A year ago, Schuman Associates was selected to support the bid writing of a FET Flagship project on EU Cultural Heritage. This is one of those projects that only comes once in a decade. If you work with the H2020 programme, you will know that these are very big projects with expected large scale social and economic impacts and, of course, high competition. The key challenge is to build a solid business case around a visionary idea, leading to a coherent and ambitious research and innovation agenda for the EU and its Member states for the next 10 years.
Within this year´s EU Regions Week , the Regional Development Agency Bucharest-Ilfov organized a workshop on Innovative technologies and partnerships in developing regions, in partnership with COCIR and our client Philips. The event, chaired by MEP Jan Olbrycht (EPP, PL) presented the benefits of public-private partnerships supported by EU Funds.
The fifth edition of the Berlin Process Summit was held on 9-10 July in London (UK), gathering heads and ministers of governments of the Western Balkans six (WB6) as well as several EU Member States with high interest in fostering further cooperation with the region.
The focus of the Summit in London was on economic development and connectivity, cooperation in security matters and good neighbourly relations.
In a few days, Bulgaria will be passing on the Presidency of the European Union to Austria. We take this opportunity to look back at some of the key issues that the Bulgarian Presidency has put forward in these 6 months and to present our office in Sofia.
At the helm of the EU for the first time, 10 years after the accession to the European Union, the Bulgarian Presidency placed particular emphasis on strengthening the stability and security in Europe with the Western Balkans and the relations with Turkey..
Security has become of the main topics for EU policy makers, ranking high on the list of concern of EU citizens. During the Bulgarian Presidency, the European PNR rules became applicable and an informal agreement was reached with the European Parliament on three regulations on the use of the Schengen Information System in the fields of:
(1) police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters;
(2) border checks and
(3) return of illegally staying third-country nationals.
The first post-Brexit budget focuses on innovation, digitization, climate change, support for young people, but also on security and migration.
Schuman Associates was invited this week to present its main elements and its impact for Spain at a breakfast-conference organized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Brussels.
This new budget contains several novelties with respect to current financial framework. One example is the effort towards simplification moving from current fifty-eight funding programs to thirty-seven, multiplying the investment in digitalization, Erasmus program and security and defense programs, as well as border control.
Last week, Schuman Associates was delighted to participate in the latest ‘Future of EU Communications’ event hosted by Indiepics. We moderated the event which looked at how European social and visual communications are changing, what the latest trends are and how we can get the most out of our communication budgets.
In March 2018 Schuman Associates Brussels Headquarters and local offices gathered together for the annual «Away Day» to share best practices, reflect on company's values and present the business strategies for 2018.
Administration and Finance Coordinator
Brussels Office
>5 years of experience
EU FUNDING STAGIAIRE VACANCY
Brussels Office
with 1-2 years of experience
Deadline: 20th March 2018
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) hosted a Western Balkans Investment Summit in London on Monday, 26 February. A number of high level public officials, including all six Prime Ministers from the region gathered in EBRD's London headquarters to present their countries' potential in attracting private investment at the same time addressing bottlenecks in front of representatives from the private sector.
Schuman Associates is delighted to be part of the ‘Winning Business in Africa’ initiative supported by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Together with Ibec we have built a portal of opportunities totalling 8.5 BEUR of EU funding projects in Africa. The web portal provides information on the opportunities available. Accompanying advice and networking opportunities will allow Irish companies to form clusters and get involved in projects.
European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) also known as the “Open Days” is an annual four-day event held in Brussels during which cities and regions showcase their best practices in relation to their capacity to implement the European Union cohesion policy on various levels.
Each year the Committee of Regions as main institutional organizer selects different themes for the events that are attended by approximately 6,000 participants.
Schuman Associates held the latest in a series of events for Anti-Money Laundering Europe for which it acts as a secretariat.
The event discussed how the EU can continue its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, and how cooperation amongst institutions, as well as public private cooperation can be improve.
Speakers included Europol, the European Commission's DG HOME, the ECON secretariat of the European Parliament and the FFIS, the event was moderated by Laura Heuvinck, manager of the AME Secretariat on behalf of Schuman Associates.
Lunch event in the European Parliament hosted by MEP Julie Girling on "Fact Checking Science - shaping the governance of scientific advice in the EU" in cooperation with the Nickel Institute and the European Risk Forum. For more information click here
Current and future initiatives supporting the development of sustainable energy in third countries through EU external aid funding instruments were presented in Brussels on 21 November in the context of a Sector Seminar organized by the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU and CEBRE, the Czech Business Representation to the EU. The event gathered over 100 companies from 14 different Member States as well as representatives from the EU Commission, the EIB, AFD, the Electrifi imitative and the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme.
On 10th October, in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, Schuman Associates organised a workshop with Philips on the topic ¨Improving EU citizens’ lives through meaningful innovation in healthcare¨ . The objective was to raise awareness among EU decision makers about current challenges in using structural and investment funds by private large companies, and about the potential benefits of public-private partnerships for the healthcare sector was among our main objectives.
Brussels Invest & Export invited Schuman Associates to present at their event on 18th October in Belgrade. The aim of the event is to present the Brussels' economic environment and a wide range of opportunities it offers. Not only is Brussels the capital and the largest city in Belgium, but it also hosts a number of European and International Organizations. It is a place where policies are decided that impact businesses both in and beyond the European Union.
On 11 October, in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the BCO Support Facility organized a workshop to showcase good practices for broadband deployment from three European Regions.
Following the adoption of the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), members of the EFSD Strategic Board convened for the first time in Brussels on the 28th of September to discuss overall strategy and investment areas, the so-called ‘investment windows’ that will define the Fund’s priority sectors.
Schuman Associates is a Brussels-based, independent, consultancy with more than 30 years’ experience in European funding and public affairs.
