Winterly greetings!

Creative and Urban Regeneration Days, 28. – 29.10.2021 midterm event of restart_4danube

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) were particularly affected. In order to support them and promote new opportunities in these fields, RESTART_4Danube and especially the project partners from the University of Maribor organised the International Creative and Urban Regeneration Days, which took place on 28 and 29 October 2021, as the midterm event of the project and a huge networking event.

The event took place online and attracted more than 160 participants from 25 European countries. The visitors of this two-day event were able to listen to as much as 21 presentations by lecturers from 7 European countries. The participants were addressed by the Rector of the University of Maribor, prof. dr. Zdravko Kačič, who emphasised that the CCI sector is often pushed to the sidelines, although it plays a very important part in the creation of a prosperous and inclusive society. In the first part of the conference the speakers focused mainly on the opportunities for actors in the CCIs.  For instance, Mrs. Mateja Lazar from the Creative Europe Helpdesk presented the financing opportunities and Mrs. Denis Bax from UNESCO Creative Cities Programme spoke about the creative networks and networking between cities.

The second part of the conference was opened by dr. Alexandru Marin from the lead partner Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania, and focused on the RESTART_4Danube project. Mr. Thomas Zametter from the Carinthian University of Applied Sciences (CUAS), Austria, presented the First Urban Green Paper, done by his organization in the framework of the project (to be presented below in more detail). Attendees also got the opportunity to learn more about the local action plans when speakers such as Ms. Iva Ribarič from the Municipality of Rijeka, Croatia, also a project partner, opened their eyes with many creative possibilities for sustainable regeneration of industrial buildings.

Some of the most interesting lectures where also held during the afternoon, when we witnessed innovative urban regeneration practices and learned how we can bring new life into old abandoned industrial buildings. These often-forgotten places can, for example, be used to create not only galleries, but also a library or interesting venues for children. Revitalising old buildings can help us find new purposes for underused spaces within cities and contribute to a richer creative and social life as well as support new events. This was illustrated during the conference on examples of good practices, such as the Library Under the Tree Tops in UNESCO City of Literature Ljubljana, the international ECO 8 project of the Maribor Art Gallery and the Open Koroška Street in Maribor presented by doc. dr. Kaja Pogačar from the University of Maribor, Slovenia.

In parallel with the conference, the Enterprise Europe Network organised a B2B event, where participants from various creative and cultural industries could meet one-on-one and discuss possibilities of future cooperation. A capitalisation workshop was held during the second day, where participants learned about other creative projects (to be presented below) and tried to find new synergies between the partners.

Missed the event? Click on the links below to watch recordings of the:

Midterm conference
Capitalisation workshop
Study visit in Maribor

Launching of the first RESTART_4Danube promotional video

We are proud to announce that the first promotional video of RESTART_4Danube is finished and can be accessed here.

All of the 25 partners of the project contributed to the realization of this video, in which we talk about our objectives and strategies regarding the challenges of today's cities and communities in the Danube area and beyond. To achieve these objectives, we will among others pilot and implement 5 Local Action Plans in 5 cities in Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Bulgaria. For the rest, keep following our developments!

How will we do this? With you help, of course!
We are waiting for you to watch the video and tell us your opinions on our Social Media channels:

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

Instagram

Join us and discover the beauty of the Danube region cities!

RESTART_4DANUBE’S 1ST WORK PACKAGE (3)
Strengthening CCIs’ involvement in UR -
the First Creative Urban Green Paper, CUAS

Nowadays, cities are confronted with numerous new challenges such as climate change, demographic change, urbanization, and digital transformation. They are in international competition for companies, human resources and innovations. A sustainable and resilient urban development requires new creative approaches in the context of urban regeneration processes, in order to cope with the rapid changes.

Building towards the Croatian LAP in Rijeka

RESTART_4Danube project event “Study visit Rijeka” was aimed to introduce the local action plan (LAP) to local stakeholders and future beneficiaries. Ideas for the LAP were developed under the main topic “Sustainable regeneration of industrial buildings” and will strive to bring modern technology closer to creative community, using the refurbished capacities of recently repurposed old industrial buildings: the Production Park Torpedo and the Children’s House.

Local stakeholders had already given some first ideas for the Rijeka LAP at the Policivil workshop organised in June 2021 in Rijeka, where some of the participants met with the specialized 3D technological equipment for the first time. In a 3DITion workshop, engineers of Production Park Torpedo elaborated the functioning of 3D scanner, 3D printers for plastic, sand and metal, as well as software and equipment for CAD/CAM modeling and reverse engineering. Participants were delighted to have this type of equipment in their own city and to find out the purposes for which it can be used. They were introduced to the benefits of modern technologies in business processes and practices. The example of a printed bottle showed them the elements of 3D scanning, modeling and printing. Participants were curious to find out about the operation of the machines, the printing of the bottle itself and the differences compared to other types of production. Some of the stakeholders came up with new business ideas and became aware for the first time of the potential of the Production Park Torpedo.

All in all, the participants realised that (potential) entrepreneurs need to have already in an early stage of their business development open access to high-end technology, knowledge on how to use it, as well as mentoring. The long-term goal of the Rijeka LAP which will be implemented in 2022 is to move local creative potential towards new technologies, which can improve business performance, innovation rate, digital literacy and affinity to industries of the future.

Visit our Croatian site.

Building towards the Romanian LAP in Craiova

On December 14th, 2021, Craiova City Hall, as organiser, together with IPA Craiova, organised the event "Craiova Study Visit" within the RESTART_4Danube project. During the event, the Romanian LAP "New spaces for experimentation, innovation and entrepreneurship in the CCI sector" that will be implemented within the project was presented to the local stakeholders and future beneficiaries.

The meeting was opened by Mrs. Dana Bosoteanu, project manager at Craiova City Hall, who presented the importance of supporting the creative industries and described Craiova as a classic example of a European city with history, traditions and a rich cultural heritage, and then presented the LAP.

Mrs. Marina Adronache from the Image Department of Craiova City Hall presented best practice examples in supporting CCIs, being complemented by Mr. Gavrila Constantin, CEO at the Regional Development Association CENTER Romania who gave examples on mediation of problems in the field of creative and cultural industries.

The National Urban Regeneration Strategies for the period 2021-2027 and the Smart Specialization Strategy were also introduced to the participants by Mr. Daniel Valceanu from the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, and Mr. Gabriel Burada from RDA SV-Oltenia respectively.

Representatives of the local and the national theaters, from houses of culture and individual creative entrepreneurs also had an intervention, showcasing their activities, festivals and projects, as well as different civil initiatives.

RESTART_4Danube at the 10th EUSDR Annual Forum 2021

On 26-27 October 2021, the 10th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) took place in a hybrid format, in Bratislava and online. The Slovak EUSDR Presidency dedicated the event to the topics of its chairmanship held throughout 2021, namely on the one hand, climate change and protection of biodiversity and, on the other hand, digitalization and innovation ecosystems.

Under these headlines, a full session was dedicated to initiatives and projects of EUSDR Priority Area 6 – Biodiversity, Landscapes and the Quality of Air & Soils, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic, the Institute of Applied Ecology Bratislava as well as Directorate General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE)/European Commission. Another session focused on projects supporting innovation processes in the Danube Region, such as Danube Alliance for SME Competitiveness, Innovation Express 2021, CINEMA, Restart_4Danube, Women in Business and several projects of the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information.

In this respect, on the 27th of October 2021, in a session moderated by Zuzana Nehajová (2impact, Slovakia), Mr. Alexandru Marin (University Politehnica Bucharest) presented ongoing and future activities of the RESTART_4Danube project.

Detailed information comprising video archive and presentations is available here.

See the original report of the event here.

SYNERGIES WITH THE CINEMA PROJECT (6)

Our collaboration and regular exchanges with representatives of the project CINEMA continues. In December, the two projects met again, and spoke about their intentions to stay in contact with some of the priority areas (PA) of the EUSDR (PA3 Culture and Tourism and PA8 Competitiveness), wanting to jointly offer the organisation of an interactive workshop on the topic of creatives and their role in urban economy and urban regeneration.

Furthermore, the topic of the next annual forum Danube conference on culture, which will take place in Ulm, Germany, was brought to the (digital) table. Since the forum for 2021 got postponed to early 2022 because of pandemic conditions, CINEMA and RESTART_4Danube see it as another opportunity to collaborate and offer a contribution.

Since both projects have the same ending date, the final conferences were another discussed topic. Looking for synergies and complementarities regarding these events seems a bit difficult though, since the two final conferences will take place in cities at 800 km distance from each other (Timisoara, Romania for CINEMA and Chisinau, Moldova for RESTART_4Danube). Until the next meeting of the two projects, their members will scout for further cooperation possibilities and draft a first version of the final conference programmes.

Last but not least, the upcoming new call of the Danube Transnational Programme (expected in spring 2022) offers individual partners of the two projects prospective topics like creatives, technologies and green deal, to potentially develop a further project proposal together. Until then, you can have a peak at the approved the final version of the cooperation programme 2021-2027 here and check out the priorities for the new period.

The ideas of the two creative projects are indeed innovative and manifold. Follow our newsletters and subscribe, to get the latest information on these developments!

Highlight of the Creative and Urban regeneration days:
The Capitalisation Workshop
Creating New Synergies and Strengthening Cooperation in support of CCIs content

On the 29th of October 2021, the second day of the Creative and Urban Regeneration Days, different projects were brought together with the intention of finding common grounds for capitalisation. Participants got the opportunity to get to know seven different Interreg projects which focus on creative and cultural industries: CINEMA, DIVA, COCO4CCI, CCI4TOURISM, INDUCCI, StimulArt, and MaC Village. They cover a range of topics from e.g., the inclusion of CCIs in the development of rural areas and villages (MacVillage), or in industrial regions (INDUCCI), to supporting new sustainable tourism practices (CCI4TOURISM), and in general, to develop their ecosystems and rejuvenate old buildings for the benefit of CCIs. While raising the visibility of projects focused on CCIs is important, one of the main aims of the capitalisation workshop was to find new synergies and possibilities for cooperation between them as well, in order to better exploit the results. 

Speakers and participants were invited to discuss on opportunities for joining forces and deepen the inclusion of CCIs in diverse sectors and domains. Beyond participating and supporting mutual events in the future, the possibilities of connecting diverse Creative Hubs in one encompassing international network was considered during the debate. The conclusions of this workshop were an important step towards valorising the knowledge resulting from RESTART_4Danube and other projects working in the thematic field of creative urban regeneration.

Watch the Creative and urban regeneration days - Capitalisation workshop here.

Capitalization Workshop in bulgaria - a capitalisation activity between RESTART_4Danube and WOMEN IN BUSINESS projects

On 24.11.2021, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vratsa (CCI-Vratsa) – project partner in RESTART_4Danube – implemented a capitalisation workshop together with representatives of the project WOMEN IN BUSINESS, which gathered 31 participants. The event was opened by Mrs. Maya Milova from CCI-Vratsa, who gave a short introduction into the main aim of the workshop – finding new possibilities for cooperation and synergies between the two projects. For this, she introduced to the project RESTART_4Danube and showcased the potential of CCIs for the economy, especially in urban regeneration.

The participants were mixed, and the majority were young university students. Worth mentioning is that more than half of them were women, who showed much interest throughout the entire workshop.

After the introductory round, Mrs. Zhekova, the Executive director of the Regional Agency for Entrepreneurship and Innovations Varna (RAPIV) and lead partner of the project WOMEN IN BUSINESS, presented their project which also pertains to the Interreg DTP, is a second call project and finishes in November 2021 (few days after the event). The aim of the project was to encourage young women with innovative ideas to start and develop their own business in order to achieve market success through different approaches for increasing their competences for business and social innovations, to establish Women Entrepreneurship Centres which will continue their activity after the project implementation, and to develop innovative training models. Mrs. Maria Zlateva from RAPIV presented innovative educational solutions and models for the development and improvement of the entrepreneurial culture, skills and competences, tailored entrepreneurship trainings and the future of women entrepreneurship.

Mrs. Georgieva from the Municipality of Vratsa (also project partner in RESTART_4Danube) presented the Bulgarian local action plan “Green Urban Regeneration”, its challenges and possibilities, and invited participants to get involved and contribute to its development. She then showed the advantages and opportunities that RESTART_4Danube offers to companies/SMEs with focus on CCIs, which its consortium partners elaborated in the deliverable “Methodology for Service Offer and Service Request as a Tool for Creative Urban Regeneration”, complementing them with concrete examples of best practice. Mrs. Milova finished the presentation by showing the steps how to fill the request and/or offer of services. This quickly raised interest among participants; a female entrepreneur owning a design company directly expressed her desire to get in touch with us and use these services.

The event ended with group discussions and encouraged future collaboration among all participants. They expressed a desire to join RESTART_4Danube’s activities and receive support through additional information for the Service Offer and Service Request tool.  Also, the representatives of RAPIV remarked that both projects have very useful results, that should be intermingled, grown and disseminated wider, as to attract more beneficiaries and bring the stakeholder together.

finished capitalisation roadmap to
support Restart_4danube’s capitalization activities, S2i

The capitalization roadmap will serve as a good basis so that starting in 2022 RESTART_4Danube partners can contact (again) other projects, presenting them the benefits of possible synergies and propose them to collaborate.

PROJECT RESULTS - MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
FOR the DANURBAN TASKFORCE (3)

Project partner NERDA with the contribution of the entire consortium developed the final draft of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Danurban Taskforce (DTF), further to be refer to as the Memorandum. This document aims to establish formally the cooperation between signatories under the formalized DTF structure of the RESTART_4Danube project, whose prime concern is aimed at creating an innovative format to discuss urban regeneration issues in the Danube region.

The Memorandum is an agreement between the parties to work together in such a manner that encourages an atmosphere of collaboration and alliance in the support of an effective and efficient partnership to establish and maintain objectives and commitments with regards to all matters related to strengthening cooperation at local, regional and transnational levels.

All the 18 partners of RESTART_4Danube signed the Memorandum, thus claiming their official membership in the Danurban Taskforce and engaging to cooperate and put to good use their knowledge, creativity and experience in the upcoming activities of the project. The DTF members, project partner organisations with expertise in the field of CCIs, ensured their engagement in the exchange of good practices. 

The parties agreed on the areas of their cooperation, in accordance with the mission and vision of the DTF, as well as the RESTART_4Danube project:

• Further developing and strengthening political, economic and cultural relations and cooperation between Taskforce member’s countries, in order to improve the process of creative urban regeneration;
• Preparing and developing policy recommendations in the field of cultural and creative industries;
• Networking and strengthening new as well as already existing cultural and creative industries in the Danube region, and better integrate the in urban regeneration activities.

Activities in the cooperation of the DTF members will be:

• Increased transfer of know-how and best practices between their countries and increased cooperation between institutions/organisations in the Danube region;
• Cooperation in research, studies and consultation;
• Interchange of information;
• Agreeing on development projects of common interest for the members of the Danurban Taskforce;
• Joint approaches and analyses, instruments, indicators, auditing effects, evaluation and calculation as well as methodology of consolidation and adjustment;
• Monitoring and supervising the quality and standards of DTF activities implementation.

Project results – The Creative Danurban Competition (1)

With the end of 2021 approaching, we are happy to announce that RESTART_4Danube is preparing a Creative Danurban Competition, aiming to promote and foster creative ideas and innovative services in urban communities with the desire to raise awareness among youth, artists and creative entrepreneurs with respect to the topic of urban regeneration sustained by the cultural and creative sector. We would like to support the concrete actions, projects or business ideas on how topics like social cohesion, sustainable development & innovation, transport & people mobility can be put in action. The competition will be launched on the 1st of February and last until the 20th of September 2022.

More details are yet to come, stay tuned to our social media channels.

Main contact:
Mrs. Dr. Tamara Besednjak Valič
School of Advanced Social Studies
Nova Gorica, Slovenia

INTERNATIONALISATION, NETWORKING, AND COLLABORATION SEARCH PLATFORM

PART 2

Following the section initiated in the former newsletter, we now present to you two of the Carinthian stakeholders. With their agreement, we make their contacts public and strongly encourage interested parties to initiate the dialogue with them!

1) Association Centralspace Carinthia+

The Association Centralspace Carinthia+ aims to build the first EU-metropolitan region in Austria through cooperation. At first, it will establish a regional and international networking and innovation organization, which will be characterized by a closely coordinated approach. The aim is to create added value at all levels, for each individual and the whole society. In order to achieve this goal, the association and its members will cooperate by implementing joint initiatives and projects with coordinated strategic approaches, increasing visibility in the European and international context and applying a sustainable and professional project and network management.

Hence, the Association Centralspace Carinthia+ creates spaces for cooperation (e.g. workshops), is the interface to funding agencies, potential partners and initiates, and implements ideas and projects. The focus of these actions lies in the areas of administration, education and urban/regional development.

2) Lakeside Science & Technology Park

Lakeside Park brings together education, science and technology. Entrepreneurs meet university students, scientists meet schoolchildren. Meeting each other and networking are the things that matter here. Information & communication technology forms the common interest of the residents at Lakeside Park.

This topic is constantly being renegotiated – in the research facilities as well as in the companies, in teaching, training and advanced education. This area has been defining the growth of Lakeside Park since 2005.

Education

At Lakeside Park, children and young adults meet in the Educational Lab. The young adults experiment with chemicals in the laboratory, print 3D objects, and discuss topics like social processes, production conditions, and what it means to be an employer. It’s allowed to be loud in the Educational Lab and at the preschools and children’s playgroups at Lakeside Park. There, children naturally get to know the world of science, companies, and day-to-day digital life.

Research

Lakeside Science & Technology Park is a neighbor of the Alpen Adria University Klagenfurt and partner for researchers. Several departments are located in Lakeside Park. Many researchers from the park’s non-university research institutions as well as the curator from the Lakeside art space take the same paths. In the park, art is also considered a form of research.

©Lakeside Park|Arnold Poeschl

Companies

Concentrated silence reigns at the companies in the park when employees are working on solutions to optimize complex processes and integrated systems. The park houses development laboratories and test installations for robots and robot security, drones and drone swarms. These test installations are currently being upgraded to the latest generation of 5G mobile communications.

Art & cuisine

If entrepreneurs happen to come to the park right at lunchtime, they will find interesting people to chat with at the tables in the HOTSPOT restaurant and the BITS&BYTES Marketplace. The art space in turn offers a place to research and reflect on the impacts and forms of these developments. However, more than a few Department Managers have found new employees for their companies while swimming and sunbathing at the nearby lake. They came as vacationers and stayed as employees.

Events

The Lakeside Spitz conference center provides space for meetings, conferences, workshops and conventions. Mobile stage elements provide flexible room design, and modern building technology ensures good sound quality. Six rooms are available, ranging from 30 to 400 m2. They are used by local residents as well as the tenants at Lakeside Park.

©Lakeside Park|G. Steinthaler 

One and one is eleven

This is the formula for exponential qualitative growth through cooperation instead of competition!
For Lakeside Science & Technology Park, this isn’t a definitive statement; rather, it’s an invitation to talk to each other, to collaborate and to keep the eyes open for things that are new and different.

Lakeside Science & Technology Park GmbH | Lakeside B11 | 9020 Klagenfurt | Austria | Europe
Telefon +43.463.22 88 22-0 | Fax 22 88 22-10
E-Mail | Website
FN 225787 s Landesgericht Klagenfurt | ATU 55750609 | DVR 2110837

SEASON'S GREETINGS - HO, HO, HO, HERE COMES THE SNO(W)!

Having past half of the implementation time of their RESTART_4Danube project, the consortium wants to thank you for being on our side and being so involved! We hope for even more and fruitful cooperation in the year to come and are always happy to hear from you – be it improvement suggestions, desires, or even a simple Hello!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!