The first national Czech conference dedicated to the INSPIRE Directive took place back in 2008, and since then its concept this year has changed. The dates of the conference were moved to the winter months and the traditional Czech/Slovak cooperation this year was joined by international cooperation – the conference was associated with the kick-off meeting of the project ATTRACTIVE DANUBE, implemented within the INTERREG Danube Transnational Programme. The event was held from 14th to 15th Feb. 2017 at the Park Inn Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic. The main theme that each presentation contained significantly more than before, was a blend of sustainable development, at local level – within municipalities, cities and regions.

Kick-off Conference and panel discussion

Both days of the conference were attended by 120 people from 10 European countries, mainly from central and Eastern Europe. The first day took place entirely in English; this was due to the participation of the project partners. The second day alternated between presentations in the Czech and Slovak language. The event had the support of the European Commission – the speakers were made-up of representatives of the European Commission and JRC – European Commission Joint Research Centre.

ATTRACTIVE DANUBE project team members

ATTRACTIVE DANUBE project is aimed at strengthening multi-level and international cooperation in the field of spatial planning, leading to an overall increase in territorial attractiveness of the Danube region. The conference participants during the first day in addition to hearing about the basic information about the project Attractive Danube, were also familiarized with examples of the processing and the utilization of data, with a special focus on spatial data and examples from practice – for example specific foreign cities. From the presentations often resounded a need for the harmonization of data that will facilitate their further processing and use. The first conference day ended with a panel discussion aimed at the sustainable development of cities and regions.

ATTRACTIVE DANUBE Kick-off Conference and Study visit

On the second day, within the contributions of the INSPIRE conference a series of stimulating information materialized, how various data (not just that collected within INSPIRE), contribute to a better functioning of the office and in raising public awareness; in short, towards making a city work better, so that it is more open to its citizens and so that the people living in it feel good. In this application, the data should be of good quality, accessible and ideally harmonized into one single form.  At the same time it is necessary to address how to handle and access large volumes of data, to correctly interpret the data, get the required information and make them available to the general public. Data published within the INSPIRE Directive can significantly help the whole process. Citizens themselves can be more involved in decision-making processes, or contribute to the collection of data – for this reason community projects are more increasingly being exploited.

ATTRACTIVE DANUBE project meeting, workshop and training

For more information, visit the official conference website, which includes all of the presentations and photos from the event.

You can also watch the video record from the conference on the youtube.