Project; ongoing

EUSDR Priority Area(s): PA 7 Knowledge Society

The main objective is to harmonise the implementation of the European missions on the Danube Region level.

We observe significant disparities in the level of understanding, setup, and implementation of the European missions among European regions.

Within the proposed project, we aim to minimise these disparities in Missions 1 and 4 and help set up an effective Missions governing model on the Danube Region level and thus reinforce the position of the Danube Region in the implementation of the EU environment.

Objectives:

SO1 – Danube Region governance model for Climate oriented EU Missions

The project will introduce a new governance model for the European Missions based on the Danube Region countries’ specific needs to become an important element of the European Missions-oriented ecosystem. The established Steering Committee and Advisory Groups will contribute to linking relevant actors from different levels oriented towards the climate-oriented areas of the EU Missions.

SO2 – Danube Region transnational cooperation for Climate oriented EU Missions

The project will facilitate transnational cooperation between EU Missions’ national and regional authorities to identify and share good practices and raise participation in the EU Missions in general.

Under this Specific Objective 2, three platforms united under one website dedicated to EU Missions in the Danube Region will be established to share best practices in the Region on EU climate missions. The platforms will also offer the possibility to more efficiently and easily find partners in consortia for projects dedicated to areas 1 (Adaptation to Climate Change) and 4 (100 Climate-neutral Cities by 2030) of the EU Mission.

Platforms:

• SHARED platform: a platform for sharing lessons learned at the regional level and best practices in the Climate oriented EU Missions
• EMO platform: European Mission Observatory platform – the EMO platform will continuously provide up-to-date information on current EU Missions, open project calls, events, and relevant legislative changes.
• CCC platform: a platform for sharing best practices toward Climate City Contract

SO3 – Danube Region interactions for Climate oriented EU Missions

SO3 aims to raise awareness of EU Missions, to inform the widest possible audience of stakeholders by communicating and disseminating campaigns, and to involve citizens in the Missions’ implementation.

The activities are focused on capacity building, facilitating networking, and formation of partnerships for setting up project consortia for future applications in the Horizon Europe Missions calls for proposals.

Need and (expected) impact: The HARMONMISSIONS project is intended by its activities to be the beginning of setting up cooperation between the countries in the Danube Region in the field of Climate-oriented EU Missions.

Macro-regional dimension: In the Danube Region, we find that many areas are considerably affected by environmental threats. The planned economy of the past socialist regime preferred economic production in heavy industry, which greatly damaged the environment. The consequences can still be seen today. These are significant not only directly for the environment but also for the health of the population in the Region.

EU Missions themes represent the current challenges of 21st-century society. They are topical, but it can be assumed that their importance will continuously increase over time. They, therefore, need to be addressed now to leave a better and healthier Europe for future generations.

In the Danube Region, the need to be actively involved in EU mission projects is all the greater than in other EU regions, which makes the need to address these challenges more pressing. The project activities will focus on missions 1 (“Climate change”) and 4 (“Cities”). These two missions directly address climate issues and acknowledge a special position for regions and municipalities in tackling these topics. As the countries of the Danube Region are considerably affected in these areas, according to Eurostat, the project intends to create an organisational structure for cooperation in these missions.

Overall, 11 PPs from 9 Danube Region countries will be involved in the project (Slovakia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine).

Stakeholders involved: An important goal of the project is to engage various stakeholders from national, regional, and local public authorities, sectoral agencies, infrastructure, and (public) service providers, higher education and research organisations, and the general public.

Many of these stakeholders will be directly involved in HARMONMISSIONS as project or associated partners.

With others, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed to enhance cooperation.

Budget and Funding: EUR 1 717 141 (80% funded by ERDF)

Further information:

https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/harmonmissions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonmissions/about/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561643782221

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbJMa5SC3TIs-7QD8esrzrg

Contact: Mr Matej Smrek, Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information,