The 7th EUSDR Annual Forum, organized by the European Commission along with the Ministry
of Regional Development and Public Works of Bulgaria in cooperation with the Danube
Transnational Programme, was held on the 18th and 19th of October in Sofia, Bulgaria. The 7th
annual forum was focused on the development of tourism as a prerequisite for economic
growth and territorial cohesion. The panels and sessions covered important topics for the
Danube region regarding the preservation of cultural and historical heritage, new technologies
and digitalization in the tourism sector, security, transport connectivity and mobility in tourism.

On the 18th of October, after participating in the two-day project meeting of the partner
consortium of the DA-SPACE project, the project teams of the Croatian partners participated in
the EUSDR Forum - project manager doc. dr. sc. Dean Sinković and Project Assistant and Open
Innovation Lab manager Mirena Tubić, mag. oec. from Juraj Dobrila University of Pula and
project manager Aleksandar Major, dipl. oec and Project Coordinator Bojana Musulin, mag.pol.
from the Administrative Department for Economy of the Region of Istria. Project teams
participated in the Forum opening, followed by a panel session on cultural heritage
conservation as an added value to economic growth and employment. After the mentioned
panels, they headed to the selected theme panel of sustainable tourism mobility, featuring
projects of the Danube Transnational Programme. Sustainable development topics, the use of
new technologies, and the development of transport connections will certainly use the
preparation of the second cycle of the DA-SPACE Open Innovation Lab, whose challenges will be
mainly related to the problems within the tourism sector.