DIGITAL REGIONS first stakeholders meeting in Varna

The stakeholder meeting took place on 17 January 2020 at the Art Salon of Radio Varna in Varna. It gathered together over 20 participants from project management groups, media, universities, experts and business development specialists from Varna.

The meeting was aimed to introduce the Interreg Europe DIGITAL REGIONS project and discuss how to involve the stakeholders in the project.

The meeting began with a presentation of the interregional cooperation programme INTERREG EUROPE 2014-2020 and how it contributes to the development of regions and improving people's lives.

Mrs. Silvia Stumpf from Business Agency Association introduced the project objectives, planned results and expectations towards the involvement of stakeholders and their role in the project.

The project was presented from the perspective of the concrete benefits for the regional economy and the future of the city. Who are the project partners and how can the region benefit from their expertise so that innovation policies are best adapted to support smart specialization in the manufacturing sector as a result of the emergence of industry 4.0

Everybody agreed that there needs to be teamwork between local governments and policymakers, universities, businesses and business promotion organizations to have success.

Implementing a map of regional competencies and 4.0 capacities in the region, initiatives and ecosystems were the main topics. All stakeholders were involved in a discussion of the region`s SWOT analyses. Further steps for impact were discussed.

During the meeting, main good practices on innovations were presented, and participants discussed their eligibility under the project. Mrs. Stumpf introduces a methodology of the performed regional macro analysis and the project’s questionnaire which was discussed.

The meeting ended with a summary of the next steps and tasks of the local stakeholders and an open discussion about the presented topics and good practices according to the regional policies adopting Industry 4.0 for their Digital Transformation.