The EU this week announced the winners of its 2009 RegioStars Awards for innovative projects focused on climate change and economic modernisation.

The awards were established to “identify good practices in regional development and to highlight original and innovative projects which could be attractive and inspiring to other regions.”

This year’s RegioStars winners include:

• Wales’ DIPLE Printing Technologies and Belgium’s Cenaero Recherches, both of which took honors in the “Research, Technological Development and Innovation” category;
• France’s Centrale de production d’électricité photovoltaïque en milieu tropical and Germany’s EnergyAgency.NRW, which both earned awards in the “Adaptation to or Mitigation of Climate Change” category; and
• Greece’s “Do you know about ESPA?” spot, recognized as an “Audiovisual Spot or Programme Highlighting the Contribution of Cohesion Policy.

Two other projects — Sweden’s ROADEX project and German’s SpaceInnovation SAAR — also received special mention in this year’s awards.

Tags: Innovation