Blue Green City project partner meeting held in Sweden

Based on the partnership activities within the second phase of the implementation of the Blue Green City project (Interreg Europe), the Rijeka Development Agency Porin d.o.o. participated in a partnership meeting held with partners in Växjö, Sweden, from 14 to 15 June 2022.

The meeting was hosted by the partner City of Växjö, whose representatives presented the region and the city to the partners and organized a tour of the city administration, which forms a sustainable building in the city center, which also includes a train station. A new approach to organizing the premises of a building in which there are no classic offices, but common rooms with IT units that employees use for their work. The building is built of natural materials, wood and metal construction and glass, energy efficient.

On the agenda of the meeting, the partners presented the current state of implementation of their Action Plans, so Doris Sošić, project manager of the partner of the Rijeka Development Agency Porin d.o.o., presented the implemented activities of the Action Plan in the territory of the City of Rijeka.   

Considering that the final conference of the project is planned in Ingolstadt, Germany, the partners have agreed on the date of the same, and for October this year. A Steering Committee meeting was also held.

On the second day of the partnership meeting, the host organised a study trip and a visit to the Bee paradise & Bokhultet Nature Reserve, and Bergsnäs bay – nature parks and a new location to build a hospital.

[PoWER PLUS] Foresight for territorial cooperation

As part of the PoWER PLUS project, 10 June 2022. Institute for Cooperation and Development from Tirana (Albania) together with its partners CETEOR (Sarajevo, BiH) and Rijeka Development Agency Porin (Rijeka, Croatia) organized in online regional format webinar on "Predictability of territorial cooperation".

From March to April, the PoWER PLUS project engaged a group of experts from various fields related to port activities who responded to a structured questionnaire and gave their opinion and views on the possible future of Adriatic-Ionian ports in the middle to long term in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak and the related economic crisis.

After carefully analysing their contributions, the project partners brought together these experts around joint regional working tables to compare and build on each other’s visions and to discuss these ‘future scenarios’ and in their light, so that the methodology and strategy of PoWER for developing ports into innovation hubs could be improved. The results of this regional workshop were distributed to the general public and interested stakeholders at the Foresight for Territorial Cooperation (FCT) event. This online event was organized with the specific aim of raising awareness among potential beneficiaries and stakeholders about the role of European Territorial Cooperation and promoting the practical use, relevance and transferability of project results.

Webinar started with the welcoming words of Ms Krisela Hackaj, Executive Director of the Institute for Cooperation and Development, who highlighted the main achievements of the PoWER and PoWER PLUS projects. Ms. Hackaj highlighted the role of experts in conveying experiences, expertise and attitudes in the foresight process, especially in the context of the wider situation and trends in the Adriatic-Ionian area.

The event was then welcomed by Mr Marko Opančar, Acting Head of Service for Transnational and Interregional Cooperation and Sector for Macro-regional Strategies for the Coordination of European Territorial Cooperation Programmes and Macro-regional Strategies, Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. Mr Opančar stressed the importance of a Territorial Cooperation Programme such as ADRION, and briefly highlighted the new Interreg IPA ADRION programme for 2021-2027, its selected policy objectives, specific objectives and funding opportunities.

Before she went to the panel discussion, Mrs. Serena Kovači, responsible for the Project Coordination Sector, shared the main results of the workshop that took place on the same day. Ms Kovači focused on forecast scenarios related to the port environment following the Covid-19 outbreak and the ensuing economic crisis, as suggested by experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

The panel on “Adriatic-Ionian ports after Covid-19 and the economic crisis 25-30 years from now” started with the intervention of Ms Florens Haxhi, Head of Business Development of the Albanian Investment Corporation (CDI), who explained the national measures expected from the Albanian government regarding energy efficiency practices. Ms Haxhi also focuses on the Blue Economy programme, which, in addition to being a new driver of inclusive development, job creation and economic diversification, will also lead to a better contribution to wastewater pollution and nutrients.

Mr Mladen Rogić, CETEOR then focused on the practice of energy efficiency in the port of Brcko and how connections with the hinterland, apart from infrastructure, play an absolute leading role in international trade policy.

On the other hand, mrs. Dragica Franulović from the Port of Rijeka and mrs. Nataša Zrilić from the City of Rijeka also explained the energy efficiency practices in the area of the port of Rijeka, focusing on the relationship between the port and the city including the social responsibility that the port of Rijeka has towards the citizens, given that the port is close to the city. Both Mrs. Franulović and Mrs. Zrilić also focused on the effects of the pandemic on the work of the port of Rijeka.

In the end, mrs. Inva Nela, Project Manager, CDI Albania, concluded the webinar highlighting some of the main findings such as the digitalisation of port service activities and operations; the introduction of the concept of smart port and smart management; addressing current challenges such as environmental or climate change; Investing in sustainable ports to face unexpected challenges, such as Covid-19. Ms Nela added that these findings would be used to update the PoWER methodology and strategy.

This Foresight for Territorial Cooperation event was the final step of the scenario forecasting carried out as part of the PoWER PLUS project and aimed at detecting the main problems that could affect the Adriatic-Ionian ports in the short and medium term in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak and the related economic crisis, thus providing further support to local administrations in decision-making processes.

Video-streaming Events can be found here.

  • AGENDA  events;
  • PoWER Methodology a summary description;
  • PoWER Strategy a summary description.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

PoWER PLUS is a 6-month accompanying project financed by INTERREG V-B Adriatic-Ionian ADRION program from the European Regional Development Fund and IPA II Fund. It is particularly dedicated to improving the results produced by the previous project, the PoWER project, supported by the same program.

More can be found at the following links: https://power.adrioninterreg.eu/ i http://www.powerports.eu/

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Safecity application presented in Rijeka

Today, 19.5.2022., the application was presented in the Rijeka Development Agency PORIN Safecity.

Safecity was created in India in 2012 to collect data on street harassment. Since 2012, over 35,000 reports have been collected from all over India, Kenya, Romania, the United States and other countries. 

The application was presented by the representatives of the initiative “Let's uncover hidden harassment” led by Dunja Bonacci Skenderović, which works on the Croatian translation of the application and adapts the application for our area.

Representatives of the “Discover Hidden Harassment” initiative led by Dunja Bonacci Skenderović, Director of RRA PORIN Dario Zorić, Assoc. prof. dr. sc. Dalida Rittossa and dr. sc. Dejana Golenko.

At the beginning of the presentation, the audience was addressed by the director of the Rijeka Development Agency PORIN Dario Zoric and Assoc. prof. dr. sc. Dalida Rittossa Project promoter Living in the COVID-19 era the Lifelong Learning Programme Community law at the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka.

Dario Zorić, Director of RRA PORIN
Assoc. prof. dr. sc. Dalida Rittossa

“The application allows women to share experiences, but also gives us the opportunity to better plan the safety of our urban environments. Bravo Safecity Croatia !”

SOS Rijeka - Centre for Nonviolence and Human Rights

It presents what the app has achieved in the world so far and tells some of the stories from the app that triggered the change.

The aim of the application is to detect the factors that cause behavior that leads to violence, and work towards creating safer spaces.

The entire process of how to anonymously report an incident is also presented, as well as the Security Tips option.

A discussion was also initiated in which representatives also participated. the PaRiter Association i SOS Rijeka – Centre for Nonviolence and Human Rights and assoc. prof. dr. sc. Dalida Rittossa and dr. sc. Dejana Golenko. It is suggested how to improve the application or how to further adapt it to our area.

Collaboration of participants will continue to achieve the goal of this application! follow Safecity Croatia to find out all the news!

Presentation of the Safecity app

Initiative “Let's uncover hidden harassment” Invites you to present the Croatian translation Safecity applications. 

Safecity was created in India in 2012 to collect data on street harassment. Since 2012, over 35,000 reports have been collected from all over India, Kenya, Romania, the United States and other countries. 

InitiativeLet’s expose hidden harassment” brings together individuals whose aim is to highlight the less noticeable forms of violence that people are exposed to on a daily basis in public spaces and to make cities safer from hidden harassment.

The idea is with the help of data, which is collected anonymously through crowdsourcing, enable citizens, communities and local government to identify the factors that cause behaviour leading to violence, and work towards safer spaces. Data collected through the Safecity app is not a substitute for actual crime numbers. We want to understand the gap between reported and unreported violence, and point out the large number of hidden forms of harassment around us. 

The presentation of the Croatian version will take place in Thursday 19 May 2022. the Year at 11 a.m. in the Rijeka Development Agency PORIN d.o.o., Production Park Torpedo, 1st floor, conference hall, Milutina Barača 60, Rijeka.

The presentation was organised in cooperation with the Lifelong Learning Programme Right in the Community, HRRZ project Living in the COVID-19 era and the European Documentation Centre Rijeka.

The application will be presented by Bonacci Ltd.

The presentation will be in Croatian and English, but translation is not provided.

We look forward to your arrival!