FOUNDATION PROJECT FINAL CONFERENCE Shares many learnings and memories for partners...
On June 14-15th, 2023 all FOUNDATION project partners gathered in Rzeszów, Poland for a study visit and Project Final Conference which main aim was to close the project activities, summarise them, draw conclusions for the future.
FIELD VISITS AND STEETING COMMITTEEE MEETING – JUNE 14th, 2023
The project partners reunion started from field visits in UrbanLab Rzeszów (a pilot project to implement urban labs in Polish cities. It is a space for developing innovative solutions and ideas for the city, the testing and implementation of which should lead to an improvement in the quality of life of the city residents. The Urban Lab also works with primary students to bring their innovative ideas to the region and support their learning) where the activities of the city of Rzeszów in the field of planning activities for economic resilience and the solutions for cooperation between science and business take place and the Podkarpackie Center of Innovation - the result of cooperation between the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, the European Commission and the Ministry of Development as part of the Catching-up Regions initiative which focuses on developing innovative ideas of young people and expanding their knowledge about prototyping and startups and where the Protolab zone supporting entrepreneurship of scientists and students has its headquarters. The presentation about Podkarpackie Center of Innovation and the guidetour around the facility was held by Barbara Ślęch. Both places serve as a space to support business and science cooperation/iniciatives.
During the Steering Committee the project partners discussed the results of the project, the final financial reporting requirements, communication plan and potential for future cooperation. The Lead Partner MTU summarized the project cooperation, and excitement for the Final Conference.
FOUNDATION PROJECT FINAL CONFERENCE – JUNE 15th, 2023
The Final Conference, held in a hybrid form gathered in total 78 participants, including numerous stakeholders from Poland. It was organized as part of the accompanying Carpathian Startup Fest 2023 (CSF) event – an international event organized by RRDA devoted to entrepreneuship and technology bringing together start-ups, investors, corporations, media and founders. Learn more about CSF here: www.youtube.com/watch
The project meeting however, included the presentations of inviated guests. The meeting was moderated by Mr. Piotr Zawada - RRDA employee and FOUNDATION Project team member. The invited guests Ms. Bernadetta Ziomek-Niedzielska – representative of the Polish Central Statistical Office in Rzeszów dedicated her speech to resilience of the regional economy and adjusting the business support ecosystem and Mr. Etienne Verhelle-Rodzinka – representative of INTERREG EUROPE Joint Secretariat focused on regional stakeholders building resilience of their regions and enabling them to adapt to change. After that part the FOUNDATION Project Lead Partners followed by the rest of the partners shortly summarised the results of the Action Plans and new Covid-19 related actions deployed and implemented into each country regional policies.
Among the online attendees were, among others, the representatives of: Business Upper Austria; Southern Regional Assembly (IE); TCI Network (ES); Cyber Ireland; Comune di Reggio Emilia (IT); Cork County Council (IE); The Regional Council of Pohjois-Savo (FI); University of Oulu (FI) and University College Cork (IE).
After the conference was over, the project partners re-joined the Carpathian Start-up Fest, to engage further with local stakeholders and startups from across the region.
