sm@rt-region

Knowledge and Information Managers

The INTERREG III B CADSES project “sm@rt region” aims at developing a new model supporting intra- and interregional co-operation and joint project development, called KIM model. KIM is an abbreviation for Knowledge and Information Manager who should be installed in 4 participating regions (Thuringia, Slovenia, South Transdanubia and Presov).

The results of the activities of KIMs have to be transferred to the other project partners with a special focus on the partners from the non-EU-member states. They should be involved permanently into the development of the model which has to answer also their needs.

Who can be a KIM?

The criteria for KIMs can be summarized as follows:

Previous experience in project development and project management
Good established contacts within the home region and to national contact points, preferably also to interregional actors and networks
Wide knowledge of the home region (needs, interesting topics, capacities, possibilities, weaknesses, resources etc.)
Good language skills (fluent in English is required)

Tasks of the KIMs

The KIMs who could be described as “Networkers for a Joint Europe” have the following tasks:

To provide information on themes of regional development, existing regional, national, EU and international projects, actors and decision-making processes in these fields
To inform on existing networking activities, to detect future cooperation potentials for regional institutions and SME and to initiate new cooperation projects to foster intra-and inter-regional networking
To be informed on actual calls for proposals on the regional, national and EU level, to know about EU funds and other international funds available for project funding
To consider the demands of regional SME and public institutions concerning provision of knowledge and information on regional development issues
To be in close contact with the KIMs in the other regions to foster networking with them

KIMs at work – results of the first three months

The KIMs began to work on 1 August 2006 and achieved very good results during the first 3 months of their operation. They have initiated more than 40 projects and submitted proposal for national as well as international calls, too. In order to check the needs and potentials of their own region and of the institutions and SME they organised several co-operation meetings and workshops, and participated in several seminars, conferences and other events. Especially the KIMs from Germany and Slovenia have been active in this field. The contacts to the local/regional actors are contained in a database, too, that is filled in now on national level, but till the end of the project all contacts should be included in one “ Database of actors with interregional co-operation potentials”.

Furthermore, the KIMs are in permanent contact with each other and meet regularly to exchange experience, look for co-operation possibilities and discuss the implementation of the project sm@rt region.