Cities and regions are Europe’s economic and innovation engines, being home to 75% of the EU’s population. They shape local industries, businesses, and jobs, and their demand for clean technologies, sustainable transport, and digital infrastructure creates local market opportunities, strengthening European competitiveness.
ICLEI Europe’s new position paper “Unlocking Cities and Regions’ Potential in the EU’s Competitiveness Agenda” urges EU policymakers to adopt a territorial approach to competitiveness, reflecting that cities and regions are not only implementers but actively creating the conditions for a more connected, sustainable, and digitally empowered Europe.
To ensure all regions, communities and business can thrive—no matter their location in Europe—ICLEI calls for:
- Strengthening the territorial dimension of EU competitiveness policies - Ensuring cities and regions are fully integrated into industrial and digital strategies with improved multilevel governance structures to align policy implementation across the EU, national, regional and local levels.
- Recognising the key role of cities and regions in creating lead markets - Establishing structured dialogue mechanisms between cities, industry, and EU institutions and supporting industrial-urban symbiosis strategies.
- Taking into account the territorial element of competitiveness policies in the next EU budget - Ensuring that cities and regions can access any future “competitiveness fund”, as well as research, innovation and development funds.
- Leveraging public procurement as a strategic tool - Revising EU procurement rules to emphasise sustainability and innovation over cost and simplify procurement procedures providing technical and training support to enhance local capacities.
- Recognising the importance of local ecosystems in enabling digital and AI solutions and infrastructure - Recognising cities as key stakeholders in the Data Union Strategy and Clean Industrial Deal and facilitate streamlined access to data for AI-driven urban sustainability solutions through funding and regulatory support.
Read our full position paper: Unlocking Cities and Regions’ Potential in the EU’s Competitiveness Agenda