The Hungarian project partner, Pannon Business Network Association was the hosting partner of the 1st Seminar on Regional Resilience in Europe in the FOUNDATION project. The event was an online event and took place with 55 attendees on 21 January 2021.
The topic of building regional resilience to industrial structural change is discussed in the seminar series of the project, as the first stage the experience of Hungary, especially the Western Transdanubia region was under scrutiny. Policy makers, stakeholders and all relevant actors across Europe were invited to join us and share their experiences about how to build regional resilience.
Introduction of FOUNDATION project – John Hobbs, Lead Partner, Senior Lecturer at Cork Institute of Technology
The project leader shortly introduced the project objectives and activities in the frame of which the current event was organised. FOUNDATION project aims to Build Regional Resilience to Industrial Structural Change through the development of policies and measures which act as the foundation underpinning a strong regional strategic entrepreneurial discovery process and associated support system.
How can a business support organisation contribute to the resilience? - Balázs Barta, Director - Pannon Business Network Association
That the audience get a complete picture of the economic processes in Hungary, the speaker presented the historical perspective of the last 150 years, what life was like before the Iron Curtain and what changes the regime change brought, which leads to today's economic life. The summary placed the ongoing local economic development steps in context. The director of PBN highlighted that PBN, as a business support organisation, with what measures can contribute to the development of economic resilience in the region.
How can a local municipality contribute to the resilience? – Adrienn Bokányi, Economic councillor of Szombathely City with County Rights – Member of Living-in.EU
The economic councillor of Szombathely City introduced why the city was joined to the Living-in.EU initiative, and how the 100 Intelligent City Challenge Programme can contribute to the economic restructuring. She talked about the Szombathely2030 Programme which is the strategical development document of the city for the next 10 years focusing on the resilient knowledge economy. It was highlighted that this programme is cross over the political mandates and focuses on long-term objectives like industrial restructuring (specialization in healtcare, rehabilitation, circular economy, sustainable mobility, smart city).
How can be a company resilient? – Ferenc Tolner, PhD student University Óbuda, Product and Innovation manager am-LAB
In the presentation of the product and innovation manager at am-LAB/PBN, we took a closer look at how a company can be resilient. Following a review of the already existing, available literature, the results of individual studies were presented.
