European Regional Development Fund: annual implementation report 2020
This Annual Implementation Report (AIR) presents the activities for the European Regional Development Fund for the investment for growth and jobs goal in 2020 with citizen's summary.
The full Annual Implementation Report (AIR) is available as a PDF attached to this page.
Below is a Citizen's Summary which briefly describes supported activity referred to in the AIR.
Citizens Summary 2020: European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) helps to strengthen economic and social cohesion by correcting imbalances between regions. The ERDF is one half of the European Structural and Investment Funds - the other is the European Social Fund (ESF).
By the end of 2020, the Scottish Government's running total of approved ERDF operations was £313.7m. This money was allocated to local authorities and national partners so that they can deliver projects themselves or distribute the funding to smaller organisations.
What the ERDF does
The Scottish Government allocates ERDF support to projects that work towards our aim of boosting smart and sustainable growth. This includes:
- transforming vacant urban land into greenspaces
- supporting businesses with advice and finance
- building low carbon travel infrastructure
Case study: £8.9m of ERDF support helps Scottish SMEs enhance their manufacturing capabilities
The Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund (AMCF) is a partnership between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. With an ERDF allocation of £8.9m, the £15.3m AMCF supports initiatives that stimulate the innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by providing services that improve manufacturing capabilities.
For example, in June 2020 the University of St Andrews announced that it had been awarded £1.128m from the AMCF to develop a world-class test space that will enable academics, technicians and SMEs to work together at its Eden Campus site. The ERDF-supported project will encourage innovation in companies working in energy storage and conversion, by providing scale-up facilities for moving research and development into early prototyping and proving technology before progressing to large scale manufacture.
Thanks to ERDF support, projects like the Eden Campus Energy Demonstrator of the University of St Andrews will have a significant impact on advancing the manufacturing capabilities of SMEs within Scotland and lead to long-term transformational industrial change.
Case study: CCTV system in Edinburgh upgraded thanks to £712,000 ERDF grant
'Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’ Programme is an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects, jointly developed by the local authorities of Scotland's cities. It has been allocated £20m of ERDF support.
The 8th City Programme seeks to enhance Smart City activity to accelerate and transform the delivery of city services and make Scotland’ s cities more attractive, liveable and resilient. For example, in July 2020 Edinburgh City Council announced that it had been awarded £712,000 of ERDF support from the 8th City Programme to update the capital city's ageing CCTV surveillance infrastructure.
Alongside upgrading equipment, the money will also be invested in additional CCTV around the city, including in Saughton Park and in the city’s West End at Stafford Street. Thanks to ERDF support, a safer environment and a more efficient, reliable and enlarged CCTV system is being put in place for the people of Edinburgh.
Find out more
In December 2020, we published a case studies booklet containing 12 stories of people and organisations who have benefitted from ESF and ERDF support. The booklet is available to view on our website.
For updates, follow us on @ScotGovESIF.
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