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Regional competitiveness and employment
All Member States may apply for financing under this objective in order to promote innovation, research, sustainable development and professional training in the least developed regions. This objective accounts for nearly 16% of the overall expenditure. Its purpose is to increase the levels of competitiveness, attractiveness and employment in these regions in two ways. Firstly, through development programmes, which help regions forecast and encourage economic change through innovation and the promotion of the knowledge society, entrepreneurship, the protection of the environment and an improved accessibility. Secondly, by adapting the workforce and investing in human resources more and better jobs will be achieved. In the EU-27, a total of 168 regions are eligible under this objective. This means 314 million inhabitants. Of these, 13 regions accounting for 19 million inhabitants are considered to be "phasing-in" areas and are subject to special financial allocations thanks to their previous classification as "objective 1" regions. EUR 55,000 million (of which EUR 11,400 million is earmarked for "phasing-in") is just below 16% of the total allocation. This objective covers regions in 19 Member States.
The former URBAN II and EQUAL programmes have been incorporated into the "Convergence" and "Regional competitiveness and employment" objectives.
