2nd Partners' meeting in Linz, 5-7.11.2019
2nd HealingPlaces project partners’ meeting was organised on 5th – 7th of November 2019 by Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH (BIZ UP) in Linz (AT). Almost thirty people, representatives of project partners and one associated partner, took part in three days discussions and workshops. Partners from:
Austria: Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH (BIZ UP)
Croatia: City of Krizevci (KZ, PP6) and Toplice Sveti Martin d.d. (Assicuated Partner)
Czech Republic: Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU) and Jeseniky Association of Tourism (Associated Partner)
Hungary: Hajdú-Bihar County Government (HBCG) and BORA 94 Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Development Agency Nonprofit LLC (BORA 94)
Poland: Central Mining Institute (GIG, Lead Partner) and Dolnoslaskie Region – Institute for Territorial Development (IRT)
Slovenia: DEVELOPMENT CENTRE NOVO MESTO, Counseling and Development, Ltd. (DC NM)
Italy: LAMORO Development Agency (LAMORO) and Technology Park of Pordenone SCPA were present.
Day 1 – 5th of November, 2019
The first day started at 2 pm with the registration and a short welcome by the host of the event - Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH. A brief summary of the planned meeting and the framework program was given.
After the official part, the session started. For the first afternoon – part of Environmental mapping and assessment session and Management sessions have been scheduled.
Workshop on possible synergies of existing knowledge for project realization - Implications for tool development & testing.
After that – the first thematical aspect, “Possible synergies of existing knowledge for project realization - Implications for tool development & testing” were presented by GIG team. Various existing projects with similar project focus have been identified and the further procedure for ensuring the screening and use of all relevant content has been discussed.
It has been agreed, that identified projects will be analysed in details to ensure that the important synergies have been identified.
Additionally, the database with the valuable sources identified so far was presented.
Management session:
Day 1 also included two sessions regarding Management, covering both administrative and financial issues, as well as reporting aspects.
Administrative aspects:
Project Manager – Ms Malgorzata Markowska (GIG) presented an overview of HealingPlaces status quo from the organizational and administrative point of view.
All partners have been informed about the final steps of Partnership Agreement process signing.
Details regarding the finalization of the first period and preparation of partners reports as well as 1st Joint Progress Report were presented.
Financial issues:
The prospects and processes of possible budget shifts were discussed by project Financial Manager – Mr Marek Pieszczoch (GIG).
Day 2 – 6th of November, 2019
On November 6th, Mr. Lubor Jusko from the Joint Secretary visited us for the day. After a brief introduction by BIZ UP and some brief welcome & introductory words by Mr. Jusko, the morning was dedicated to the Environmental mapping and assessment session.
The afternoon was dedicated to pilot actions.
The last item on the agenda was the Monitoring and Advisory Board meeting.
“Environmental mapping and assessment” session:
As a first topic, Mr Przemysław Malczewski (IRT ) presented the status of Methodology on national/regional investigation on SPA legal, environmental, socio-economic status. Above all, the perspective of the analysis (region, municipality, SPA) was once again discussed, as it was agreed that this can make a big difference.
As the second part, Mr Jan Blachowski (IRT) presented the Guideline for standardized acquisition of harmonized data on mineral and thermal waters.
“Sustainable SPA management – from concept to realisation. Pilot actions in project regions” session:
The afternoon of day two was dedicated to pilot actions. Each pilot action was presented and status quo, new developments + open questions were discussed.
Also the further procedure for the continuous exchange of knowledge was discussed and first ideas regarding the Expert panel for Pilot Actions Implementation were exchanged.
Afterwards the aims and deliverables to be achieved in second reporting period were reviewed by Ms Heike Kniesel (Biz Up).
Day 3 – 7th of November, 2019
The third day of the meeting started with the Steering Committee meeting.
Afterwards, BIZ UP gave a short presentation on the policy on the use of thermal water - an agreement between Upper Austria and Bavaria. Since this agreement seems to be unique in Europe, it can serve as a best practice example for HealingPlaces.
After this presentation, the Austrian and croat partners continued training from the kick off meeting. Lastly „Management strategy & guidance: integrated strategy for sustainable management of SPAs natural resources“ and communication activities were discussed.
“Training on methodology & national reports preparation regarding environmental & socio-economic impact of SPAs” - continuation
Ms Heike Kniesel from (BizU) and Ms Lucija Topic from Krizevci continued their training from the kick off meeting. The aim of this “Training on methodology & national reports preparation regarding environmental & socio-economic impact of SPAs” was to clarify the last definitions and to find common understandings of the influencing factors. The last open questions could be clarified and the common further procedure of realisation of both reports - Transnational report on comparison of most important environmental pressures & conflicts in SPAs and Report on comparison of societal awareness of threats for natural resources in SPAs project regions was defined.
„Management strategy & guidance: integrated strategy for sustainable management of SPAs natural resources“ session
In „Management strategy & guidance: integrated strategy for sustainable management of SPAs natural resources“ the first steps for preparation of common strategy was discussed. An initial idea on Joint Methodology was presented by Ms Sonia Abluton from Lamoro and a common approach for collecting best practices in targeting stakeholders was defined. Ms Sonia Abluton provided the partners with the template (grid) for Best Practices collection: these Best Practices must concern methods and/or strategies for involving stakeholders and they must be thematically linked to the sustainable use of resources.
Communication session:
Communication Manager – Ms Judit Karácsonyi from HBMO presented the status quo of work package communication. An overview of the communication activities of period 1 was given and the next steps were discussed.
Next project partner meeting was agreed for 21st – 23rd of April, 2020 in Pordenone (IT).
