Innovative Policies for the Sustainability of European Island Areas
The director of the Development Planning of the North Aegean Region implements the project under the name: Islands of Innovation, Interreg Europe 2014-2020. The project is expected to explore existing innovation policies and tries to improve them in order to reinforce the competitiveness of the participating islands.
The project’s main goal is to further develop innovation through the improvement of relevant public policies, based on the international experience of other isolated islands, which enables entrepreneurs and especially young people to develop innovative activities in the participating islands. Due to the special territorial characteristics, the challenges that arise in the European islands regions and the mainland are different. The population shrinkage, the isolation and the limited economic activities, which usually focus on a few economic sectors, are some of the challenges that the residents as well as the public and private bodies of the islands, are called upon to address.
However, self-sufficiency, awareness and participation of the local population are some essential advantages that derive from the specific territorial characteristics. Moreover, they create the appropriate environment for innovations and actions with innovative content. Yet, the improved policies exploit the opportunities arise from the diversified economies and promote innovative entrepreneurship.
An online survey will be conducted by completing an electronic questionnaire which investigates the views of young people between 15-30 years of age. The survey aims at exploring their intentions to stay in the North Aegean Region, the opportunities for education, training, employment and business development, innovation etc. All partners will conduct similar surveys with common research characteristics, in order to be comparable in a joint corporate report of conclusions.
Therefore, it is necessary to gather a significant number of completed questionnaires from different islands of the Region so to generate safer conclusions. As such, we kindly request from young individuals between the ages 15-30, who are living in the islands of the North Aegean Region, to participate in the research. You can find and complete the questionnaire at the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/EebtesMeVdhQdkrK2