Regional 2013
The Regionale 2013 is a structural funding program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . In 2008 the newly founded region of South Westphalia was awarded the contract. It includes the Hochsauerlandkreis , Märkischer Kreis , Olpe , Siegen-Wittgenstein and Soest districts . Almost 1.5 million people live in the 59 cities and municipalities of the five districts.
In order to promote structural development, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia offers a region every three years the opportunity to present itself with pioneering projects. The predecessor was the Regionale 2010 in the Cologne / Bonn region. The successor is the Regionale 2016 in Westmünsterland.
The process of the Regionale 2013 organizes a large network of experts from politics, administration, science, institutions and the local economy. The regional projects are funded by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.
aims
With the Regionale 2013, all social, political and economic actors in South Westphalia set themselves the goal of meeting the challenges of globalization and demographic change together. The focus is on strengthening one of the most productive industrial regions in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as on preserving the natural landscape. In particular, projects on the topics of innovation, generation and nature recreation regions should be initiated and promoted.
Innovation region
In order to promote South Westphalia as an innovation region, the aim has been to bring stakeholders together, create communication platforms and initiate processes that aim to bundle and strategically network the ideas and creativity, strengths and knowledge available in the region.
This includes, for example, the promotion of cooperation between universities and other educational institutions.
Generational region
The Regionale wants to face the challenges of demographic change and the associated restructuring process. Model processes and projects are planned to be initiated, coordinated and communicated. The aim should be to contribute not only to maintaining, but also to increasing the quality of life in the villages, communities and cities.
Natural recreation region
The environment is also taken into account, so coping with the consequences of climate change is one of the major ecological, economic, cultural and social challenges in South Westphalia. The region wants to actively take on these challenges.
Südwestfalen Agentur GmbH
On September 1st, 2008 the South Westphalia agency was officially founded in Olpe. The team initiated and coordinated the projects related to the Regionale 2013. The team is particularly interested in pooling strengths in South Westphalia and establishing the region as a strong brand. The efforts and commitment for the region will not end with Regionale 2013 and will continue to be driven forward and expanded after 2013.
Regional marketing
Another field of activity of the South Westphalia agency is to implement regional marketing for South Westphalia. As part of the campaign "South Westphalia - Everything is real!" the hard and soft locational qualities of the region moved into the focus of perception and thus conveyed an authentic image of South Westphalia. Regional marketing is supported by the Business Association for South Westphalia, under whose roof companies, chambers and employers' associations as well as the five districts of Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Siegen-Wittgenstein and Märkischer Kreis came together in 2011. In addition to companies, politics and administration in districts and municipalities, tourism associations, business development agencies, universities, citizens and numerous research institutes and other partner institutions in the region are also involved in regional marketing.