The 6th SME POWER Interregional Event was dedicated to the Action Plans Peer Review of the international consortium and took place online, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, over the course of two days. As a main aspect of the 6th Interregional Event of the project, the international consortium participated in a dedicated Action Plan workshop, which aimed to help partners to improve and finalise the developed Action Plans through peer review.
As input to the event, the partners completed and/or received the following prior to the event:
• All draft regional Action Plans;
• Material for Peer Review sessions (guidelines for partners presenting and reviewing).
During the first day of the Interregional Event, partner had the chance to present the final drafts of their regional Action Plans in order to allow comments and real-time changes. The content was specifically designed to feed into the finalised Action Plans, which shall be completed by March 2022.
During the workshop, partners worked in three bilateral working groups, during which each region presented their draft Action Plans to the other regional partner(s); this presentation included updates on the status of activities carried out at regional level and was based on a short presentation template prepared by the lead partner in preparation for the event. A plenary discussion followed to review each presented Action Plan on the basis of notes taken by partners, and suggestions for improvement were recorded by the Interregional Exchange Coordinator, LEASP, and Francesca Martemucci (Resolvo Srl).
On the second day of the two-part event, Chris Ashe (EIfI-Tech e.V., Advisory Partner) hosted a digital seminar on “The question of capacity building measures and means to enhance behavioural change” – a vital point to consider in ensuring the long-term impact of SME POWER and regional/national stakeholder engagement beyond the project – followed by a Q&A session. The partners were then led on a virtual study visit of the “Smart energy efficient building” by MENERGA, a high-tech engineering company that provides energy efficient air conditioning, heating and cooling. The Interregional Event came to a close with a recorded interview held between Local Energy Agency Spodnje Podravje (LEA SP) and researcher & energy expert, Henrik Glatz.
With the conclusion of the 6th SME POWER Interregional Event, the international consortium convened for a Steering Group Meeting, during which project management topics – such as project communication & financial management – were addressed and deadlines for project outcomes were communicated.
