The Policy Round Table organized by the Region of Sterea Ellada was held on 19 February 2019 in Lamia. The Policy Round Table was attended by Christina Koch (aws), Austria (LP), Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning, (CEO Creative Business Cup), Juliane Buchroithner (aws), Austria (Expert), Grigorios Zacharis (Representative of the Region of Sterea Ellada), Greece (Project Partner), Konstantinos Meletis (Region of Sterea Ellada), Greece (Project Partner), Stathis Kalogeropoulos, representative of the Film Office of Central Greece and Harry Kourouklis, Operations Director, Agrifood Partnership of Central Greece.
The meeting kicked off with welcoming words from the Project Partner, Konstantinos Meletis - on behalf of Themistoklis Cheimaras, Appointee Regional Councilor for Development Planning, Entrepreneurship and Extroversion of the Region of Sterea Ellada.
Subsequently, Christina Koch, project leader of RCIA, introduced the RCIA project. She stressed that the project strives to create a modern business ecosystem using the transformative power of creative SMEs as a key competitiveness factor for boosting the overall economy.
Grigorios Zacharis, Project Partner RCIA then followed suit and showed a presentation concerning the main cultural and creative industries in the Region of Sterea Ellada: he underlined that the three sectors that have more expression in the Region of Sterea Ellada are the following: Cultural Heritage, Information and communications technology, and finally the Agrifood Partnership, an institutional vehicle for the coordination of development activities of the agrifood sector of the Region.
Next on the list was Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning, CEO of the Creative Business Cup - who welcomed the participants to the policy round table and talked about the concept of the round tables.
Furthermore, Stathis Kalogeropoulos, representative of the Film Office of the Region of Sterea Ellada accentuated that since 2015, the Film Office has already brought movie productions to be shot in the Region. The steps of the process are defined below:
• Initial conception and approval from the Regional Governor
• Preliminary study of different models of Film Commissions from all over the world
• Engagement with local stake holders (Movie production companies, Greek Film Center)
• Getting the first movie in the Summer of 2018
• Scheduling appearances in International Film Festivals
Finally, Harry Kourouklis, Operations Director of the Agrifood Partnership of Central Greece, had the opportunity to present a series of initiatives and actions aiming at fostering the formation of clusters among its members - mainly SMEs active in the primary and secondary sector of the regional economy. He stressed the fact that the lack of cooperative and team spirit that characterizes central Greek producers is among the main hurdles the Partnership faces today. This exact issue was brought at the epicenter of the discussion. The participants from Denmark and Austria suggested, as a potential solution, to bring to the attention of local producer’s case studies of successful cooperative efforts within the agrifood sector, even if such cases originate from other regions. The use of vivid examples and even some rough figures could easily attract the interest of reluctant local producers and could ignite the first round of joint discussions. The representatives of the Agrifood Partnership of Central Greece found these suggestions incredibly insightful and applicable.
The discussion led to useful conclusions especially due to the feedback from the Danish Partner.
The Policy Round Table was an excellent opportunity for the Region of Sterea Ellada to showcase an example of how the development of the Creative Industry can have an immediate effect in local communities and the economy of the region. Meeting offers a great opportunity for all the participants to act and to finally leverage the results of their collaboration towards a more competitive, innovative and investment-wise attractive CCI sector. The Region of Sterea Ellada has identified Cultural and Creative Industries to represent a key player and a potential candidate to initiate or to heavily influence a spill-over effect that could help the Region achieve its objectives. In this context, the Region is dedicated to work towards:
• Positioning the CCI sector at a central role within the regional SME competitiveness strategy
• Increasing the attractiveness of the Region and thus the capacity to retain local talented human resources and incentivize investors
• Incentivize CCI SMEs to perform cross-sectoral collaboration and traditional SMEs of the wider economy to embrace CCI methodologies and to acknowledge the benefits of CCI sector in general
We are happy to host this Policy Round Table, which signals the introduction of the project into its most interesting phase.
