On September 26th, 2022 Harghita County Council, Romania, organized 2nd stakeholders meeting within the frame of CD-ETA add-on, Interreg Europe 5th restricted call for project proposals. During the meeting, several presentations took place, which demonstrated the use at the local level of the good practices learned in the CD-ETA project, as well as the implementation of the activities outlined in the project's action plan.
The first presentation started with highlighting the process and importance of digitalizing natural values. Mr. Károly Szabó, Head of the Hargita Community Development Association, drew attention to the importance of databases in the digitization process.
Mr. Örs Fekete, Head of the Public Mountain and Cave Rescue Service of the Hargita County Council, repeatedly referred to the good practices presented in Valencia in the context of the project, which were able to be used at the local level for the benefit of safe hiking, and considers the use of drones to be extremely important in saving lives. At the same time, he also mentioned the good practices of the Slovenian and Greek partners.
Regarding the digitization of cultural values, Mr. Zsolt Sáska Magyari, Assistant professor of the Babes-Bolyai University, outsourced department of Gheorgheni, detailed the digitization of the local Armenian cemetery.
As the digitization of the cultural values is multifaceted, this was supported by the presentation of Mr. Béla Kolcsár, Head of the Cultural and Art Center of Lăzarea, who presented the digitization of the institution's fine arts activities, as well as the recently created virtual gallery.
Mr. Arthur Gyulai, Leader of the Johannes Kájoni County Library, presented the digital service of the library, which represents one of the good examples of Hargita County within the framework of the project. The demand for the digital services of the Johannes Kájoni County Library was strengthened by the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, as a result of which the online catalog, various databases and digital documents can now be found among the services. And based on the experiences gained in connection with the CD ETA project, they formulated the design of digital book rental and return service.
In addition to start the digitization of cultural and natural values at the local level, the CD-ETA project drew attention to the importance of digitization in other areas of activity of the Hargita County Council. In the framework of the meeting, the participants were able to gain an insight into these digitization efforts at institution level, in the presentation of Mr. Adrian Chiorean, Deputy General Director/Assistant project manager, and Mr. István Szőcs, Managing Director.
The local stakeholders agreed during the meeting that there is a need for the continuous development of digital tools, and also there is a need for competent human resources to ensure digitization. At the same time, they became familiar with the current digitization processes in the various specialized fields, so that future plans and initiatives can complement each other.
