A joint Steering Group meeting of Priority Area 8 “Competitiveness of Enterprises and Cluster Development” and Priority Area 7 “Knowledge Society” and Danube INCO.net was held on 9th December 2015 in the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade in Budapest.

The meeting gathered participants from 12 EUSDR countries, including members from Austria, Baden-Württemberg, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova as well as the European Commission (COM) – DG Regio and DG JRC Seville – the Danube Strategy Point (DSP) and representatives of the Joint Secretariat of the Danube Transnational Programme.

The aim of the event was to provide information of activities in the PA 8 and PA 7. The Danube-INCO.net progresses, significant outcomes and next steps were also duly reported and also how PA 7 and PA8 can use the Danube-INCO.NET results and activities together. Thus it included also information on the mapping of EUSDR, research and innovation stakeholders, on possible funding of cooperation of stakeholders based on priorities identified as well as on the attempt to support the coordination of funding instruments in the Danube Region.

Moreover, an overview was given about the DANUBE REGION CALL 2015 IN FRAME OF EUREKA NETWORK that opened in March 2015 and saw strong interest with a great number of proposals (80) and participants (301). This call demonstrates that the players in the region are well connected: industry (17), SME (172) and academia (101) and that the region has innovation potential.

The JRC Scientific Support to the Danube Strategy addressed the scientific needs related to the implementation of the EUSDR and aims to the strengthening of scientific cooperation in the Danube Region. The potentials for S3 collaboration in the EU macro-regions: ICT, Health, Energy, Sustainable innovation incl. water issues were also raised. In conclusion, the upcoming S3 Policy Brief – “Smart Specialization in macro-regional dimension: Mapping R&I priorities in the Danube region” as well as some upcoming events were announced (21-22 Jan, Istanbul: Thematic seminar on Hydropower energy; 4 Feb, Brussels: JRC-COST workshop “The role of city-regions for a low carbon-economy”; 18-19 Feb, Chisinau:”S3 Design Learning Workshop”).

Information from Brussels was also guaranteed by DG Regio. An overview of the macro-regional strategies and EU programmes was provided: coordination between Managing Authorities and the macro-regional governance actors is essential for the further implementation process of the EUSDR. It is therefore crucial for the former to liaise with the latter who can offer valuable advice regarding projects likely to contribute to macro-regional objectives.

In this context two representatives of the Danube Strategy Point (DSP) introduced themselves to the participants as well as the main scope and activities of the DSP.

The Steering Group meeting of PA 8 on 10th December 2015 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry served for discussing on main achievements in 2015 in terms of actions and project implementation. For further processing of the PA 8 targets and milestones were debated and defined based on the Action Plan of the EUSDR. Further topics were the enhancement of cooperation within the Danube Region: information on the Danube Transnational Programme was given and cooperation approaches within ARGE Danube and Business Professional Women Danube Net were discussed.

The PowerPoint presentations are available in the section “Steering Group”.