Accompanied by bright sunshine the KISS ME project partners came together on October 4 and 5 for their first interregional meeting with site visit!
Our hosts from HAMAG-BICRO put together a varied programme for the project partners and their local stakeholders. The first meeting day took us to the BioCentre Zagreb, a centre for incubation, transfer and education, co-funded by the EU. There, the KISS ME Delegation saw an interesting presentation of the centre's work and got an exclusive tour through its facilities. The meeting day was concluded with a productive steering group meeting in which the KISS ME project partners discussed the most important point of the past, current and upcoming project activites!
October 5, the second meeting day, was then coined by presentations of the stakeholders who gave the Delegation valuable insights into successful approches and good practices from their regions. The agenda was divided into the three sessions Effective policy instruments for cross border SME cooperation - Grants, Vouchers, Financial Instruments, Effectiveness of cross border business support facilities - Joint Competence/ Excellence Centres, Business Incubators, Technology Parks, and Cross Border/Regional Innovation/SME Development Strategies vs. National Strategies. Every stakeholder presentation was followed by active discussions and a lively exchange of ideas. The productive day was wrapped up by a city tour of Varaždin and a networking dinner.
The KISS ME project wants to thank all the participants for making the meeting so fruitful and successful! Speacial thanks goes to HAMAG-BICRO for the great organisation! We are taking the gained results and inputs with us for the next steps of the project.
The next interregional meeting with site visit will take place in the Dutch-German border region in the first half of 2018!
