ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme

Description

What is ESPON?

ESPON is an EU funded programme that bridges research with policies. We provide territorial analyses, data and maps to:

• Support EU development policies –and particularly Cohesion Policy- with facts and evidence.
• Help public authorities to benchmark their region or city, identify new challenges and potentials and shape successful development policies for the future.

All our content is publicly available on our website to download it and use it.

What does ESPON do?

ESPON creates evidence and knowledge. We develop studies based on the needs of European public authorities at all levels. Any local, regional or national authority as well as an EU institution can inform us about policy support needs and become an ESPON stakeholder.

Our studies have a territorial focus, which means that our analyses are adjusted to the specificity and needs of the people and the places we are looking at.

For the ESPON 2030 Programme, our studies and events are clustered within the so-called Thematic Action Plans (TAPs) .

The results of these studies are then used in different ways:

• Directly feed policy debates at the EU, national, regional and local level
• Make the key EU policies, such as the Cohesion Policy, more effective, and boost the implementation of the Territorial Agenda of the EU 2030
• Support the priorities of EU presidencies with tailormade research
• Inspire policy dialogues at early stages and trigger policy transformation
• Help citizens/policymakers to understand how their place (city/regions/area) performs in comparison to other European places
• Provide fresh information and analyses on the topics that are high on the European agenda

Who benefits from ESPON?

• Local, regional and national authorities are the main beneficiaries of our results. They can request our services and acquire tailormade studies that include benchmarking, case analyses and policy guidance on the topics of their interest.
• ESPON is a unique resource of information for scientists, researchers and students. Since 2006, ESPON has been cited more than 20.000 times in academic publications. At the same time, many European universities and research centres are contracted by ESPON to conduct studies.
• As our content is free for anyone to access and download, the private sector is also benefiting from our work. Consultancies, SMEs, even industries can use our publications to better position themselves in certain markets and/or adjust their products and services.
• ESPON is a goldmine for journalists. It provides them with evidence and data to support their stories and connects them to a vast pool of experts and stakeholders.
• ESPON can be equally useful to any active citizen interested in understanding how their city/region performs, or have an overview of main territorial trends in Europe, or simply browse our interactive maps and visuals.

How can I participate?

ESPON does not offer calls for grants to its stakeholders. We support them by directly providing services to them, through specialised service providers or in-house support.

We are publishing regularly calls for tenders, expressions of interest for stakeholders, internships and public consultations. Depending on your interest you can follow our news on our website, social media and our newsletter and find an opportunity that is relevant to you.

You can always contact us for more information.

info@espon.eu