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27 projects highlighting the excellent and innovative work being done on the ground and represent a good geographical spread across the European Union have been chosen as finalists for the RegioStars' 2013. The candidatures for these awards were opened in March 2012. In particular, the jury chose the finalists for the five categories of the contest:

Category 1: Smart Growth - Connecting universities to regional growth

• "Technopol Programme" - Lower Austria, AT
• "CoOPTICS - Innovation to markets" – Thuringia, DE
• "University-Business Knowledge Transfer" – Castilla y León, ES
• "UPTEC – Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia da Universidade do Porto" – North of Portugal, PT
• "SLIM III" – North-Mid Sweden, SE
• "Innovation In Crops" - East of England, UK

Category 2: Sustainable Growth - Supporting resource efficiency in SMEs

• "Green Business Growth in SMEs" - Southern Denmark, DK
• "ENWORKS Resource Efficiency Support" - North West England, UK
• "Hydrogen region Flanders - South Netherlands" – European Territorial Cooperation
• "MED-Laine" - European Territorial Cooperation
• "Cradle to Cradle Islands" - European Territorial Cooperation

Category 3: Inclusive growth – Social innovation: creative responses to societal challenges

• "The Living Lab on Wellbeing Services and Technology" - Western Finland, FI
• "Individual Employment Paths" - Warmińsko-Mazurskie, PL
• "Strides Alliance Partnership" – Wales, UK
• "PASE - Public Policies and Social Enterprises" – European Territorial Cooperation
• "SUCCESS" - European Territorial Cooperation

Category 4: Citystar - Integrated approaches to sustainable urban development

• "WienWin" – Vienna, AT
• "Park Spoor Noord" – Antwerp, BE
• "Neighbourhood Management Berlin" – Berlin, DE
• "Revitalisation of Mill Islands" – Bydgoszcz, PL
• "MalmöLund – Metropolitan region" – Malmö, SE

Category 5: Information and Communication: Promoting EU Regional policy using short videos

• "www.efro.be" - Province of West-Flanders, BE
• "www.eu-fonds.brandenburg.de" – Brandenburg, DE
• "www.agenciasopa.es" – Andalusia, ES
• "www.esparama.lt" – Lithuania, LT
• "COSAFE" – Västerbotten, SE
• "www.interact-eu.net" - European Territorial Cooperation

RegioStars' 2013 Awards search for the most innovative projects which have received investment from EU Cohesion Policy continues into 2013. The Award ceremony itself will take place in Brussels on 7th February 2013.