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Programmes summaries :

Operational programme 2007-13: East of England

1. "East of England Competitiveness and Employment Programme"
Programme under the Competitiveness and Employment objective 2007 – 2013 co-funded by the European Regional and Development Fund (ERDF)

2. The European Commission approved on 12 December 2007 a regional development programme for the East of England for the period 2007-2013 within the framework of the Competitiveness and Employment Objective. The total budget of the programme is around €275 million and the Community investment through the ERDF amounts to € 110 million.

3. The purpose and aim of the EU investment

The strategy for this programme establishes an over-arching theme of "Low Carbon Economic Growth". This commitment signals the vital importance of achieving the economic growth in a manner that recognises and addresses the region's carbon footprint and the economic and environmental imperatives for doing this. This theme is consequently at the heart of the priorities that will drive the region's Competitiveness Programme and will be the touchstone for financial decision-making and project selection. The East of England's Competitiveness Programme has the potential to be at the forefront of innovation and design in the development of new, economically significant ways of responding to this agenda from specific low carbon initiatives through to measures that reduce carbon emissions or which help to stimulate relevant sectors such as clean technology and renewable energy.

4. The expected impact of the investment

The programme puts strong emphasis on delivering economic growth that recognises the region's carbon footprint. It is expected to create 4,600 new jobs and to assist 7,300 businesses. Some 500 businesses should see their environmental performance improved. It should generate increase in the GVA € 189 million as a result of the Programme. The programme will encourage innovation and knowledge transfer including "clean" technologies to increase efficiency and productivity. It will result in 1162 successful innovation related initiatives in SME's (Small and Medium enterprises).

5. Priorities

The East of England 2007-2013 ERDF programme is structured according to the following priorities:

Priority 1: Promoting innovation and knowledge transfer with the intention of improving productivity

The priority aims at encouraging commercialisation across the region's strong research and development base, including for energy efficient and clean technologies, supporting the wider application and take up of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and other technologies and encouraging demand from businesses to engage to stimulate knowledge transfer. The priority focuses on innovation, improved productivity and resource efficiency in line with the overall meta-theme – towards low carbon economic growth.

Priority 2: Stimulating enterprise and supporting successful business by overcoming barriers to business creation and expansion

The priority will support activities intended to deliver a more economically competitive and socially sustainable region and it will seek to create a more enterprising culture. In line with the meta-theme, the focus will be on businesses with high-growth potential, and/or with an emphasis on clean technologies, renewable energy, improved use of resources and environmental improvement.

Priority 3: Ensuring sustainable development, production and consumption

The priority will seek to establish and implement best practice in reducing the carbon footprint of businesses, communities and settlements through improved efficiency in the use of resources, development of clean or renewable energy sources and support for eco-friendly design whilst also seeking to improve overall competitiveness and economic performance.

Priority 4: Technical assistance

There is also provision for technical assistance to help implementing the programme.

6. Managing Authority:

The Managing Authority is the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The English Government has delegated the day-to-day management tasks to East of England Development Agency (EEDA), which is a regional development agency.

Contact details:

EEDA
Mr Andrew Luff, Head of European Structural Funds

andyluff@eeda.org.uk

The Business Centre
Station Road
Histon
Cambridge
CB4 9LQ

Tel: +44 1223 713900

Website :www.eeda.org.uk/erdf

Operational programme 2007-13: London

1. "London Competitiveness and Employment Programme"
Programme under the Competitiveness and Employment objective 2007-2013 co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

2. The European Commission approved on 6 December 2007 a regional development programme for London for the period 2007-2013 within the framework of the Competitiveness and Employment objective. The total budget of the programme is around EUR 382 million and the Community investment through the ERDF amounts to around EUR 182 million (approximately 2.6% of the total EU money invested in the United Kingdom under Cohesion policy 2007-2013).

3. The purpose and aim of the EU investment

The London programme will promote greater innovation, collaboration and environmental efficiency for London's SMEs. It will help them access new markets and finance for investment that is often a major difficulty for small or new companies in London. ERDF will contribute to greater equality by particularly supporting business investment and growth in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are led by black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people, women and disabled people and which provide employment opportunities to deprived communities.

Alongside this, the programme will invest in environmental improvements which will help transform those areas of London with the largest scope for increasing job provision and where the additional employment will particularly benefit Londoners from deprived communities. There will be a particular focus on promoting clusters of companies in the eco-efficiency area, and on demonstration projects showing how businesses can improve their own environmental performance.

4. The expected impact of the investment

The programme is expected to create 4,000 new jobs and to assist 20,000 businesses. Some 4.500 businesses should see their environmental performance improved. The proportion of BAME, women and disabled people benefiting from the programme should be 35%, 34% and 5% respectively. In terms of impact, it is expected that London's capacity to generate de-centralised co-generated and renewable energy will increase by 20% by the end of the programming period.

5. Priorities

The London 2007-2013 ERDF programme is structured according to the following priorities:

Priority 1: Business innovation and research & promoting eco-efficiency

This priority will help developing a culture of and a capacity for creating and using innovation throughout London's businesses to create sustainable economic growth. It will also help leveraging value from London's world class knowledge base to benefit London's economy

Priority 2: Access to new markets and access to finance

The priority will address market failure in the access to finance (mainly risk capital) and improve SMEs' access to new market opportunities.

Priority 3: Sustainable places for business

Promoting innovation and growth in London's deprived areas is not only about assisting individual enterprises with their specific business needs, it is also about transforming the physical environment in these areas as this is currently a barrier to economic performance. London's regeneration areas, many of which are in East London, are home to some of the poorest communities in Europe as measured by the index of multiple deprivation. A key issue for this area is the decay of the urban environmental infrastructure. This priority, geographically targeted on these most deprived areas, is about providing high quality business premises for SMEs which incorporate environmental specifications. They thus create high quality environments for businesses that are serviced by renewable and co-generated decentralised energy systems and innovative waste management and water resource support systems. At the same time they promote innovative and emerging environmental technologies through pilot and demonstration projects.

Priority 4: Technical assistance

There is also provision for technical assistance to help implement the programme.

6. Managing Authority:

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (SSCLG) has delegated the day-to-day management tasks of the London programme to the London Development Agency, working under the supervision of the Mayor of London.

Contact details:

LDA
Mr Alex Conway, Head of European Programmes Management Unit
alexconway@lda.gov.uk

Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8AA

Tel: +44 20 7593 8000

Operational programme 2007-13: South-East of England

1. Operational programme for Community assistance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective in the region of South East in the United Kingdom.

2. The European Commission approved on 3 December 2007 the operational programme "South-East of England ERDF Regional Competitiveness and Employment Programme". The investment of the ERDF to the programme amounts to EUR €23.7 million for the programming period 2007-2013 with national public match funding of €23.7 million (co-financing rate of 50%).

3. The purpose and aim of the EU investment

The aim of this Operational Programme is to promote competitiveness in South-East England whilst contributing to reducing the region's ecological footprint. To achieve this aim, the programme has established the objectives of raising levels of knowledge and innovation across all business sectors in order to support more resource efficient business practices, boosting profitability and long-term competitiveness, stimulating innovation and job creation in new and emerging ecologically-driven market sectors and reducing the rate of growth of the Region's ecological footprint, whilst stimulating economic growth.

The focus of the Programme is on ensuring sustainable production and consumption, through promoting innovation and knowledge transfer and stimulating enterprise and supporting successful businesses. It is intended that this will not only deliver positive sustainable development outcomes, so improving the attractiveness of the region, and secure a more competitive economy but will also lead to the creation of more and, more particularly, better jobs in the regional economy as a whole.

4. The expected impact of the investment

The programme will support more than 1200 business to improve their performance in particular in relation to improved energy and resource efficiency. It will contribute towards a €32 million increase in the regions Gross Value Added (GVA). It also aims to reduce road congestion and pollution levels by 10% and will engage in developing and disseminating good practise expertise in these fields.

5. Priorities

These objectives will be pursued through the following priorities:

Priority 1: Promoting Sustainable Production and Consumption

Promoting Resource Efficient Business Practices;
Stimulating Innovation for a Sustainable Economy; and
Encouraging Sustainable Consumption Practices

Priority 2: Technical assistance

There is also provision for technical assistance in order to implement the programme. Financial support is available covering administration, monitoring and control.

6. The Department of Communities and Local Government has delegated day-today management of the operational programme to the South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA)
Paul Lovejoy

Executive Director, Strategy & Communications

SEEDA
Cross Lanes

Guildford
GU1 1YA

England

Tel: +44 (0) 1483 484200

Fax: +44 (0) 1483 484247

Web: http://www.seeda.co.uk/

Email: seeda@seeda.co.uk

Operational programme 2007-13: Yorkshire and The Humber

1. Yorkshire and The Humber Competitiveness and Employment Programme under the Competitiveness and Employment objective 2007 – 2013 co-funded by the European Regional and Development Fund (ERDF)

2. The European Commission adopted on 7 December 2007 a regional development programme for Yorkshire and The Humber for the period 2007-2013. The Yorkshire and The Humber ERDF Regional Competitiveness and Employment Programme involves Community support for Yorkshire and The Humber within the framework of the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, with transitional support for South Yorkshire as a phasing-in region that qualified for support in 2000-2006. The total budget of the programme is around € 1.17 billion and the Community investment through the ERDF amounts to € 584 million.

3. Purpose and aim of EU investment

The programme aims “to capitalise on the region’s assets and secure a prosperous future for the region’s people and businesses within a sustainable knowledge economy”.

To achieve this, a range of key actions have been identified:

to increase Research and Development (R&D), innovation and technology transfer
to create dynamism and entrepreneurship within enterprises
to embed creativity in the process of product development
to drive more company innovation and embed technological advances into production processes
to restructure the business base towards a more high value added economy
to secure the physical/electronic infrastructure that underpins business productivity
to ensure that disadvantaged communities benefit from growth of the economy

At least 75% of the Programme resources are aimed at promoting competitiveness and creating jobs. (“Lisbon priorities”)

4. Key expected achievements

The Programme aims to create or safeguard 46 187 new jobs, support the creation of 4072 new businesses, and assist 19192 businesses to become more competitive.

5. Priorities

There are three region-wide priorities and a fourth specific infrastructure for South Yorkshire. A fifth priority runs across the programme for technical assistance.

Priority 1: Promoting innovation and R&D

Yorkshire and the Humberside spend less on R&D than any other UK region. The programme aims to develop a region-wide environment for innovation, with the ultimate goal of increasing both public and private investment in R&D. It will help to stimulate an innovation culture and strengthen the innovation infrastructure. It will assist businesses to continually innovate through new products and processes, new organisational changes and novel marketing methods. It will also promote technology transfer among companies, businesses, institutions and universities.

Priority 2: Supporting and stimulating successful enterprise

The priority seeks to promote a greater shift towards knowledge-intensive growth sectors by increasing the number of businesses and occupations in high-growth and knowledge industries and by developing a more entrepreneurial culture. Under this priority, the programme will concentrate on removing barriers for new start-ups and existing businesses, promoting entrepreneurship, boosting the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region. For this purpose, the region may use the JEREMIE mechanism (Joint European Resources for Micro and Medium Enterprises), a micro-financing facility drawing on resources from structural funds and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Priority 3: Sustainable Communities

The priority will support employment creation and enterprise in disadvantaged communities. It will assist in reducing economic inequalities and improving territorial cohesion by ensuring that everyone benefits from the region’s economic growth. Resources will be targeted at the most deprived communities where continued under-performance represents a threat to the region's continued economic development growth.

Priority 4: Economic Infrastructure for a Competitive Economy

The programme will continue investing in South Yorkshire’s economic infrastructure to maximise the impact of European structural funds in the region to date and facilitate the development of a knowledge economy. Investment in the provision of an advanced broadband infrastructure in urban centres will be a precondition for the attraction of new businesses which will in turn be the drivers of economic growth.

Priority 5: Technical assistance

This priority will provide support for programme management and implementation, including technical support, communications and publicity, research and evaluation.

6. Contact details for implementation

Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG)

Address: 1^st Floor, Stockley House, 130 Wilton Street, London, SW1V 1LQ

Contact person: Anona Vázquez-Masson, Head of 2007-2013 ERDF Competitiveness and Convergence Operational Programmes

Tel.: + 44 (0) 20 7944 8557

Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7944 3759

E-mail.: anona.vazquez-masson@communities.gsi.gov.uk
CLG website:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1139554

Regional Government Office

GOYH

Address: lateral, 8 City Walk, Leeds, LS11 9AT

Contact person: Kevin Bennett, Head of European Programmes