15. Jun 2012

EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)

The International Stakeholder Conference „To invest in People and Skills“ (within the framework: EU strategy for the Danube region, Priority Area 9) on 13 June 2012 aimed at the exchange of information – regarding to completed, currently running or planned projects –  of about 160 stakeholders, based in the Danube region. The topics related – amongst others – to closer cooperation between key stakeholders of labour market, education and economy, the support of creativity and entrepreneurship, the support of lifelong learning, and the improvement of the cross-sector policy coordination to address demographic and migration challenges.

The Central European Knowledge Platform for an Ageing Society (ZSI is project partner) was explicitly mentioned as leading project in the context of the Danube region strategy by the Federal Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, Rudolf HUNDSTORFER, during his opening speech. A second leading project Re-Turn - Regions benefitting from returning migrants, where ZSI is also project partner, was intensively discussed on working group level because several countries in the Danube region are currently dealing with challenges regarding to the return of citizens from abroad. Moreover ZSI is involved in several research policy & development  projects, networks and initiatives, which are based in the region such as: EVAL-INNO: Evaluation in RTDI in SEE, WBC-INCO.NET or FORSEE - Regional ICT Foresight exercise for Southeast European countries. There is need for an effective interaction between the several networks and the thematic interfaces of these initiatives.

During the working group sessions the participants generated and discussed possible new project ideas and cooperation forms. It can be concluded that the participants are mainly interested in developing and – above all – strengthening existing structures (cooperation, networks, partnerships) to avoid the creation respectively cementation of parallel structures. Moreover efforts should be taken into account in the (already started) identification and mapping of projects. This can be the basis for a possible identification of synergy potentials between the initiatives and certainly the mutual learning. It’s furthermore crystal clear, that projects should aim on generating a sustainable added value for the respective target group.
A crucial point is the position of the EU strategy for the Danube region on the highest political level: the efforts to implement the strategy - namely in the currently generated EU programmes - should be strengthened.
Further information can be found there: http://www.danube-region.eu

Verwandte Artikel:

• Projekt: Central European Knowledge Platform for an Ageing Society
• Projekt: Re-Turn
• Projekt: EVAL-INNO: Evaluation in RTDI in SEE
• Projekt: WBC-INCO.NET
• Projekt: FORSEE
• News: Review on ZSI's contribution at EUSDR Forum 2014 in Vienna

Tags: ageing society, partnership