Brdo pri Kranju in Slovenia hosted the 9th EUSALP Annual Forum in 2024 on 14-15 November. The event also saw the selection of the winner of the ‘Pitch your project’ competition.
The ‘Pitch your project’ competition is aimed at young people aged between 16 and 29 living in the Alpine region. Under the motto ‘shaping.the.future.together’, the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) is looking for ideas to prepare the Alpine region for the future.
The jury bases its selection on the criteria of relevance, feasibility and potential for innovation. The five applicants or groups of applicants selected by the jury are given the opportunity to present their project, in English, in a five-minute presentation at an EUSALP event, this year at the Annual Forum in Brdo. Finalists receive support in preparing their pitch and learn how to create a short, engaging and informative presentation. The audience will then vote directly for the five projects.
This year at Brdo, participants had the opportunity to vote for the following five finalists (in alphabetical order): Alpaqua, Alps 2.0, Carbon Wise, EU Youth Career Incubator and Ville à Joie. All five presented their ideas, or in other words, pitched the project, and Annual Forum participants voted on the spot.
This year’s winner is Ville à Joie (Joy City), which is receiving a €5,000 prize from the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
The project focuses on rural areas and attempts to revitalise rural villages by bringing back essential public services, healthcare, digital access and local commerce in the form of travelling festivals. These unique events, hosted by young local residents, re-establish proximity and social links between residents. Thanks to local gatherings, they have easy access to services (health, administrative procedures, home renovation, etc.) that are typically far away. Ville à Joie currently serves villages in the French Alpine region and is now looking to extend this impactful model to EUSALP’s neighbouring countries.
Congratulations to all the finalists and we look forward to seeing how these ideas develop further.
