Ecodu séminaire

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Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner in charge of cohesion policy

4Sustainable growth in territories, with the European Funds

Rounding up

The feeling during the iCT workshop was mostly grim. Why was that? What has to happen to turn that feeling around?Marc Laget (DATAR) : Digital technology can inter alia contribute to cutting travel. And yet telecommuting is not very widespread in France. And public procedures to not accommodate ICT as much as they should. One of the mes-sages at that workshop was “Be bold: use ICT”. What we need is a cultural paradigm shift. The leading lights, such as the Region of Auvergne, which included ICT in all its operational departments in 2009, are showing us the way to go.

What did you learn from the Energy workshop? Pierre-François Clerc (DATAR) : The technical solu-tions exist. Now we need more projects to take on the 3x20 challenge, with innovative financing mechanisms and by structuring the sectors. Networking territorial stakeholders and professionals is vital, ultimately to lower project costs. Programme managers–not only at the workshop–are calling for a more comprehensive approach, i.e. for closer articula-tion between the ESF and ERDF.

Will green growth change anything for the ESF?Elisabeth Vaillant and Thomas Fargeas (French Economy, In-dustry and Employ-ment Ministry): The green economy princi-pally involves bolstering the fields of expertise we already have. The Train-ing and Economic De-velopment workshop re-viewed the full list of skill requirements then distilled the pointers to map out the next steps. Some par-ticipants wanted to refocus the ESF on territorial is-sues, not just on under-qualified people, i.e. channel ESF financ-ing to competitiveness clusters and thereby SMBs.

A number of participants embraced the notion of “Territorial Employment and Expertise Plans” (which mirror employment and expertise plans in companies).

one workshop focused espe-cially on building sustainable development into each project. Serena Lorenzetti (DATAR) : Yes. Regions are coming up with more and more initiatives, to support people with projects, raise project manager and beneficiary aware-ness, and assess project action and impact. We need to capitalise on successful experi-ences and use them, and talk to a broader spectrum of stakeholders (especially include the people with the projects). Dedicated ex-change platforms would help there. We also have to angle towards anticipation, instead

of trying to keep up, and towards building in sustainable-development objectives from the start, not enduring them as constraints.

Workshop participants also asked for a clearer, consensus-based definition of sustainable development, and for the re-sources they need for training, leadership and communication, for the coming programme period.

The Water workshop spent a lot of time talking about preventing floods. What is your first im-pression? Mickaël Vaillant (DATAR) : We were unhappy about the fact that the operational programmes were “water-tight”, i.e. confined within administrative borders instead of stretching to an entire watershed, for instance. So they have to aggregate project outcomes to find out whether they have achieved their objectives. There is room for im-provement there. Last but not least, it would make sense to get researchers and administrations working together on water management, as early as the public-debate stage.

Being bold, breaking down borders Workshop leaders have their own Q&A session

3 questions for Commissioner HahnWhat are you taking home from the seminar?It was a great opportunity for local authorities to exchange their experiences. And there is no doubt in my mind that the conclusions will influence the programme in the pipeline.

Where will sustainable develop-ment fit into the programmes for 2014-2020?We are all aware that we have to change the way we do things. And not only at home: energy production methods also

matter. And we need to use that energy more efficiently - especially in cities, where more of the greenhouse-gas emis-sions will come from.

What would you like to say to the people running these programmes in France? I would like them to use this opportunity to talk to the people benefitting from the programmes and to help them (I am espe-cially thinking about innovation, SMBs and training). I hope they will be as com-mitted as they were during the seminar.

“Cohesion policy should also stretch to encompass people working on smaller projects. Associations, for example, should be able to qualify for funds.”Yvette izabEl, European Commission

“The real point is to shift pilot projects into the mainstream.” Vincent lE dollEY, daTaR

“Today, it makes sense for territories to work in multi-fund mode: structural funds should be able to combine research funds and HR funds.”Vincent lE dollEY, daTaR

“A genuine European strategy is the only way to go. In a universe without borders, we can’t stay alone for long.”

gilles pEnnEquin, union for the Mediterranean Mission

1Sustainable growth in territories, with the European Funds

The people shaping Europe’s cohesion policy also converged on the Village des Régions for drinks,

snacks and chats during these three days. They got together, asked each other questions, exchanged best practices, and spoke about their region’s sustainable projects using European Funds. The village spanned most French regions, most multiregional and cooperation programmes, and included Nantes Métropole, European Municipalities and Regions, La 27eme Région (France’s public innovation agency), The French Natural Regional Park Federation, and the European Commission.

W elcome to Nantes, which is hosting the Regional Competitiveness and

Employment seminar for the first time ever. Patrick Rimbert, Nantes’ Deputy Mayor, told participants about that that city’s distinctive brand of sus-tainable development and how it has evolved over the past 20 years, com-bining drives to organise urban envi-ronments and protect natural surround-ings - the policy that has earned it the title of European Green Capital for 2013. Christophe Clergeau, the Pays de la Loire Region’s first Vice-President, then discussed the key projects in the area,

including the renewable marine energy research platform (since, he added, “This region wants to become a national bench-mark [in this field]”). Bertrand Martinot then spoke about best practices for using European Funds from the French Econo-my, Industry and Employment Ministry’s perspective, and about training courses for employees in companies that have to adjust in order to harness the trend to-wards a greener economy. He sees oppor-tunities to promote genuine sustainable development–spanning economic, social and environmental development–as op-posed to projects undermining growth or spawning unbridled growth, i.e. what

he calls “suicidal economics”. DATAR’s Emmanuel Berthier then distilled the lessons learned from the programmes underway, and was delighted with the success that the ERDF and ESF are en-joying: “The people who qualify for these funds know them well, and they are very happy with them.” He was nev-ertheless disappointed that only one in three very small and small businesses knows about these options. Building sustainable economic development properly, he added, will mean involv-ing institutional stakeholders at every level, businesses, and, basically, all European citizens.

Nantes welcomed the 500 participants who gathered at the Regional Competit iveness and Employment Seminar organised by DATAR on 8, 9 and 10 June 2011, to assess the European Funds’ contributions to sustainable growth and to map out the post-2013 programme.

The people shaping Europe meet in Nantes

A village to set an example

ConTEnTS

EdiToRial

Page 2 & 3 : Five sustainable topics Page 4 : Rounding up 

About 500 participants converged on Nantes for the 2011 seminar on Regional Competitiveness and Employment to discuss sustainable development. They spent 3 days contributing to workshops, visiting projects and discussing at roundtables to review territorial stewardship in depth. This seminar came at a turning point in the process and led to several pointers to improve the 2007-2013 programme - whence we will be distilling the lessons learnt. It inter alia made a solid case for coordinating economic research and development policy and employment and vocational training policy more closely.As regards the future, the French Minister in charge of cohesion policy, Mr Bruno Le Maire, confirmed that France has embraced cohesion and wants the European Funds to flex their full muscle to support “smart, sustainable and inclusive” growth. It is up to all of us to translate this aim we share into action on the ground.

Bertrand Martinot, DGEFP

Emmanuel Berthier, DATAR

[Above] Left to right: B. Martinot (DGEFP), E. Berthier (DATAR), C. Clergeau (Pays de la Loire Regional Council), P. Rimbert (Nantes Métropole) and J. L.. Caffier (journalist). [Opposite] Left to right: C. Clergeau, P. Migneret (DATAR), J. F. Lebrun (European Commission), J. Palma Andres (European Commission), C. Larrieu (French Ecology, Sustainable Development and Planning Ministry).

Chatting in the Village des Régions.

Sustainable territorial development via the European Funds

June 2011

Les participants de l’atelier Formation et développement économique

ThEY Said iT!

publication director: Vincent le dolley, daTaR

photo credits: © Marion lecat - aVERTi

Creation and copywriting: www.averti.fr

printed in June 2011printed on 100% recycled FSC-certified paper

Ce séminaire est cofinancé par l’Union européenne dans le cadre d’Europ’Act. L’Europe s’engage en France avec les Fonds européens.

T here is more than one triptych. Jean-Jacques Thiébault, the President of Stratégic

Scout, a division of ECOTER (a corporate and com-munity association to promote ICTs) has his own three pillars–usages, infrastructure and services–to mirror sustainable development’s three pillars. On the infrastructure front, Europe has a road map to reach its ambitious aim to provide every citizen with high-speed access by 2020.

Remote presence. Cisco Systems France’s Tech-nology Strategy Director Olivier Seznec spoke about usage and Cisco’s drive to enhance remote presence, including improved videoconferencing systems to provide the impression that meeting participants are in a single location and cut travel by 20% with home-growth technology. Participants furthermore agreed that the French Grenelle roundtable has completely overlooked telecommuting, and should put it back on the table to harness digital technology for sustainable development.

Facts and figures. Communication technology, however, consumes a lot of energy so its carbon foot-print will stretch in synch with wider access. The fig-ures (carbon-dioxide emission cuts, more productiv-ity, less travel, etc.), however, will make it easier to convince stakeholders across the board. The last point that all participants agreed on is that digital technolo-gy should be a realm for everyone, not just specialists. And that will take a few bold moves!

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23 millionThat’s the number of unemployed people in Europe - and the number of SMbs. if each SMb hired just one job-seeker...

2Sustainable growth in territories, with the European Funds Sustainable growth in territories, with the European Funds

FiVE SuSTainablE TopiCS FiVE SuSTainablE TopiCS

Digital technology consumes substantial amounts of energy and is not entirely available yet - but it is nonetheless an amazing tool to boost sustainable development.

Digital technology for Sustainable Development 2.0

Front : Hélène Ribeaudeau (Cybermassif), then Alexandra Debaisieux (YTES), Jean-Jacques Thiébault (ECOTER), Olivier Seznec (Cisco Systems France) and Marc Laget (DATAR).

Sustainable development is emerging as one of the top priorities as these programmes are drawing to a close. So what next?

It will take a vigorous strategy and clear-cut sustainable-development goals (which are too often restricted to environmental concerns). The key seems to be anticipation in general, and long-term, hands-on action plans that stakeholders at every level (i.e. policymakers, programme managers and the people driving the projects) embrace.

in a nuTShEll

here’s some great news! The as-sessment at the beginning of 2011 shows that the 3x20 ob-

jectives are on track, especially as re-gards greenhouse gases and renewa-ble energies. But, without turning up the heat, the energy-efficiency gain will not even make the 10% mark. That is why new measures should focus research on non-fossil energy and cutting energy consumption.

Transversal. The way to go, says the Nord – Pas de Calais Region’s Jérôme Pigé, is an integrated ap-proach to “shore up the strategic depth of environmental policy, by

combining economic development and social progress.” The tram in Le Havre is a great example: it is a soft means of transport that will help people living in tough suburbs to get to the city centre, the infrastructure is attracting real-estate developers to those suburbs, and the project involved hiring 33 people on subsi-dised contracts to train youths in dif-ficulty.

Mainstream. These projects are fascinating - but we need lots more of them. Or, in the words of Jean-Luc Sadorge, from Alsace Energivie (an energy cluster), “We can make a

few energy-positive buildings - but we need millions of them.” Creating jobs in the building sector–really–, will involve structuring the trade and sharpening skills.

Estimates suggest that it will involve training 225,000 people a year for a decade. This mainstream drive will require serious ESF and ERDF ar-ticulation.

The recipe includes innovative, fi-nancing, experience feedback on exemplary and transversal projects, training and duplication, and other ingredients.

Results in the energy sector are encouraging and demonstrators should start showing other stakeholders the way to go. But it wil l take massive efforts...

Energy: shifting up a gear

Left to right: Olivier Jouin (Centre Region), Jean-Luc Sadorge (Alsace Energivie competitiveness cluster), Jérôme Pigé (Nord – Pas de Calais Regional Council).

Europe needs to take a dip in the water W ater is one of those things

that gladly travel across frontiers. That is why solidarity at every level, all the way upstream and downstream, is a sine-qua-non.

Preventing floods is one example. Jean-Claude Eude, the man who runs the Services Department at the Établissement Public de la Loire, the company inter alia in charge of

floods in and around the River Loire, stated that 53% of the companies working on that river’s watershed are in flood-prone areas. And a few simple measures could avoid 25% of the damages that floods entail.He also used the opportunity to highlight a few trailblazing projects that sometimes lack the publicity they warrant. The Aquasim project, for instance, is an outstanding example of an educational approach that works and delivers results. This initiative encompasses the three pillars that underpin sustainable development: it is ecologically sustainable (the construction methods are environment-friendly), economically sustainable (it includes scientific projects involving water) and socially sustainable (three of the people on the team are disabled and come from a centre supporting integration through jobs).

“Green growth is posing challenges for ESF”

ESF support will add up to almost €4.5 bn in Mainland France in 2007-2013. And

green growth is ushering in new training requirements. In the Pays de la Loire Region, for example, the ESF is sharpening skills in the renewable marine energy field and financing training courses to build a greener economy. And this economy is posing several challenges for the ESF, including cross-sector training to meet emerging requirements. Guibert Debroux, the man who runs Forem Forum Environnement, a training centre in Wallonia, added that future heat-pump fitters will need “refrigeration rather than heating expertise and skills.” Over in the more conventional business fields (operation-side services for companies), the challenges hover closer to cross-functional skills and behavioural skills. “Turning a ‘dump caretaker’ into a ‘dump team member’ takes more than semantics,” explains Josette Guillon from La Boîte à Papiers, a company working to coach people back from the fringes of society with jobs in the waste-management sector. “Before, they used to let tippers into the dump. Now, they welcome customers, reassure them and deal with conflicts,” she explains. “We also have to think about behavioural training more than before: we often have to bring people up to speed on personal presentation, politeness and reliability when they start working for the company,” Josette Guillon rounds up.

Marc Challéat (General Secretary for Regional Affairs in Rhône-Alpes) and Jean-Claude Eude (Etablissement Public de la Loire)

i t’s difficult to show how sustain-able a project actually is, and

even harder to imagine it - with-out tools to plan ahead, assess

the project and direct teamwork. And there are examples! We can assess carbon footprints on pro-grammes (NECATER) and projects

(Eval’ CO2) today (the latter was developed by the Region of Lower Normandy).Sylvain Sellos and Franck Pelé presented a simple and efficient tool to assess carbon-dioxide emissions on projects in order to help the people working on them to improve their outcomes. There are other methods to help programme sponsors and managers to run environment-friendly projects - with educational approaches, or constraint-based ones, as is the case in Nord – Pas de Calais and Aquitaine.The road ahead most probably involves fine-tuning the balance between planning ahead, corrective mechanisms and the right governance.

Building sustainability into projects from the start

Anne-Sophie Cambier (Nord-Pas de Calais DREAL), Eric Cabarez (Nord-Pas de Calais Regional Council) and Serena Lorenzetti (DATAR).

Josette Guillon, La Boîte à Papiers (Limousin)