News and Events

First Partners Meeting Under the “University Cooperation for Regional Development” Project
08.02.2010

On 4 and 5 of February 2010 in Brussels, Belgium took place the first Partners Meeting under the “University Cooperation for Regional Development” (UNICREDS) Project, financed by the EU Programme for Interregional Cooperation INTERREG IVC. The programme aims to improve the regional and local policies in areas such as innovation and knowledge economy, with focus on improving the capacity for scientific research and technology development, business support for small and medium sized enterprises through exchange of knowledge and best practices with the support of the regional and local authorities.

The main theme of the project is the support of higher education for regional development in order to increase growth and employment in less developed regions in EU, including Bulgaria. The project is a result of the good cooperation between Cornwall County, UK and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, started during a work visit of ministry’s experts, conducted in November 2007, with the financial support of the Rio Conventions Project.

Fifteen partners form UK, Sweden, Hungary, Bulgaria, Scotland, Finland and Czech Republic participate in the project. Partners on the Bulgarian side are the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and Sofia University. The partnering organizations will focus on the development of a set of specific research activities for exchange of experience, identification of good practices and development of closer relations between regions, their universities and the private sector for maximum benefits for the region. The total budget of the project is 2,291,854 EUR.

During the first meeting all organizations, included in the partnership, were introduced and a general presentation of the goals and activities, work groups and work plan of the project were also made. Clarifications were made on the administrative and financial aspects of the project, the process of monitoring and reporting of achieved results and financial control implementation.

There project has three components: Component 1. Management and Coordination, under this component is the overall management implementation of the project; Component 2. Communication and Dissemination, under this component is the development of a communication strategy, a web site, promotional materials and a contact database; Component 3. Experience Exchange, under this component will be conducted research and best practices exchange under the theme: higher education in support of regional development.