European Structural and Investment Funds

2014-2020 ESIF online event on 9 December 2020

December 16, 2020 by Patrick Douglas No Comments | Category Events, Replacement funding

On Wednesday 9 December 2020, the Managing Authority hosted an online event for stakeholders to celebrate the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) programmes.

Over 80 attendees gathered online to hear about and discuss achievements the funds have made in the Scottish Government’s aims of boosting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Presentations

Head of Managing Authority Hilary Pearce began the event with a brief overview of the programmes and emphasised the importance of celebrating our achievements at this point in the programming period, before introducing keynote speaker Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation.

Mr McKee paid tribute to the many organisations and people who have played their part in delivering projects supported by ESIF. The Minister acknowledged that, though the 2014-2020 programmes have not been without issues, their success is evident in the thousands of people, businesses and communities who have benefitted from ESIF support since 2014.

During his address, Mr McKee announced the publication of the 2020 case studies booklet to celebrate achievements made throughout the 2014-2020 programmes.

The next three presentations were led by representatives of Lead Partners discussing achievements made towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth respectively:

• Robin Clarke, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
• Stephen Birrell, Smart Cities
• Adam Dunkerley, Fife Council

Robin Clarke discussed HIE’s work in the region supporting businesses and innovation, Stephen Birrell presented on the various data and digital tools employed city councils, and Adam Dunkerley provided an update on the poverty and social inclusion activity in Fife, all of which has been made possible thanks to ESIF support.

Finally, Head of Future Funding Design and Implementation Karen McAvenue discussed the current status of replacement funding. She reminded stakeholders of the publication of the Scottish Shared Prosperity Fund on 19 November and the latest news on the UK government’s development of replacement funding.

Slides from the event are available.

Feedback results

25 people responded to the feedback survey. The key findings are that attendees:

• generally enjoyed the event, with 7 rating the event as “very good”, 15 “good”, 3 “fair” and 0 “poor”.
• particularly appreciated the replacement funding section and the opportunity to gain insight from other Lead Partners about their operations.
• would have liked the event to keep to time and feature a greater variety of speakers/presentation formats.
• would like more events like this in future, especially on the issue of replacement funding.

Next steps

The MA would like to sincerely thank all the speakers and attendees for participating in a successful event to celebrate achievements made during the 2014-2020 ESIF programmes.

Our intention is to hold further virtual events until a time when in-person events are viable. The next event for stakeholders is likely to take place in Spring 2021.

Tags: Annual Event, erdf, esf, European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, event, events

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