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‘Europe needs smart, green and inclusive growth’ An interview with Commissioner Johannes Hahn Commissioner Johannes Hahn (b.1957) has been responsible for Regional and Urban Policy in the European Commission since 2010. The former Austrian Minister is passionate about creating new jobs and boosting the internal market through effective regional policies. In his opinion Europe faces big economic challenges and has to compete with new powers like China, India and Brazil. Regional policy is the key instrument to achieve a smart, inclusive and green growth, as he describes it. During this exclusive interview for Heritage in Motion he points to the importance of investments in cultural and creative industries and the role cultural heritage plays in regional development policies. Do you see a strong role for cultural heritage as a key resource for Europe’s new smart, sustainable and inclusive ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ framework?
Commissioner Hahn in Pompeii
The reformed Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020 is indeed a more focussed and results-based investment framework that channels funding to thematic objectives that are closely linked to Europe 2020’s targets, such as innovation, entrepreneurship and SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) competitiveness,
renewable energies and energy efficiency, etc.: areas that will contribute to smart, green and inclusive growth. Investments into cultural and creative industries, due to their strong growth potential, have a place in the future programmes, in particular if they are linked to new technologies and innovation: using ICT to provide better access to cultural experiences, for instance through mobile apps, improving the user experience through service innovation, enhancing the entrepreneurial dynamics around cultural attraction points. Being at the crossroads between arts, business and technology, the cultural and creative sectors are also in a strategic position to trigger positive economic spillover and to act as enablers for innovation in other industries, creating growth and high-skilled jobs.