The European Week of Regions and Cities takes place annually in Brussels and is one of the most important events organized by the European Union through the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission.
In terms of regional development policy, it is truly the most important event of the year. Within this special event, numerous events, workshops, exhibitions and conferences take place, dedicated to the objectives underlying the cohesion policy.
This year, between October 10-13, 2022, the 20th edition was organized, and the topics addressed were: the transition to green energy, territorial cohesion, digital transition and the creation of the necessary programs for young people.
Starting from these four major themes, events were organized in which over 20,000 people participated, physically in Brussels or online, and the number of speakers was over 1,000.
The official agenda of this year's edition included an event organized on October 11, in a hybrid format, by the North-West Regional Development Agency. The "Transylvania 4.0 - Regional insights into the bigger picture of digital Europe" workshop was dedicated to the digital transition, was hosted by the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union in the capital of Europe and benefited from speakers of the highest level. They honored the invitation to give a speech at the event:
– Marcel Ioan Boloș, Minister of Investments and European Funds
– Iulia Raluca Matei, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union
– Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca and member of CoR
– Aurelia Fedorca, Mayor of UAT Negresti Oaș and member of CoR
– Daniela Popescu, UTCN Vice-Rector
– Ovidiu Câmpean, Secretary of State within MIPE
In his speech, Minister Marcel Boloș provided details about the government cloud and the development of the quality of digital services in areas such as education and health, through a project for which 100 million Euros were allocated.
The Mayor of the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca provided concrete examples regarding the impact of the digitization projects implemented so far by the municipality and continued by highlighting the importance of digitization and the strategy he will approach for the new programming period. He also highlighted the activity and significant results of the Cluj clusters in the field of technology, some of their coordinators being present at the event.
From an academic perspective, Mrs. Daniela Popescu - UTCN vice-chancellor, presented the activity and innovative projects she runs alongside the students she coordinates. Thus, the participants had the opportunity to learn the advanced techniques that students use to scan archaeological sites or how they are taking steps towards the 4th industrial revolution through digital twin, the ability to virtually represent and optimize a real-life product or process Thus, the workshop offered the participants a broad picture of digitization, both from the perspective of members of the government or Romania's representatives in European institutions, as well as regional and local actors or from the academic and business environment.
As part of the delegation from Brussels, members of the North-West ADR team participated in working meetings with representatives of the European Commission and other prestigious EU institutions, such as the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA) and the Romanian Office of Science and Technology , where the team was welcomed by Mrs. Iulia Mihail as director of ROST and Mr. Prisecaru, State Secretary of the Ministry of Research and Digitalization. The delegation also had meetings with Mrs. Mădălina Trandafir, as the representative in Brussels of the county councils through the National Union of County Councils in Romania (UNCJR) and with the ADR Nord-Est and ADR Bucharest-Ilfov delegations who participated in turn them at the European Week of Regions and Cities.
