Innovation Norway and partners invite to a hybrid event: business cooperation on blue growth in Europe: 10-11.05.2022, in Athens, Greece or online
Business Cooperation on Blue Growth in Europe
10-11 May 2022
Innovation Norway and partners invite you to a hybrid event: business cooperation on blue growth in Europe. The event will gather businesses, clusters, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders from 12 countries in Europe. Join us in Athens, Greece or online!
How do we create business in a blue economy that combines growth with sustainable oceans, seas, coasts, rivers and lakes? How can companies, innovation clusters, research institutes, industry associations and others best cooperate on blue growth in Europe?
Join to discuss the latest expertise, opportunities and ideas for business innovation, green solutions, new technology and alternative energy sources for blue growth with representatives from the marine/maritime sectors in 12 countries across Europe.
The event aims to create business in the marine/maritime sector, within the EEA and Norway Grants and beyond. It also provides for matchmaking to establish partnerships.
Cooperation between 12 countries in Europe
The event is organised in cooperation between 12 countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia.
All 12 partners will share national priorities on blue growth, their potential for business innovation, opportunities in their markets and ambitions for European cooperation.
These 12 countries are partners in the EEA and Norway Grants, but the event is relevant for all of Europe. It includes other countries too and digital participation is open to everyone.
Hybrid Event in Greece and Online
The event takes place in Athens, Greece and online on 10-11 May 2022. The event is hybrid. It gathers 200 representatives of businesses, innovation clusters, research institutes, industry associations and others in Athens, Greece. It will also be streamed online. Digital participation is free of charge and open to everyone who registers (button to the right).
Call for Expression of Interest – Participate in Greece
We invite a 180 representatives of the blue growth sectors across the 12 partner countries to Greece. Participants will be selected based on ‘expressions of interest’ in each country. The costs will be covered with a lump sum. The first deadline for expressions is 1 April 2022.
Matchmaking
The registration for online participation in this event takes place in “B2Match”. B2Match is a platform for online matchmaking. When you register, you create a profile and you gain access to all the profiles registered from across Europe. You can browse the profiles and book B2B meetings with relevant partners. Register via the green button above.
The EEA and Norway Grants on Blue Growth
The EEA and Norway Grants on Blue Growth supports projects on business innovation, value creation and competitiveness in the marine/maritime sectors. It also encourages cooperation with partners in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in all projects.
The EEA and Norway Grants are the contribution from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to reducing social and economic disparities and strengthening cooperation in Europe. Through the Grants, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein support 10 programmes on Business Development and Innovation with financing for private companies and partners.
The event presents the funding available in 2022. The matchmaking connects partners for bilateral cooperation, within and beyond the ongoing period of the EEA and Norway Grants.
Follow the EEA and Norway Grants by Innovation Norway on Facebook or LinkedIn.
City Storage and Sector Coupling Lab
CSSC Lab: A new INTERREG initiative demonstrating the importance of Sector Coupling and Energy Storage
City Storage and Sector Coupling Lab
The latest call for Interreg Danube projects was highly contested – 270 project proposals submitted. UBBSLA is a national partner in one of the 25 approved projects and the cluster member company “3K Ltd.” is an associated project partner. The project CSSC Lab – City Storage and Sector Coupling Lab, launched in July 2020, will end in December 2022. The consortium consists of 17 partners from almost all Danube countries.
The European Union has ambitious plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This begs for the testing and adoption of innovative solutions for energy production, consumption, management and storage. CSSC Lab – a new INTERREG project, will support the testing of Sector Coupling and Energy Storage approaches in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.
The main hurdle currently being faced in increasing the usage of renewable energy sources is better connecting energy consumption and storage. Renewable energy sources are key to achieving the EU’s climate goals but pose a substantial challenge since they are variable. This means that the provision of solar and wind energy heavily depends on the time of day, the season and the weather. New, innovative storage solutions are needed to make sure that the energy produced by renewables can be stored and utilized when needed.
Sector coupling approaches serve to build a bridge between energy consumption on one hand and energy storage on the other. Their potential is also recognized at EU level, with a clear strategy being formulated by the European Commission (EU Strategy for Energy System Integration, EC, July 2020) on this topic. Nevertheless, there continues to be a lack of awareness on the importance of sector coupling at the municipal and city level, which are essential components in an integrated energy system.
In its 2019 study entitled “Potentials of sector coupling for decarbonization“, the European Commission recommends launching sector coupling pilot demonstration projects as a means of raising awareness at municipal and city level. CSSC Lab strives to follow this recommendation by launching different test sites. “Our project is exceptional in that we build specific technologies in four partner regions, Croatia, Austria, Slovenia and Bulgaria. These investments will then serve as a demonstration for representatives of municipalities, cities and potential investors and they feature various solutions for energy production, storage, utilization and management,” says the CSSC Lab project Deputy Lead Partner Hrvoje Maras.
Hrvoje Maras and his colleague Marko Čavar represent the North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA), which has succeeded in bringing together 17 partners from 11 countries and has successfully submitted an application to the Danube Transnational Programme, which will support this three-year operation financially.
“However, the CSSC Lab will not be limited to the presentation of technologies. We will prepare a model solution and assessment toolkit for typical urban use cases, develop/pilot a capacity building scheme for municipalities with local trainings, webinars and city coaching sessions, set up an online learning platform for sustainable knowledge transfer and replication of solutions for other cities,” adds Project Executor, Marko Čavar.
The project will run for a total of 30 months and will end in December 2022.
Attached photo credit: © Pichler & Traupmann Architekten | Rendering: Patricia Bagienski
About CSSC Lab
CSSC Lab is an initiative implemented by 17 partners in11 countries, aiming to accelerate the up-take of CSSC solutions in Danube region cities. At present, there are few sector coupling initiatives because public authorities possess little knowledge on the subject tend shy away from the associated investment risks. To overcome these barriers, the CSSC Lab project plans to conduct a capacity building programme for municipalities and to demonstrate the viability of CSSC solutions for medium-sized and smaller cities in the Danube region.
SIMPLA Call for replicating organizations
Do you work with energy and/or mobility planning? Are you experienced in working with local authorities? Are you interested in learning more about the harmonization of energy and mobility planning, meet international experts and exchange knowledge and good practices with other organizations from across Europe?
Then you are the right candidate to become a SIMPLA replicating organization and move forward in sustainable planning in your country following the SIMPLA approach! Don’t hesitate to apply and join us!
UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES, February – March 2018
UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
27 – 29.03.2018
ENERGY EFFICIENCY & RENEWABLES
4th Exhibition & Conference for South-East Europe
Bulgaria, Sofia
Ecological and cost-effective solutions for every industry, municipality or home
Preliminary Program:
First Panel – Cryogenic Energy Storage for Renewable Refrigeration and Power Supply
Session Chairs: Judith Evans (CryoHub Project Coordinator, London South Bank University, UK) and Kostadin Fikiin (CryoHub Team Leader, Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria)
Second Panel – Workshop: “Facing the Challenges of the New Energy Technologies”
Workshop Chair: Irina Terziyska – European Labour Institute (ELI)
The workshop will present two innovative on-line training projects for the deployment of renewable energy sources in the building sector and for improving energy efficiency in the working spaces.
Third Panel – Workshop of Euroheat & Power – the international network for district energy, promoting sustainable heating and cooling in Europe and beyond. District Heating and Cooling in the Energy Transition – Lessons learnt from European Projects
More information: https://viaexpo.com/en/pages/program-2018
28 February – 2 March 2018:
WORLD SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DAYS
The World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) are one of Europe’s largest annual conferences in this field. The 2018 conference will take place from 28 February – 2 March 2018 in Wels/Austria.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key to boost the economic competitiveness of the EU, its member states, regions and individual businesses. Resulting economic growth provides jobs and the ability to invest in the further progress of the clean energy transition to the benefit of all citizens. Clean energy for economic competitiveness and how to make the clean energy transition work for business, planet and people will therefore be core themes of the World Sustainable Energy Days 2018.
The event will feature policies, technology innovation and market development. It offers a unique combination of conferences and interactive events.
The annual conference brings together more than 700 delegates from over 50 countries from business, public sector and the research community.
Clean energy for all Europeans!
More information: http://www.wsed.at/en/world-sustainable-energy-days.html
21–22 February 2018:
2018 EU COVENANT OF MAYORS CEREMONY
“From Paris to Katowice: Speeding up the transition towards decarbonised and resilient cities”
2018 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Covenant of Mayors initiative launched by the European Commission. All committed cities and members of the Covenant Community are invited to get together for the Covenant of Mayors Investment Forum & Ceremony on 21-22 February 2018 to take stock of the results achieved, discuss joint challenges such as investment, multi-level collaboration and mobility, meet the newly set-up EU Covenant Political Board, and pull-up strengths for the next steps.
Register through the online form: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2018-eu-covenant-of-mayors-ceremony-registration-41139742076
Highlights of the Clusters in Europe IV Conference in Budapest, 30.11-01.12.2017
Highlights of the Clusters in Europe IV Conference in Budapest, 30.11-01.12.2017
More than 150 participants from 17 countries, representing the European Commission, national and regional authorities, policy makers and cluster practitioners attended the ‘Clusters in Europe IV – How can we draw from the lessons of past to secure future success?’ international cluster conference between 30th November to 1st December in Budapest, organized by the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy for the fourth time.
The goal the conference was to give an overall picture about the European cluster scheme from the beginning to the present, focusing on the triggers and driving forces in different countries, regions that initiated a new network based approach in Europe. On the other hand, the event aimed at identifying the “future treasures of networks” based on previous experience and to find the role of the human factor behind successful networks. The conference was opened by the welcoming words of Mr Balázs Rákossy, State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy of, Ms Eszter Vitályos, State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary and Mr Thomas Bender, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG REGIO. They highlighted the importance of cooperation and the role of clusters in the economic system and in different strategies; summarized the last 20 years’ history and the present state of clusters and main goals and the factors of success for the future both in national and European level.
The first day of the conference was divided into 4 blocks. In the first two blocks the participants gave an overview on the evolution of the first national and European cluster policies from the very first steps in the early 1990s to 2017.
One of the keynote speakers, Mr Christian Ketels, President of TCI Network gave an overview on the evolution of European clusters. Following him, Mr Reinhard Büscher, former Head of Unit, European Commission, DG GROW gave a comprehensive and informative presentation of current European regulation. In the second block different countries from Spain, France, Denmark and Austria, as pioneers in cluster policies, presented the last decades of growing cluster networks and the main tasks of developing the policies to make the leading clusters more and more better and to develop the political and legal background for starting new ones.
In the afternoon blocks the treasures of future networks revealed. More presenters highlighted on the importance of multi sectoral complex clusters which are based on the regional diversity and specializations but thanks to the connections the members get an access to non-local resources and a very wide range of capabilities as well. In the last block the speakers highlighted the importance of human factor as one of the most important elements to bring a cluster to success. As the conclusion of the first day after a deep knowledge on the beginning there were inspiring presentations and discussions on developing the cluster policies.
In the second day of the conference the audience parted into four parallel panel discussion.
At the Cluster and SME perspective after 2020 especially in V4 countries panel, the panelists discussed the main tasks for the following programming period and framed the needs in support from the European Commission.
The Cross Clustering–From Cluster to Cluster through Business to Business / from Human to Human to Money to Money panel tricks were shared to keep the productivity of the cluster members alive and some success and failure stories to learn from.
The clusters can help to support supply of the professional employee for SMEs which is a crucial problem in the Eastern and Central European counties and more urgent in the present environment, determined at the Industry 4.0 and Smart Specialization Strategies panel.
At the fourth panel, the diversity based on the special characteristics of the regions revealed as the main area for more effective improvement of clusters. And of course as the title promised the co-speakers mentioned as an advantage to have the „SHE” factor in a cluster management, because diversification can be interpret under the male-female scope as well.
A wide range of hot topics have been discussed at the conclusion of the conference and plenty of interesting forward-looking questions raised up for the cluster conference in 2018 and for the upcoming years. All the presentations and pictures are available on the event’s website.
Source: European Cluster Collaboration Platform
Cluster approach for improving the use of human resources in the field of energy efficiency of buildings and facilities
Cluster approach for improving the use of human resources in the field of energy efficiency of buildings and facilities
On November 3rd, 2017 during the regular General Assembly of the Black Sea Energy Cluster (BSEC), the sixteen-month project „Cluster approach for improving the use of human resources in the field of energy efficiency of buildings and facilities“ was formally presented. The event was attended by the managers, as well as the employees of the member companies of the cluster, representatives of the Technical University of Varna, as well as the administrative body of BSEC.
As a beneficiary partner, the Black Sea Energy Cluster will cooperate with Construction Cluster of Slovenia (www.sgg.si) and the Foundation „Olandia“ (www.fundacjaolandia.org) from Poland to share experience, transfer and implement innovative human resources development practices and improving the organization and working conditions.
Dynamically changing economic environment necessitates the effective management of human resources – the basis of the successful organizations. The special role of clusters in the economy and their advantages, like the common information base available and the free flow of information between members make these unions a suitable environment for the implementation of innovative tools of use of human resources.
Project activities are geared towards the exchange of experiences and best practices with project partners from Slovenia and Poland for the use of “cluster approach” as an effective way of managing the human resources.
For the most part, BSEC members are small and micro enterprises and the financial resource dedicated to improving the qualification of the employed is very limited. Due to training visits to Ljubljana and Kwilcz will be organized in order to benefit from the experience of foreign cluster organizations in terms of human resource management and work organization.
An electronic learning platform on the site of BSEC will be elaborated based on the idea of ”shared management of human resources”. The platform will be used as a tool for the joint training of the cluster members, as well as a bank of “temporary teams of specialists” for the exchange of experts between company members and others.
More than 140 employees in employment relationships in cluster member companies will be able to benefit from the results of the project. This will improve the competitiveness of members of the Black Sea Energy Cluster and their ability to adapt to the ongoing legislative, economic and social changes in the market.
At the beginning of October 2017, the Chairman of the Cluster – eng. Todor Tonev signed the Contract № BG05M9OP001-4.001-0046-C01 with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy for providing financial support under the Operational Program “Human Resources Development” 2014-2020, component 1 of the Transnational and Danube Partnerships for Employment and Growth Procedure. The project will end at the end of December 2018.
Black Sea Energy Cluster starts implementation of a project funded by the OP “Human Resources Development” 2014-2020
Black Sea Energy Cluster starts implementation of a project funded by the OP “Human Resources Development” 2014-2020
At the beginning of October 2017, the Chairman of BSEC – eng. Todor Tonev signed a Contract № BG05M9OP001-4.001-0046-C01 for Grant under the Operational Program “Human Resources Development” 2014-2020, Component 1 of the procedure “Transnational and Danube partnerships for Employment and Growth”.
16 months project „Cluster approach for improving the use of human resources in the field of energy efficiency of buildings and facilities“ is implemented in partnership with the Construction Cluster of Slovenia (CCS) and the Foundation „Olandia“ from Poland.
Project activities are geared towards the exchange of experiences and best practices with project partners from Slovenia and Poland for the use of “cluster approach” as an effective way of managing the human resources.
The aim of the project proposal is to promote transnational cooperation between the Black Sea Energy Cluster (BSEC) and the project partners from EU countries through exchange of experience, transfer and implementation of innovative practices in human resource development and improving the organization and working conditions.
To achieve the objectives of the project it is used an integrated approach that includes a set of heterogeneous type and mode of action activities: Based on the experience of other EU clusters will be analyzed how the clusters are a suitable union of companies in favor of effective management of their human resources. Following the exchange experience with project partners will be studied and adapted two practices in human resources development, one of them will be piloted in three member companies of BSEC.
With the implementation of project activities will be introduced an innovative tool for development of human resources based on the cluster approach. This will improve the competitiveness of cluster members and their ability to adapt to continuous legislative, economic and social changes in the market.
More information for the project goals and foreseen activities: http://www.bsecluster.org/en/project-cluster-approach-for-improving-the-use-of-human-resources-in-the-field-of-energy-efficiency-of-buildings-and-facilities/?preview_id=876&preview_nonce=48fdfc3bf4&_thumbnail_id=-1&preview=true
EU-Taiwan Event on Industry of the Future, 26-27 June 2017
EU-Taiwan Event on Industry of the Future
BSEC is already registered for participation!
This business oriented event is a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT), the Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of Taiwan facilitated by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, the Industial Development Bureau (IDB), the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and Silicon Europe Worldwide at the occasion of the third industrial dialogue between the EU and Taiwan.
The aim of the Event is to foster cooperation between European and Taiwanese companies, clusters and business associations by exploring possible common areas of interest for cooperation and complementarities, in terms of sectoral, value chain, and market focus.
The event will feature seminars on future of manufacturing, circular economy, 5G and clusters cooperation. In addition, a specific matchmaking event will take place on 26 June for clusters and business associations while a Business to business (B2B) and Business to clusters (B2C) matchmaking will take place on 27 June.
The event builds on the success of the EU Innovation Week organised in Taipei back to back to the Industrial dialogue in June 2016 during the COMPUTEX fair in Taipei. At that occasion B2B, C2C and B2C matchmaking meetings were organised by our EEN partner TAITRA for 250 EU and Taiwanese clusters and companies.
Registration to any of the activities of the EU-Taiwan event on Industry of the future is free of charge.
More information: https://www.b2match.eu/eu-taiwan-2017
BSEC is a part of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP)
BSEC is a part of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP)
ECCP is a European hub for clusters to cooperate with counterparts in Europe and beyond. A web based platform, the ECCP provides high visibility to clusters and their members at the international level and already more than 600 cluster organisations have created their profile. The registered clusters benefit from a range of services such as a partner search tool, calls for international cluster matchmaking events, weekly information digest on cluster events in Europe and from around the world and much more. www.cluster-collaboration.eu
Businesses from seven countries gathered in Oslo, 14-16.03.2017
