Youth Adrinet project, with the active collaboration of Informest – partner in the project, has just launched selections for participating in the training course for young people living in the Province of Gorizia. The training, which will last 40 hours with 20 additional hours of coaching in September, will be managed by A.S.S.I.D. (“Association of the Students of International and Diplomatic Science”).

SETA (South East Transport Axis) financed in the SEE Transnational Cooperation Programme, was launched in spring 2011. Its focus is the improvement of railway services and transport by developing solutions and measures in the short and medium term. The northern Adriatic port cities of Monfalcone, Koper and Rijeka should come closer and faster, especially with regard to services - such as travel times; hence an action and investment plan for passenger and freight transport is being elaborated within the project.

It has been a great success the launch event of EGTG GO held on Friday 23rd of November at the conference centre of Gorizia. The event, organized by the municipality of Gorizia, Nova Gorica e Šempeter-Vrtojba The conference is part of the cycle of events organized both at the EU Commission and Committee of Regions in Bruxelles and at local level and aimed at fostering the exchange of ideas between national, regional and local authorities and citizens on the cooperation opportunities existing in the frame of the EU.

On the 15th and 16th November 2012 the kick-off meeting of the project  ID:WOOD – Clustering knowledge, Innovation and Design in the SEE WOOD sector was held in Ljubljana. The project has been financed in the framework of the South East Europe Programme. The main objective of ID:WOOD is the strengthening of  the innovation processes along the wood sector value chain by promoting new organizational models, developing technical capacities and enhancing cooperation between wood sector support organizations: clusters, wood tech centers, development agencies and academia .

The entrepreneurial mission held on the 24th and 25th of October in Novi Sad - Vojvodina (Serbia) on the occasion of the 6th event “The Energy Days”, manifestation of International level supported by the Vojvodina Autonomous Province (Serbia), Elektrovojvodina and by Novi Sad University has been a great success. The mission has been organized in the frame of the project “Renewable energies and biotechnologies between FVG and Vojvodina - ENERBIO”, funded by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region through the regional Law n. 19/2000 and resulted from the collaboration among the Pordenone Technological Pole, Informest, CBM, the Novi Sad University – Faculty of Science and Technique and Faculty of Medicine.

On the 29th of October the announcement for the ideation and setting up of the multimedia exposition about ADRIA A project and for the provision of the relative technical materials necessary for the exhibition layout has been published. The exhibition will synthesize ADRIA A project results as well as the benefits gained by the local territory through the improvement of the metropolitan connections of the cross-border area between Gorizia, Trieste and Lubiana. Download the announcement. You will find it in the “Work with us” section of Informest website.

JULIUS partnership will also be present at the 10^th edition of the Bruxelles “Open Days” as  example of best practice in territorial cooperation: this represents a great opportunity both for the project and for the Italian-Slovenian programme. On the 10^th of October the FVG Region President Tondo will inaugurate the partnership meeting which will be held in the FVG Region seat in Bruxelles. JULIUS will thus have the chance of proposing itself as a reference point for future initiatives where sport and the contact between man and nature will become a mean of integration at cross-border level thanks to an agenda rich in events and initiatives.

Guidelines on new programming period 2014-2020 stress the need for a major concentration of resources on identified priorities at regional level, representing the main socio-economic issues of European territories. In order to achieve this goal, a wide and shared vision of local needs is needed, with a deep involvement of regional stakeholders. For this reason the Friuli Venezia Giulia, with Informest technical support has launched a public consultation in order to provide with a first survey of regional system effective needs as regarding the thematic objectives proposed by the EU. The aim is to start up a process of common and shared identification of priorities for future structural funds.

In the frame of the implementation of JULIUS project, initiative funded by the Italian-Slovenian Programme and aimed at the promotion of the cultural heritage and at the joint employment of sport infrastructures in the local cross-border area,MonfalconeMunicipalityhas published a photographic competition dedicated to Julius Kugy: “Images and emotions. Mountains and Nature”. The initiative, which will be held in the frame of the week “Mountain, Nature and Culture without borders”, is aimed at promoting the territory and at fostering, through the communicative power of photography, the sport, hiking and climbing activities in the nature and the environmental, historical, cultural beauties of the mountain, hill and karst territory.

A business mission for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region entrepreneurs will be held on 24-26^th September 2012 to Podogorica (Montenegro) to support the development of the cooperation betweeen FVG and Montenegro business oranisations. For further informations see the Programme.

The ADC Trans-National Clustering ICT Platform has been finally set up. It will provide companies of the ADC area with a fundamental instrument for knowledge circulation, feeding entrepreneurial interest for new business opportunities and developing new, collaborative models addressed to transnational Clusters development. Cluster cooperation network have been developed in 4 strategic ADC sectors: Modern Housing Agro Food Mechatronics and Logistics. ADC project, that ended on March 2012, has involved more than 80 between public entities, compagnie, cluster and regional development signing 4 transnational agreements for the creation of new cooperation network in SEE area.

It was published on BUR - Official Gazette of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia March 7, 2012 the Notice of the submission of funding applications for Targeted Projects Able  to Support the International Promotion and Internationalization of SMEs and ASDIs. Downloadable: Notice, Annex A and Annex B.

On Tuesday, the 13th of March 2012 the renewal of the memorandum of understanding between the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina has been signed by the FVG President Renzo Tondo and the President of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina Bojan Pajtic. It has been thus confirmed both the collaboration actually under way in several sectors and the opening of new possibilities of collaboration in several fields, as for example archaeology and health services, particularly concerning mental illnesses, where Friuli Venezia Giulia has developed a deep experience.

In 2011 important objectives have been achieved in the frame of ADC (Adriatic Danubian Clustering) project: from May until October three strategic agreements have been signed, aimed at the development and strengthening of clusters in the 3 sectors of food-farming , mecatronics and modern housing, which have been identified during project implementation as the main promoters of development in the SEE area.

The agreements have been signed on the occasion of partnership meetings by 70 among clusters, enterprises, research centres, public bodies and local development agencies and thus represent a fundamental step forward toward the institution of efficient networks in the sectors identified. 

In October 2011 was launched the project «ADRIA3 - Strengthening and developing of the cooperation with the countries of the Eastern Region of the Adriatic», funded by the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia Law n.19/2000 and implemented by Informest. The project is characterized by activities along three distinct actions that have as common denominator the capacity of economic actors and institutions to develop policies for the territory based on principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability.

The lines of action are:

LINE 1: Protection of biodiversity between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Istria: preservation and enhancement of "Pannonian-Mediterranean" bee ecotype;

LINE2 : Internationalisation – Development of economic cooperation between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Montenegro;

LINE 3: Social enterprise: inclusion of the disables in the labor market in Albania.

The duration of the project is 18 months.

Project website: http://www.adria3.eu/

On  November 29^th and 30^th will be held in Antwerp the TEN-T Days 2011. The Conference "Connecting Europe: putting Europe's economy on the move" organized by the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission, will provide an opportunity for a broad discussion and evaluation of recent decisions made in Brussels last October in terms of updating and integration of guidelines for the development of EU infrastructures as well as the choices to be made in terms of financial instruments to be mobilized.

During the Conference, on 29^th November will also take place the 7^th Annual Meeting of the Ministries of the SEETO (South East Europe Transport Observatory) comprehensive network .

It will be held from 30^th of November to 2^nd of December 2 at the Best Western Hotel in Gorizia, Corso Italia, 63, the course "Easy financing tools: opportunities for business development" aimed at entrepreneurs, managers, accountants and auditors .
Participation is free.

The call for request of financing reserved to private and public entities whose registered office is situated within the territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region was open 29^th June till 19^th September 2011. The evaluation team discussed on 26^th September the evaluation of the projects presented under the Communitarian calls for proposals managed by the European Commission.

The list of awarded projects are available here http://www.progetta.fvg.it/

Negotiations between the French-Italian partnership and the Liason Office of the European Commission about the Twinning Project "Institutional Support to the Ministry of Environment and Spacial Planning (MESP)" are finally coming to an end. The Twinning Contract signature, which will mark the beginning of project activities with Informest engaged as mandated body of the LP (ARPAV), is foreseen for the end of October. It is a project of high strategic value aimed at conforming legislative and environmental standards of Kosovo to those of European Member states. This will be done thanks to the support of specialized European agencies that will offer their experience in environmental themes, water and waste management and territorial planning.

From October 1^st 2011 starts the second phase of the FIT4SMEs Project. It is the further step of a 24-months programme developed by Informest and co-financed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region (Italy) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) through its Know-How Exchange Programme (KEP). The objective is to strengthen skills and improve capacities of participating business support organisations (BSOs) from non-EU CEI member states in the field of financial instruments made available by international financial institutions (IFIs) to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in order to provide technical assistance to a pilot group of selected SMEs in each recipient country to facilitate their access to international financial schemes for investments.

The Project "Financial facilities for SMEs: training and capacity building for Business Support Organisations in non-EU member states of the Central European Initiative - FIT4SMEs" has started at the beginning of February 2011, aiming at training staff of selected business intermediary organisations in the area of SMEs-dedicated financial instruments made available by international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank Group, or the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Project is implemented by INFORMEST, Development Agency for Economic Cooperation based in Gorizia (Italy), and financed by the Central European Initiative (CEI) through its Know Exchange Programme (KEP) and by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy).

In late December 2010 the project "Active OER, Observatory on real economies of Central and Eastern relevant to the Friuli Venezia Giulia" terminated with the publication of a final report. INFORMEST oversaw the implementation of this initiative, planned by the Regional Law 19/2004. The Crisis Observatory's website (www.osservatoriocrisi.it) that recorded between april and december about a thousand contacts, provides a documentation archive, analysis and country-reports that constitute a economic-historical guide of the crisis in Eastern Europe. Moreover documents and analysis presented at meetings held with businesses and their associations between April and September in Gorizia, Pordenone, Trieste and Udine are made available.

Within the project BioEnergy, from 4^th to 7^th October last was held the Mission of the Republic of Moldova in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The Moldovan delegation, composed by representatives of national and local institutions and of scientific and academic areas, has had meetings with Regional Authorities and the Presidency of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Udine. The Moldovan delegation has also carried out a Study Tour at some farms already using electricity from renewable sources for self-consumption, during which was submitted their application of the technologies used.

The new deadline for registration and delivery of the materials is 26^th November 2010, 1 p.m. The competition foresees the development of an Urban Project referring to the area currently owned by the Company for Health Services n. 2 Isontina, preparatory to a redesign and reorganization process of the Gorizia's former Civil Hospital and recovery of the existing park. For further information visit www.spaziogiovanigorizia.eu.

On last Sept. 24^th, the week of Innovation, Science and Technological Research promoted by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and coordinated by Informest in cooperation with AREA Science Park and CBM, has reached the end. The rich programme, spread over four full working days, allowed for confrontation and exchange of experiences between the two regional systems of R&D of FVG and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in some of the most promising fields of bilateral scientific cooperation: energy, ICT and biotechnology.

Italian-Moldova BioEnergy project, financed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region aims to verify the economic feasibility and logistics of agro-energy, with particular attention to the implementation of a biodiesel chain linking the two areas. Focus is on supporting the Moldovan agro-industrial development, aiming at satisfying the energy needs at local level through the use of bio-energy, and, thanks to the strong tradition in the cultivation of protein-oil crops, and with the necessary technology, to produce energy directly from renewable sources for both local consumption and for sale to third parties, and the possibility of crops supply to some plants from Friuli Venezia Giulia producing bio-fuels from imported raw material.

The Project foresees a number of missions, the first of which has already been completed last July with as follow up (in August) a technical seminar hold in Chisinau by FVG Regional Administration officer and Udine University lecturer to Moldovan Public Administration officers, farmers and agro-entrepreneurs. In October a group of Moldovan entrepreneurs will be in Friuli Venezia Giulia region meeting the local counterpart, while by-middle November 2010 in Chisinau should be held the project Final Conference with the presence of a delegation of Italian entrepreneurs.

It has been published the call for ideas for the renovation of former Civil Hospital of Gorizia in the framework of the project "Spazio giovani alla frontiera" .
The competition is is open-ended and anonymous. The competition foreseens the d evelopment of an Urban Project referring to the area currently owned by the Company for Health Services n. 2 Isontina, preparatory to a redesign and reorganization process of the Gorizia's former Civil Hospital and recovery of the existing park. For further information visit www.spaziogiovanigorizia.eu.

To increase the competitiveness of the cross-border territory enhancing the cooperation among Italian and Slovene companies. This is, in short, the strategical objective of the project iCon, co-financed by the European Programme for territorial cooperation Italy-Slovenia. Fourteen partners, seven from Italy and seven from Slovenia, representing the main organizations that give support to local enterprises in the cross-border area, are going to work jointly for three years in order to achieve this vital objective for the economic growth of our territory.

Within the SEENET Programme, CeSPI has issued a call for the selection of 7 researchers from public and private research institutes from South-East European countries on policy patterns of local and governance development, and decentralized and international cooperation. The deadline to submit the application is the 28th of May, 2010.

In the last years a large number of military brownfields has been dismantled because of changes in the security and defence policies. Most part of these sites is easily accessible, often located in the city-centre and even well connected through modern infrastructure. Therefore the rehabilitation of military brownfields in proximity of densely populated areas is an important issue for local authorities and an opportunity for private investors. As a matter of fact, by recovering military brownfields, greenfields are preserved, the sustainable urban, economic and social development is supported and public owners can profit from the rehabilitation.

Gorizia and Isonzo area are in the middle of cross border development dynamics for the EU programming period 2007-2013, since the area is eligible in 8 EU cooperation programmes. This high concentration of funds requires the development of technical skills, whose lack is still visible even today. Training patterns addressed to Eu Project Managers are still insufficient and often weak and not job-oriented, even if the demand is increasing and job opportunities very high.

In this framework, Informest, on the basis of its long standing experience on fund raising and human capital development, is proposing a training course aimed to the increase of knowledge about the access and use of EU funds.

The second call of the initiative "Friuli Venezia Giulia Progetta!", promoted by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia to stimulate local organizations, public bodies and enterprises to participate to European grants, has been launched. Informest manages the on-line platform www.progetta.fvg.it of the initiative and the help desk to support the applicants. Requests for funding may be sent through the web site only. 

A meeting among the representatives of Informest, Area Science Park and the Centre for Molecular Biology, signed the start of the project "Innoweek", the week of Innovation, Science and Technology, a project financed by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and coordinated by Informest, whose aim is to represent in a serie of events and meetings in Vojvodina's main city, the Friuli Venezia Giulia 's regional system of scientific research, innovation and technological development. 

Informest has promoted the international cooperation project PRO.COOP in collaboration with ICE and with the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, LegaCoop FVG and Confcoop FVG as project partners. Financed by the Law n. 84/2001, the project aimed at sustaining and fostering the Italian cooperative system in the Balkan countries. It thus strengthened the Italian institutional and economic relations with the cooperatives associations in Croatia, Bulgaria and Montenegro, providing assistance and training in the fields of legislative reforms, fiscal systems and civil economy. The project proposed the EU Regulation on the European Cooperative Company and the Italian best-practices as models for the Balkan cooperatives in their harmonization process towards the European standards.