With the end of the year in sight, the closing of the first period of the HELIUM project is near. This first and opening phase consisted of an introductory period, getting to know the different partners and their backgrounds, , and this period saw the first number of interregional seminars a number was organised.
The first meeting back in May of 2016 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, marked the official Kick Off of the project. Since then, the consortium has met on two more occasions. Towards the end of October in Budapest, Hungary, and more recently at the end of November, in Turnhout, Belgium.
The interregional learning process has been well under way. This process has received supporting actions which have taken place at both the interregional seminars but also at the base of operations of the respective HELIUM partners. The interregional seminars were used as platforms to showcase the regions which are taken part as well as the policy instrument which is being addressed. Furthermore these were used to share the regional Good Practices from which lessons can be learned.
Within the regions the partners have focussed on a baseline analysis of not only the region, but also the policy instrument being addressed. One of the methods being used to define such an analysis the partners have engaged with a group of local stakeholders. Together with the stakeholders, feedback and opinions are passed around and analysed to be able to uncover firstly what the areas of improvement are, and secondly, how to achieve those improvements.
