Representatives from 22 EU-funded projects in the fields of Circular Economy, Technology Transfer, Sustainable Cities and Regions and Smart Specialisation and Industry 4.0 from the whole Danube Region met on 26 and 27 March 2025 in Bratislava for a Capitalisation workshop – Boosting Knowledge and Competitiveness in the Danube Region on invitation of PA7 Knowledge Society and PA 8 Competitiveness of enterprises of the EU Danube Region Strategy. The workshop was opened by Jakub Birka, General Director of the Science and Research Division from the Slovak Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth, followed by a video welcome note presented by Oana Dordain, Deputy Head of Unit from Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission and chaired by Martina Hartl, Deputy Head of Department International Research Cooperation and Science Diplomacy, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
The overall goal was to inform and learn from each other, form synergies, make project results better visible and more understandable among various stakeholders, gain more attention and a wider outreach. The transfer of project results into practice, companies and start-ups is an important objective.
Examples of the projects activities are to “Foster and strengthen sustainable construction and revitalize the life circle of buildings through the use of building materials as nutrients in metabolic building cycles and processes designed to prolong quality of raw materials to eliminate idea of waste altogether” (Project DECORATOR, Jaspar Juvancic), “Implementation of digital technologies to make the construction sector more circular” (Project Circular DigiBuild, Katarina Gavalcova), “Moving forward with circularity in textile and fashion value chains and minimise the negative impact on climate, land and water use”(Project Tex Dan, Zoltan Bendo) or “To support digitalisation, smart specialisation and sustainable development by promoting knowledge exchange and transnational implementation of 10 pilot projects” (project SpinIT, Mirza Sikiric and Senad Pasalic).
Focus Group Discussions in three key thematic areas included Sustainable Cities and Regions: Priorities include supporting local sustainability initiatives, implementing agile piloting methods, and ensuring long-term knowledge exchange. Smart Specialization and Industry 4.0 & Technology Transfer: Key recommendations involved creating knowledge platforms, fostering policy-maker engagement, and strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration. Circular Economy: Participants highlighted the necessity of integrating sustainability principles into all project stages and enhancing resource efficiency.
The results of the workshop were clustered in Knowledge Transfer and Reusability, Maximising Impact and Visibility, Policy Influence and Capitalisation in the Danube Region and Cooperation and Future Project Opportunities.
The workshop was very useful in identifying common challenges, creating new synergies and strengthening the network of stakeholders in the Danube region. Going forward, the focus will be on facilitating continuous knowledge exchange, further work on capitalisation and enhancing cooperation through matchmaking initiatives. With the continued support of the EUSDR and the Danube Region Programme, the region is well positioned to promote innovation, competitiveness and sustainable development through strategic project cooperation.
PA 7 and PA 8 will continue the cooperation with the project partners in the future.
Further interested stakeholders are invited to connect and take part in the exchange of information, knowledge and experience.
Presentations from the workshop:
PA 7 and PA 8 Capitalisation Workshop_01
PA 7 and PA 8 Capitalisation Workshop_02
PA 7 and PA 8 Capitalisation Workshop_03
PA 7 and PA 8 Capitalisation Workshop_04
PA 7 and PA 8 Capitalisation Workshop_05
