THE END OF THE PROJECT

The Project REFREsh tackled the main challenges of rural areas in Central Europes. All over the rural areas exist unused industrial heritage with needs for revitalization and a new form of use. The main objectives of REFREsh were to reutilize industrial heritage through new forms of creative use and to attract new creative actors for valorize the industrial heritage in cooperation with actors from trade and service sector. 
The project transformed industrial heritage into cultural centers for creative scene as starting point for development of the industrial areas, Municipalities and regions in Central Europe. During the REFREsh project, five selected industrial heritage sites were refurbished and tested for reutilization. New spaces were created for the creative and cultural scene in Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy and Croatia. To achieve these objectives, during the Project partners developed benchmarking tools, regional strategies and test the new approach in five Pilot actions. To reach a critical mass of creative actors and to foster transnational cooperation of the creative scene, partners organized exhibitions, cultural events and creative workshops. 
REFREsh thereby offered a starting point for further developments in these industrial areas. The project and its results were highly disseminated in the regions, which led to increased awareness of the tackled issues and respective opportunities.
Thereby, during the project were produced 5 Regional Strategies for the integration of creative scene, 1 Joint Transnational Strategy for the integration of creative scene, 1 Transnational Banchmarktool, 5 Reutilization concepts, 15 Pilot actions, 5 Pilot investments, 5 international partner’s meetings, 5 workshops with representatives from creative scene, trade and politics, 6 Transnational Peer Reviewes to train partners and stakeholders, partners organized 5 workshops for presentation of transnational benchmarking tools and 5 workshops of regional and transnational strategies, 5 open industrial heritage days and produced 6 Newsletters, communication strategy, leaflets, Story Brochure with results of the regional strategies and pilot investments. 
In addition, by collaborating for three years, the partners were able to exchange knowledge and learn from each other during all project steps. A transnational approach for the revitalization of cultural and industrial heritage was developed successfully, leading to sustainable project outcomes and valuable new opportunities in all project regions. The experience gained in the regions will contribute to sustainable results and allow for further achievements.