Press releases

Today, 15 October 2020, the European cross-border project RESTART_4Danube – “Regenerating urban areas to boost creative industries for a stronger Danube region” was launched. The inter-regional partnership consists of 25 organisations from the Danube region and our country is represented in the project by the Organisation for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ODSME) and Business incubator in Cahul.

The online launch event was attended by representatives from the 12 Danube partner countries. SMEs, experts, public authorities, NGOs, research organisations, etc..

In the discussions, topics were raised on accelerating technology transfer in the region, the role of creative industries in the urban economic regeneration of the Danube region, Digital Innovation Hubs, Artificial Intelligence, cluster economy and urban regeneration.

In this context, Mladen Kraljic, member of the PA8 Steering Group on the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, reiterated the importance of the project in efforts to strengthen the region and the need to harmonise entrepreneurial policies in the riparian countries: “The central priority of the PA8 Steering Group is to increase cohesion between SMEs, academia and the public sector.”

At the same time, Alexandru Marin, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (UPB), the institution responsible for coordinating the implementation of the project, mentioned that through RESTART_4Danube we are helping to solve the problem of insufficient transnational cooperation in the region.

The main objective of the European project is to improve framework conditions and policy instruments, building on regional and local smart specialisation strategies for a new model of urban regeneration, with the contribution of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIS).

The project uses a quadruple helix approach through the collaboration of 11 public authorities, 7 business support companies and organisations, 4 higher education and research institutions and 3 civil society actors. The countries participating in the RESTART_4Danube project are: Romania, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Serbia, Estonia and the Republic of Moldova. The European project is managed by the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (Romania).

Expected results of the project:

• a joint strategy for creative urban regeneration for the Danube region;

• a new toolkit for creative urban regeneration;

• 5 local action plans;

• a set of cooperation agreements between undertakings and research and development institutions;

• a set of preparatory level audit activities;

• a training toolkit with modules on creativity and urban governance and urban innovation management.

The RESTART_4Danube project is co-financed by 3 European Union funds, the European Regional Development Fund, the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ERDF, IPA, ENI). The project will run for 30 months with a total budget of EUR 1 814 895. ODIMM, as a direct partner of the Project, has the role of contribute to the implementation of all objectives and facilitate the participation of the Business Incubator of Cahul as an associated partner.

For more details about the project, you can access the official page:
https://odimm.md/ro/proiecte/programul-transnational-dunarea/restart-danube

or http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/restart-4danube .