(01 April 2014) – Four ERDF and ESF projects from Paredes in North Portugal, Cornwall and West Wales and the Valleys in the UK and Gdynia in Poland are the winners of the RegioStars 2014 awards.
In this 7th edition of RegioStars, the Jury singled out 19 finalists from 80 projects on the basis of four key criteria: innovation, impact, sustainability and partnership.
The finalists came from regions and cities in 17 Member States: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
And the winners are:
- “Smart Growth”: “Art on Chairs” (Paredes, Norte, Portugal) – The project has breathed new life into the traditionalfurniture industry by bringing them together with the designer world to transform chair making into an art.
- “Sustainable Growth”: BEACON (West Wales and the Valleys (UK) – The project focuses on biorefining: a process using non-food crops to create biomass to be used in products instead of crude oil.
- “Inclusive Growth”: “Fifteen Cornwall Apprenticeship Programme” (Cornwall, UK) – Inspired by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, the Fifteen Cornwall restaurant is part of a social enterprise, which offers a chance to disadvantaged 16 to 24 year olds the opportunity to train as chefs, while investing around €1.2 million back into the local economy supporting local suppliers and high-quality food production.
- “CityStar”: “Ecological Transport” (Gdynia, Poland) – Innovative trolleybuses have improved the comfort of passengers, reduced their travel times and brought benefits to the local economy of the Tricity area – Gdynia, Gdańsk and Sopot.