Two e-smartec partners, Coventry University Enterprises Ltd and Polis, attended the Interreg seminars in Budapest on January 21, 22 and 23, 2020, where representatives of more than 70 Interreg Europe projects from the fourth call came together.
Seminar on finance reporting for fourth call projects
The seminar on January 21 was about Finance reporting and covered information and updates about financial reporting and control procedures, management of Interreg Europe projects, iOLF platform, eligibility of expenditure and public procurement rules. It was also a great opportunity to discuss these topics with the Joint Secretariat, Financial Managers and First Level Controllers of other projects.
This first day concluded with a surprise quiz testing the participants about Interreg Europe programme knowledge on 14 questions. In this respect, the e-smartec project arrived second with a score of 18.028!
Seminar on activities and results for fourth call projects
The seminar on 22nd January was about Activities and focused on activity reporting, including Good Practices submission and validation, programme expectations and Action Plan development, as well as useful tips and practical advice from other experienced Lead Partners.
Furthermore, the participants had a chance to wear the shoes of a policy officer and review extracts of actual reports. Not always an easy task! Nevertheless, by working together and helping each other out, we figured out what kind of details to keep in mind while compiling reports.
Storytelling of Policy instruments - Is it possible?
After two days of ins and outs of reporting, the seminars closed with a day dedicated to communication. Together with Interreg communication officers, the participants had a new question to answer: once the reports have been submitted, how to turn the 'reporting language' into communication content with impact?
The seminar on communication thus provided guidance on the Interreg Europe publicity requirements, as well as advice and tips for making project communication activities as effective and attractive as possible. The seminar included practical training on developing project stories and media relations.
Indeed, during two workshops, we went through the basics of working with media and making use of storytelling in project communication, as well as worked on press releases and catchy ways to present our projects - both in words and in images.
We also shared our experiences and tips on various communication topics in a series of World Café discussions.
Final lesson
Overall, the seminars were a great opportunity to meet with partners from other Interreg Projects across Europe and exchange experiences on project management.
If you feel you have missed out, have a look at the materials and the seminars' website: e-smartec approves!
