The seventh edition of OPEN DAYS (European Week of Cities and Regions) consisted of 125 seminars, workshops, debates and exhibitions between 5 and 8 October 2009 took place in Brussels. More than 6000 participants were involved as well as 250 partners including 213 regions/cities from 33 countries.

The Macedonian Institute for Integration was one of the participants in the Open Days 2009 event in Brussels.

Many subjects concerning the Cities and the Regions were opened. The biggest point was putted on the Cross-border cooperation, stimulating the development of the Tourism in the less developed regions, the new Climate change platform...

Important stories:

Microcredit great challenge and promising chance

Presentations on different aspects of microcredit showed what has already been put successfully in place in order to reach the targets.

Microcredit’s can deliver significant results in stimulating economies, developing regions, creating jobs and in combating financial exclusion. The promotion of micro enterprises was shown as being a core issue in the discussion on microcredit.

The presentations on different aspects of microcredit showed what has already been put successfully in place in order to reach the targets. The importance on further developing the file of microcredit has been outlined at a workshop organised by the European Association of Public Banks

Panelists and participants shared their current views and reflections for the future.

On this occasion, the European Investment Bank (EIB) also explained the latest developments concerning microcredit within the EIB Group and the European Commission pointed out the developments around JASMINE, the Joint Action to Support Micro-Finance Institutions in Europe.

How to make a building green?

A lot can be done in reducing greenhouse gas emissions just by improving the energy use of buildings. Minimising the environmental impact of buildings, together with the building performance and the reduction of energy costs could make a key contribution to the overall aim of mitigating climate change.

“Most actions to reduce energy consumption in a building will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Siemens Building Technologies Division has completed more than 1,500 energy efficiency projects worldwide over the past ten years and helped customers achieve close to EUR 2 billion in energy savings. That is the equivalent reduction of 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 or 6 billion kilometres driven”, Gunnar Liehr told participants at an Open Days workshop organized by Siemens on environmentally friendly buildings.

Speakers also highlighted that cities account for a disproportionate share of greenhouse gas emissions but there are opportunities, especially in the public sector, to lower energy costs.

Creativity and Innovation at the heart of the OPEN DAYS programme!

2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and, as one of the main four themes of the OPEN DAYS, 'Innovation in Europe's regions and cities' is once again centre of the 2009 agenda. Creating an environment that encourages research, development and innovation is of the highest priority for European regions. Learning from good practice elsewhere in Europe, and how to maximise EU funding available was at the forefront of the OPEN DAYS discussions.

A series of seminars and events demonstrated hands-on the benefits of working in partnership with hundreds of regions from across the EU, all keen to share ideas and chart new and innovative ways of harnessing European investment. And it is a sizeable investment – of the €347 billion worth of funds allocated to EU Cohesion Policy, some €86 billion of that is specifically targeted on innovation-related activities. 

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