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EPSA 2017
The 6th EPSA edition was launched online on 13th February 2017 with a widely viewed and well received launch video. It was organised and managed by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) with the political and financial support of 10 official partners.
Under the overarching theme “An Innovative Public Sector in 2017 – New Solutions to Complex Challenges”, EPSA 2017 showcased and rewarded public administrations which demonstrated an innovative approach to public service delivery and policy-making to the increasingly complex, difficult to address and often multi-dimensional challenges faced by the public sector in Europe.
Projects were awarded in three different categories based on the level of administration:
Category 1: European and national
Category 2: Regional
Category 3: Supra-local and local
The EPSA 2017 winners
The winners of the three awards were:
Supra-local and Local administrative category: “Nordwärts”, submitted by the City of Dortmund (DE). The City of Dortmund demonstrates with this initiative how it handles the developments within a part of the City that underwent substantial changes after the dissolving of the major industrial companies, in this case the Steel and Coal Industry. Based on the involvement and commitment of civil society, a development strategy is being devised to cultivate needs-oriented projects which are suitable for developing the northern districts of the city. It aims at increasing the quality of life of inhabitants, by identifying and implementing projects initiated bottom up. The project strengthens how people identify with their own neighbourhoods, develops available space to be future-proof and sustainable, safeguards jobs and creates new jobs by attracting companies to locate there.
Regional administrative category: “Open.Heart Project”, submitted by the Ombudsoffice for Children and Youths Salzburg (AT). This project is a mentoring scheme for unaccompanied minor refugees and young refugees up to 21 years, including a 6-module preparatory programme for volunteers over 28 wanting to become mentors. Additionally, an alternative foster care scheme, which is closely linked to the Open.Heart project and in which young refugees can live together with a host family, was developed by the Ombudsoffice. From its beginnings the ‘Open.Heart’ project has been accompanied by an evaluation team based at the University of Salzburg. The first results show that the project is making a vital contribution to processes of integration and social inclusion.
European and National administrative category: “The Co-operation Fund”, submitted by the European Union Intellectual Property Office. This initiative has digitised and standardised the registration of trade marks and designs at EU and national level across the EU, improving transparency and facilitating the enforcement of actions against infringements of trade marks and design intellectual property rights. The achievements of these objectives further contributed to the emergence of a coherent and streamlined pan-European IP landscape, enabling valuable savings. Consequently, trust and reliability between EU citizens, their national Intellectual Property administrations and the EUIPO was improved and strengthened. Powerful databases containing over 40 million global trade marks and 10 million global designs are at the reach of anyone who wants to use them.
34 projects from 18 different European countries and the EU institutions received a recognition in 2017 (out of a total of 150 submitted projects from 30 countries). This means that 22 projects were awarded a Best Practice Certificate and 12 projects were nominees, out of which the three winners were identified.