Silver Economy Network of European Regions (SEN@ER) successfully developed and submitted an Interreg IV-C proposal for financing further network activities
With the project proposed under the second call of the Interreg IV-C programme and under the leadership of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) a total of 8 regions have joined forces (Crete, Extremadura, Limousin, Mid-East Region, Niedersachsen, North West Region, Yorkshire & Humber, North Rhine-Westphalia) to concretely implement projects and policies in the regions and implement and organise an exchange of experiences with 49 good practice examples in four key policy fields:
- Active employment opportunities for older people 50+ / 60+,
- Skills development and life-long-learning for older people,
- Ageing well at home,
- Regional strategies to prepare for demographic change.
The overall budget foreseen amounts to almost 2.3 million Euro for a project duration of three years.
As part of the project Good practices will be identified in each partner region to become part of the exchange of experiences. The final conference will bring together the results of this exercise. During the project phase, a Steering Group of the regions will ensure the creation of synergies between these policy fields of action. NRW as the Lead Partner will take overall responsibility, while selected partner regions will be responsible for specific policy topics (Mid East Region, North West Region, NRW and Extremadura). Partners will be active in a minimum of two policy fields. Prior to the project, the network has acted as a European lobby group. It has prepared the grounds for project development, implementation and exchange of good practices in areas of high political relevance to take place in the proposed project.
Dissemination of results will be achieved through an online knowledge base. The exchange workshops will also have a dissemination element. The existing contacts to European institutions will also be supportive.
The added values are: a) for the partner regions: a better preparation for the demographic change in a constructive way, b) for Europe: concrete proposals and recommendations for the improvement of the quality of life of older people through suitable products and services.
Some historical remarks and background information: The intention of the „silver economy“ is to initiate and support product and services development to improve the quality of life of the older population. Following this approach and in line with the Lisbon strategy, it will be possible to create new jobs, employment and growth in the ageing societies in Europe. Based on the regional initiative “Seniorenwirtschaft in NRW” (seniors economy in NRW), which was established in 2002 in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the MGFFI has in 2005 established the political lobby group “Silver Economy Network of European Regions”. In NRW this initiative has started to create an awareness of the needs and requirements of the older and ageing population ()www.seniorenwirt.de. Against the background of global ageing, this network has successfully convinced European institutions of the importance of the “silver economy” for Europe. As such the “silver economy” has found its way into Communications, policy and funding programmes, "European Council Communications and CoR resolutions.
