September 23, 2020 - The 5th meeting of the CLAY project (Cross Sector support for Innovative and Competitive Artistic Ceramic SMEs), funded by the Interreg program of the European Union, which aims to support the small and medium-sized enterprises in the ceramic sector by acting on regional policies, was held on Wednesday 23 September 2020.

Due to the Coronavirus emergency, the meeting of the project took place online, hosted by the partner South West Oltenia (Romania). The objective of the event was the presentation and discussion on Action Plan idea/draft from CLAY partners.

The Leader Partner, reiterating the impossibility of holding the physical meeting in Romania, appreciated the effort of the partner organizing the online event and the partners who guaranteed their presence at the virtual meeting.

Followed the welcome from Ms. Marilena Bogheanu, General Director of RDA SW Oltenia, Mr. Nicolae Sardarescu, Mayor of Horezu and President of the Romanian Association of Cities of Ceramics (ArCC); Mr. Eugen Savulescu, representative of GAL Depresiunea Horezu and Director of ArCC.

During the meeting the project partners (from Italy, Finland, France, Portugal, Romania and Spain) illustrated the progress of the work on the action plans that defined adequate actions to respond to the needs of the territories and which, following the orientation of the political strategies of the own regions, will support the innovation of ceramic SMEs.

During the next CLAY event, to be held in Umbria by the end of the year if the health situation allows it, the partners will present and discuss the advance draft of Action Plan in order to then start Phase 2 of the project.

These are the 4 videos presented as study visits, showing the peculiarities of Horezu ceramics: