European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion (ESPON)

The calls are the following:

1) Call for Proposals for 2 themes of Applied Research (Priority 1 of the ESPON 2013 Programme),

Applied Research Projects, conducted under Priority 1 of the ESPON Programme, are thematically defined by the demand of policy makers. Projects shall support policy development by creating European wide, comparable information and evidence on territorial dynamics, potentials and challenges focusing on development opportunities for regions and cities.

The Call for Proposals for Applied Research Projects includes the following 2 themes:
- European seas in territorial development
- Indicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial cohesion and development
 
The total available budget for this call amounts to 1.800.000 € which are distributed on projects as indicated in the table below. One single proposal will be selected for each of the 2 themes indicated.

2) Call for Proposals for 8 Targeted Analyses (Priority 2),

Targeted Analyses, conducted under Priority 2 of the ESPON Programme, is defined by stakeholders who will participate in the project implementation. It is a new type of projects supporting the use of existing ESPON results in partnership with different groups of stakeholders. Targeted Analyses provide an opportunity to stakeholders for (1) enhancing their understanding of the larger territorial context, (2) making comparisons to other territories, regions and cities, and (3) hereby providing a European perspective to considerations on the development of their territories.

The expertise needed to carry through the analyses is found by Calls for Proposals based on Project Specification developed by the involved stakeholders and ESPON in close collaboration.

Call for Proposals for Targeted Analyses have been selected on the basis of expressions of interest from stakeholders. Each project proposal may address one of up to 8 different themes selected by the Monitoring Committee.

This Call includes the following 8 themes:
- EITA - ESPON and TIA - Territorial Impact Assessments (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- ULYSSES - Using Applied Results from ESPON as a Yardstick for Cross-Border Spatial Planning and Development (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- RISE - Identifying and Exchanging Best Practice in Developing Regional Integrated Strategies in Europe (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- POLYCE - Metropolisation and Polycentric Development in Central Europe: Evidence Based Strategic Options (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- TPM - Territorial Performance Monitoring (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- BEST - METROPOLIS - Best Development Conditions in European Metropolis: Paris, Berlin, Warsaw (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- SEMIGRA - Selective Migration and Unbalanced Sex Ratio in Rural Regions (budget: EUR 350,000.00)
- SMART-IST - Smart Institutions for Territorial Developments (budget: EUR 350,000.00)

The total available budget for this call amounts to 2.800.000 €. One single proposal can be selected for each theme.

3) Call for Proposals for Transnational Networking Activities of the ESPON Contact Point Network (Priority 4).

The Transnational Networking Activities under Priority 4 of the ESPON 2013 Programme shall provide targeted transnational capitalisation, awareness rising and dissemination of ESPON results with the specific objectives of involving policy makers, practitioners, scientists and young academics and promote the European perspective of territorial development, competitiveness and cohesion.

The available budget for this call amounts to 1.300.000 €.
Potential beneficiaries of this call are only the institutions nominated by Member and Partner States that are confirmed by the ESPON Monitoring Committee as ESPON Contact Points (ECP).

At its meeting on 16 February 2010, the Monitoring Committee decided that the following principles shall govern this call:
- the call will be open to all ECPs;
- the ECPs will have the possibility to participate in several proposals; however, in case of all thing being equal at the evaluation stage of the proposals, the preference for selecting a proposal will be given to proposals including (the maximum number of) ECPs who did not participate in applications beforehand.