Group 6 STUDY TOUR – NÖ and Vienna. Everything began on the 4th of July… We put our lives into the hands of this young handsome guy even we didnt know.

Cross Border Co-operationSummer Academy on

Szombathely29.06.2005 - 08.07.2005

Group 6

STUDY TOUR – NÖ and Vienna

Everything began on the 4th of July…

We put our lives into the hands of this young handsome guy even we didn’t know anything about his driving skills...

Our first big success was that we found the longest way to the border… Try to guess who was responsible for that... Of course…

Then we arrived to the border and showed to the officers our IDs … it was a really nice collection

After that everything went quite fine and we arrived to St.Pölten just 45 minutes late

Holz Cluster Niederösterreich,St.Pölten

ECOPlus• It was set up in a form of a PPP structure in

2001. • The Public-Private Partnership model fits it very

well,the members pay 30% of its budget, which is good for the professional operation.

• About 250 EUR per year is paid by the members of the organisation.

• As for the sustainability of the model, the management would like to have a project which maintains itself after 2005.


The main characteristics of the project are as follows:

• Network of the economy

• First cluster project of Ecoplus – Business Agency of Lower Austria

• Start: January 1, 2001

• Cluster management: 4 employees


Economic targets of the Holz Cluster Project• Establishment and creation of co-operations in

Lower Austria • Initiation, planning and accompanying

cooperations• Establishment of (inter)national networks for

„Timber Construction“ and „Furniture and Design“

• Information, Qualification, Consulting, Public Relations and Marketing


Business fields:• Timber construction• Furniture and design

Services offered to the members are as follows:

• Information• Project integration• Marketing• Co-operation


Facts about of the organisation:• Holz Cluster Niederösterreich was set up on the initiative

of ECO Plus and it is in the middle of the structure, but it co-operates with a Steering Committee. Some consultants and all the members take part in the project.

Why Interreg?• Troubles for translators to use the right technical terms• No exist of any official translations or encyclopaedia on

timber terms• Increase of border crossing economy of Austria and

Eastern Europe


The PROJECT:• „Intercultural management – common language and

standards for border crossing cooperations in the timber processing trade and industry in Lower Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia“

The aims of the project are as follows:• Creation of a common base of language for the timber

industry in Lower Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary

• Creation of a base for further cross national cooperations in the advanced Europe


The project has special aims as well:

• Establishment of a four-language forest-encyclopaedia on a data base

• Establishment of a qualified translator and interpreter pool

• Initiation of cross border cooperations


Some words about the target group:

• Translator and interpretor

• Association and guild, also governmental representative and trade delegate

• Companies of the wood-processing industry, furniture industry, joineries, carpenter, pre-fabricated house constructioner, sawmills


Activities of the project– 8 main work packages:• German text and drawing drafts• Translation of the text into the Czech, Slovak and

Hungarian• Creation, programming and implementation of a data

base• Establishment of a translation- and interpretation pool• Evaluation of the data base• Attendance of the data base• Marketing and Public relations• Project management


Costs and finance of the cluster:Implementation: Start: July, 1st, 2004 – End: June,

30th, 2006Total costs include the following:• Personal, Costs of materials, External activities,

Capital investment, Public relationsTotal budget: € 130.000,--, which was advanced

by:• State: € 62.000,--, EFRE (ERDF): € 65.000,--,

Payment in kind (own resources): € 3.000,--


Contribution & work of the partners:Together we are stronger –

Power through partnership• Application for Interreg at the competent national

authority• Participation at meetings and workshops for the

multilaterial project coordination• Realiable realization of the agreed tasks within

the project• Translate the technical terms with interpreters

and translators


State of the art:

• Hungary prepared not the right technical terms, but their own expressions

• Slovakia has not yet submitted an application

• Czech Republic has started with the translation of the technical terms


More information:• Holz Cluster Niederösterreich• ecoplus GmbH• Landhausboulevard 29 – 30, Haus 5• A-3109 St. Pölten• 0043/2742/22 776• 0043/2742/22 776/44 [email protected]• www.holzcluster-noe.at

After accomplishing the first mission we had a small lunch … we can really recommend you some delicious dishes from Billa

Windinfozentrum Prellenkirchen

In order to get some information on another cross-border co-operation project, we travelled to Prellenkirchen, where we had the opportunity to visit a wind mill centre consisting of a museum giving information to visitors on the project and 17 wind mills which are not just decorating the surrounding area of Prellenkirchen.


Background:

• Based upon the weather conditions, the wind mill centre was set up in the area.

• Prellenkirchen makes the best use of wind energy in order to supply the town with energy, by operating 17 wind mills. In order to give some information on the operation of the wind mills and the advantages of this way of utilising wind energy, the leadership of the town decided to hand in an application for the creation of a musem in Prellenkirchen.

• The former infrastructure was limited to only a few wind mills in the area, but then the possibility was realised based upon the needs in the region and the neighbouring towns began to improve the area in this way too.

• The ideal weather conditions, like winds were given to create such an environmentally friendly project. There was a very well-based need in the region to use ’green energy’ and to give information on this utilisation to a wider audience in Austria and in other EU member states. That is why a modern museum was opened in Prellenkirchen with a thematic exhibition.


THE PROJECT:

• A wine cellar was restructured to a museum giving information on the wind mills operating in the surrounding area.


Aims of the project:

• To promote the use of ’green energy’ in the region

• To increase the awareness to the environmentally friendly use of wind energy by opening a museum with a permanent exhibition


Connection with INTERREG:• The project was submitted in 2001 for INTERREG

IIIA.

• After a positive decision on support from the EU, the project could be started in 2002.

• As for the cross-border effect of the project, it provides member states with best practice in this kind of energy use

• One characteristic of the project was that Austria won support for it without having a partner in the neighbouring countries.


Budget of the project:• Total amount: 280.000 EUR, which was provided by• 1/3 from firms like Enerkon, Bonus etc.• 1/3 from INTERREG• 1/3 from Bundesland Niederösterreich

Activities of the project:• Operation of a museum with a permanent exhibition for

visitors• Giving information to researchers, institutes, schools,

enterprises (2500 visitors per year, mostly from schools)• To provide a best practice to Hungary and Slovakia


Problems occured during the planning/implementation of the project:

• No problems occured in connection with the project.Plans for the future:• The Windinfozentrum would like to hand in a new

application for INTERREG IIIA • To promote the attraction of the museum by offering

a complex information package on this best practice.

More information:• http://www.prellenkirchen.at/• http://windinfo.at/34.0.html


It was pretty cold there, but we really enjoyed the presentation of Mr. Grasser… this was the better part of this mission…

After the visit… we were happy we are again on the sun, some of us were happy more than usually and expressed it in own way…

We were hungry, so we looked for a place to have some food finally…then found ourselves in paradise……and we stayed there for a nice dinner.

After a long day we moved back to Sopron, listening to the music… but in the finish, we have got lost again, but it wasn’t our fault and now we would like to thank to all those people who helped us to find the right direction…

It was very hard to leave the hotel, due to the nice hours spent and the home made food offered there… we got on well with each other, did not we?

But we needed some adrenalin and some adventure in Austria again…

On the second day of our study tour we moved to Semmering despite the rainy weather. It was hard to find the office in Semmering, but finally we got to the right place, after driving at least half an hour in the town.

To tell the truth, the weather was awful…

Our team was in a very good mood.

We arrived to Semmering earlier than we planed, but we found this office thanks to also some hungarian friends just after a half an hour…

Tourismus Region Niederösterreich, Semmering

Background of the project:

• A beautiful nature was given with plenty of possibilities for tourism.

• A package was created after the collection of the needs in the region.


Aims of the project: to promote cycling tourism in the region by building

a cycle route network in the surrounding mountains,

to contribute to an increase in the number of visitors by concentrating on cycle tourism


Activities of the project:• To create a route system in the surrounding mountains based

upon a well-based survey on the possibilities• To provide information service for tourists who wish to take

cycling tours in the region.• To collect all the needs related to cycle tourism in the region

and put them in one ’chanel’ in order to offer a complex service with wide choice in routes (75 different mountain routes with 3 different levels: family, fun, power)

• To create a map ont the cycling routes, and make it available for tourist in book shops and tourism offices

• To develep cards for the visitors, such as a daily card to get some cycling services

http://www.mbike.at/mbike/noe/statische/project-beschreibung.htm

http://www.mbike.at/mbike/noe/statische/pfeil.htm

http://www.mbike.at/mbike/noe/statische/wegmarkierung.htm


Connection with INTERREG:• 45 municipalities involved from Austria• Partners from Hungary (Szombathely, Zala county)• Bundesland Burgenland

Time schedule:• 1-year project• 0,5 year planning and plenty of contracts with the owners of the fields

which are crossed by the cycling routes (18 cent/meter/year is paid for owners of the fields in the settlements

• 2001. the year of implementation• 2002. the project was realised• 3 people worked on the project


Budget of the project:

• Total amount: 250.000 EUR, which was provided by

• 70% INTERREG

• 30% own resources (Semmering and Bundesland Niederösterreich)

Outputs of the project:

• Maps on all the tracks in the mountains

• 1.400 km of navigated routes, up to 34.000 high meters

• Profiles on the tables and maps with routes

• Navigation points necessary for the tracks

• A network of contact points in the regions


Problems occured during the implementation of the project:• The legal framework was not good, not clear concerning the

insurance of the fields where the routes go through and the responsibility issues were not clarified. This problem was solved by contracts on the rent of the fields.

• Problems with the hunters because of the project’s negative impact on hunting

Plans for the future:• To create a mountainbike park in co-operation with other

regions, based upon the number of visitors (25.000 visitors now)

More information:• www.mbike.at

We left Semmering about 12.00, but the weather was still awful, cold and rainy…anyway, it was a nice place and it would be nice to go back there.

Than started other problems… for example petrol problems arisen, but we solved them with big smiles on our faces… as u can see

Other interesting situation… looking for Straussegasse in Vienna… We knew it is in the district 5, which we found quickly, but then we lost the way…

After 30 minutes of walking we got there, it was hard, but we succeeded again! And first time, we were on time In very unusual premises we got a very nice presentation from the managers of the project…

Healthregio ViennaRegional Network for the Improvement of Healthcare Services

Gesundheitsmanagement

Background• The health sector is a significant economic factor in Central

Europe. There is hardly another European region that has such important medical traditions, so many medical competence centres and such a high cross-border mobility of health professionals and patients.

• The “healthregio” project is implemented under INTERREG III A, the external border programmes of the European Union. A sound data basis, concepts and strategies are being prepared that will allow for optimising the healthcare service sector in the border regions of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.



• High political relevance: it is for the first time that the health sector of this region is studied at a European level and hence, it constitutes a model project for the next enlargement of the EU.

• It assembles a multidisciplinary team of leading experts, policy makers and economic decision makers from all over Central Europe. The enlargement of the European Union has a massive impact on existing healthcare systems. Especially in border regions, legislative changes result in higher mobility and, therefore, new challenges.

• It provides policy makers and economic decision makers with a sound basis for successfully tackling this phase of radical change. Joint activities safeguard the favourable development of the health sector in the long term.



Aims and priorities of the project

“Healthregio” aims at optimising the structure of healthcare provision and, thus, at developing a quality location for healthcare services in Central Europe in the long term.

Priorities:- Legislative changes and need for progress in national systems- Comparable statistical data on the region- Mobility of patients & health professionals- Education and skills development for health professionals



Activities of the project• “Healthregio” serves to make visible the differences, resources

and potentials of the healthcare systems with a view to re-organising the health sector jointly, e.g. by cross-border utilisation of infrastructures, improved access to healthcare services and cross-border knowledge transfer.

The time schedule and implementation of the project:• 2-year project• Start in June 2004• Planned date of completion is December 2006



The implementation of the project:

• Phase 1: The starting point of the project is a comprehensive sectoral analysis to identify the demographic, socio-economic and health-related characteristics of the border region as well as case studies for specific work packages.

• Phase 2: On the basis of this analysis, the expert team will develop and publish recommendations for actions in the fields of economic and health policy.

• Phase 3: The first steps will be taken to implement the results obtained in Phase 1 and 2.



Connection with INTERREG:• The project was supported by INTERREG IIIA.• Several partners are involved in the project:Supporting partners:• Hungary (Sopron University), Slovakia (Ecomet Consulting), The Czech Republic

(south eastern region)• All of the partners gave a financial contribution to the project.Scientific advisor: • Dr August Österle, Department of Social Policy, Vienna University of Economics and

Business Administration

Co-operation partners: • Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration

Vienna UniversityIMC Fachhochschule KremsSemmelweis University BudapestUniversity of SopronInstitute of Health Policy and Economics (IZPE) in Kostelec nad Cernými lesyUniversity of South Bohemia in Ceské Budejovice.



Budget of the project• Total amount: 250.000 EUR, which was provided by• INTERREG (appr. 50 %) and Gesundheitsmanagement and its

partners (140.000 EUR)Problems occured during the implementation of the project:• There was a delay in receiving the financial contribution from

the partners. That is why some parts of the project were not implemented at the same time.

• There were some communication problems with the partners, due to difficulties in finding good interpreters with knowledge of professional expressions



Plans for the future:

• Within two years, the representatives of diverse organisations from the public and private sectors, scientists and experts will draw up strategies and concepts.

More information:

• http://www.healthregio.net/

After the presentation some extra questions were raised, but then we had to go … not just back to the car, but to Szombathely as well…

We were on the way to Szombathely, the guys were navigating…and looking for some dinner again… This dinner thing wasn’t very well done, but we arrived back to the hotel healthy and happy

We were working on this presentation very hard, in a nice atmosphere…

About 11.p.m.

Of course, we can talk about equal opportunities, regarding the access to work… poor guys

Thank you for your attention!!!

Group 6 STUDY TOUR – NÖ and Vienna. Everything began on the 4th of July… We put our lives into the hands of this young handsome guy even we didnt know.

Documents

cluster management

marketing slide

vienna slide

plten ecoplus

plten costs

plten activities

plten state

plten facts