On 21 January 2022, the first partner meeting was held for the newly approved PoWER PLUS project from the ADRION Programme, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the amount of EUR 168,683.00. This project is a continuation of the previous PoWER project and concerns scenario forecasting for port areas after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. The duration of the project is 6 months, starting from 1 January to 30 June 2022.
The project partners are:
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione (project holder), Milan
- Confederazione Nazionale dell’Artigianato e della piccola e media impresa – Associazione territoriale di Ravenna
- Rijeka Development Agency Porin d.o.o., Rijeka
- Center for Economic, Technological and Environmental Development Sarajevo
- Fund ‘European Affairs’ of AP Vojvodina, Novi Sad
- Instituti per Bashkepunm dhe Zhvillim, Tirana
- ΕΘΝΙΚΟ ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΧΝΟΛΟΓΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗΣ, Thessaloniki
- ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΗΡΙΟ ΘΕΣΠΡΩΤΙΑΣ, Igumenitza
The PoWER PLUS project aims to carry out a foresight process in order to detect 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. The results of these processes will be used to update and, therefore, improve the main results produced by the former PoWER project, i.e. the PoWER methodology for building the innovation supply chain, the PoWER strategy for port development into innovation hubs and powerports ICT platforms. eu.
Activity T1.1 – Prediction and scenario development
The project partners of the former PoWER project will work in pairs (CNR-CNA, RDA Porin-CDI-CETEOR, FEP, CERTH-CCI) that will be formed according to their potential common strategic trends (also based on their geographical proximity and the typologies of the ports they deal with).
The first phase of implementation is dedicated to collecting experts' opinions on possible future scenarios related to port areas included in the project, also in view of the wider situation and trends in the Adriatic-Ionian area.
Each partner will invite 5 port local experts from heterogeneous areas of expertise to give their opinion using a dedicated template – questionnaire
This will help as a tool to organise local workshops where experts will be invited to present weaknesses/necessary updates/further recommendations of the Methodology and Strategy based on the scenarios developed.
Foresight questionnaires will be administered to the general public and collected to build a dedicated database in the ICT platform. The ICT platform will also be enhanced by an updated GIS section with new scenarios-related layers both with the EU and national (where available) recovery and resilience plans.
Activity T1.2 – Improving the post-Covid PoWER methodology and strategy19
A workshop will be organised at local level, focusing on the strengths/weaknesses of the PoWER methodology and strategy in light of the (T1) scenario, in the context of the social and economic crisis of COVID-19.
The Foresight for Territorial Cooperation event will be organised and broadcast live.
An appendix to each methodology and strategy will be developed with the results of the workshops and the proposed guidelines.
PPs will also carry out a search on the EU and/or national recovery/resilience plans for guidelines related to the port economy and future development.
Activity T1.3 – Improving the PoWER ICT platform
The aim is to improve the existing ICT platform in terms of:
a) embedding features to make content accessible to people with special needs
b) The GIS section will be enriched with layers related to developed local scenarios, as well as content related to the EU Regulation (2021/241) for the establishment of recovery and resilience cases, as well as the "National Recovery Plans" where it is applicable
c) creating an open database in which all prediction questionnaires will be available (anonymously).
The partners have agreed on terms in which they will carry out all the planned activities as set out above.
