The 3rd Local Stakeholders Group meeting organised by Molise Region took place on the 18th of February 2020 at Molise Region headquarters in Campobasso (Via Genova nr. 11). The meeting coordinated by Mrs Patrizia Niro, Project Manager of RegionArts and assisted by Mr Celestino Manselli (Molise Region technical expert for European Territorial Cooperation Programmes) was also attended by the Director of Molise Region Service for SMEs and Competitiveness, Mr Gaspare Tocci. Ten other stakeholders were present including representatives of the Ministry of Culture – Regional Directorate for Molise Region, the University of Molise, SME associations, Professional associations & Entrepreneurs and Professionals).
First of all Mr. Gaspare Tocci introduced the overall strategy of Molise Region for ETC projects, and EU projects in general, that should be strictly aligned to local needs and other local policies. In this framework, he underlined the relevance of RegionArts considering that Molise Region needs to improve its policies towards creativity and innovation. He presented also two new initiatives of Molise Region – “Molise House” and “Molise Hub” - aimed at taking more advantage of the regional office in Bruxelles to enlarge networking opportunities at European level as well as to disseminate projects’ results.
Then Ms Niro briefly remembered the main features of RegionArts (Enhancing SME growth by the integration of Artists in ICT projects) that aimed at stimulating innovation and competitiveness of SMEs by promoting synergies between ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and arts & creativity. To reach this objective the continuous information of relevant local stakeholders, and their active involvement is fundamental.
To this aim, local stakeholders were informed about the last RegionArts Exchange of Experience (Bruxelles, November 2019) and of the various interesting support programmes/practices that were presented on that occasion.
Later on, the focus was on the regions Policy booklet 01 (Activities Linking ICT and Art) and the imminent release of Policy booklet 2 (Designing support measures promoting connections between artists and ICT). Both Policy booklets will be provided to all LSG members and they will be required to contribute to the dissemination this important output of the RegionArts project.
Next on the agenda were two important project milestones planned for the coming months:
- 'RegionArts Video”' to showcase examples of successful cooperation between ICT and the Arts and to promote the project at both local and international level;
- 'ICT meets the Arts' Event planned for June 2019: an event aimed at showcasing successful collaborations between ICT and the Arts and at creating a concrete matchmaking opportunity between these two worlds.
At this point a passionate and interesting “brainstorming” started with the active involvement of all participants and several ideas came up, especially about the possible contents and structure of the “ICT meets the Arts”.
Concerning the RegionArts video, the stakeholders were informed about the best practice that Molise Region presented during the EoE in Bruxelles (High Tech Business call for proposals and in particular ”Stage Driving”, one of the innovative start-ups financed by the call) and they agreed that ”Stage Driving” could be a good example of cooperation ICT+Arts to show in the video. The video will include also the point of view of local stakeholders that attended an EoE and of a policymaker.
Concerning “ICT meets the Arts” the idea is to organize the event in the ”Misteri” Museum of Campobasso: 3D technology to promote artistic handicraft products belonging to a very ancient ceremony of Campobasso -”I Misteri” - that has a great religious, cultural and artistic value and every year attracts thousands of visitors. Further information about ”I Misteri” here.
The last matter (but not the least!) brought to lime was the Exchange of Experience of Rovaniemi, where RegionArts will explore more deeply the policies and actions that can be designed for the second phase of the project (2021-2023). The goal is to improve the potential of innovation that may stem by promoting and supporting opportunities for cooperation between ICT SMEs/professionals and artists.
Of course, the drafting and the implementation of RegionArts Action Plan will be the occasion also to test ideas and solutions that can be further refined in Molise Region ROP 2021-2027.
