CREATOR newsletter #3

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2 Programme manager corner Photo Bastien Erpelding Seven european regions have joined force, in terms of seeing an ageing population as an opportunity to regional economic development. CREATOR mini-programme provides unique opportunities to search for new possibilities by learning from each other and finding solutions together. Projects in cooperation Within four years CREATOR will implement seven projects with at least three cooperative participants/organisations from three participating regions. Needs of an ageing population Projects shall concern the possibilities emerging from the needs of an ageing population, for instance innovations, products and services or be related to an increasing cooperation between the private and public sector in producing well being services. Policy strategies Final results will include recommendations and guidelines to design policy responses to demographic change. Cooperating regions: Västerbotten Sweden, Häme Finland, Wielkopolska Poland, Lorraine France, Brescia Italy, Asturias Spain, North Hungary, Hungary www.creator7.eu A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Seven sub-project are approved and up and running. Some have come half way while others are just starting up. It will certainly be interesting to see all of the sub-projects finalize their ideas and their possible effects. Details on all sub-projects can be found in this issue. CREATOR has also come half-way and we are making arrangements for our mid-term evaluation which will take place in the spring. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day work and overlook the objective. Therefore this evaluation is so important, are we on the right track? And while I am confident, by the end of May we will know for sure. Other exciting news is that the Joint Technical Secretariat in Lille has launched an online reporting system and I think all INTERREG IVC projects and mini-programmes are happy to move away from the old excel sheets. The online form allows for partner contribution is a completely different way than the excel-document and I am excited to use it now for the first time. Another thing I am excited about is the 4th workshop in Poznan, which will be an opportunity for sub-projects to test their good practices. Experts and senior citizens will be invited and will have their say. Just like you may get caught up in your day-to-day routine, it’s also easy to forget who these sub-projects are intended to facilitate for, the elderly. I look forward to yet an inspiring workshop. Finally, I want to welcome Elhame Maziz from the regional council of Lorrain back to CREATOR. She has been on sick leave for almost a year we are all happy that she is feeling better and that she is back! With hopes of an inspiring spring, Nr 3 • mars 2012 Text and layout: Mariann Holmberg Publisher: CREATOR Interreg IVC mini-programme, by the County Administrative Board of Västerbotten Susanna Lantz Project manager CREATOR
3 Häme - Economic growth while its population is ageing Häme is a region in southern Finland situated only an hour from the country’s capital, Helsinki. It is a historical region where some of the oldest settlements in Finland are found. The capital of the region, Hämeenlinna, is the oldest inland town in Finland and was founded in 1639. The region has over 174,000 inhabitants and an area of about 5,700 square kilometres. The population has increased during the last ten years and this trend is expected to continue. The population is older compared with the national average. The region (NUTS 3) is itself divided into three sub-regions (NUTS 4) and into 11 municipalities. During the past couple of years the region experienced strong economic growth, primarily in the industry and service sectors, largely due to the region’s central location in Finland. Industry in Häme is mainly oriented to the domestic market. The main industries are metal, food and mechanical wood processing. Other significant, developing sectors are tourism, digital business, well being, the culture industry and environmental technology. Most of the enterprises are quite small and the public sector plays an important role as a big employer. The unemployment rate was 9 percent in 2011, roughly the same as the national average. Regional GDP per capita was calculated at € 26,500 in 2009. Häme in CREATOR Finland was one of the first countries in Europe to be faced with the challenge of an ageing population. It is very important to confront this and to seek solutions together with other regions of Europe by learning from one other. As the region is not very internationalized at present, CREATOR provides an excellent opportunity for regional actors to become involved in international co-operation. This serves as good preparation for the next EU-programme period, starting from 2014. SUOMI FINLAND 5 questions for Mr. Timo Saviniemi, Steering Committee member, Häme Häme • What do you think about the future as a senior in Häme? What is the reality? Although Häme has economic growth, it is an ageing region at present. It is very important to pay attention to the quality of life of elderly people now and in the future. There is going to be a great deal of pressure on decision makers at state, regional and municipal level to organise all the required services for the increasing, ageing population. The emphasis should be increasingly on preventive care and services. I think in the future people will be increasingly responsible for their own health. So things like health-related sports and healthy ways of living are very important for everyone, not only for the senior citizens. • How would you like the young generation to think about their future in Häme? I feel that young people in Häme think positively about their future. It is very important to educate oneself and to have a positive, active and even somewhat curious approach to the future. As we don’t have own university, many young people leave the region to educate themselves elsewhere in Finland or abroad, and I encourage people to do so in the future as well. It is our job in the Regional Council, together with the municipalities, to develop interesting possibilities for working and living in our region in order to attract these young people to come back some day with more experience and competence. • How could CREATOR contribute to positive development in Häme? Our region is not very internationalised if you compare it with the other regions in Finland. Therefore, I see CREATOR as a very useful way of encouraging organisations and people to be more active on international platforms. I think CREATOR, as a mini-programme, offers the organisations in our region a shortcut to international development projects. This is a very important aspect when preparing the region and its actors for the next programming period which starts from 2014. Another important aspect is that CREATOR provides possibilities for exchanging and benchmarking practices and models related to the challenges of the ageing population between the seven European regions. This benchmarking and exchanging of good practices can help us in our development work in the region in many ways. At best, it provides us with new ways of thinking and different views on the challenges and especially the solutions. • What are your personal expectations as a future senior? I would like to have a safe, active, healthy life as a senior citizen together with my family, and to see my children grow up. My dream is to retire some day, as being an entrepreneur, retirement is not as obvious as it probably is for other people. • What are the best things about living in Häme? There are many good things in Häme, but I think the best thing is the clean, rich natural countryside environment. In a Finnish dimension, our region has an excellent location. The biggest cities of Finland are only one hour away from our region and with the present good logistic connections we are easily reachable. The region also offers many different possible ways of living in the cities and the rural areas.
Page 1: News No 3 • March 2012 SUB-PROJEC
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