Nicholas Hall

Strategic support for long-term influence: how European associations can drive change Driving meaningful change in a complex European landscape requires ambition and strategy. Strategic support empowers associations to align with EU priorities, optimise resources, and adapt to shifting challenges while enhancing their credibility and influence. 🌍 Position as a sector leader Stay relevant by aligning initiatives with evolving European values and priorities. 💡 Maximise your impact Focus resources on high-influence actions that deliver tangible results. 🔄 Adapt with agility Be ready to pivot with strategies that keep pace with EU policy shifts. At #inextremis, we create tailored brand strategies, including influence dashboards, to track engagement, measure impact, and ensure your association stays ahead. Ready to secure trust and authority in the European arena? Explore how we can help: 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/dZtNhAvj #StrategicCommunication #EUAssociations #MyPartnerAgency

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How to create tourism specific #Climate Action Plans?🤔 The #Blueprint for Tourism Climate Action Plans is now available for 🟢Regional Authorities 🟢Destination Management Organizations ✅Read it here👉https://shorturl.at/QLn0H Crafted by The Travel Foundation within the Thematic Community Project of the Interreg Euro-MED Programme #SustainableTourism Mission, this document is tailored for the #Mediterranean but its guidance can be applied in other geographical areas by taking into account the specific geographical context of the destination 🌍🌎🌏 Turisme Diputació de Barcelona University of Thessaly Adriatic Ionian Euroregion Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) NECSTouR UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union Plan Bleu University of Tirana

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Rethinking how we approach travel, urban development and cultural exchange is at the core of the reflection on sustainable tourism fostered by the Urban Agenda for the EU. The Action Plan of the Partnership on Sustainable Tourism was officially submitted yesterday to the Directors General on Urban Matters (DGUM). This is an important milestone for the action carried out by an alliance of local and regional governments, ministries, DMOs and European organizations and institutions. Glad to have given my contribution as thematic expert to refining the Action Plan which includes six proposed Actions reflecting the realities faced by cities (both large and small) and tourism stakeholders in the current tourism landscape. Comune di Genova Primăria Municipiului Galați European Urban Initiative URBACT European Commission European Travel Commission Eurocities Gianluca Saba Jorge Brito Nadia Siokou Stefani Mikulec Perković Grad Zadar | City of Zadar Dr Ioannis Pappas Nuno Almeida Cities After Dark ENIT S.p.A. Alessandra (Prof) Priante, EMBA UN Tourism

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What makes a city centre vibrant at night? It's not just about cultural events or business activities, but also efficient services, good design and lighting which make streets and squares safe and enjoyable for all. Today with the partners of the URBACT network Cities@Heart we are exploring how to revive the attractiveness of central areas of the cities while creating a sense of belonging among residents and stakeholders. The first webinar of the network led by Métropole du Grand Paris that I'm supporting as Ad Hoc Expert, will offer useful elements that cities such as Granada, Cesena, Sligo and the others can include in their Integrated Action Plan for reviving city centres after dark 24HourNation Randall White Mar Santamaria Varas Léonie Yang Ronan MAHEO Cities After Dark Nuno Almeida Nuno Gouveia Gianluca Saba

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📢 NECSTouR at the European Economic and Social Committee Hearing on Tourism 🏖️🌍 Today, our Strategy Director, Cristina Nuñez, delivered a key speech at the EESC Hearing on "Tourism in the EU: social sustainability as a driver for the long-term competitiveness of the sector". This contributes to the EESC’s upcoming opinion on how sustainability can shape the future of European tourism. 🔑 Key Takeaways: ✅ Regenerative Tourism Governance: NECSTouR is committed to strengthening the positive value of tourism, aiming for destinations that not only thrive but regenerate. Our goal is to help all European regions adopt regenerative approaches by 2030. ✅ Collaboration: Cristina emphasized the importance of involving residents and businesses in destination management, marketing, and governance strategies. The power of collective action is critical for a sustainable future. ✅ Challenges: Climate change, infrastructure readiness, and financial constraints are pressing issues. Yet, progress is being made as regions come together to benchmark solutions. ✅ Tourism as a Prosperity Driver: In many regions, tourism already promotes social well-being and economic growth. However, saturated destinations must urgently address capacity and environmental challenges. 🗣️ Cristina also shared the importance of European initiatives like D3HUB - EU Competence Centre to support data management in tourism destinations, aiming to connect passionate destinations through data-driven management, and the need for structured funding opportunities across the EU. As well as NECSTouR's involvement with the European Tourism Manifesto to strengthen the partnerships within the tourism industry to reinforce the European tourism vision and strategy. #SustainableTourism #RegenerativeTourism #TourismForGood #NECSTouR #EESC

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The Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism is finally approved! The meeting of the EU Directors-General on Urban Matters held in Budapest on 27 November kicked off the implementation phase of the Action Plan of the Urban Agenda for the EU dedicated to sustainable tourism. Glad to have supported the Partnership in refining the actions and pave the way for the implementation by an alliance of national, regional and local authorities, networks and universities which are focusing on the following actions - Guidelines for Enabling Climate Friendly and Resilient Urban Destinations - ⁠Support for Destinations to Enable the Use of Sustainability Certifications for the SMEs Tourism Transition - ⁠Developing Competencies for Tourism Professionals and Local and Regional Authorities in Digital Touristic Services and Products - ⁠More Resilient and Sustainable Destinations through Diversification of Tourism Offer - ⁠Destinations Accessible for All - ⁠Strategies on protection of Local Retail as an Asset for Tourism The meeting of Budapest, attended also by representatives from from the Hungarian Presidency, EU Member States, and the European Commission, approved also the Action Plan of the Partnership on Greening Cities and launched two new partnerships dedicated to Building Decarbonisation and Water Sensitive City. European Urban Initiative URBACT UN Tourism Comune di Genova Primăria Municipiului Galați Gianluca Saba Dr Ioannis Pappas Nuno Almeida Paola Ravenna Stefani Mikulec Perković

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"As a company, you have an opportunity to develop, together with the public sector, new products, or services" - Corien Struijk, Advisor Cluster Policy and Innovation Procurement, VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. So what makes Innovation Partnerships important for tackling pressing societal challenges? 💡Innovation Partnerships support collaboration between public authorities and private companies to produce key products and services not yet available on the market. They follow a structured approach: 1️⃣Tendering to select partners able to fulfil specific requirements. 2️⃣Collaborative development to create the solution. 3️⃣Deploying the solution for public use. The latest #EUClustersTalks highlighted the key functions of these collaborations: 📊 Promoting innovation by combining R&D with public procurement 🌍 Addressing crucial challenges in healthcare, digital infrastructure and sustainability 📉Reducing market uncertainties for suppliers 🏁Stimulating competition by encouraging SMEs to innovate and partner Missed yesterdays talk? Catch up here ➡ https://lnkd.in/eMPEhgV5 Check out upcoming #EUClustersTalks on the #ECCP ➡ https://lnkd.in/e6zT7_Fi

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🔍🧐 Are you curious to know what it's like to be part of the citizen's panel of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 ? Members will show you around! 🤖 The citizen's panel on AI is a unique opportunity to gather valuable insights and perspectives on the impact of AI on society from citizens. 🇧🇪🇪🇺 On may 25 the panel's conclusions will be presented and discussed with a large number of Belgian and European political leaders and stakeholders. 👉 Read more about this exciting project of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 and the significant work of our citizen's panel on AI : https://lnkd.in/dhTSKWQX #EU2024BE #CitizenPanel #AI

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The Internal Side of Public Affairs (15) Engaging with Extremes: The dilemma for companies & associations In last month’s European Parliament elections far-right groups gained unprecedented representation. For Businesses and Associations this poses a dilemma: how to engage with these new stakeholders. At a Best in Brussels event in June Mark Dober revealed that around 50% of survey respondents would NOT engage the far right. So, should you engage with them, or avoid them? Perhaps you should look to your Associations to do this? This post shares some thoughts on this situation: Why Engagement is Necessary Influence on Policy-Making: Far-right parties now have a tangible impact on legislative processes. Ignoring these stakeholders could lead to unfavourable policies and means you have no influence. Stakeholder Relationships: Effective stakeholder management requires working with all relevant parties, including those with differing views. You need insights into their priorities and concerns so you can navigate the political landscape and maintain a competitive edge. Champion vs. Support: You can work with stakeholders to gather support and help influence positions without having them as your champion (which may be a step too far). How to Engage: Some Considerations Reputation Management: Engaging with far-right stakeholders carries reputational risks from corporate reputational risk to the local political risk that by associating with the far right you alienate support from other political groups. Clear Ethical Guidelines: Establish clear ethical guidelines for engagement, ensuring that interactions with far-right parties do not compromise any of your positions and values. Focus on Common Interests: Identify areas of common interest, such as economic growth, job creation, and technological innovation. Building dialogue around these topics can lead to constructive engagement without endorsing controversial positions. Public Communication: Maintain transparent communication with other stakeholders (and the public) about the nature and purpose of engagement with far-right stakeholders. This helps in managing public perception and mitigating potential backlash. Engaging with these new stakeholders is out of your comfort zone and fraught with complexities. It is, however, necessary and important. The job of Public Affairs professionals is to find the right ways to engage stakeholders for their organization. In an increasingly polarized environment engaging across the aisle will become more and more of an advantage. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below! 👇 #PublicAffairs #StrategicImpact #StakeholderEngagement   Pär Nygårds Per-Erik Wolff Dr. Stephen Massey Dimitris Vartholomaios Anders Kopp Paul Shotton Aaron McLoughlin Andras Baneth Wouter Lox Claudia Breure Pieter Walraven Carmen Muñoz Jodar Michel Ehrlich Mickey Langley Kelly Langley Jorge Espinosa de Los Monteros Romero

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Mobility - and more importantly: the place of the car in the public space - was very much at the centre of the debate during the Belgian local elections campaign.   Why? Because greening our mobility and making our public space more sustainable is one of the key challenges in today's day and age, and moreover: because it is an emotional subject.   So instead of focusing on infrastructure, researchers of the #HorizonEurope-funded project Park4SUMP concentrated on parking behaviour to make cities more attractive and safer for citizens through intelligent parking management.   As mentioned in the article by Patrick Auwerx, coordinator of Park4SUMP and project leader at Belgian sustainable mobility NGO Mobiel 21: “In people’s minds, parking is a very emotional subject. They often seem to think that when they buy a car, they get a free parking space.”    Read more about it here: https://europa.eu/!vpVtQY #EUResearch #mobility #urbanplanning

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Boosting twin transition with innovative solutions to make tourism more sustainable is a priority for Campobasso within its participation to the European Commission's Intelligent Cities Challenge. As thematic expert in sustainable tourism, I'm driving today a workshop with Campobasso's local stakeholders to identify the challenges of the tourism sector to be addressed by the Local Green Deal on the topic. The reduction of the emissions in the sector is the priority set by the Transition Pathway for Tourism: combining green and digital transitions for enhancing the attractiveness of this remote corner of Italy is the objective to achieve fostering multilevel governance and collaboration with dyanmic stakeholders CTE Molise - Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti di Campobasso REGIONE MOLISE Agenzia per la coesione territoriale UNWTO Università degli Studi del Molise Molise Turismo - Guida turistica online

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Do you, your company or your organisation work in tourism? Find out more about our support and get involved! ➡ https://lnkd.in/ezpR5ZXD The European Commission is working with stakeholders from across the tourism industrial ecosystem to support a future for tourism that is more sustainable, digital and resilient to economic shocks and crises. With over 3.5 million businesses and 19 million jobs in the EU in 2022, spanning from accommodation suppliers to food and beverage services, passenger transport, and tour operators; tourism is a key economic activity in the EU.

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This week, the European Parliament dives deep into each Commissioner-designate. They’re examining vision, expertise, and—most importantly—their commitment to Europe’s future. This process isn’t just a formality; it’s a crucial accountability check before the team is confirmed for the next mandate of the EU Commission. Curious to see it live and witness EU leadership take shape in real time? Catch the first confirmation hearing today. Starting with Slovakia's nominee Maroš Šefčovič, a Commissioner-designate for Trade, Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations, and Transparency. #EuropeanParliament #EUCommission #EULeadership #Trade #EconomicSecurity #Transparency

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The CHARTER project conference on a skills strategy for the cultural heritage sector is about to launch in Brussels. I will give a keynote about how AI changes the ways in which we define, produce, experience, preserve and transmit heritage and on how this impacts our skills building strategies -- not only for the sector in the narrow sense.

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: As part of the Social Situation Monitor, our ICF Team, in collaboration with HIVA-KU Leuven, is now organising our 12th research seminar on behalf of DG EMPL. This time, this very interesting seminar covers the theme is “Cost of Living Crisis: Purchasing Power and Social (Dis)Satisfaction in the EU”. The seminar, which will take place in person in Brussels and online on September 26, 2024, aims to delve deep into the current and anticipated effects of the cost-of-living crisis, and particularly the role of purchasing power, on social (dis)satisfaction in the EU and political discontent/trust in institutions. We invite academic researchers to submit abstracts highlighting their original research on the policy and social effects of demographic challenges, at the following link: https://lnkd.in/ep8jTiT8 #thisisicf #socialpolicy #crisis

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📢 CEMR Platforma report "European Territories Localise the SDGs | The time for impact is running out" was officially launched today at #Local2030 event at #HLPF2024. The study gathers 46 responses from associations of local and regional governments, representing 31 European countries. Read it online https://local-sdgs.eu & offline https://lnkd.in/gkv_aYay I am a part of a delegation of European Mayors and councillors that is actively participating at #HLPF to defend the key role of local and regional governments in United Nations bodies and in the the localisation of #SDGs. According to the OECD - OCDE, 65% of SDG targets depend on local and regional efforts! #Listen2Cities #LocalizingSDGs Samband íslenskra sveitarfélaga

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𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬! Thousands of nonprofit events are organised every month. With October and November being the busiest months in Brussels for policy events, many NGOs and associations are deep in preparation mode. But for communications professionals, achieving ambitious registration targets—whether through organic or paid promotion—can be a real challenge. That's why we've put together a practical guide on 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 to help you reach your registration goals with ease. Ready to make your organisation's next event a success? Check out our article now and start planning smarter! #DigitalTips #EventMarketing #EventPromotion #EventCampaign #NonprofitCommunication #Nonprofit #Nonprofits #NonprofitMarketing #Boostern #NonprofitAgency #DigitalCommunication #NonprofitResources #NonprofitConsultant #NonprofitBlog

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🌍 Empowering Communities Across Europe with CommuniCity! 🚀 CommuniCity is transforming cities and communities across Europe—and with the Third Open Call Pilots launching soon, now is the perfect time to learn more about this innovative journey! 🛠 What is CommuniCity? A three-year Horizon Europe project, CommuniCity unites 12 innovative partners to develop tailored technological solutions that address the unique needs of urban, peri-urban, and rural communities. Our mission? To empower marginalized groups across Europe while creating lasting positive social impact. 🌟 Key Highlights: ➡️ Three Open Calls: Enabling local communities to define challenges and implement cutting-edge tech solutions. ➡️ Co-Creation for Impact: Designing agile, community-driven approaches to tackle digital, urban, and social challenges. ➡️ Scalable Innovation: Transforming insights into practical toolkits, frameworks, and methodologies to ensure long-term impact. 💡 Want to know more? Watch our video below and join us in shaping a more inclusive and innovative future! 📽️ Watch now: https://lnkd.in/dkS8cwmB Let’s co-create change together! 🌐✨ Video produced by ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs). #HorizonEurope #Innovation #SocialImpact #CitizenEngagement #TechForGood #CoCreation #SmartCities #SmartCommunities

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BOOK YOUR SEAT for this unique event - TRACE4EU will present several use cases. #blockchain #ssi #web3 #eidas2

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