in a
smarter way.
The new investment priorities set for the European
Regional Development Fund will allow cohesion policy
assistance to be even more focussed and more strategic.
In the most developed regions, over 80 % of the ERDF will
be dedicated to four objectives that are critical to urban
development: research and innovation, information and
communication technologies, competitiveness of SMEs
and low carbon economy. Besides, between 2014 and
2020, 330 million Euros will fund innovative actions in
the field of sustainable urban development. A network
will review the on-the-ground deployment of European
funds as well as support the sharing of experience
between cities involved.
Last but not least, I am truly convinced that there is
an even greater cause why both cohesion policy and
iconvienna must keep on helping people turn their
plans into achievements: the brain drain challenge. If
young and bright minds do not trust Europe to be the
best place for them to carry out their ambitious projects,
they will just carry them out elsewhere. They already do.
Today, one researcher in Science and Technology from
Austria out of eight is living in the US. Depending on
the framework, the strength of the upcoming challenges
to come might act as a deterrent or as an incentive to
more creativeness and boldness – precisely what Europe
and cities in Europe need. Reforming regional policy was
a way of better shaping this framework; in the next ten
years to come, let us carry on improving it together.
iconannual - The European Business and Investment Magazine
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