Ongoing projects

Mac Village

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PROJECT TITLE: Make Creative Villages - Initiate Cooperation between CCI and Villages- Mac Village

Duration: 36 month / 1^st April 2019 to 30^th September 2021

Project partners:

Lead partner: TGZ PM Technology and Business Incubator Centre Potsdam-Mittelmark GmbH, Germany
Project partner 2: SRH Hochschule Berlin, Germany
Project partner 3: Authentic Villages of Italy Association, Italy
Project partner 4: Regional Management Burgenland, Austria
Project partner 5: BSC, Business support centre Ltd. Kranj, Slovenia
Project partner 6: E-institute, institute for comprehensive development solutions Ptuj, Slovenia
Project partner 7: DDTG Danube Development Transnational Group nonprofit limited liability company, Hungary
Project partner 8: Cultural Labour Social Cooperative, Hungary

Summary of the project:

Actors in rural areas often lack innovation competences and the methods to initiate cooperation with innovative enterprises. Thus, companies from the creative industries have only occasionally been seen as a potential cooperation partner for villages to develop their manifold local cultural resources and to find innovative ideas to preserve the attractiveness of the region.

Creative industry in rural areas is an untapped potential in Central Europe. Developing the creative sector in rural areas has the potential to generate sustainable and quality enterprises as well as employment opportunities and contribute to rural diversification.

This is where the project Mac Village starts. The main objective of the project is to develop an easy-to-apply methodology in an iterative process for the local and regional level to initiate innovations in cooperation with CCI enterprises. Basis is the Frugal Innovation concept which responds to limitations in resources, which are also found in rural areas. A range of innovation methods will be tested in three villages per partner region and further developed. The methods are easy to use and promote a rapid and joint development of competence and innovative networking. The project brings together people from different fields (local authorities and stakeholders, regions, business development agencies and organisations with specific competence in CCI and social entrepreneurship) and gathers them in a multi-level dialogue.

The project will implement 54 innovation workshops in six regions in DE, AT, IT, SI and HU promoting the cooperation among local actors and CCI. More than 200 stakeholders will be trained to enable them to implement the innovation methods developed in the project. By doing so local actors in the villages will be able to create favourable local conditions for CCI and innovative networks for new products and services exploiting their cultural resources and develop new businesses.

Project main objectives

to develop a methodology (with handbook) for the local and regional level,
to initiate innovations in cooperation with CCI enterprises and artists and
to strengthen the methodological competence of these players.

Project results

Coherent with the result indicator, the project will lead to an increased capacity of the public (local players in villages and rural towns) and the private sector (CCI enterprises) to develop local and regional cultural resources in an economical and sustainable way. The skills of the involved and trained players to develop their region from bottom-up will be increased. The local and regional players will have a better understanding of the potential of CCI for regional development and the requirements, these enterprises have to be able to flourish and to innovate. Creative enterprises will better understand the opportunities villages and rural towns can offer as a location and as cooperation partners to develop and use the cultural resources to create new products and services. They will be able to apply innovation methods on their own. One focus will be building up creative scenes networks which could end up in creative milieus in the rural partner regions. Other actors than the ones directly involved will be trained and learn to better understand the economy of the CCI and apply the innovation methods. Finally, the project offers the chance to create more jobs in rural areas, to settle more enterprises from the CCI in rural areas and hence contribute to diminishing the impact of demographic change.

Project website: https://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/MaC-Village.html

Mac Village is supported by the INTERREG Central Europe Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Total co-financing amounts to 1.166.174,16 EUR.

INNOVAGRO

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PROJECT TITLE: »Development of an innovative network for the promotion of extroversion of agro-food companies in Adriatic - Ionian Area«

Project duration: 24 months (1. 1. 2017 - 31. 10. 2019)

The main objective of the “INNOVAGRO” project is the development of an interregional system for the reinforcing of the interaction between research centers and universities, companies of the agro-food sector, as well as the rest of the institutions dealing with promoting extroversion and entrepreneurship in the participating countries, so as to provide SMEs with innovative services of marketing and management, in order to increase their extroversion and internalization. This main objective is further analyzed in the following sub-objectives:

development of innovative mechanisms and tools aiming at the amplification of the collaboration between the participant countries’ SMEs and the reinforcement of their ability to do business abroad
development of innovative transnational business networking
development and dissemination of knowledge, aiming at improving the competitiveness of agro-food SMEs
reinforcement of the services that promote the innovation and extroversion of agro-food SMEs
creation of co-operation network between professional associations from the agro-food and tourism sector, Research Institutions, and Public Authorities
link farmers, agro-food and agro-tourism companies, as a transnational vertically intergraded chain
create awareness about the implementation of environmentally – friendly farming practices.

The main project’s results:

the improvement of agrofood SMEs’ productivity, competiveness and access to the international market,
increasing the percentage of agrofood SMEs involved in networking, internalization and innovation process,
strengthening the links between R&D Institutes, SMEs, and Regional & Local authorities in the field of innovative entrepreneurship and
increasing the use of environment– friendly farming practices.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΗΡΙΟ ΧΑΝΙΩΝ
ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΑ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ
ΠΟΛΥΤΕΧΝΕΙΟ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ
ΔΙΚΤΥΟ ΝΗΣΙΩΤΙΚΩΝ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΗΡΙΩΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗΣ ΕΝΩΣΗΣ
PROVINCIA DI POTENZA
E-zavod, zavod za projektno svetovanje, raziskovanje in razvoj celovitih rešitev
Conferderazione Italiana Agricoltori
Bashkimi i Dhomave të Tregtisë dhe
Industrisë së Shqipërisë
Chamber of Serbia
Università degli studi della Basilicata

Website: https://innovagro.adrioninterreg.eu/

MD.net

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PROJECT TITLE: Mediterranean Diet - When Brand Meets Peoples

Acronym: MD.net

Project duration: 1.2.2018 - 31.1.2022

The project challenges the problems of currently neglected and undeveloped opportunities of Mediterranean Diet (MD).
MD is an integral part of the Mediterranean identity, inscribed in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The MD involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning cultures, landscape, lifestyle, ways to work (crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, sharing and consumption of food products) characterizing a powerful industry.
The general objective of the project is to recognize the Mediterranean Diet (MD) as an opportunity for smart economic growth of remote rural areas.
This objective will be reached through increasing knowledge, transnational clustering and networking, testing of 3 pilots (education, branding, innovation), transferring 3 pilots to other regions and capitalisation of project results to post 2020 strategic level.

The project will strengthen exploration of the MD according to the UNESCO Med Diet Convention, blending comprehensive MD concepts with innovative tools.
The project will use both traditional and creative measures (as sharing economy) starting cooperation of quadruple helix stakeholders in order to lift the MD economy to new quality levels.

Partners:

Campania Region
University of Algarve
RERA Development of Split
Region of Crete
University of Mostar -Faculty of Agriculture and Food Technology
Mediterranean Diet Foundation
Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Shipping of Seville
Emilia Romagna Region
E-zavod
Standing Committee for the Euromediterranean Partnership of Local and Regional Authorities
Association of Albanian Municipalities
GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA- Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food
Troodos Development, Cyprus

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Project title: Alpine Industrial Landscapes Transformation - TrAILs

Duration: 36 month / 17^th April 2018 to 31^st March 2021

Project partners:

Lead partner: Technical University Munch, Freising, Germany
Project partner 2: BSC, Business support centre Ltd. Kranj, Slovenia
Project partner 3: University of Verona, Italy
Project partner 4: Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy
Project partner 5: TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology), Austria
Project partner 6: LAMORO Development Agency Asti, Italy
Project partner 7: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Slovenia
Project partner 8: Architecture, Urbanism and Environment Council of Vaucluse department, Avignon, France
Project partner 9: E-institute, institute for comprehensive development solutions Ptuj, Slovenia
Project partner 10: Registered association Styrian Iron Route (VESTE) Eisenerz, Austria

Summary

Alpine heavy industry (mining, steelmaking, chemical industry, etc.) is rapidly declining, leaving behind “Alpine Industrial Landscapes” (AILs), huge former productive landscapes of significant size, diffusion and complexity. At present, no reliable quantification of such areas exists and significant transformation attempts or conversion strategies have not been developed. The potential value of AILs was hardly mentioned in previous alpine development programmes and institutional project reports.

The project aims to generate specific knowledge about AILs, to develop and test sustainable transformation strategies, transferable to other industrial landscapes all over the alpine region. In a multidisciplinary, transnational approach the project combines expertise in fields like spatial and landscape planning, socio-economic sciences, regional development etc. while directly cooperating with local communities on relevant case studies (pilot areas).

The project covers four main phases:

macro-regional survey of AILs and implementation of a web GIS platform;
comprehensive assessment of AILs actual condition, background and context through on-site analysis of selected Pilot Areas;
joint evaluation of AILs transformation potential and test-design in cooperation with local stakeholders;
synthesis and discussion of generated knowledge (processes, methods, tools) with observers, regional/national stakeholders and experts in a conclusive AILs Forum.

The project will support local and regional stakeholders in the sustainable AILs transformation, providing them with practical recommendations for immediate action and clear strategic planning tools for the future.

Project overall objectives

The project’s overall objective is to develop a common and highly transferable transformation strategy for AILs, evidencing and sustainably exploiting their potential in terms of cultural heritage, ecological connectivity, land-use planning and socio-economic regeneration. The sustainable transformation of AILs is especially important for the improvement of the living conditions for man and nature in the Alps because AILs are often located in key positions within the alpine environmental and infrastructural network. In addition, the aim is to enhance the unique, very valuable but partly underestimated cultural and natural heritage of the Alpine region, while reinforcing the regional identity around former industrial areas.

Project results

Increased general awareness of AILs a key resource for regional sustainable development (knowledge transfer).
Strengthened transnational Alpine identity by established cross-border cultural infrastructures, cooperatively managed by the alpine countries.
Intensified interaction and cooperation among development organisations, protecting and developing cultural (industrial) heritage.
New transnational development options e.g. between neighbouring communities/ regions based on exchange of transformation experiences during test planning process (networking).
Well prepared transformation actors and qualified ‘regional conversion pilots’ due to new training tools (study module "trAILs").

Project website: http://www.alpine-space.eu/projects/trails

TrAILs is supported by the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Total co-financing amounts to 1,859.290,24 EUR

CREATIVEWEAR

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PROJECT TITLE: ’’Creative Clothing for the Mediterranean Space’’

Project duration: 28 months (November 1^st 2016 - February 28^th 2019)

CreativeWear project revitalizes the crisis-ridden Textile & Clothing (T&C) sector through a new attention to creativity, personalised design, and artisan as well as small-scale production for territorially specific value chains in customer-driven business models.

CreativeWear project extends the on-going H2020 TCBL project (which complements techno-industrial with social innovation to return 5% of capacity to Europe and attain a 20% reduction in environmental impact by 2025) to creative clusters in the Mediteranean space, integrating them into the broader TCBL ecosystem. CreativeWear aims both to recover and valorise the design heritage and tacit “making” knowledge of T&C in Mediterranean cultures (MED-Texmedin) T&C and to bring new energy to creative clusters by reinforcing their creativity-based innovation capacity and integrating their activity into emergent transnational value chains (CreativeMED).

CreativeWear tests adaptation of the TCBL network model to existing creative clusters such as museums, creative hubs, fashion schools, design centres, volunteer organisations. The transferrable CreativeWear model allows for greater coherence with ERDF and ESF policy frameworks in different national and regional contexts.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

City of Prato (Lead Partner)
Prato Textile Museum
University of Valencia
Textile Research Institute
E-zavod
ARCA Consortium
European Apparel and Textile Confederation
Allium
Hellenic Clothing Industry Association
Creative Thinking Development

»Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.«

Press release 2017

CREATIVEWEAR PROJECT IN PALERMO: DEEPENING CREATIVITY WITH VESTINO2017 EVENT

It will be held in Palermo this coming Thursday, October 26, next operative meeting of CreativeWear, an Interreg MED Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, which aims to give new life to the creative heritage, the design culture and the relevant know-how of Mediterranean T&C industry through a new attention on manifold concept of creativity.

Developed by Consorzio Arca, the Sicilian partner of the Project, the agenda of the meeting provides on the sidelines of the technical sessions focusing the advancement of hubs pilot activities taking place on involved territories (Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Italy) the participation to Vestino2017, a creative happening spread in many locations in the heart of the city, organized by Consortium ARCA with the collaboration of CRE.ZI Plus, Dimora Oz and Atelier COWORK and sponsored by the Municipality of Palermo.

Vestino, is an idea for an annual celebration of the values and work of the CreativeWear Hub community in Palermo as well as to enhance the innovative activities of each Creativewear Hub, exploring new forms of collaboration between creatives and the textile and clothing industry in five different regions of the Mediterranean area.

This is intended as the first edition (from October 27th to 29th, 2017), with a second edition planned for October 2018 in the context of Palermo as the Italian Cultural City of the Year and the host of the biennial Manifesta 12 exhibition.

As a joyful itinerary, Vestino unfolds in various modalities co-created with artists and designers working together with manufacturers and shop-owners, opened to the city and enriched by collective workshops, and exhibitions by Palermo artists and designers alongside workshops and installations from the creative communities of Valencia, Ljubljana, Athens and Prato, Creativewear Project partnership.

An original attempt to combine goals and procedure of the Project with the artistic feel of designers and creators in the city of Palermo and beyond, but also the concrete possibility of bringing the audience closer to the content and expected results of CreativeWear.

Creativewear project and Vestino 2017
Palermo, October 27th -29th, 2017
Creativewear Project
Website: https://creativewear.interreg-med.eu
Twitter: CreativeWearProject | FB: creativewear project | Instagram: creativewearmed

Press release 2018

VESTINO 2018. FOUR DAYS OF ART AND CREATIVITY TEXTILE THEMED IN PALERMO.

In the year that sees Palermo as Italian Capital of Culture, a real flow of creative energy will involve the city for 4 days starting next October 18th. This is in brief the description of the new edition of Vestino, an artistic happening with a textile and fashion theme scheduled in the Sicilian capital in the next few days. Born from the idea of a group of artists, artisans and researchers from Palermo as an annual event celebrating the values and the community of the CreativeWear Palermo Hub, Vestino is a widespread celebration in the city that during its first edition last year saw local artists collaborating with creatives from different European countries involving companies, ateliers, art and craft workshops in the textile and clothing sector.

A full calendar of events, exhibitions, workshops and meetings that starting from the headquarters of the CRE.ZI.PLUS association at Cantieri Culturali della Zisa, core place of the event, will reach many locations throughout the city center, getting to involve about 60 ateliers and up to 20 workshops and creative workshops to compose a unique proposal of activities between art, design and craftsmanship.

Starting the event on Thursday 18th October at 7.30 pm at CRE.ZI.PLUS venue, will be the collective exhibition of the works and prototypes produced within the activities developed by the Hub network of the Creativewear Project. Designers, artists, textile companies and research laboratories from the creative communities of Valencia, Ljubljana, Athens and Prato will present to the public fabrics, capsule collections, clothing items, creative prints, design objects, artistic creations and cutting-edge technological processes that will tell how creativity has found innovative applications for the European T&C sector and the Mediterranean area.

Vestino # 2018 will also be an opportunity to get to know the Hubs who recently have joined the Creativewear Project by integrating the network of creative communities of the Mediterranean area who work for the proposal of innovative ideas and solutions to give new impulse to the textile and clothing sector.

New Hubs participating in the Creativewear Project are: The Identity Hub in Bari (Italy), The Skills Hub in Thessaloniki (Greece), The Fashion&Design Hub in Igualada (Spain), The Sustainability Hub in Biella (Italy), The Innovation Hub in Bidart (France), The Training Hub in Cakovec (Croatia) and The Awareness Hub in Izmir (Turkey).

The agenda will also include a works of art exhibition at Cinema DE SETA venue, video installations and contemporary art creations by Dimora OZ artists and the participation of the Alab Palermo lab network and Gullo Filati (clothing, haberdashery, fabric shops, etc.) exhibiting works and clothing collections created by artists and designers from Palermo and even installations of sartorial creations inspired by the theme of "Sicilianità" (being Sicilian) in collaboration with ALAB Laboratories.

Within Vestino festival, the international seminar of the Social & Creative MED community coordinated by the TALIA Project will also take place on Thursday 19 October. It will bring together the eleven Interreg MED projects of the Social&Creative Community to share insights on the contribution of creativity to the sustainable development of the MED space, towards an emergent vision of inclusive innovation.

Vestino 2018 is realized thanks to the CreativeWear project with the financial contribution of the European Union Interreg MED Program and with the free patronage of the Municipality of Palermo and Palermo Capital of Culture 2018.

ROAD CSR

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PROJECT TITLE: "A Roadmap for Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into EU Member States and Business Practises"

Project duration: 48 months (01.01.2017. – 31.12.2020)

The overall objective of the project is to help EU member states to apply Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a holistic management approach to SMEs. In this way, SMEs will increase their competitiveness. The main outputs of the project will help countries involved in the project to exchange experience, best practices and create a road map for integrating CSR into national and regional legislations and Programmes and as well to create national/regional actions plans. Moreover, an important output of the project will be the policy ecommendations for the revision of the Directive 2014/95/EU in order to create precedents for future policy developments on CSR and corporate accountability not only for large companies but as well for SMEs.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Larnaca and Famagusta Districts Development Agency
Region of Crete
General Directorate of Labor, Regional Ministry of Education and Employment of the Government of Extremandura
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
South Bohemian Agency for Support to Innovative Enterprising

TCBL

tcbl-european-commission

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PROJECT TITLE: ‘’Textile and Clothing Business Labs’’

Project duration: 48 months (July 1st 2015 - June 30th 2019)

TCBL is a research& development project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme that aims to transform the Textile & Clothing (T&C) industry, bringing 5% of production capacity back to Europe by applying new sustainable business approaches that support local design and production, reducing the T&C sector’s impact on the environment.

The demand for ethical and environmentally friendly clothes is a worldly growing trend. In order to meet those customers’ needs in a fast-growing, competitive market, TCBL introduces and supports new approaches to product design, production and sales, creating ‘laboratories’ for design and manufacturing in order to create new business model opportunities to local companies that otherwise would not have the resources to experiment new methodologies.

TCBL introduces 3 types of open innovation Business Labs, each focused on specific areas of the value chain:

Design Labs (creating emotionally-oriented immaterial value)
Making Labs (converting skilled labour into material value)
Place Labs (generating spatial community and socially-oriented value).

PROJECT PARTNERS:

City of Prato (Lead Partner)
German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research (DITF)
Instituto Superiore Mario Boella
Skillaware
The Open University
iMinds
Tavistock Institute
Materials Industrial Research and Technology Center S.A.
Waag Society
Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company LTD
Ezavod
Consorzio ARCA
UnionCamere del Veneto
Hellenic Clothing Industry Association
Sanjotec – Centro Empresarial e Tecnologico
Clear Communication Associates LTD

CROWD-FUND-PORT

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PROJECT TITLE: “Central European Crowd-funding Support”

Project duration: 36 months (01.07.2016. – 30.06.2019)

Crowdfunding minimizes business risk-taking and increases entrepreneurship mind-set, which is why an unused crowdfunding potential represents a huge challenge especially in the eastern parts of central European countries. CROWD-FUND-PORT aims thus to improve skills and competences of all relevant stakeholder groups to prepare them for taking advantage of the crowdfunding phenomena. Change will be visible in improved financial conditions for start-ups fostering innovation, employment and social stability in the region.

The project focus will be on economically weaker businesses with fewer opportunities, who do not have access to bank loans, but who would be able to start business ideas through crowdfunding. Outputs and results of the project will benefit crowdfunding platform operators as well as small and medium sized enterprises by increasing their competences. Crowdfunding investors will profit from increased safety by a better understanding of benefits and risks and policy makers will gain increased decision-making competences.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

E-zavod (lead partner), Slovenia
Regional Development Agency of South Bohemia RERA, jsc., Czech Republic
Gdansk Entrepreneurship Foundation, Poland
Metropolitan City of Bologna, Italy
Rocketside, Hungary
Ikosom – Institute for communication and social media, Germany
ISN – Innovation Service Network, Austria
CONDA, Austria
Creative Industry Forum, Slovakia
University of Bologna, Italy
BRODOTO, Croatia

FOCUS IN CD

focus-in-cd

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PROJECT TITLE: “Innovative patient centred health care services - advantages of establishing a close CE network in celiac disease patient health care”

Project duration: 36 months (01.06.2016. – 31.05.2019)

Healthy and active aging is one of the greatest social challenges in the EU in view of longer life expectancy. Early prevention of chronic diseases that have severe impact on general well-being of patients is extremely important if we want to reach this goal and ensure sustainable health care systems in central Europe. A lack of development and promotion of innovative quality health services, disease management models and education have a profound negative effect.

To tackle this challenge, Focus in CD will demonstrate development and pilot testing of innovative health service model in management of celiac disease, that can serve as reference model for other chronical diseases.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Municipality of Maribor, (lead partner), Slovenia
University Medical Center Maribor, Slovenia
E-institute – Institute for Comprehensive Development Solutions, Slovenia
University hospital center Rijeka, Croatia
University of Trieste, Italy
Association of celiac patients Primorsko -goranska County, Croatia
Institute for Maternal and Child Health – IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Italy
Ludwig-Maximilian’s University Medical Center, Germany
Hungarian Coeliac Society, Hungary
Heim Pál Children’s Hospital, Hungary
Child Health Foundation, Germany
Primorje – Gorski Kotar County, Coratia

IRIC

IRIC - logotip IRIC

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PROJECT TITLE: “Strengthening cross-border competitiveness, research and innovation”

Project duration: 36 months (1.10.2016 – 30.9.2019)

The project is focused on supporting development of competitive products and their launch on international markets, since internalisation activities of SMEs, improve their growth, competences and favour their long-term success. Studies had confirm, that SMEs active on international markets, create more workplaces and are more innovative comparing to those that are not. In the framework of last programming period, cooperation and coordination among SMEs and institutions in the cross border area has been very dynamic, therefore the existing potential can be used, upgraded and tested also in the field of SMEs internalization.

The main goal of the project is to enhance the number of SMEs engaged on international markets in the cross border area. Most SMEs lack information, knowledge and support how to enter foreign markets and since they are small, they are risk averse and insecure. Project will be focused on tackling mentioned issues and barriers. Project will offer support to 20 SMEs in the process of entering international German and English speaking markets and support 2 project partner SMEs, to test their new products on international markets. A common cross border coaching scheme strategy and action plan, tools and services to support internalization of SMEs and export plans will be developed, followed by different B2B events, to enhance the internalization activities of SMEs. Innovativeness of the project approach includes development of a common cross border coaching scheme, which will work as support platform of common contacts, networks, knowledge and tools. Common coaching scheme will enable identification of common strategic opportunities, development of cross border added value chains and clusters, which is essential for successful internalization of SMEs in the cross border area.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

ROW Regionalmanagement Obersteiermark West GmbH (Lead Partner)
Pomurje technology park L.t.d., Slovenia
USOL, Development, manufacturing and engineering L.t.d.,, Austria
Slovene Chambre of commerce,
E-institute Ptuj, Slovenia
FB - Forschung Burgenland GmbH, Austria
NET-Automation GmbH, Austria

E-NEWS No. 1 (Slovenian language) (580 Kb)

E-NEWS No. 2 (Slovenian language) (730 Kb)

E-NEWS No. 3 (Slovenian language) (518 Kb)

E-NEWS No. 4 (Slovenian language) (499 Kb)

E-NEWS No. 5 (Slovenian language) (538 Kb)

CWC

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CITY WATER CIRCLES

PROJECT TITTLE: City Water Circles -Urban Cooperation Models for enhancing water efficiency and reuse in Central European functional urban areas with an integrated circular economy approach

ACRONYM: CWC

Lead partner: City of Budapest, District 14 Zugló Municipality

Project partners:

PP2: Budapest Sewage Works Plt. Ltd.
PP3: Turin Municipality
PP4: Poliedra
PP5: Maribor Water Supply Company
PP6: E-Institute
PP7: City of Bydgoszcz
PP8: Institute for Sustainable Development Foundation
PP9: Public Institution RERA SD for Coordination and development of Split-Dalmatia County
PP10: Split water and sewerage company Ltd
PP11: Association for Rainwater Harvesting and Water Utilisation

Project value: 2.418.392,29 €

Project is supported by the INTERREG Central Europe Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Total co-financing amounts:2.017.978,82 €

Project duration: 01.04.2019- 31.03.2022

Recognizing that cities are focal points of increasing freshwater consumption in CE, CWC strives for introducing and promoting water efficiency measures and the (re)use of non-conventional local water resources like rainwater & greywater for public and domestic purposes in CE functional urban areas (FUAs). With bringing these regions on the path of circular urban water management, the project aims to enhance water conservation through alleviating pressure on over-exploited freshwater resources as well as on urban drainage systems, and thus to improve environmental quality and climate resilience of CE FUAs.

Aiming at cities becoming main drivers of circular water use revolution, CWC intends to equip the local and regional public actors, as well as relevant stakeholders with improved capacities for facilitating/ launching the implementation of sustainable water efficiency and reuse systems by creating supportive regulatory, organizational and co-operational frameworks.

The project’s strong emphasis is on integrating water saving and recycling considerations not only in existing environmental policies and management systems of FUAs, but also channeling them into all relevant urban/ regional development strategies and sectoral (e.g. urban planning, building) regulations as a crosscutting issue

GREEN LINE

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PROJECT TITLE: Sustainable cooperation between public institutions in the region on environmental protection, energy efficiency and renewables energy

Acronym: GREEN LINE

Project duration: 01.07.2018 – 30.06.2021

The Green Line project is focused on the transfer of knowledge and experience that will lead to increase of capacities and institutional cooperation abilities and better cross-border relations (between partners, municipalities, public organizations) in the field of environmental protection, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The key focus of the project is the implementation of the twinning process with a mutual transfer of knowledge and experience, for the preparation of strategic energy plans.

The project will also provide support tools, such the preparation of energy accounting system, with the necessary translations from Slovenian to Hungarian language and the production of a 3D model of the Mura-Zala geothermal basin - an overview of the potentials of geothermal energy.

A protocol of long-term cooperation will be developed and signed between partners.

Partners:

Local energy agency for Pomurje (LEA Pomurje)
IMRO-DDKK
Nyugat-Pannon
Terület- és
Gazdaságfejleszt
ési Szolgáltató
Közhasznú
E-zavod, (Slovenija)

Website: http://www.green-capacity.eu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectgreenline/

GREEN MIND

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PROJECT TITLE: GREEN and smart Mobility INDustry innovation

Acronym: GREEN MIND

Project duration: 1.2.2018 – 1.8.2020

The Green mind project fosters the development of economic COMPETITIVENESS and INNOVATION in the GREEN AND SMART MOBILITY industry by reinforcing regional and transnational cooperation between businesses, research bodies and authorities.

Being active in a context of fast technological advancements and increasingly restrictive environmental policies, Green mind strengthens the transnational activities of clusters and agencies to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in exploiting and identifying market opportunities and tapping the raising demand for green and smart mobility products and services in key mobility sectors such as transport and logistics, automotive, energy and IT.

Main objectives

Testing new market intelligence, public funding screening and B2B matchmaking services for SMEs
Building a transferable model of the aforesaid services for clusters and agencies
Setting up a transnational innovation network involving authorities, industry and academia
Delivering a policy support programme to mainstream the project results based on the Smart Specialisation Strategies of the involved regions

Partners:

SIPRO, Economic development agency (Italy)
CERTH, Centre for research and technology Hellas (Greece)
ASCC, Andalusia Smart City Cluster – Multi-sector innovative business association for smart cities (Spain)
AFT, Association for the development of professional training in transport and logistics (France)
IDA, Istrian Development Agency (Croatia)
SERDA, Sarajevo Economic Regional Development Agency (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
E-zavod, (Slovenija)
SDC, County of Split-Dalmatia (Croatia)

BB-CLEAN

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PROJECT TITLE: Strategic tools towards a sustainable use of biomass for low carbon domestic heating

Acronym: BB-CLEAN

Project duration: 17.4.2018 - 16.4.2021

The main project objective is development of transnational policies for a sustainable use of biomass for domestic heating in order to minimize the above cited impacts and improve a smart use of this resource in the Alpine Regions (AR). The project will focus on innovative open-source and interactive approaches for the awareness raising of citizens and local administrators about the critical aspects linked to BB and on the definition of strategic technological, economical and regulative tools to reduce the impact of BB in the Alpine valleys. Innovative sustainable business models will ensure long term success of the defined solutions. The development of shared policy-relevant documents will favour the application of harmonized regulations for a sustainable use of biomass in the AR. Foreseeing the integrated collaboration of partners from 6 Countries of the AR and a large network of observers the project will drive an important behavioural, technological, environmental and regulative change in this Region but even at EU level since no common regulations at EU level actually exist for small scale biomass appliances.

Partners:

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
ARPA Valle d’Aosta
Communauté de communes Pays du Mont-Blanc
Atmo Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
KSSENA
E-zavod
FH Joanneum
ECONCEPT

BB Clean First Newsletter (Slovenian) (633 Kb)

BB Clean Second Newsletter (Slovenian) (712 Kb)

MELINDA

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PROJECT TITTLE: Mobility Ecosystem for Low-carbon and INnovative moDal shift in the Alps

ACRONYM: MELINDA

MELINDA is supported by the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Total co-financing amounts: 1.558.521,75 €

Lead partner: Insiel S.p.A.

Project partners:

PP2: e-Institute, institute for comprehensive development solutions
PP3: Municipality of Maribor
PP4: University of Maribor
PP5: B.A.U.M. Consult GmbH München
PP6: Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Energy Environment Agency
PP7: Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
PP8: Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
PP9: University of Milano-Bicocca
PP10: AustriaTech Ltd. – Federal Agency for Technological Measures
PP11: Inter-municipalitiesTerritorial Union
PP12: City of Leutkirch

Project value: 1.833.555,00 €

ERDF: 1.558.521,75 €

Project duration: 17.04.2018 – 16.04.2021

Partnership of MELINDA project is generating innovative solutions for climate friendly mobility of citizens in Alpine Space through user-participation process. The aim is to induce behavioral change and improved policy instruments which will be achieved through:

Better understanding of user demands in mobility through crowdsourcing
Participative development of ICT tool for low-carbon citizen mobility
Generating innovative business models for mobility service providers by involving end-users.

Main result is the implementation of a new model to boost the low carbon mobility behaviours, through the analysis of the factors that impact on the demand and the offer of mobility, using a trans-sectorial and social innovation approach. MELINDA will increase the low carbon mobility options and encourage modal shift, thanks to the availability of new evidences and awareness on both demand and offer side as input for an effective activity of the policy makers and sustainable low carbon behaviours.

BOOSTEE-CE

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PROJECT TITLE: “Boosting energy efficiency in Central European cities through smart energy management”

Project duration: 36 months (01.06.2017 – 31.05.2020)

Central Europe has a high potential for deploying local and regional energy systems based on renewable energy generation and energy conservation but it is important to trigger bottom up initiatives improving energy efficiency approaches. Attention is being paid to the improvement of energy efficiency (EE) of existing buildings as they are accountable for large electric power consumption with an annual growth rate of around 4 percent. It is one of the major challenges for public authorities to reduce energy in existing public buildings without significant construction works.

Therefore, public authorities need to be equipped with simple but useful tools and methodologies for proper energy management. The project aims to improve the governance of EE in existing public buildings and ultimately reduce energy consumption in different central European areas, especially those less advanced in low carbon approach. For this purpose the OnePlace platform to transfer the knowledge to other regions of Europe will be developed. With the development and implementation of the 3D energy management system and pilot actions, the project will show an innovative approach towards energy auditing of buildings.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Bruno Kessler Foundation (lead partner), Italy
E-institute, institute for comprehensive development solutions, Slovenia
Energy Agency of the Zlín Regio, Czech Republic
Regional Energy Agency North, Croatia
Mazovia Energy Agency, Poland
Tolna County Development Agency, Hungary
Emilia - Romagna Region, Italy
Municipality of Velenje, Slovenia
City of Koprivnica, Croatia
Municipality of Judenburg, Austria
Energy Agency Upper Styria, Austria
European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation NOVUM Limited, Poland
City Municipality of Plonsk, Poland

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS:

Zlín Region, Czech Republic
Municipality of Tolna, Hungary

GREENCYCLE

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PROJECT TITLE: “Introducing circular economy system to Alpine Space to achieve low-carbon targets”

Project duration: 36 months (01.11.2016. – 31.10.2019)

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The project GREENCYCLE aims to introduce the system of circular economy (replace linear) as a holistic approach to support implementation of low-carbon strategies and provide additional 2-4% greenhouse emission reduction to the partner cities. Circular economy deployment will save energy, water, recover critical raw materials, reduce transport, boost the eco-innovation, create green jobs and benefit to low income citizens, which is directly in line with priority 2 of the ASP. Cities as biggest emissions producers and biggest energy and materials consumers will play the pioneering role by developing circular economy implementation strategies where key target groups (utilities, SMEs, citizens, research organizations) will be actively involved in the process.

Supporting toolbox will be developed as an e-tool which will enable planning, management and monitoring of circular economy processes and will be made publicly available. Important part of project is dedicated to pilot project implementation where partner cities will deploy circular economy approach in real-case scenarios to test and evaluate the toolbox. In order to be effective, circular economy requires critical size of market and critical mass of materials which will be enabled by macro-regional approach.

A transnational platform will be set up as a circular economy marketplace for materials and cooperation platform for further development of circular economy in Alpine Space. A platform will contribute to the lasting impact of the project with the active network membership of responsible local circular economy managers. Partner cities will become a circular economy lighthouse role-models and will actively involve other Alpine Space cities and/or regions to follow.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Municipality of Maribor (lead partner)
E-zavod
Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau
Marktgemeinde Goetzis
Comune di Trento
Informatica Trentina Spa
Rhônalpénergie-Environnement
Communauté d’Agglomération du Pays Viennois
CESBA Alps
Liechtemstein Institute for Strategic Development

This project is co-financed with 1.654.330,98 € by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme.

CASCO

eu emblem GREENCYCLE

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PROJECT TITLE: “Carbon Smart Communities”

Project duration: 36 months (01.11.2016. – 31.10.2019)

The overall objective of the project is to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide in the Alpine Space.

Two major goals will be pursued within the project:

Development and implementation of transnational low carbon policy instruments for the procurement of significantly low carbon timber products and
closing loops of regional added value and capitalizing of low carbon timber products by fostering their utilisation in politics, public bodies and key actors as e.g. architects.

Project specific results will be:

developed political framework for integrating low carbon timber products in procurement of public bodies.
implementation of those policies in various communities in the programme region.
improved trans national operating framework and support tools for low carbon policies
empowered SME value chains and improved deliverance of low carbon timber to meet the raised public demands.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

BSC, poslovno podporni center Kranj
RAEE
Sinergija Development Agency
IG Kraftspendedorfer Joglland
Parco Scientifico Technologico per l 'Ambiente
E-zavod
Regionalentwicklung Vorarlberg eGen
Unione Montana dei Comuni della Valesia
Agenzia Regionale per la protezione dell Ambiente del Piemonte
Holz von Hier gemeinnutzige GmbH
Climate Alliance Klima Bundnis

CaSCo is supported by the INTERREG Alpine Space Programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Total co-financing amounts to 1,947,509 EUR.

CLIMATE FORESTS

erasmus

Project Summary

Climate change is a global problem caused by several factors. Among them, deforestation and forest degradation generate 20% of total greenhouse gases emissions, responsible for climate change. For this reason, the Forestry sector plays an important role in the fight against this phenomenon. This is especially significant in the case of the European Union, whose consumption of wood and wood products is one of the highest in the world.

Currently, activities focusing on Environmental Education address climate change and forest benefits in a separate way. As a result, society is hindered in understanding the important role of forest in climate change.

This project idea was born to meet this need. The «Educating on “Climate Forests”» project counts with the participation of 5 different partners consisting of NGOs and higher education institutions that work with young people from environmental fields or with concerns on current environmental problems. These partner organizations are E-zavod (Slovenia), EURO (Italy), Usak University (Turkey), Hnutí DUHA - Friends of the Earth (Czech Republic) and, as a coordinating organization, IROKO DFS (Spain).

The overall objective of this project is to broaden the approach of non-formal education to address climate change from the relevance that forests have in its mitigation.

To do this, a group of youth workers from the non-formal education field is elaborating environmental education activities merging forests and climate change topics.

Once training activities have been developed, they will be tested in local workshops with groups of 10 youngsters (18-30 years old).

After these local workshops, results will be shared and the best activities and practices will be selected to include them in a toolkit containing a handbook (Intellectual Outputs). Together with these resources, an annexed document evaluating local workshops will be produced. It will contain some recommendations and tips on how to apply the activities developed and tested by the project.

The direct beneficiaries of this project are the youth workers involved in the project and the participant youngsters in the local workshops.

The main expected benefits include:

Firstly, for youth workers: to enhance their skills in planning and developing of environmental non-formal education workshops; to create new links and contacts that may generate in future collaborations.
Secondly, for participant youngsters: to have the opportunity to participate in an active way in the process of evaluation and improvement of the training activities created by the project; to develop a stronger awareness on the relevance that forests have in fighting climate change; to increase their possibilities to get a job as an environmental educator.
And last, for NGOs, youth organizations and other related entities applying the training material created by this project: to improve their results in design and implementation of environmental non-formal education programs, address to sensitize youngsters about the role of forests in fighting climate change.

The European Commission support for the production of this website does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

News

FIRST TRANSNATIONAL MEETING - MADRID/MEDINACELI OCTOBER 18-21, 2016

From 18 to 21 October, IROKO DFS hosted in Madrid/Medinaceli the first transnational meeting of the Erasmus+ project Educating on “Climate Forests”. During these days, 10 people from different countries (Turkey, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Spain) have worked to settle the project methodology. We also have achieved different agreements needed to guarantee the best project implementation.

IROKO’s team presented several environmental education activities to all meeting participants. These activities were evaluated in situ and improved using a participatory approach. This first meeting has been extremely beneficial to all the participants because now they all know perfectly the project and its conditions.

As an added value for the meeting and for the project, a field visit was conducted to the rural area in Soria (a province in Spain).

The objective, becoming aware of common European problems: the rural exodus and the difficult management of its forests. For this occasion, we had the chance of being accompanied by Pedro Medrano, director of the “Soria Forest Association”. He presented us how the “Montes de Socios” (Partners' Woodlands) forest management initiative works. In addition, we also met José Raúl Gómez, the major of the municipality called “El Royo”. He explained us the current Soria’s situation related to the problem of depopulation.

Moreover, we use the opportunity of this First Transnational Meeting to make two cultural visits, to Medinaceli and Soria. Thanks to these visits the participants have now a wider understanding of the Spanish culture and history.

At the end of the meeting, we clarify which tasks have to be done by each project partner for the next transnational meeting at Ptuj, Slovenia, (11 - 14 January 2017).

If you want to know more about the agreements achieved during this first transnational meeting, below you can download the minutes and other relevant documents.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

CE HEAT

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PROJECT TITLE: “Comprehensive model of waste heat utilization in CE regions”

Project duration: 36 months (01.06.2016. – 31.05.2019)

CE-HEAT aims to improve the governance of energy efficiency by focusing on the field of waste heat utilisation. This field was identified as one of the most pressing issues at the regional and local level but little success was achieved in the past. To improve governance in waste heat utilisation, better and comprehensive planning and monitoring tools are needed. The CE-HEAT partnership will bring new solutions through:

Providing an excellent analytical and monitoring platform based on the establishment of GIS based regional waste heat cadastres with waste heat sources classification and a monitoring tool;
Providing a comprehensive solution for managing waste heat utilization projects and strategies based on the development of a waste heat utilisation toolbox (leading stakeholders participation process, establishing feasibility etc);
Incorporating a new approach into local, regional and national strategies by integrating a new cadastre and toolbox into existing spatial planning and energy management systems and spreading it throughout central Europe and beyond.

The first-level target group of CE-HEAT are regional and local energy policy makers and spatial planners. Therefore, regional steering groups will be established to achieve a good level of integration and compatibility. The second level target group are waste heat producers, potential investors and local stakeholders. The project's transnational approach will enable partners to use different experiences, knowledge and competences to find solutions to a common problem in a common legal environment. It will also bring added value because solutions (cadastre and toolbox) will be tested through pilot projects in very different scenarios. Solutions developed will consequently have much higher quality and bigger transfer potential.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

E-institute, institute for comprehensive development solutions (lead partner), Slovenia
Energy Management Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
Energy Insitute Hrvoje Požar, Croatia
Drava Hydropower Plants Ltd, Slovenia
Technology Promotion Burgenland Ltd, Austria
Thuringian Energy and GreenTech Agency GmbH (ThEGA), Germany
Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, Czech Republic
Poltegor-Institute, Poland
National Centre for Energy Savings, Czech Republic

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS:

Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic,
The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Croatia
City Municipality of Maribor, Slovenia
Marshall Office of the Lower Silesia Region, Poland

Waste heat platform

The Transnational Waste Heat platform integrates the knowledge and software solutions that support the acceleration of waste heat recovery in Europe and beyond.

The tools available on the website allow the users to explore the waste heat energy potential in seven Central European regions, as well as to estimate potential for their regions/countries by using the manuals provided on the website.

Key tools for exploring the viability of waste heat recovery projects are the decision support system and waste heat calculator. Based on the energy data provided, the tools enable an algorithmic analysis of key technical and economic parameters and provide the user with the preliminary assessment of the project’s financial and technical viability in support of investment decisions.

Furthermore, the platform illuminates some of the best practice examples of waste heat recovery in Europe and provides policy, permit procedures and funding insight relevant in this arena, for seven European regions.

The platform is one of the key outputs of the European project CE-HEAT which is funded by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE, programme that encourages cooperation on shared challenges in Central Europe.

CESBA Alps

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PROJECT TITLE: “Common European Sustainable Building Assessment Alpine Space – Sustainable Territories”

Project duration: 36 months (16.12.2015 – 15.12.2018)

Project's website

Currently available sustainability assessment tools cover buildings and small urban areas, with no support for the territorial scale, typical in the rural, low density Alpine regions. The project aims to facilitate the development, exchange, and implementation of innovative policies and plans at territorial level based on common assessment tools.

By developing an assessment framework and a label for sustainable and low carbon territories, the project will improve the sustainability and energy performance of the Alpine built environment. Through objective criteria and indicators, the tools will support public organizations, technical organizations and SMEs in the assessment of the sustainability of a territory, the definition of clear and objective performance targets, the decision making in planning processes at territorial level, and the implementation and monitoring of effective low carbon policies, therefore fostering innovative practices at the territorial level among all stakeholders.

Main outputs include:

a generic transnational assessment framework for assessment at territorial scale,
a set of harmonized, validated and regionally contextualized assessment tools for territories,
a guideline for the implementation of assessment tools in low carbon policies and territorial plans,
a toolbox for the adoption of labels for sustainable and low carbon territories,
the creation and fostering of Local CESBA Committees,
the definition of sustainable construction strategies for territories and cities.

The CESBA Alps project will be part of the transnational CESBA initiative, ensuring the long term availability of the technical framework and cooperation network, facilitating adoption and use of the territorial scale tools across Alpine space regions.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Piemont Region (LP) – Directorate of Social Cohesion, Unit of Programming and Implementation of Social Housing Interventions, Italy
Rhônalpénergie Environnement, France
Regione del Veneto, Italy
Regionalentwicklung Vorarlberg eGen,
EnviroBAT-BDM, France
E-zavod Ptuj, Slovenia
Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften München, Germany
Common European Sustainable Built Environment Assessment – Verein zur Förderung des Qualitätsbewusstseins für Nachhaltigkeit in der gebauten Umwelt in Europa
Liechtenstein Institute for Strategic Development, Liechtenstein
iiSBE Italia R&D srl, Italy
Regione Lombardia, Italy

This project is co-financed with 2.209.778,31 € by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme.

The4BEES

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PROJECT TITLE: “Transnational Holistic Ecosystem 4 Better Energy Efficiency through Social innovation”

Project duration: 36 months (16.12.2015 – 15.12.2018)

THE4BEES builds on the hypothesis: Energy is consumed by people rather than by buildings. Although most of the strategies to achieve energy efficiency in buildings focus on technical mitigation measures, to reach the ambitious goals on Low Carbon set by EU and Alpine Strategy, both structural and soft approaches shall be considered in a complementary way across the AS area.

THE4BEES focuses on the behavioural changes of users in public buildings needed to achieve reduction of energy consumption. Such changes will be originated by the use of innovative ICT applications developed by a transnational ecosystem.

The Project will set-up transnational Labs involving academia, decision makers and key administrations, entrepreneurship and citizens. Awareness raising and capacity building actions will prepare the ground for a Co-Creation activity aimed at the development of software applications (mobile apps, serious games, social interaction). Those applications will be used by the target groups in the demonstration sites (schools, houses, factories) to encourage behavioural changes for energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction. Behavioural changes and energy reduction will be assessed and will improve transnational, regional and local low carbon and spatial development policies. Sustainable exploitation will also be analysed in order to maximize effectiveness and trigger economic development of the Alpine Space.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

Regione Piemonte, Regione Lombardia, Italy
E-institut Ptuj, Slovenia
INSTITUTE Energy Agency of Savinjska, Šaleška and Koroška, Slovenia
Research Studios Austria Forschungsgesellschaft GmbH, Austria
Haute école, d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Fribourg – HES-SO//Fribourg, France
Association HESPUL, France
Rhônalpénergie-Environnement, France
IREES - Institut für Ressourceneffizienz und Energiestrategien, Germany
CSP- INNOVAZIONE NELLE ICT s.c.a r.l., Itally
CNR-IEIIT (Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria Nazionale delle Ricerche), Italy
Baden-Württemberg:Connected e.V.Associated partners, Germany dell'Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni del Consiglio

This project is co-financed with 2.290.449 Eur by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme.

URBAN INNO

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PROJECT TITLE: “Utilizing innovation potential of urban ecosystems”

Project duration: 36 months (01.06.2016. – 31.05.2019)

URBAN INNO addresses the challenge of making central Europe more innovative and competitive by maximising the innovation potential of smaller and medium sized urban ecosystems. A significantly better linkage of actors within urban innovation ecosystems (public authorities, research organizations, industry as well as end-users respectively customers and citizens) is needed for a better use of innovation potentials. Public and private sectors recognise that there is especially a significant gap in the field of participation in innovation processes from people as citizens and as users and customers. Many smart solutions, technologies and services are not used widely because of the lack of knowledge and motivation or acceptance of end-users.

URBAN INNO focuses on maximising innovation potentials of urban ecosystems through:

Better linking actors in innovation systems by establishing and interlinking quadruple helix clusters and networks in the partner regions; and
Developing and implementing new participatory methods and tools to engage end-users in innovation processes with the objective to have educated and motivated users.

URBAN INNO will be implemented in small-medium sized urban ecosystems in central Europe with strong replication potential due to the big number of similar-sized cities in the EU. Quadruple-helix networks will be established and regional/urban innovation action plans developed (setup of demo centres and testbeds for industry). In parallel, new participatory methods and tools will be developed and tested in pilot projects. Participative urban environments will substantially improve their innovation performance with the established innovation environment. A transnational cooperation strategy and platform will provide all interested regions the best available participatory tools and qualified facilitators and best practice will enable transfer and exchange of urban innovation models and practices throughout central Europe.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

CyberForume.V., Germany (Lead partner)
Inno AG, Germany
E-Institute, Institute for comprehensive development solutions, Slovenia
Municipality of Maribor, Slovenia
Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
Municipality of Kielce/ Kielce Technology Park, Poland
City of Rijeka, Croatia
Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d., Croatia
Pannon Business Network Association, Hungary
Research Buurgenland GmbH, Austria
Vorarlberg University of Applied Science, Austria
InformaticaTrentina Spa, Italy

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS:

Economic Development Department Karlsruhe, Germany
Vas County Authority, Hungary
City of Pinkafeld, Austria
City of Hartberg, Austria
Košice Self-governing Region, Slovakia

Press releases

The URBAN INNO – "Utilizing innovation potential of urban ecosystems" project Kick-off meeting took place on June 23rd 2016 in Bled, Slovenia.

URBAN INNO is a project co-funded by the Interreg Central Europe Programme, which is addressing the challenge to make Central Europe more innovative and competitive by maximizing the innovation potential of smaller and medium sized urban ecosystems. A significantly better linkage of actors within urban innovation ecosystems is needed for a better use of innovation potentials. Therefore, URBAN INNO focuses on maximizing innovation potentials of urban ecosystems through establishment of quadruple helix clusters/networks in the partner regions as well as by development and implementation of new participatory methods and tools to engage end-users in innovation processes with the objective to have educated and motivated users – SMART USERS.

URBANN INNO will be implemented in project partner`s urban ecosystems in Central Europe with strong replication potential in similar-sized cities in EU. 5 new quadruple-helix networks will be established in partnership regions, and 6 regional/urban innovation plans developed. In parallel, new participatory methods and tools will be developed and tested in pilot projects. A transnational cooperation strategy and platform will provide all interested regions the best available participatory tools and qualified facilitators. The platform will also include the transnational analysis, the strategic plan and will be available through the project website.

All twelve partners participated in the kick-off meeting, the first official project partners meeting and the launch of the project, where implementation activities were discussed, management structures and processes as well as communication activities were agreed. The representative of the Joint Secreteriat of the Interreg Central Europe Programme Mrs. Chiara Casarella participated at the meeting, presenting general rules and obligations for partners during the project implementation.

Mac Village

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