Analysis+Contribution+SEE+to+Socio Economic+Challenges[1]

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Analysis

of the contribution of



Background

The South East Europe transnational cooperation programme (SEE) is in its final stage of

implementation. All 1st call projects have finalised their activities and are soon to be followed

by 2nd call projects. Projects approved in two more calls are still in progress. Enough critical

mass has been accumulated by project outcomes and achievements to allow for proper

examination and analysis. Therefore, it may be useful to investigate the specific contribution

SEE projects have made to tackle major socio-economic challenges in the region. On the one

hand, programme stakeholders, e.g. Monitoring Committee members, will have at their

disposal proof of the benefits of transnational cooperation for the target area. On the other

hand, such analysis can help programme communication and dissemination efforts by

providing ready-for-use examples of SEE achievements.

Aim

This paper aims to analyse the measures undertaken by SEE projects to approach the socio – economic “weaknesses”, identified through the SWOT analysis to the OperationalProgramme. The intention of this paper is to be a useful tool for demonstrating the relevance



The point of reference for cataloguing project outcomes is the SWOT analysis, summarising

the socio-economic potential and challenges of the target area, which can be found in SEEOperational Programme:



Why this point of reference? The socio-economic SWOT analysis was the beginning of every-

thing. It outlined the possible areas for improvement (“weaknesses”) that called for coopera-tion among countries in this part of Europe in order to meet development needs. So there is a

direct relation between the “weaknesses” and the “needs”.To a great extent the identified

“weaknesses” influenced the formulation of the global programme objective, the specific ob-

jectives, and the programme areas of intervention. By tracing the response of SEE projects to

the “weaknesses” identified through the SWOT analysis, this paper shows what shapethis

response takes.

However, one should bear in mind that it was the EU Regulation No. 1080/2006 on the Euro-

pean Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that finally tipped the balance for defining the key

areas of cooperation for all transnational cooperation programmes in the period 2007-2013 23.

This means that certain “weaknesses”are addressed through the defined priorities and areas of

intervention in a straightforward manner, e.g. the physical construction and upgrading of Pan-

European Corridors or counterbalancing the economic disparities as separating elements. Still

SEE projects endeavour to tackle these issues albeit indirectly or horizontally and with the

limitations imposed by the specific actions ERDF can support in the framework of transna-



The SEE area exhibits a range of disparities in terms of economic performance and level of

preparedness of innovation strategies. Most of the countries in the area, i.e. new memberstates and candidate countries, experience high economic dynamics and deep transformational

processes of economic structures. Key factors for staying competitive for many of them are

low wages and taxes in combination with availability of qualified labour force. However, in

the long run such factors will not prove sustainable drivers of competitiveness . The region

needs productivity growth . What drives productivity in many cases is innovation, better

institutional and business environment, improved managerial practices, and access to

ICT 4. In addition, in the specific case of European Union countries, entrepreneurship and

small and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs ) are increasingly recognised as the main drivers

of the EU's economic performance and as engines of innovation 5.

To make sure we are not sailing in uncharted waters, however, it is necessary to take stock of

what already exists , how effective it is, what the need for improvement is.

The SEE IFA Network studied the needs and



SEE IFA Network placed special focus on the exchange of experience between old, new EU

Member States, and candidate countries . In particular, project partners from Greece, Slo-venia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia used the above mentioned analysis and pool of good practices to develop pre-

feasibility studies of selected support schemes .

Instruments selected or easibilit studies er countr , SEE IFA Network Re ort



their service demand and were consulted on the prerequisites for establishing a cross-border

patent financial instrument. With the assistance of external experts the preliminary analysis

and stakeholder input was incorporated into a full feasibility study . The study looks at differ-

ent business models from around the world, matching the demand from stakeholders and tak-

ing into account the legal frameworks in SEE region countries. Then a concept for a SEE.IP

fund is proposed and its elements described in detail.

http://www.see-ifa.eu/_uploaded/_editor/file/SEE_IP_Fund_Feasibility_Study.pdf






FIDIBE project partners, representing

Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ro-

mania, Greece, and Croatia, exchanged

practices and know-how on setting up

and managing business innovation parks . They believe that business innovation parks can

offer effective solutions to SMEs struggling to remain competitive , for instance following

the start-up phase.

Partners began their cooperation by comparing experiences. They developed studies of the

innovation potential of each partner region and by proposing measures to remove identified

bottlenecks. The work on the studies went in parallel with the collection of good practices

for business innovation structures existent in partner countries. This process involved also

local stakeholders. The outcomes of the innovation potential studies and the good practice

selection are published in two sets of documents available on the project website .

In order to help both decision-makers and practitioners make an informed choice, FIDIBE

http://www.fidibe.com/outputsandresults






A special joint training on the content of the Manual was organised for project partner staff

combined with a study visit to VEGAPARK in Venice (IT). The training prepared partners

for disseminating FIDIBE know-how to local stakeholders, e.g. local and regional public ad-

ministrations, business support structures, managing authorities of mainstream fund pro-

grammes.

At the same time the partnership commissioned feasibility studies for the extension of exist-

ing or setting up of brand new innovative business parks , according to individual partner

needs. This process was accompanied by permanent stakeholder consultation process . Deci-

sion-makers were consulted on the possibility to found such a park and its operational

framework. Small and medium-size enterprises from partner areas were interviewed as to

what services they might need for improving their innovation capacity and, so could be in-

cluded in the portfolio of a park. Each project partner benefited from this activity and some

even reported early success stories. For instance, the Croatian partner managed to get its fea-

sibility study shortlisted for EU funding. The Slovakian study on setting up a creativity and

future visions centre has been incorporated into the Trnava University Science and Technol-

ogy Park framework, as well as into the Regional Innovation Strategy.



Regional Development Agencies (RDA) can also lend a helping hand and act as innovation

intermediaries .

The AsviLoc Plus project partners, repre-

senting 13 development agencies and cen-

tres from Austria, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia,

Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia, have a proof of this.

Through transnational meetings and study visits, they explored concrete examples of how

RDA can motivate SMEs to innovate and bring them closer to research and develop-

ment results. The outcome is this good practice catalogue .

The catalogue comprises practices from the fields of innovation governance , use of informa-

tion and communication technologies ( ICT ), clusters and cooperative networks, access to

finance , as well as SME-training and awareness raising measures. The main addressees of

this collection are RDAs.

http://www.asvilocplus.eu/images/stories/20120620_AsviLoc_Good_Practice_Catalogue_Final.pdf






Testing of new training programmes in North East Region(RO)

Photo credit: AsviLoc Plus project

Austria Wirtschaftsservice worked

on a competence map for the

mechatronics cluster in Lower Aus-

tria. Thanks to this mapping new

potential applications were detected

and local SMEs started working on

collaborative R&D projects. Varna

Economic Development Agency

(BG) organised four capacity build-

ing seminars for local SMEs on fi-

nancing innovation and created a

web-platform as a meeting point for public and private actors participating in the innovation

process (e.g. companies, research facilities, local self-government). Thematic seminars,

workshops and specialised training programmes were carried out also in the Greek Re-

gions of Eastern, Central Macedonia and Thrace, the Romanian North East Region, as well as

in South Transdanubian Region of Hungary. In addition, Greek and Hungarian partners

hosted events for local stakeholders to define guidelines and action plans for promoting pri-



“Strengthening knowledge exchange and transfer between research and SMEs andinterna-

tionalising their knowledge network offers SMEs new opportunities to innovate ”. This is

one of the conclusions of a PRO INNO EUROPE consultation on public support for innova-

tion carried out on behalf of the European Commission 6.

In this vein, the aim of ADC project partners is

to establish sectoral cluster networks in the

Adriatic-Danubian compound, which can play

the role of effective transnational value

chains . The point of departure was that when businesses work in an integrated production

system, they would be more competitive and attractive for foreign direct investment .

ADC partners analysed the economic sectors that had potential for such transnational cluster-

ing in the target geographic area. The results pointed towards four production areas: agro-

food, logistics, mechatronics and modern housing . ADC project “mapped ” the concentra-

tion of companies that could be involved in transnational cluster activities like this:



To prepare the institutional and business environment for the planned Adriatic-Danubian clus-

tering, as well as to create transnational links between companies from partner regions, theADC consortium adopted a mixture of a bottom-up and a top-down approach. At project

level four sectoral working groups were set up and at partner level further regional focus

groups were formed engaging SMEs, universities, research centres, cluster managers, cham-

bers of commerce, financial institutions, and public authorities. At joint transnational events

project partners discussed and demonstrated (through study visits) cluster governance



It is generally agreed that knowledge transfer between R&D institutions and industry is of

utmost importance for boosting competitiveness, as well as for increasing the effectiveness of

public research. Although “numerous initiatives are being taken aiming at promoting collabo-

ration between research institutions and businesses ” across the EU, these remain mostly at

national level “and fail to address the transnational dimension of knowledge transfer ”7.

Establishing links between research bodies and enter-

prises to enable technological transfer and improve inno-

vation capacity in the agro-food sector is main aim of

the TECH.FOOD project. Project partner specific interest

lies within the field of bio production and traditional food,

packaging, functional foods, logistics, ICT and innovative

marketing solutions, managing sub-products and energy production, food safety.

They studied the state of play of the agro-food sector in partner countries, i.e. Italy, Austria,

Romania, Hungary, Greece, Croatia and Serbia with regard innovation capacity and partici-



f f f

Having analysed regional needs, partners selected tools for fostering innovation in the agro-

food sector and promoted them in the form of an Innovation Toolbox . These tools can be

used for assessing enterpri ses innovation aptitude , consumer confidence, effectiveness of

institutional innovation support, etc. The Innovation Toolbox was widely disseminated among

local partner stakeholders thanks to the local nodes for technology transfer. The use of these

tools is facilitated through video tutorials .

http://www.techfoodproject.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=30&lang=en










Transforming research results into innovative products requires also some specific types

of knowledge, for instance, how to assess the technical feasibility of an invention, how to

evaluate its market potential, or how to apply for a patent or sign a license agreement with a

company.

This issue is addressed by the partnership of

InterValue project. It combines the know-how

of partners from Greece, Italy, Hungary, Bul-

garia, Romania, Serbia and the Former Yugo-

slav Republic of Macedonia. Their mission is to bring research out of the academic world and

integrate it into the product market. To help researchers valorise their results InterValue

partners have developed a web-based platform , which facilitates the interaction between

researchers, companies and experts .

http://researchvalue.net/






Project partners held a series of meetings with scientific centres, universities, innovative

entrepreneurs to collect research and development projects and ideas seeking business

promotion. R&D results from various market sectors – from textile manufacture to health and

social services – are now awaiting their sponsors in the “R&D repository” of the InterValue

platform. Project technology providers, from universities and other R&D institutions, can con-

tinue submitting information about research products and services. At the same time technol-

ogy users, from both the private and public sector, can access this information and contribute

to the development of new products, production processes and services.

The “Valorisation Plans” function allows researchers and creative (would-be) entrepre-

neurs to check the marketability of their innovative ideas . Project experts give detailed

feedback to the ideas in terms of technical feasibility, intellectual property protection, poten-

tial market and funding. The valorisation methodology was developed jointly by the Inter-

Value partners. More than 300 ideas have already been assessed thanks to the services of the

InterValue platform and more than half of them were brought to the attention of potential in-

vestors. To make this happen the project organised 19 brokerage events to match research-

ers and business operators .



When the knowledge transfer process enters its decisive phase, it is time for research bodies

and entrepreneurs to sign a collaboration agreement. “Agreements should clearly delineate the

distribution of rights between the parties , including ownership of the background knowl-

edge brought to the project, and ownership and access rights in relation to inventions, results

and know-how arising from the partnership (and any associated IP rights). ”8

The IPRforSEE partnership addresses the need for

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) – related sup-

port services for SMEs in South East Europe. To-

gether the partners from Italy, Austria, Romania,

Greece, Hungary and Serbia have developed five new

services to meet the needs of their regional SMEs.

The service development was preceded by careful mapping and analysis of existing IPR

services in partner countries and beyond. Service providers were interviewed, so that partners

could get better understanding of what was on offer. At the same time the experience of

SMEs in obtaining such services was also analysed in order to identify specific needs and



ing intellectual property rights in business environment to gain competitiveness. All services

can be requested through the e-learning platform set up by the project.

http://e-learning.iprforsee.eu/






Knowledge transfer can be anticipated and planned in line with future cooperation priorities.

This approach of programming the future based on the evidence of the strengths and capaci-

ties existent in South East Europe builds critical mass for innovation and counteract s pos-

sible innovation “white spots ” .

I3E project promotes innovation in the indus-

trial informatics and embedded systems sec-

tors by making sure that research efforts are

aligned at transnational level between Greece,

Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Ser-

bia and Ukraine.

Already before the formal start of the project, partners started to probe the state of play of

the target research field in their countries. As soon as the project was launched, the partner-

ship agreed on a methodology for collecting good practices in transforming research results

into innovation and each partner contributed to this joint knowledge exploration process . In

parallel, during transnational meetings and workshops a first draft of a common Strategic Re-

search Agenda was elaborated. This draft was discussed in detail at 17 local consensus build-



Capacity building in Wiener Neustadt (AT), May 2012 Photo credit: I3E project

To ensure that policy makers, industry and researchers have the knowledge to put the agenda

into practice, project partners organised 14 capacity building activities.



Since 2006 DG Research has been promoting a specific method for transnational level

innovation policy review and future policy orientation, so called „foresight . “Foresight[activities] formulate and explore visions of the development of science, technology and

society. These visions aim to recognise promising technology and application areas, in-

cluding the likelihood of success of the development by emphasising the relevant innova-

tion system structures and forms of co-operation amongst different players. ”9 This method

relies on the participatory approach to debate on the future and shape future policies.

This is the approach at the heart of the

FORSEE project, which brings together

partners from 8 Southeastern European

countries, i.e. Greece, Austria, Slovenia,Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro. All partnership members agree that

there is need for reform in the policy for information and communication technologies

(ICT) , if Southeast Europe is to achieve sustainable growth in the framework of rapidly

globalising economy. Specific topics of interest are digital content, e-Government, and



In the past two years follow-

ing this common methodol-

ogy project partners haveinitiated a wide consultation

process on regional and na-

tional level (the project will

be finalised by the end of

2013). Project partner stake-holders have been engaged

through open consultation

events, mini-brainstorming

workshops, and collaborative

meetings. This gives the opportunity to build critical

mass by establishing links

between education institu-

tions, research centres and Excerpt from FORSEE joint foresight methodology



“As policy makers struggle to improve the performance of their innovation systems, and in

particular to help firms in their countries become more innovative and more able to draw

upon science and technology in the enhancement of their competitiveness, it is not surpris-ing that there is a strong desire to know what works and how to make it work better [...] In

this environment, the expectations placed upon the evaluation of innovation and technol-

ogy policies are high. ”10

EVAL-INNO consortium tackles the issueof insufficient RTDI evaluation capacities

in SEE area. That is why the partners from

Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Mon-

tenegro and Serbia focus on capacity

building and institutional support .

They promote the role of RTDI evaluation as a crucial condition for a reflexive learning

innovation system and provide with relevant know-how decision-makers, innovation pol-

icy delivery institutions, and (potential) RTDI evaluators.



EVAL-INNO partners have organised

transnational trainings for innovation pol-icy/ programme operators and for poten-

tial innovation policy/programme evalua-

tors , attended by 46 people.

Before the end of the project in 2014, project partners will also develop Guidelines

for Innovation Programme Evaluation

completed with useful checklists. Here

feedback from the local trainings will be

considered. These Guidelines will be usedin evaluating 3 concrete RTDI programmes

from project partner regions.

In addition, EVAL-INNO plans to put to- Excerpt from EVAL-INNO RTDI Evaluation Stan-



Richness of biodiversity and natural resources in South East Europe is still a clear strength

according to the analysis in the Operational Programme. However, where rapid and uncon-

trolled industrialisation took place, the consequences are visible in the presence of con-taminated areas, threatened water reserves, deforestation and soil erosion. Adding to these

the growing effects of climate change (e.g. droughts, floods, landslides) the current good

quality of natural assets appears to be under constant threat of deterioration . Further-

more, the increasing demand in energy provision means that an environmentally-

conscious economic development is only possible through a wider use of renewable energysources and deployment of energy efficiency measures.

Environmental issues cannot be treated in an isolated manner. “A prudent use of natural

resources and the protection of the global eco-system together with economic prosperity

and a balanced social development are a condition for sustainable development. ”11 There-

fore, an integrated approach should be considered to allow for economically efficient

environment preservation measures , as well as for „greening of the economy .

NATREG project partners are convinced that

natural assets and protected areas can be



By pooling and benchmarking their experiences project partners were able to design a

common model for a protected area management plan . It describes the steps, which

partners believe compulsory for an efficient (also in economic terms) plan, e.g. building acommon vision, taking stock of existing framework (institutions involved, natural assets,

socio-economic situation, evaluation of past preservation actions), defining implementation

steps incl. finances, implementation monitoring, evaluation and review.



The work on the strategy required studying management practices from around Europe.

Some of these were visited and studied first-hand by the partnership. Some were identified

through the meetings with local stakeholders. The full list of more than 65 practices has been fed into an online good practice repository .

Before testing the newly elaborated strategy, project partners went through a joint self-

assessment exercise using integrative protected area management software. Stakeholders

from the designated pilot areas were also involved in this transnational activity. In the run-

up to the test phase the project organised also a series of trainings and capacity building

events for project partners, as well as for important local stakeholders.

http://www.natreg.eu/good-practises






Engaging stakeholders is of utmost importance for nature protection projects. A 2007

Eurobarometer survey showed that only 35% of EU citizens knew what “ biodiversity loss ”

actually meant. 12 So it comes as no surprise that all South East Europe projects on the topichave strong stakeholder involvement components. As illustrated by the NATREG example

above, very important in this sense is the engagement in joint small scale demonstration

projects .

The participatory approach is also thekey to success for DANUBEPARKS part-

nership, which covers Austria, Slovakia,

Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, as well as observer organisations from Germany, Serbia

and Croatia.

Project partners selected five topics of joint interest on which they felt exchange of know-

how at transnational level was needed: River Morphology and Revitalisation , Floodplain

management and Habitat Network , Conservation of Danube Flagship Species , Moni-

toring and NATURA2000 , and Danube Nature Tourism . This exchange was made possi-



(RO, BG); forming agreement on cross-border conservation plans (AT/SK, HU/CRO,

HU/RS).

In addition, partner local stakeholders had

the opportunity to meet and learn from

each other during transnational activities

organised by DANUBEPARKS. One

such activity was the joint ranger train-

ing , which took place in 2010 in several

locations along the Danube – Austria,

Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia. Fourteen

rangers from five protected areas under-

went intensive 9-day training on nature

management, restoration activities and

visitor infrastructure .

Towards the end of the project rangers and tourist guides could already make use of a new

online platform , which the partners of DANUBEPARKS created to promote protected

Ranger training on the Danube Photo credit: DANUBEPARKS ro ect

http://www.danubemap.eu/park/en





The transnational character of DANUBEPARKS network proved essential for the coordi-

nated monitoring of endangered habitats and species in Natura 2000 areas . In this way

data collected locally respects common international standards can be shared and comparedamong countries.

This is useful when assessing the

overall ecosystem status of the

Danube river basin, when com-

paring preservation measures and planning coordinated restoration

actions between countries. Spe-

cies in focus for

DANUBEPARKS partners were

two birds – the Little-ringedPlover and the Sand Martin, as

well as two mammals – the Eura-

sian beaver and the European mink. The outcomes of this joint monitoring activity have

been translated into several project outputs.

Photo credit: DANUBEPARKS project

http://www.danubeparks.org/?story=7






One of the challenges of Natura 2000 network is the lack of clear common management

principles for designated areas across the EU. Yet “administrations responsible for themanagement of Natura 2000 sites throughout the EU are confronted with similar, and in

some cases identical, problems ”13. For instance, who should administer Natura 2000 sites

and how, especially in comparison to the management of national parks and nature re-

serves? Establishing common management criteria could become even a greater challenge

when vulnerable species inhabit a territory encompassing several countries.

This challenge is accepted by the BeNatur part-

nership, which represents Natura 2000 sites

from Hungary, Austria, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania, as well as one protected area

from Serbia.

The focus of BeNatur partners is on species unique for Southeast Europe wetlands (riv-

ers, lakes and coastal shores), such as the White Stork, the Pygmy Cormorant, and the Eu-

ropean pond turtle. Improving the situation of a species needs to be considered together



In parallel, project partners have

organised awareness-raising

campaigns in their regions toattract the attention to the impor-

tance of ecosystems in Natura

2000 sites. More than 300 pupils

took part took part in study tours,

visits to nature park centres, spe-

cial workshops. Specific didactic

and informative materials were

produced for these occasions. Awareness-raising activity Photo credit: BeNatur project



Following the resource efficiency principle, conservation should preferably go hand in

hand with management of other activities or resources , e.g. agriculture, water manage-

ment, forestry, construction or engineering works. That is to say, an integrated manage-ment approach is needed, one that reconciles nature protection and regional economic

development. Elements of this approach can be found in NATREG and DANUBEPARKS

projects, previously described.

The partners of the Green Mountain project,though, have embraced this approach in its

totality. They are in search of a sustainable

development model for exploiting the

economic value of natural assets without

affecting their quality. The model should also be specifically designed for mountainareas , like the territories represented by the partners from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bulga-

ria, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

Partners analysed current approaches to development in their regions during exchange and



The visits have been an opportunity to bring along local decision-makers from partner re-

gions and bring them closer to Green Mountain s ideas. Finally, 12 practices have been

considered relevant and feasible for transfer to individual partners and described in

greater detail in a good practice report .

However, these practices cannot stand alone. They need to be incorporated in an overall

vision for the sustainable development of a given area. Therefore, Green Mountain part-

ners developed a common sustainable development and management model . It is based

on the shared needs and understanding of project partners but gives enough space for tai-

loring to territory-specific conditions.

http://www.greenmountain-see.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/EUROPEAN-GOOD-PRACTICE-DEF-PER-SITO.pdf



http://www.greenmountain-see.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/The-Common-Sustainable-Development-and-Management-Model6.pdf







lised by the end of 2013. At the same time, some of the activities, included in these plans,

are being tested as pilot actions. For instance, Domogled Valea-Cernei National Park

(RO), the Slovak Environmental Agency, and Sölktäler Nature Park (AT) organised semi-nars for local economic actors to inspire them with „green business ideas. Partners held

training session on how to start „a green business or reorient current entrepreneurial activi-

ties in Smolyan (BG) and Grofsolk (AT).

In addition, project partners are reaching to local decision-makers, economic players andthe general public through a broad information campaign. The public and private sector

have already been consulted on the specific partner management plans. More awareness-

raising activities are planned before the end of the year such as information days, seminars

and mainstreaming workshops. The mainstreaming workshops aim at presenting Green

Mountain s sustainable development model as well as individual partner management plans and encouraging the take-up of the model at national level.



The integrated management approach can be applied to the overall development strategy of

a given region or by targeting only the economic system of this region.

Raising the awareness of public administration and the

economic sector about the impact of production areas on

environment is the mission of SEPA partners. The Ro-

manian-led partnership comprised representatives of re-

gional (business) development organisations from Greece,

Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Serbia. Many local

and regional public authorities from the partner regions

were involved as observers.

The objective of the partnership was to develop a model for a sustainable and ecologi-

cally-equipped production area (i.e. SEPA) that would rely on eco-friendly enterprises

and production practices. Such experience exists in different parts of the world, although

before SEPA it was not adapted to the characteristics of Southeast Europe. So partners col-

lected data on examples of ecological industrial zones including zones organised as rege-



This is the transformation of a contaminated brownfield site into Lavrian Technological and Cultural Parkin Attica (EL). Another transformation is under way to turn this Park into a sustainable and ecologicallyequipped production area using SEPA methodology.

Photo credit: SEPA project

Pilots made it possible to study the feasibility for the selected sites to undergo a SEPAtransformation. Such studies were prepared for Viggiano industrial area in Basilicata Re-

gion (IT), Amaro area in Friuli Venezia Guilia Region (IT), Se žana Incubator (SI), Varna

West Industrial Zone (BG), Ba čki Jarak (RS), Lavrian Technological and Cultural Park in

Attica Region (EL), Central Transdanubia (HU), as well as for the industrial area of Baia

Mare (RO).

http://www.southeast-europe.net/en/achievements/outputs_library/?call_no=0&select_project_acronym%5b%5d=SEPA&select_project_topic%5b%5d=0&select_type_of_results%5b%5d=0&all_regions=1&x=42&y=7





Rejuvenating brownfield sites – which have been previously used for military, mining,

industrial or commercial purposes and are now often beset by soil and water contamination

– falls under the umbrella of 'green' and innovate solutions for economic growth . Empty

brownfield sites, if rehabilitated, could create jobs for the nearby communities, improve the

environment and promote innovation 15. This is the position of the European Parliament,

which has been arguing in favour of more funds for brownfield revitalisation in the future

programming period.

With the changes in the security and defence policies in Southeast Europe in the past 20

years (i.e. „falling of the Iron Curtain ), a large number of former military bases and in-

stallations have been dismantled or disarmed. These sites fell into degradation, sometimes

causing an economic drop of activity in neighbouring areas, which are often located near

borders and country periphery. Public authorities have been trying to rehabilitate these

sites and integrate them back in urban and economic planning . However, oftentimes

such a site constitutes a brownfield, i.e. real property the expansion, redevelopment, or

reuse of which may be complicated by the (potential) presence of hazardous substances,

polluted soil, etc. On top of that, site property rights are not always easy to transfer.



groups. During transnational project meetings, the findings of the analyses were compared

and discussed to allow for a common approach. The project produced individual SWOT

analyses for partner regions, as well as comparative context analysis .

Following a common methodology F.A.T.E. partners assessed existing military brown-

fields in their regions focusing also on location, infrastructure facilities, economic and en-

vironmental state. This effort resulted in 10 assessment reports , most of which comple-

mented by maps .

The comprehensive brownfield sites analysis was followed by feasibility studies and pilot

actions. This second phase of F.A.T.E. project aimed at paving the way to the setting up of

strategies fostering entrepreneurship and investments and to the identifying of operational

plans and investment projects for the rehabilitation and transformation of military brown-fields into Business Support centres (BSC) or Incubators (BI).

The partnership investigated

case studies of restructur-

http://www.fateproject.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=89.



http://www.fateproject.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=77







ness Support Centres and Business Incuba tors” . This workshop formed a milestone for

the project, after which pilot actions were initiated.

One of the main issues, which F.A.T.E. pilots addressed, was the property ownership

transfer rights from national to local level. Project partners dedicated several joint work-

ing sessions on deliberating on tools and measures for managing the entire process of con-

version including models for transferring the ownership rights. As a result a common posi-

tion paper was produced offering some examples and methodology for this process.

During the pilot actions activities have been carried out in the following regions/cities:

Friuli Venezia Giulia (Latisana), Umbria (Casermette Colfiorito and Minervo) (IT), Mura

and Murska Sobota (SI), Drama and Kavala (EL), Nagykanizsa, Zalaegerszeg, Kesztely,

Laktanya (HU), and Cara ș -Severin (RO).

Project partners initiated the property rights transfer processes and the reconstruction phase

for military brownfields and together with local stakeholders, including potential investors,

worked on programming the rehabilitation of the sites in spatial development plans and on

designing BI/BSCs strategies. Details on the progress of each pilot site can be found on the









Another type of brownfield typical for Southeast Europe due to the transition from

planned to market economy is former large-scale industrial production sites . Usually

such sites are located close to urban centres but still remain unexploited. Similarly to mili-tary brownfields, these too can become economic drivers following a well-planned and

structured reconversion process.

To find out an easily transferable model for brown-

field revitalisation was the main goal of ReTInA

partners coming from Hungary (Csepel district ofBudapest), Romania (Ia ș i and Gala ț i), Italy (Ferrara

and Parma), Slovakia (Ko šice), Slovenia (Maribor),

Bulgaria (Pernik) and Greece (Komotini). While

project partners focused on revitalisation and in-

vestment plans for pilot areas, the project methodol-ogy can be applied by any city in SEE facing similar development and restructuring chal-

lenges. The only condition is to ensure stakeholder participation.

ReTInA partners set up three task force groups to tackle in-depth the three elements of



The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme also calls for integrating envi-

ronmental concerns into economic development policies . One of the identified concernsis the increasing pollution of water resources, soil, air, and pollution caused by inadequate

waste management. The programme promotes the principle of rectification of pollution at

source. 16

The ECOPORT 8 partnership commits to preventingpollution and thus preserving natural resources in

partner sea port areas located in Italy, Bulgaria,

Greece, Romania, Albania, and Montenegro. Partners

worked to provide sea port authorities with guidance

and skills for environmental management .

Project partners exchanged knowledge on the various environmental protection meas-

ures and practices applied in sea ports on their territories. They found it useful to discuss

also identified weaknesses in applying environmental policies in port management sys-



tors, as well as environmental organisations became part of the ECOPORT 8 knowledge

exchange process. At the end of this process partners knew better what environment para-

meters needed closer monitoring in order to follow the levels and trends of water and air

pollution, pollution due to waste and noise, soil contamination, pollution caused by cargo

handling and bunkering. In addition, partners and their stakeholders increased their know-

ledge on the opportunities offered by energy efficient measures, polluted area rehabilitation

and biodiversity protection in port areas. The conclusions from this first phase of the

project are collected in a Context Analysis paper .

The next step was to select and test on the ground suitable methods and tools for moni-

toring the quality of water, air, waste management procedures, dredged sediment treatment

and energy consumption.

Two pilot plants , one in Burgas (Bulgaria)

and the other in Bar (Montenegro), were

equipped and carried out samplings according

to a jointly agreed Monitoring Plan. In addi-

tion, the Italian port of Bari and the Albanian

port of Durres also implemented test monitor-

http://www.ecoport8.eu/page_files/WP4-4.3-Final_Report-Context_%20Analysis-Final_Draft3.pdf






In order to be able to carry out the monitoring tasks described in the plan, however, port

staff from partner port authorities needed to undergo practical training. So ECOPORT 8

partners developed a specific curriculum for port environmental managers . 18 juniorexperts from 6 partner and observer countries successfully finished the course, which com-

bined regular classes with hands-on training during working visits in partner port sites .

Video testimonials from the training activities can be found on the project website.

To facilitate the adoption of the environmental Monitoring Plan by other port authorities beyond the partnership, ECOPORT 8 partners developed an Eco Guideline document . It

explains how to implement an environment management system within ports in South-

east Europe. It also includes selected good practices in ensuring water quality in territorial

waters, dealing with port waste, deploying energy efficiency measures, etc.

TEN_ECOPORT project, approved in the last call for proposals of SEE programme, capi-

talises on the achievements of ECOPORT 8 by enlarging the territorial scope of the part-

nership and further developing the tools produced by its predecessor.

http://www.ecoport8.eu/main.php?f=execution&id=output&id2=5&r=home


http://www.ecoport8.eu/page_files/WP6_Ecoguide-Final.pdf







In Southeast Europe inland navigation encounters similar challenges as maritime naviga-

tion, i.e. contributing to a sustainable economic development through the introduction of

environmental management and risk prevention measures . Moreover, inland naviga-

tion seeks to maintain its reputation as environmental-friendly mode of transport.

WANDA partners, representing navi-

gation professionals from Austria, Slo-

vakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria,

Croatia, and Serbia, note that the Da-

nube transport corridor witnesses an increase in transport volumes in recent years.

Although this is an economic opportunity for the region, it also poses some serious envi-

ronmental risks. For instance, increased transport volumes may mean tight delivery sche-

dules with limited stop-over time at transit ports. What is with the ship waste then?

WANDA consortium points to the lack of coordination in and common practices of man-

aging ship waste in Danube countries, which lead to illegal ship waste discharge.

WANDA partners see a straightforward response to this challenge – harmonisation of

national regulations and exchange of know-how about managing ship-borne waste at



Transnational meetings were an opportunity to compare existing national inland transport

regulations including ship waste management provisions. Discussions focused also uponwaste treatment practices and relevant port infrastructure. In addition, partners explored the

experience in the field of other river basins, notably the Rhine and Sava rivers. This analy-

sis provided a strong basis for the formulation of a harmonised international framework

concept for ship waste management along the Danube . This common concept became

the backbone for the national ship waste management concepts of Austria, Hungary,Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Serbia elaborated also thanks to WANDA

project.

Before finalising the national concepts, however, partners wanted to make sure what prac-

tices would work on their territory. Therefore, a series of pilot actions were implemented inthe upper, middle and lower stretch of the Danube River.

For instance, mobile waste col-

lection services free of charge

http://www.wandaproject.eu/about-wanda/main-achievements/national-ship-waste-concepts/





Green Terminal, Baja (HU) Photo credit: WANDA project

As part of the WANDA pilots a „Green

Terminal was opened in Baja, (Hun-

gary) in May 2011, offering the collec-

tion and handling of hazardous and

non-hazardous ship waste for the sum-

mer months.

Mobile waste collection services were

tested also in the cross-border area be-

tween the ports of Guirgiu (RO) and

Ruse (BG). In Giurgiu a stationary facility for the collection and treatment of oily and

greasy ship waste was also put into operation. A total of 109 m³ ship waste was collected

and treated in this cross-border pilot action. At the same time in the Romanian ports of

Galati and Tulcea mobile and stationary

waste collection facilities took care of

more than 77 m³ bilge water. In addition,



For its contribution to improving the environmental performance of the Danube fleet

WANDA has been praised as an exemplary project for the EU Strategy for the Danube

region.

Water transport – be it maritime or inland – plays a crucial economic role in Southeast Eu-

rope. However, it is not the only important economic sector that seeks to improve its envi-

ronmental performance . Agriculture has been one of the core economic sectors in

Southeast Europe for years. However, increased intensity of land use has also led to ad-verse impact on natural resources.

Water management and emergency control

of water pollution in agricultural activities

is the main mission of EU.WATER project partners representing local, regional, and

national public bodies from Italy, Hungary,

Greece, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova. They came together to define a

common strategy for integrated water management in agriculture that would address two



The vulnerability maps together with the regional reports were presented to and discussed

with local and regional decision-makers, agro-engineers, farmers and researchers, who

Vulnerability map showing annual water loss from run-off for the Province of Rovigo, Italy



Photo credit: EU.WATER project

Some of the recommendations were put into practice immediately in order to test sug-

gested approaches or practices . Test sites were selected according to the „hot spots iden-

tified through the vulnerability maps.Partners explored the effectiveness of

computerised decision-support sys-

tems for planning agricultural activi-

ties, as well as the potential of specif-

ic farming interventions to reducewater use and nitrate release. All five

pilot activities received support by

local stakeholders (e.g. farmers of-

fered pieces of their land for the

tests).

The reports from the pilot actions were used for updating the common transnational strate-

gy. Lessons learnt from all pilots were also shared with local stakeholders through a series

of capacity building events . In total 24 local trainings for technicians and farmers were

http://www.eu-water.eu/pilot_actions.shtml






It is at transnational level where common pollution risks can be managed most efficiently.

With regard tackling of natural or man-made disasters it is sometimes even impossible

to react adequately, unless a coordinated transnational response is organised. Therefore it is

also important to jointly assess the risks and implement prevention measures before a dis-

aster occurs. However, risk assessment oftentimes is undertaken solely at national or re-

gional level. This means that comparability of risk assessment methods used in different

countries makes it difficult to have coherent mitigation and monitoring measures , as

well as joint response in the event of a disaster incident spreading to several countries. 17

MONITOR II project partners seek to propose a solu-

tion to this challenge. The consortium comprised

mainly regional and local public authorities, as well as

knowledge providers from Austria, Slovenia, Italy,

Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Serbia. Based on the

common features of partner territories, the focus of

the project is placed on floods and landslides.



nership was also explored. This benchmarking process was accomplished thanks to

transnational thematic workshops, field trips and conferences .

The results of these events were shared with local and regional stakeholders , e.g. deci-

sion-makers responsible for spatial planning and civil protection, public offices planning

natural hazard prevention and response measures, emergency services, public administra-

tion, as well as residents of disaster-prone zones. To this end the partnership developed a

special publication addressing the policy level to explain in a simple manner the causes offloods and landslides, what can be done to prevent such disasters, which actors should be

involved and how.

http://www.monitor2.org/downloads/MONITORII_WP3_Brochure.pdf






Project partners used the CSAS to support the revision of existing or the design of first-

time contingency plans with the help of newly generated hazard maps. The maps were

produced by building upon data from past natural disaster events as well as on simulated

events. Partners applied the system in several test-beds in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Bulga-

ria, Romania and Greece. These contingency plans as well as the generated hazard maps

can be accessed through the project website.

http://www.monitor2.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=43





Data is at the heart of the risk prevention and management process. While hazard maps can

help with assessing how probable it is that a hazard occurs in a given area, risk maps can

also show scenarios for the aftermath of such an occurrence. In addition, a risk map canvisualise more than one risk type.

Harmonising data used for flood risk

mapping and integrating risk man-

agement in spatial planning is the

main goal of the DANUBEFLOODRISK project. The partnership

was set up by partners, representing

mainly Danube floodplain regions in

Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, and Serbia plus an expert partner

from Italy. German observers were also involved in the cooperation.

Project partners started from comparing the methods used for data collection and parameter

measurement, as well as the way data was processed. Thus the needs for harmonisation

could be defined with better precision. Partners exchanged know-how on hydrologic and

hydraulic modeling vulnerability assessment scenario-building etc Practices of risk



tool, i.e. atlas software . The complex development process was accompanied by a series

of stakeholder workshops and working group meetings in line with the project stakeholder

communication strategy. It was crucial to get the feedback from local, regional and some-

times national emergency response bodies, ministries, and scientists in the field. They had

the opportunity to check the functionalities of the atlas software and to advise on map gen-

eration methods and risk map content.



Following the completion of the pilot phase project partners compiled the lessons learned

and drew recommendations for integrating risk maps into spatial plans. DANUBE

Stakeholders working with thematic maps, pilot in Giurgiu (RO) Photo credit: DANUBE FLOODRISK project



Climate change manifests itself not only through excessive precipitation causing floods

but also through the opposite phenomenon, i.e. sharp decrease in precipitation, which re-

sults in droughts . When drinking water is concerned, periods of droughts can have detri-

mental consequences. So how much water do we have in reserve?

This is the question which brought together the partners of

CC-WaterS project. The transnational consortium con-

sisted of governmental bodies, local and regional adminis-

trations, water management institutions and research cen-

tres. They gathered around one common goal, i.e. to en-

sure safe water supply for the future taking mitigation

measures against the effects of changes in climate as well

as in land use.

Since climate change is a somewhat controversial topic, the approaches to this phenome-

non are diverse. That is why CC-WaterS wanted first to have enough arguments on which

to build any further recommendations for action. They gathered data to illustrate the



Collected data was fed into a transnational climate change database for hydrological

and land use models in climate scenarios . A very detailed report from this first project

phase is available on the project website.

CC-WaterS developed one more transnational database, this time showing water resource

availability in test areas. The development included again sampling relevant hydrological

data, mapping through specialised software types and forecasting future water availabili-

ty in connection to changes in climate. Furthermore, partners exchanged practices andideas for optimisation of water extraction in a climate change scenario. Project methodolo-

gy used for this phase and the study cases is described in a project separate document .

http://www.ccwaters.eu/downloads/WP3_Final_Report_version_12.2010.pdf


http://www.ccwaters.eu/downloads/CC-WaterS_Final%20report_WP4_3.pdf







Having established climate change impact on water supplies, partners went on to estimate

the socio-economic consequences of this impact. They considered possible imbalances

between different demands (industry, agriculture, tourism, households) and prices for qual-

ity public water supply. Partnership discussions on such topics identified potential conten-

tions and tried to come up with adequate mitigation measures. In addition, CC-WaterS

partners investigated the relation between ecosystem services, water treatment and costs.

Conclusions on the demand and supply of public water services for the test areas are in-

cluded in the final report from work package 6.

The extensive data collection and processing and scenario-building carried out by project

partners built a strong ground for defining sustainable water management measures for the

future. In their final report CC-WaterS partners propose a number of good practices for

land use that safeguards recharge areas of water resources. They recommend concrete

legislative changes and guidelines to preserve water supplies in each individual partner

area. Finally, the partnership suggests specific measures that aim to adapt water resource

management to changing climate and land usage.

CC-WaterS served as a transnational

http://www.ccwaters.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=123






We can forecast the aftermath of climate change and suggest adaptations to the changed

environment, habitats and availability of resources. However, there is still the possibility to

curb the process of climate change through reducing greenhouse gasses, and carbon dio-xide emissions in particular. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil

fuels (e.g. coal, oil and natural gas) are burnt. So the solution is to find smarter ways to

make energy , for instance, from renewable energy sources. In this connection Directive

2009/28/EC on renewable energy sets some targets to Member States, among which to

reach 20% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020. It also requires national ac-tion plans that establish the pathways to reach this goal, which often need to be translated

also to the regional and local levels. But are local authorities ready for this challenge?

The main aim of ENER SUPPLY project is to strengthen

the expertise of local administration in energy efficien-cy management and planning and promoting investment

in renewable energy sources. In line with this aim the

partnership brought together regional energy centres, set

up by local or regional authorities, and knowledge pro-

viders from several universities They launched a pro-



ties in partner territories. Based on this analysis and the survey feedback ENER-SUPPLY

consortium prepared specifically tailored training material. The „expert partners organised

“train the trainer” sessions where 28 partner staff learned how to promote the use of re-

newables, e.g. biomass, geothermal, wind, and hydro energy, and the use of relevant EU

support tools. They also studied methods for evaluating RES investments.

In their turn, project partners then organised training sessions for the staff of target mu-

nicipalities . They had also the support of the expert partners. In this way 209 people from

83 municipalities completed successfully a 20-hour course on planning RES investments,

exploitation of RES and evaluation of investment results.

The feedback from the trainings, as well as outcomes of transnational partner meetings

served as input to ENER-SUPPLY Renewable Energy Sources Handbook . The Hand-

book has been translated in all partner languages.

Local trainings helped in selecting pub-

lic buildings for testing the project

energy management system , e.g. kin-

http://www.ener-supply.eu/downloads/ENER_handbook_en.pdf





more renewables in a given territory. With the support of the expert partners the consor-

tium developed 35 maps showing the potential of different renewable energy sources in

partner regions: geothermal ; wind ; hydro and biomass . Partners showed greatest interesttowards exploring potential of biomass for energy production.

http://www.ener-supply.eu/en/result_1.php














The regions with greatest potential for solar energy exploitation are located in the south

and east of Europe , concludes the ESPON-financed ReRisk project. 19 At the same time

the project points the attention to the fact that low-income regions can seize this opportuni-

ty to produce cheap energy for their local needs. However, proper regional and local public

policies need first to recognise solar energy potential and provide suitable support for dep-

loyment of solar thermal technologies.

Promotion of solar thermal technologies as accessible and

sustainable energy sources for household use is what Wide

the SEE by Socc Mod project focused on. Energy manage-

ment institutions, public authorities and universities were the

main actors in the project, whose activities reached Italy,

Slovenia, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria,

Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Re-

public of Moldova and Ukraine.

Project partners agreed that solar energy can be the solution for their rising energy. In addi-



seminars were held on a regular basis throughout the project lifetime to allow for bringing

the transnational knowledge to the local level and vice versa. Input from these regional

seminars found place in the state of play analysis, which has been published in the form ofNational Status Reports .

Building upon the report findings partners continued to exchange ideas on how solar ener-

gy could be better promoted to end users. In the end, they came up with a guide for har-

nessing solar thermal energy potential for providing domestic hot water . The guide isuseful for public authorities as well as for private house owners. It proposes a step-by-step

plan for the introduction of solar thermal systems starting with a cost-effectiveness analysis

and assessment of the general framework including stakeholders. Then it goes through the

technical preparation and implementation phase. Lastly the guide suggests financial incen-

tives that can be offered to households in order to encourage them to mount solar water

heaters on their rooftops.

Following the jointly elaborated, project partners from Romania, Hungary, Italy and Slo-

venia launched local awareness raising campaigns to encourage households to makes use

of solar water heaters Several cycles of local meetings were held to explain the benefits of

http://www.widethesee.eu/national-status-reports


http://www.widethesee.eu/tl_files/widethesee/Methodological%20Guide/Methodological%20Guide%20Final.pdf







The mutually complementing transnational and local meetings helped put together region-

al and national surveys in line with pilot area needs. Regional surveys are currently avail-able for Emilia-Romagna and Veneto (IT), Stajerska (SI), Attiki (EL), Sud-Muntenia (RO),

Burgerland (AT), Central Hungary and Eszak-Alfold, Montenegrin Littoral (ME), and So-

fia (BG).

In the process of taking stock of partner regions strengths and opportunities examples ofsuccessful re-development projects based on utilising RES could be highlighted. Good

practices outside the partnership, e.g. Germany and the USA, have also been considered.

The collection of these findings , developed into case studies, distinguishes between the

types of marginal terrain.

Further input to the knowledge exchange at transnational level has been provided through

study visits , e.g. Suhodol landfill near Sofia (BG), Güssing biomass plant (AT), Energy

Parks in Bruck an der Leitha and in Lichtenegg (AT), biogas plant in Strem (AT). The

study visit programme is being implemented until the end of 2013.

http://www.m2res.eu/pages/base.asp?grp=content&pge=5&currlang=1














ideas to be included in regional energy plans. Also trainings on the application of M2RES

approach are being organised for local and regional authorities.

Still in progress is the elaboration of 40 investment proposals for selected marginal sites

in partner regions. The partnership has developed a common methodology, which is pub-

licly available in the form of an operational guide for developing RES on marginal ter-

rains. Furthermore, 10 municipalities from partner regions will be assisted in preparing

tender documentation for their investment proposals.

http://www.m2res.eu/resources/Developing%20RES.pdf





The SEE Operational Programme points out that although the geographic location of the

programme area is crucial for connecting North, South, East and West Europe, connec-tivity is still an issue for the countries in the region. On the one hand, there is not enough

infrastructure and services to meet the needs of people and businesses. On the other

hand, existing transport and information and communication technology (ICT) infrastruc-

ture and services show poor quality and lack of proper maintenance . Relevant envi-

ronmental problems (e.g. reducing carbon emissions) are often ignored and the shift to

more sustainable and intelligent forms of transport is slow. Planning and deployment of

new infrastructure and services is rarely coordinated across regions and countries in

the SEE area. This means that oftentimes new deployments lack interoperability with

already existing infrastructure.

Southeast Europe is also the crossing point where two formally designated transport net-

works overlap. The first one is the Trans-European Transport network (TEN-T), which

includes all major established European Union routes. The second is the network of Pan-

European transport corridors (PECs) covering routes in Central and Eastern Europe in

need of major investment defined by the United Nations Economic Commission for



implemented. Project partners set out to collect national data necessary for establishing the

state of play of main infrastructure ( road, rail, inland waterways and sea ) and its traffic

saturation in Southeast Europe. National statistical institutions and relevant transport au-

thorities and agencies were involved. To fill in information gaps the consortium got in con-

tact with Eurostat, DG MOVE and the TEN-T Executive agency. At last collected data was

fed into a specifically designed database, which is made available upon request.

Using the information from the database and specific software partners generated a series

of traffic models and transport scenarios for Southeast Europe until 2020 and 2030 .

These concern current situation, future projects and developments, cross-border sections,

as well as „what if scenarios related to the ongoing economic crisis. All these scenarios

can be found in the working package 4 documents on SEETAC project webpage .

http://www.seetac.eu/download/results.aspx






The SEETAC database and scenarios allowed project partners to forecast, based on traffic

growth estimation and infrastructure construction plans, the mobility development trendsin Southeast Europe . Partners identified a pool of projects in the pipeline that could be

further supported on transnational level. They looked into so called priority projects, which

require heavy investment in infrastructure, as well as into pilot projects, i.e. requiring less

investment but having high added value like installing integrating signalling systems, fa-

cilitating border crossing, ensuring complementarities between transport modes. Most of

the urgent projects concern railway transport, whereas greatest need for investment is ob-

served in Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Bulgaria. Detailed description of the pool

of projects is included in chapter 6 of SEETAC Report on mobility development in

Southeast Europe (working package 5 outputs).

Figure 58 Distribution of investment needs of SEETAC projects by country and transport mode inmillion EUR, SEETAC Report on mobility development in Southeast Europe



presented to potential investors and donors not least with the assistance of national

stakeholders.

Putting the specific priority projects into the perspective of EU transport strategies, na-

tional priorities, current and forecasted demand and supply, SEETAC developed a com-

plete Southeast Europe Spatial Planning and Transport Strategy (SPaTO). The spe-

cific feature of this strategy is that transnational territorial cooperation is an essential

part of its success . That is why the final chapter of the strategy explores the feasibility of

establishing a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) that could take over

the implementation of the specific priority projects. SPaTO is developed within working

package 6 of the project.



Being at the junction of transport routes between the Northern Adriatic ports and ARA

ports ( Antwerp – Rotterdam – Amsterdam ) the Southeastern transport axis has beenin the focus of several territorial cooperation initiatives in the past few years. While this

main transport axis attracts the attention more and more, it is the connection to the axis and

the links to other corridors in the area that are still underappreciated.

SETA partners 22 tackle this weakness by

bringing together local, regional and na-

tional administrations, transport operators

and economic actors from Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia. Im-

proving the connectivity between Vienna/Bratislava and Northern Adriatic ports is

the overall goal of the project. It is pursued through cooperation actions that would lead to

connecting rail transport corridors 7, 8, 10 and 11, as defined by RailNetEurope, an as-

sociation of European Rail Infrastructure Managers and Allocation Bodies 23.

Being aware of similar past or existing initiatives SETA partners decided to make use of

the available knowledge and experience and build upon it To this end they collected



atic coast (e.g. intermodal logistics centre operators, forwarders, carriers) are regularly in-

formed and consulted on the project implementation. Many of these stakeholders are in-

vited to the transnational project meetings and participate in the transnational dialogue on

establishing the SETA transport corridor. They have first-hand information on existing

bottlenecks that need to be tackled and SETA partners have committed to finding solutions

to the most urgent ones of them.

Identifying bottlenecks in primary and secondary transport networks for each country

section has been a crucial activity for the SETA partnership. The analysis encompassed

bottlenecks in infrastructure, railway traffic, interoperability and safety. Specific attention

was given to metropolitan areas (Zagreb, Vienna, Bratislava). In addition, partners exam-

ined problems in port-hinterland connections. The consortium noted that certain corrective

measures have already been planned but additional efforts will be needed. These additional

development measures are described in the SETA Bottleneck Analysis . They concern

mainly measures for increasing capacity and efficiency of freight and passenger flow, and

optimising logistics and multimodal platforms.

Some of these bottlenecks are being addressed through pilot projects in order to show

http://www.seta-project.eu/index.php/downloads/external/file/217-seta-o441-bottleneck-analysis





Other identified bottlenecks may require more resources and time to overcome. Therefore,

SETA partners are evaluating different solutions based on their investment and mainte-

nance costs, socio-economic impact on concerned regions, and environmental impact. Pro- posed remedy measures with recommendations for action will take the shape of a SETA

Corridor Development Plan , which will be formally signed by all partners at the project

final conference in 2014.

In the meantime other pilot activities are under development, e.g. business cases for con-

necting ports and hinterland, for creating dry ports and intermodal logistics centres, for

new/improved passenger/freight transport services. The importance of transnational coop-

eration for these pilots is the generation of joint ideas for tackling problems that were un-

successfully addressed in the past or for which insufficient local capacity exists.

The in-depth analysis of identified bottlenecks in transport infrastructure and services

along the SETA corridor has served as basis for the definition of a model for a transna-

tional transport network complemented with a transport demand model for the axis .

The common transport network model aims to stimulate exchange of traffic data on exist-

ing transportation capacities and their utilisation It is useful input to planning traffic man-

http://www.seta-project.eu/index.php/downloads/external/file/216-seta-o431-3-transport-model-v1-3






Southeast Europe has a unique location for yet another reason – it is the transport link be-

tween the North Sea and the Black Sea made possible through the connection of the Rhine

and the Danube river waterways. It is the Danube inland waterway that forms the Pan-

European Transport Corridor VII , which includes also the Black Sea-Danube Canal, the

Danube branches Kilia and Sulina, the inland waterway links between the Black Sea and

the Danube, the Danube - Sava canal, the Danube – Tisa/Tisza canal.

Increasing the efficiency of Corridor VII and

the cooperation between waterway administra-

tions along the river Danube is the main aim of

NEWADA project. The consortium involved navigation agencies, hydrographic and hydro-

logic institutions linked to the river, as well as environmental and water management bod-

ies from Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine.

First, the partnership had to establish the state of play of Corridor VII in terms of physical

accessibility and hydrographic and hydrological services. Project partners put together in-

formation on typical national-level water maintenance activities, critical sections of the



define common research agenda for the inland navigation sector and to plan future pilot

projects to tackle identified bottlenecks.

Physical accessibility and maintenance of the fairway is one aspect of the waterway ad-

ministrations work. Another aspect is sharing navigation information with vessel operators

and skippers, for instance. Directive 2005/44/EC provides for the set-up of River Informa-

tion Services using electronic navigation charts (ENC) . However, this system has been

applied to a different extent by different countries in the Danube basin. Therefore,

NEWADA partners worked to harmonise ENC standards and accuracy . The status quo

of ENC usage in each partner country was checked and analysed. In addition, other ICT

services facilitating the navigation on the Danube were also examined, e.g. data ware-

houses. Several transnational workshops were organised to streamline the production of

ENC across countries and ensure coherence with standards established by the European

Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Danube Commis-

sion. Finally, the consortium developed a set of minimum requirements for fairway in-

formation services , which were adopted by all partners.

Concrete measures to improve the navigation

http://www.newada.eu/newada/modules/output_main.zul




http://rsoe.hu/projectfiles/newadaOther/output/wp5/minimum_set_on_fis_data.pdf











work of NEWADA project. Around 50 technicians , e.g. hydrology experts, ENC develop-

ers, spent several days at the working place of their international colleagues, taking part in

daily working activities, workshops and study visits. This gave the opportunity to discuss

common problems and solutions applied in different countries.

The active exchange of know-how and staff on subjects related to the river maintenance

services helped partner countries design a national strategy for waterway maintenance

for the relevant stretches of the Danube corridor. NEWADA partners provided also a

common template for this strategy.

To ensure the continuous cooperation of Danube waterway navigation authorities

NEWADA project brought together the main decision-makers in a so called „ board of di-

rectors . Their meetings were held in parallel to regular transnational meetings of the pro-

ject team. The „ board of directors deliberated the organisation of Danube waterway man-

agement based on SWOT analysis developed for each participating country. Thanks to

these high level discussions common objectives for the future of Danube navigation could

be agreed upon.









In 2011 the European Commission s DG Transport adopted a White Paper on Transport 24,

which appeals to Member States to contribute to the development of a competitive and

resource-efficient single European transport area. The paper outlines a roadmap based on

10 specific goals that is to be implemented until 2050. One of these goals is to shift long-

distance road freight to other modes like rail or waterborne transport .

To highlight the potentials of Southeast

Europe waterways (maritime and inland)

for developing multimodal logistics routes is the mission of WATERMODE project.

Project partners from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Alba-

nia, Serbia, and Montenegro believe that full exploitation of ground/water connections is

an environmentally sustainable solution to the pressure upon the road network in the area.

WATERMODE consortium set out to collect information on port and multimodal logistics

facilities both at national and macro-regional level. Partners prepared a specific survey to

evaluate existing facilities along commonly agreed criteria. Survey questionnaires were

sent out to the operators of 204 multimodal facilities identified in the target area



The geo-representation database and the 13 country reports are developed to assist deci-

sion-makers and business operators in taking decisions about investment in multimodal

transport facilities and services.

Project partners dedicated a lot of time on the careful preparation of the survey and espe-

cially on the indicators or criteria along which logistics facilities were analysed. The de-

fined set of indicators was a response to COM/2007/607 of the European Commission, in

which a need for common indicators for the evaluation of logistics facilities is identi-

fied. Following the completion of the survey the partnership prepared Guidelines for the

transferability of WATREMODE indicators in a broader European context.

In order to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of shifting cargo from

road to waterways WATERMODE project compared the performance of 3 all-road lo-

gistics routes against scenarios where a multimodal approach is used . Selected routes

included the Danube river transport corridor from Vienna to Constanta, a route along the

Adriatic coast reaching Vienna to the North (with option via Italian ports and a multimodal

link between Piraeus and Koper), and the route from Sofia to Bari. Project partners esti-

mated internal and external costs for choosing different transport modes in different seg-

http://www.watermode.eu/docs/1853/3_rep_wp3-GTIoEC_FGM_final.pdf








To develop ports in the Danube river basin into multimodal logistics centres is a key

area of intervention according to the Action Plan to the European Union Strategy for the

Danube Region 25. In this respect the Action Plan recommends measures aimed at “coordi-

nated and harmonised development concept for multimodal ports ”.

DaHar partnership brings together small and medium

size port towns along the river Danube from Hungary

(Dunaújváros), Romania (Galati), Austria (Ennshafen),

Bulgaria (Silistra, Vidin), Slovakia (Bratislava, Ko-

marno), and Serbia (Novi Sad). The port towns of Giur-

giu (RO) and Vukovar (HR) are associated partners in

this project. Instead of following similar development

strategies and competing with each other, DaHar partners

agree that it would be more beneficial to instead commit to a joint development strategy .

Since 2011 they have been cooperating towards the definition of a strategy, which sup-

ports individual partner specification and thus encourages diversification of the logis-

tical and multimodal transport network of Danube cities and ports 26



To go deeper into their analysis of the development potential of each partner port, the Da-

Har consortium developed a specific peer review methodology , which they called „a deep

dive process. In its essence a deep dive analysis is a strategy of immersing a team rapidly

into a situation, to provide solutions or create ideas. The team, in the case of DaHar, was

named an Inland Waterway Transport Lab (IWT Lab). Each project port hosted a visit

from the rest of the project partners, i.e. the IWT Lab team. Local stakeholders were also

invited to take part in this transnational peer review exercise through a so called local Da-

Har Support Forum. During these visits the IWT Lab team examined the host port along

the already mentioned five thematic criteria and collected their impressions in a status quo

report .

Each report includes also a SWOT

analysis of the port s capacity to de-

velop logistics and multimodal trans-

port services. The partnership com-

pared the capacities of all partner ports

by creating a IWT matrix, an Excel-

based tool, which is also available on

the project s website. A map illustrat-

http://www.dahar.eu/webfm









Master Class event in Vukovar (HR) Photo credit: DaHar project

In parallel, DaHar project partners have

initiated several pilot activities to test

River Information Services (RIS) for

cargo transport management, one of the

five main topics of cooperation. The aim

is to adapt RIS to the needs of logistic

centres and multimodal transport plat-

forms along the river Danube. Practices

from several previous EU-funded pro-

jects have been taken up, e.g. RISING

and PLATINA (both financed by the 7 th Framework Programme), IRIS Europe II (sup-

ported through the TEN-T programme of DG TREN), and NEWADA (1 st call SEE pro-

ject). Such pilot testing is in process in the partner ports of Bratislava and Komarno (SK),

Dunaújváros (HU), Giurgiu (RO), Silistra (BG), Vukovar (HR) and Novi Sad (RS). At the

same time DaHar supported the Austrian partner from Ennshafen to commission a feasibil-

ity study for further developing the container terminal of the port. The outcomes of these

http://dahar.dunanet.hu/login.zul


http://www.ris-silistra.org/







Alongside poor accessibility and lack of harmonisation of infrastructure projects the

SWOT analysis of the SEE OP refers also to insufficient quality of the transport servic-

es in the area. One solution to this weakness is to address know-how deficits through

proper training programmes. Moreover the Action Plan to the European Union Strategy for

the Danube Region 27 points to the need for investment in education to ensure qualified

nautical personnel for the inland waterway transport along the river.

NELI project stands for cooperation in innovative

logistics and nautical education tools to support

the Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) in the Da-

nube corridor . The partner institutions from Roma-

nia, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia,

Serbia and Ukraine worked together to advocate the profession of Danube crewman by

developing harmonised training curricula and e-learning tools, setting up Information and

Training Centres (ITCs) and establishing a Danube Knowledge Network.

At the beginning of the project NELI partners examined existing web-based educational



The exchange with other EU initiatives convinced the NELI partnership that an innovative

education tool is one that is web-based and interactive. That is why the consortium chose

to further develop the e-learning platform first created by INeS project. In close coopera-

tion with INeS platform

creators NELI enriched the

training content and

adapted it to the needs of

inland navigation along the

river Danube. Today the

improved e-learning por-

tal provides high quality

education in the field of

logistics on inland water-

ways in the Danube region with particular reference to intermodality. NELI project organ-

ised one transnational train-the-trainers workshop on how to use the INeS-Danube portal,

as well as several local trainings in partner countries.

Project partners took the opportunity of this transnational exchange to translate INeS story

http://www.ines-danube.info/







Info kiosk at the ICT in Galati (RO) Photo credit: NELI project

In order to raise public awareness on the im-

portance of the inland waterway transport and

promote career opportunities therein NELI

project helped set up Information and

Training Centres (ITCs) in Galati (RO)

(InfoDanube), Sisak (HR) (RIS Centre),

Enns (AT) (SKIP) and Budapest (HU) (ITC

mobile unit). Partners sought know-how for

the technical implementation and content

development on European scale. They invited experts from the Marine Training Centre in

Hamburg to share their experience. In addition, the project organised a study visit to the

Education and Information centre “Port experience ” at Haven College in the Netherlands.

Based on obtained know-how project partners developed Master Studies for the establish-

ment of ITCs on each partner territory. While some partners managed to put the Master

Study into practice, others will seek to do so after the end of the project. Detailed descrip-

tion of the services offered by each of NELI ITCs is available on the project website. Part-

ners agreed on a strategy for further development of ITCs as promoters of inland naviga-



Transport and mobility challenges affect not only transnational but also national and re-

gional accessibility. Rapid traffic changes are a consequence of increased development

processes in Southeast Europe in past decades, although urban transport systems in the

area are still coping with traffic pressure . However, the analysis to SEE OP emphasises

that unless proper policy measures are taken now, increased mobility requirements of the

population may not be met in the near future.

According to SEE MMS partners the

solution to bringing traffic flow in cities

under control and reducing negative impact on the environment is improved urban mobili-

ty management and alternative means of transport . The partnership consists of local

authorities representing the cities of Athens (EL), Elefsina (EL), Lecce (IT), Padua (IT),

Varna (BG), Iasi (RO), Trogir (HR), Gloma č (BiH), and Belgrade (RS). Partner research

and development organisations from Austria, Greece, and Slovenia provided vital expertise

to the consortium, whereas the European Platform on Mobility Management, although an

observer, helped with knowledge collected from other parts of Europe.



mobility centre. Lecce traffic monitoring system and bicycle sharing system were demon-

strated.

In Padua (IT) project partners learned about tools for monitoring and evaluation of MM

measures and projects. Partner staff increased their knowledge on when and how to apply

such tools and how to use the results from these processes. Afterwards the trainees expe-

rienced hands-on the activities of Padua s intermodal park (tram/car), trams operations

centre, and municipal traffic control centre.

Study visit in Padua (IT) Photo credit: SEE MMS project



Reducing traffic in urban areas means that flexible and convenient public transport ser-

vices should be in pace. In this sense it is not only renewing the public transport fleet that

counts but also introducing passenger services facilitating the use of public transport, like

on-demand schedules or intelligent passenger information systems.

ATTAC partnership 28 is committed to change

senger perception of public transport as

ble and rigid by introducing attractive and

able public transport solutions in partner cities and

regions. These include Miskolc (HU), Modena (IT), Marche (IT), Oradea (RO), Burgas

(BG), Ko šice (SK), Thessaloniki (EL) who are supported by the expert partners from the

Central European Initiative and the Institute on Transport and Logistics in Emilia-

Romagna. Project activities take place also on the territory of the associated partner Muni-

cipality of Maribor (SI).

Project partners have formed three thematic task force groups: flexible public transport

solutions, integrated ticketing/ smart card systems, and intelligent passenger informa-



At least 6 pilot activities are in process at the moment. In Modena ATTAC is testing flexi-

ble transport services for the industrial areas of the Province during the off-peak hours.

Miskolc is piloting an on-demand passenger service in urban quarters with lower popula-

tion density. Ko šice has chosen to implement a tool for intelligent passenger information,

i.e. bus stop information boards showing vehicle schedule and departure in real time. The

plan is that 32 vehicles of the public transport fleet will be equipped with on board com-

puters, sending information to the information boards. Ancona (Marche Region) is testing

an integrated e-ticketing system using smart cards. Thessaloniki is introducing a smart

card-based multi-modal ticketing system that allows for multi-purpose payment (e.g. tick-

eting in museums). ATTAC project gives Burgas the opportunity to test a new collective

transport service (pilot in preparatory

phase). Finally, Maribor will join the

pilot activities with an initiative to in-

troduce a real time passenger informa-

tion service that allows users to access

arrival/departure time info over mobile

network protocols.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tknJKj_Ktck






In its Communication of 24 May 2005 to the Council, the European Parliament, the Euro-

pean Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on accelerating

the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting the European Commission high-

lights two success factors. One is the broadcaster cooperation and the other – effective

communication to inform consumers. 29 In addition, the EC calls for more efficient use of

additional spectrum capacity released after the digital switchover, the so called digital divi-

dend. However, it is up to individual states to implement these recommendations to the

best of their abilities. In addition, spectrum for pan European services and cross-border

services (e.g. traffic information and fleet management, mobile communications) will only

be available on a European scale after the switch-off completion in all Member States.

The SEE Digi.TV project supports EU member

states, candidate and potential candidate countries in

speeding up digitalization of the broadcasting ser-

vices, harmonising legislation and standards , as

well as preparing the ground for future services without frontiers in Southeast Europe. In

line with this goal the partnership brings together key broadcasting and telecommunica-

ti l t th iti f Sl i It l A t i H C ti B i d



Therefore activities within the framework of SEE digi.TV have proven very useful for

partner countries, so that they could jointly meet the digitalization of broadcasting chal-

lenge. Project partners have been exchanging experience on legal provisions, the technical

framework enabling the transition, economic valorisation of the digital dividend, and

communication campaigns addressing the general public.

In particular, by analysing the existing legal framework in terms of EU and national

regulations and policies SEE digi.TV partners were able to compare what procedures

have been adopted in different countries for granting frequency use rights, selecting net-

work and multiplex operators and content providers, etc. Based on this analysis partners

could draw recommendations on improving the planning of digital switchover, involving

key stakeholders (e.g. public and private broadcasters, broadcast regulators, academia,

NGOs), allocating and using broadcasting spectrum resources, selecting network and mul-

tiplex operators and content/services providers. The full length analysis and recommen-

dations are collected in a report . Thanks to this comparative analysis the partnership de-

signed regional guidelines for improving the legal framework covering issues like mod-

ifications in licensing systems, the role of national regulators, and regulatory issues that

countries, which already introduced digital terrestrial television, had encountered. This

http://www.see-digi.tv/shared_files/wp3/wp3a1.pdf



http://www.see-digi.tv/shared_files/wp3/regional_guidelines_on_how_to_improve_legal_framework_r1_1.pdf







Digital switchover has its economic dimension , as well. The transition from analogue to

digital television technology releases a significant amount of high quality radio spectrum,

which can be made available for new services and technologies: a „digital dividend that

benefits both the broadcasting sector and the wireless communication industry . The

digital dividend comes from the ability of digital compression systems to allow up to 8

standard digital TV channels to transmit in the spectrum previously used by one analogue

TV channel. Therefore the economic opportunities opening up thanks to the digital

dividend should be part of any national/regional digital switchover strategy. The SEE di-

gi.TV consortium compared how partner countries tackle the economic aspect in their

strategies and saw room for improvement. To support adjustments of national strategies in

this respect the partnership studied different digital dividend exploitation possibilities .

They also launched a survey on economic opportunities stemming from new services. All

SEE digi.TV materials on the economic framework of digital broadcasting can be found on

the project website .

There is, however, one stakeholder group, which is especially sensitive to the process of

analogue switch-off, i.e. the end users of digital broadcasting. That is why SEE digi.TV

partners paid special attention to the tools that can help reach the end users e g public

http://www.see-digi.tv/documentation/wp5-economic-framework/






The analysis to the SEE Operational Programme points out that the programme area is cha-

racterised by unique cultural heritage, with many cultural monuments listed in the World

Heritage list of the UNESCO. However, for the cultural assets outside renowned cultural

and tourist routes in Southeast Europe, negligent management is a common weakness.

But conservation for the sake of conservation is hardly a sustainable approach. There

should be a way to protect cultural assets and at the same time exploit their value for local

and regional development to ensure return on investment.

The development dilemma of most SEE regions rich in cultural heritage is the whether

to invest in its preservation or focus instead on growth and jobs . Preservation of cultural

heritage sites can be costly, especially when there is need for modern infrastructure and

services (incl. ICT), and more efficient energy and waste management. Instead of being

part of the problem, cultural heritage protection can be part of the solution. In other words,

an integrated approach to urban and rural planning needs to be promoted, in which cultural

heritage is regarded as an economic asset.

CHERPLAN project 31 pursues an environmentally

friendly approach to planning and managing



the opportunities and threats for continuing traditional preservation measures, the partner-

ship formulated recommendations for improvement . These are detailed in the

CHERPLAN Regulatory Framework Report . Based on this joint survey project partners

could also develop individual reports for the sites in Aquilea, Hallstatt, Idrija, Bitola, and

Berat.

This initial analysis helped CHERPLAN partners elaborate a strategic assessment meth-

odology to evaluate pilot sites' condition and vulnerability to human activities. A case

study of the pilot area of Nafpaktos exemplifies this methodology. After the finalisation of

the ongoing pilots, a joint strategic assessment report will be put together.

What is actually being tested at present is CHERPLAN s environmental planning concept

and methodology for managing cultural heritage sites. The concept has been designed by

the CHERPLAN partnership and then consulted with local stakeholders from the pilot

sites. To support the concept development CHERIS WebGIS platform was created. It con-

tains maps and indicator matrices for tourism, spatial planning, waste management, water

supply & wastewater management, ecological construction, energy, and mobility. The

themes for the maps are again a result of stakeholder engagement in identifying the

http://www.cherplan.eu/sites/default/files/public_files/D31RegulatoryFrameworkFinal.pdf



http://www.cherplan.eu/sites/default/files/public_files/D33-Strategic_Assessment-Volume_I.pdf



http://cheris.igag.cnr.it/cheris/










Transnational training session on GIS tools,September 2012, Rome (IT)

Photo credit: CHERPLAN project

In each pilot area project partners set up Cul-

tural Site Management Partnerships bringing

together local authorities, citizens, cultural

associations, museums, schools, waste and

water companies, architects. Following the

CHERPLAN Participatory Process

Handbook , partners have been holding

stakeholder workshops and meetings to dis-

cuss regional development based on utiliza-

tion of cultural heritage, development of

tourist products and branding, environmental

impact of human activities on cultural heritage. To complement local action partners orga-

nise transnational peer reviews on pilot progress and introduce relevant improvements

whenever necessary.

The Environmental Management Plans are still under preparation. Once completed, these

plans will offer scenarios for environmental management of the piloted cultural heritage

http://www.cherplan.eu/sites/default/files/public_files/Participation%20process%20Handbook%20x%20web.pdf








Less favoured rural areas in SEE rely on traditional economic activities like agriculture as

main source of income and jobs. Oftentimes such areas possess unique cultural values ,

e.g. knowledge handed down from generation to generation related to crafts, to buildings

with interesting history, ancient practices for growing typical plants. However, if the local

community and administration fail to recognise the economic potential of such values, this

cultural heritage is not managed properly and does not yield the economic benefits it could.

To find a solution to this challenge a partnership of

local and regional authorities, as well as other re-

gional development actors from Slovenia, Bulgaria,

Italy, Greece, Serbia, and Hungary created the

SY_CULTour project 32. The mission of

SY_CULTour partners is to help rural areas

ciate their cultural values and explore the economic benefits of creating new non-

massive rural cultural tourism destinations to generate income and jobs.

The consortium believes that for cultural values to be able to deliver economic benefits,

local administrations should join forces with local communities and through a participato-



Study visit to the Peio Valley (IT) where theancient methods for growing flax for linen-

weaving have been re-discovered Photo credit: SY_CULTour project

includes a tool for assessing the economic potential of cultural values, which can be used

by any region in SEE and beyond. Practices that appeared to be specifically effective were

extensively examined to identify the conditions for transferring them to new territories.

They are included in a separate database on the project website, as well as in a Good Prac-

tice Report .

The joint survey of cultural value management in rural areas helped partners select the

practice(s) they went on to test. Pilot activities aim at examining applicability of

SY_CULTour common methodology for cul-

tural value management and it is accompanied

by implementation guidelines. Several capaci-

ty building trainings have been organised to

make sure partners have the knowledge and

skills to implement these guidelines. Special

focus was placed on the work with local stake-

holders. The trainings have been combined

with study visits to support the transnational

know how transfer For instance

http://www.sycultour.eu/good-practices-1



http://www.sycultour.eu/documents









different policy levels in partner countries. Policy makers will be invited to special meet-

ings where these recommendations will be presented and explained.

The SY_CULTour partnership is also in the process of setting up a virtual chamber as a

collaboration platform of SEE rural areas guiding them in better management and econom-

ic utilization of their cultural values. This web-platform will facilitate the exchange of ex-

perience and good practices beyond the project lifetime.

Finally, SY_CULTour partners plan to propose the project common methodology as input

to the development of a European Label for Sustainable Cultural Tourism Destinations

fostered by the European Cultural Tourism Network.



SEE area presents many examples of religious cultural sites revealing both the tangible

and intangible heritage of Christians, Jews and Muslim inhabitants. However, efforts for

making these sites self-sustainable and income-generating (e.g. through tourism and rec-

reational activities) have proven of limited success. Some of the reasons for this limited

success are the isolation from traditional tourist routes, lack of skilled workforce due to

demographic change and migration, and lack of local knowledge about the opportunities

opened up by religious cultural heritage.

RECULTIVATUR project 33 addresses these

nesses by valorising partner religious cultural assets

and turning them into economic and social drivers. The

partnership constitutes local and regional authorities,

regional development agencies, as well as universities

from Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Slo-

venia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together they have

set out to develop a common model for religious cultural tourism in SEE area.

The project started with a transnational survey and mapping of the religious cultural heri-



The case studies evaluation and the study visits enabled the creation of

RECULTIVATUR GIS-based maps , which serve as an information source on religious

cultural values in the SEE area. Visitors can navigate in the database to find destinations of

interest.

The partnership worked also on a stakeholder database , which shows important players in

religious cultural heritage site management and related tourist services provision. The

stakeholder database has been based on the joint stakeholder identification and analysis

performed by RECULTIVATUR partners in view of planned pilot activities. It has been

continuously expanded throughout the project implementation.

The exchange of experience in the first

phase of the project made it possible for

project partners to pinpoint 12 practices

in valorisation of religious cultural

heritage that have proven successful for

local economy Detailed descriptions of

http://recultivatur.gtk.uni-pannon.hu/map/public/poiitems/map


http://recultivatur.gtk.uni-pannon.hu/map/public/poistakeholders/admin



http://www.recultivatur.eu/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=11&Itemid=240







been created within Burgas Regional Tourist Association (BG). These agencies have the

role to implement religious cultural tourism products, to be created by

RECULTIVATOUR, and to test religious tourist offers. Local stakeholders will support

the agencies in these tasks.

Before the end of RECULTIVATUR project partners plan to create a Transnational Reli-

gious Tourism Association to promote religious cultural tourism in Southeast Europe and

RECULTIVATUR tourist products, in particular.



In SEE many towns and cities still show the tangible traces of totalitarian regimes of 20th

century, most visibly in the inherited architecture. Both the Fascist era and Communist

regimes (1945-1991) have marked the outlook of cities in Southeast Europe. The challenge

today is how to handle such “inconvenient” or “uncomfortable ” heritage and how to

economically exploit it.

ATRIUM partners from Italy, Slovenia, Bulga-

ria, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Albania,

Croatia, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

addressed the unexploited economic opportuni-

ty of cultural heritage left in SEE by totalitarian

regimes in the 20 th century . Together they embarked on an ambitions journey to lay out

the basis of a new cultural route in Europe.

First of all, project partners had to decide on the sites to be included in this new route. Fol-

lowing common guidelines, they collected information about 100 sites from partner coun-

tries They compared the sites in terms of protection status property rights accessibility



The work with local stakeholders envisaged also preparing them for managing the architec-

tural heritage within the new cultural route ATRI UM Ar chitecture of Totalitarian Re-

gimes of the XX century in Europe’s Urban Memory . The partnership spent quality time

on designing a transnational manual of wise management , preservation, re-use and eco-

nomic valorisation of architecture of 20 th century totalitarian regimes. The process of de-

veloping the content was shared and discussed with public authorities, scientific communi-

ties, and associations of architects, tourist and cultural organisations from case study sites.

In this way an agreement on the practical application of the manual could be established

based on stakeholder needs. Upon the finalisation of ATRIUM Manual partners used it

for training local stakeholders in Forli (IT), Ljubljana (SI), Győr(HU), Suceava (RO), Pa-

tras (EL), Labin (HR), Municipality of Raša (HR), Subotica (RS), Tirana (AL), Sofia (BG),

Doboj (BiH).

Partners then proceeded to define tourist

products and packages for the new cul-

tural route. Following common guide-

lines each partner checked the feasibility

for integrating the route and possible

http://www.atrium-see.eu/upload/atrium-manual.pdf





Brief summary

Presented project case studies show that transnational partnerships supported by the South

East Europe programme have undertaken concrete action to tackle the socio-economic

weaknesses of the area identified in 2007.

There are projects that endeavour to improve the framework conditions for building com-

petitive enterprises and enabling innovation (SEE IFA Network, FIDIBE, AsviLoc Plus).

They engage the public and private sector in research and development (I3E,

TECH.FOOD). Current and future strengths of Southeast Europe in the research field have

been defined to address innovation “white spots ” (I3E, InterValue, FORSEE). In general,

all projects dealing with support to innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to the build-

ing of critical mass for innovation in the programme area. Specific measures in this respect

have been undertaken by projects like ADC, IPRforSEE, EVAL-INNO.

Closed projects that have not been examined in this analysis but which contributed through

part of their project activities to tackling innovation challenges are AUTOCLUSTERS,

ISEDE-NET LUDUS and Tex-EASTile



Closed projects that have not been included in this analysis but which contributed through

part of their project activities or through horizontal action to tackling environmental and

environment-related challenges are DMCSEE, SARMa, and SEE HYDROPOWER.

Weaknesses in the transport systems in Southeast Europe, as well as gaps in transport and

ICT services (including in quality) have also prompted response from SEE projects. The

lack of overall coordination of infrastructure strategies in the region has been addressed by

projects like SEETAC, SETA and DaHar. The projects NEWADA, SETA,

WATERMODE, SEE MMS, ATTAC and SEE digi.TV have focused on improving trans-

port services, e.g. waterway, rail, urban transport, digital television broadcasting. The

NELI partnership addressed knowledge deficits for delivering quality transport services.

There are no closed projects that have not been considered in the analysis (there were 5

projects approved in the 1 st call).

SEE projects created to respond to the common challenge of inadequate management or

lack of preservation of cultural values have mainly been funded from the 2 nd call on. There-

fore, none of the presented case studies have been fully completed yet. Still even these few

examples already show the diversity of angles through which this weakness can be tackled.



111

SEE socio-economic weaknesses

baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e

b u s i n e s s e n v i -

r o n m e n t

L o w p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f t h e p u

b l i c

a n d p r i v a t e s e c t o r i n

r e s e a r c h

a n d d e v e l o p m e n t

I n n o v

a t i o n “ w h i t e s p o t s ”

L a c k o f c r i t i c a l m a s s f o r i n n o v a -

t i o n N a t u r a l a s s e t s e x p o s

e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u

a l i t y d u e t o p o l l u -

t i o n , c l i m

a t e c h a n g e e f f e c t s

I n s u f f i c i e n t

c o o r d i n a t i o n

i n

n a t u r a l d i s a s t e r s

p r e v e n t i o n

a n d j o i n t r e a c t i o n s

I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m e n t a n d

p r e s e r v a t i o n o f n a t u r a l a s s e t s

L o w l e v e l s o f r e n e w a b l e e n e r g y

s o u r c e s e x p l o i t a t i o n a n d e n e r g y

e f f i c i e n c y a c t i o n s

o o r c o o r n a t o n n

p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h

o w d e f i c i t s i n b u i l d -

i n g t r a n s p o r t a n d I C T i n f r a s t r u c -

t u r e r e f l e c t i n g o n i n f r a s t r u c t u r e

q u

a n t i t y a n d q u a

l i t y

P o o r a c c e s s i b i l i t y a n d

q u

a l i t y o f

t r a n s p o r t a n d I C T s e r v i c e s

I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d

p r e s e r v a t i o n o f c u l t u r a l a s s e t s

E c o n o m i c

d i s p a r i t i e s

( u r -

b a n / r u r a l , c e n t r e / p e r i p h e r y )

D e p o p u l a t i o n a n d n e g a t i v e b a l -

a n c e m i g r a t i o n

S

proe

s

e

2009 – rs

h

2013)

SEE IFA Network analysis ofgaps in innovation support inSoutheast Europe & examples

of existing measures

FIDIBE “Manual for Bus iness

Inno vation Parks”

AsviLoc Plus Good practicecatalogue on Regional Devel-opment Agencies supporting

innovation in SMEs

ADC maps of economic sectorswith clustering potential &

transnational clustering part-nership agreements

TECH.FOOD Innovation Toolbox



114


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e


r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u


p r e s e r v a t i o n o f n a t u r a

l a s s e t s





p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




GREEN MOUNTAIN sustainableeconomic development andmanagement model for green

mountain areas & partner

management plans

SEPA Guidelines & feasibilitystudies

ECOPORT 8 EnvironmentalMonitoring Plan for sea ports &

Eco Guidelines

WANDA common ship-wastemanagement concept & joint

financing model for ship wastecollection services along the

Danube River



115


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e


r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u


p r e s e r v a t i o n o f n a t u r a

l a s s e t s





p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




EU.WATER Transnational Strat-egy for Integrated Water Man-agement in Agriculture & vul-

nerability maps & regional

reports

MONITOR II contingency plansincl. hazard maps

DANUBE FLOODRISK Manualfor harmonised requirementsfor flood mapping procedures& risk maps

CC-WaterS data bases & water

supply in climate change sce-narios & recommended mitiga-

tion measures



116


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e


r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u







p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




ENER-SUPPLY RES Handbook& trainings & RES maps and

feasibility studies

Wide the SEE by Socc ModMethodological Guide for solarthermal energy exploitation &awareness raising campaign &

trainings

M2RES sustainable develop-ment concept based on utilis-ing RES & Guide & investmentproposals

SEETAC infrastructure andtraffic database & models and

scenarios & SPaTO



117


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e

b u s i n

e s s e n v i -

r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v



t i o n N a t u r a l a s s e t s e x p o

s e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u







p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




SETA Corridor DevelopmentPlan & transnational transport

network model & pilot actions

NEWADA input for harmonisingwaterway maintenance prac-tices along the Danube (hydro-graphic & hydrologic meas-

ures, ENC accuracy), deploy-

ment of WLAN hotspots

WATERMODE study & data-base on multimodal facilities(ground/water) in SEE; indica-tors for evaluating logistics

facilities; proposal for improv-ing ports-hinterland multimodal

links



118


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e

b u s i n

e s s e n v i -

r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




s e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m

a t e c h a n g e e

f f e c t s



i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u







p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




DaHar peer review process &master plan & pilots & inte-grated strategy for functional

specification & local action

plans

NELI training tools & ICTs &Danube Knowledge Network &

National and Transnational

Action Plans

SEE MMS Mobility Manage-ment Plans, Mobility Centres,MC Info Platform, Handbook onMM Strategies, mechanisms

and practices

ATTAC pilot actions & UrbanMobility Toolbox & Sustainable



119


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e

b u s i n

e s s e n v i -

r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




s e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u







p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




Urban Mobility Plans

SEE digi.TV guidelines for im-proving legal framework for

digital switchover & use ofdigital dividend & funding theswitchover; technical recom-mendations;

ATRIUM new cultural route &management manual & digital

catalogue

SY_CULTour methodology formanaging cultural values in

rural areas; Cultural valuesdatabase + self-assessment

tool; Good practice database

k



120


baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e


r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v




s e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u




s o u r c e s e x p l o i t a t i o n a

n d e n e r g y



p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




CHERPLAN cultural heritageEnvironmental ManagementModel & pilots & sustainable

tourism guidebook

RECULTIVATUR CommonModel of Religious Tourism &guidelines; good practice col-

lection; pilot activities

F.A.T.E. Case Study Handbook;publication on regional meas-ures for entrepreneurship inbrownfield areas; positionpaper on property right trans-

fer; pilots

ReTInA Brownfield Revitalisa-tion Method & case studies &partner individual revitalisation

SEE i i k




baseline 2007)

U n f a v o u r a

b l e


r o n m e n t


b l i c


r e s e a r c h


I n n o v

a t i o n “ w h i t e s p o

t s ”



s e d t o d e -

c r e a s e i n q u


t i o n , c l i m




i n


p r e v e n t i o n


I n a d e q u







p a n n n g

a n d k n o w - h




q u


l i t y


q u

a l i t y o f


I n a d e q u

a t e m a n a g e m

e n t a n d


E c o n o m i c


( u r -




plans and investment pro-grammes

Analysis+Contribution+SEE+to+Socio Economic+Challenges[1]

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