Every partner in WINPOL aims to improve a specific policy instrument on their territory. But such improvements cannot be done alone – collaboration and support from different actors from politics, business and society is necessary. It is therefore important that those actors are well informed about WINPOL. For this purpose, partners are organising a series of communication events to disseminate the project towards identified target groups:
- Politicians and public officials responsible for waste management (main target);
- Experts in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and innovation fields;
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs);
- Civil society: citizens, civil society associations.
The first series of communication event kicked off in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Antwerp, Malta and Maribor. In both Maribor and Malta participants were coming from the local civil society. Participants in Maribor got acquainted with a good practice from the capital city, Ljubljana. They had many questions for Snaga on underground bins and the system in use in Ljubljana, as Snaga would like to implement a similar system in Maribor, with small changes. ERA had reserved quite an unusual exercise for participants in Malta. They were asked which words were coming to their mind when thinking about intelligent waste management equipment.
ERA then introduced concepts that are already available in partner regions. Attendees had a lot of ideas on how best to implement such systems in the Islands, particularly within a university setting. According to the participants, proper planning, enforcement and good guidance are key for a better waste management.
In Drobeta Turnu Severin, the audience was different – gathering politicians and public officials responsible for waste management – and so was the discussion. It revolved around the topics of waste management and environmental protection in localities of more than 3,000 inhabitants.
Data specialists from all over Flanders joined the event in Antwerp. The day started with a presentation on how the city of Antwerp currently works with Big Data and waste management. It focused on how data from several sources (waste processing companies, sensor data from garbage bins and underground waste containers, etc.) are collected, structured and analysed in a data warehouse. Several cases, opportunities and thresholds were discussed with regards to smart applications, data collection and management within the domain of waste. The participants concluded that still too many opportunities are left unused to work together when it comes to Big Data. Every participant seemed to face similar problems and challenges. To find solutions in a coordinated way would save a significant amount of time and money.
More communication events will take place throughout the first phase of the project, with one event organised every six months in each territory. Information about these events, such as dates and programmes, are regularly published on the WINPOL website and twitter. You can already keep in mind the upcoming ones which will be in June in Gijón and Heraklion.
