The event featured two insightful roundtable discussions. The first, moderated by Gabor Balas, Director of HÉTFA, included experts such as Rachel Lancry Beaumont from the European Committee of the Regions, Chrysoula Latopoulou from the European Court of Auditors, and Oto Potluka from the European Evaluation Society. They discussed the differences and similarities between ESIF and RRF from an EU institution perspective.

The second roundtable, moderated by Lena Tsipouri, featured Elena-Alexandra Calistru from the European Economic and Social Committee, Nikos Maroulis from Technopolis Group, Sonja Haertel from Berlin’s Liaison Office to the EU, and Jaroslav Dvorak from Klaipeda University. Each panelist offered unique perspectives on the policy instruments from a beneficiary-level perspective, focusing on both businesses and regions.

The event was an official side event of the European Week of Regions and Cities, lending it greater significance and attracting a diverse audience interested in regional development and EU policy. The event was organised as a part of the PROFEEDBACK (PlatfoRm OF policy Evaluation community for improvED EU policies and Better ACKnowledgement) COST Action led by HÉTFA.

In conclusion, HÉTFA’s policy event provided valuable insights into RRF and ESIF, contributing to the ongoing discussion on EU development policies. The discussion on ESIF and RRF shall help identify the challenges and bottlenecks that may arise during the implementation design of these funds. Lessons learned from both programmes can offer innovative solutions and recommendations to overcome these obstacles and ensure smooth fund utilisation. New and innovative approaches, strategies, and models to tackle emerging challenges can be identified.

More info about the event is available on the European Week of Regions and Cities: https://regions-and-cities.europa.eu/programme/2023/side-events/7839

More info about the PROFEEDBACK COST Action is available on the project website: https://profeedback.eu/

The RM Roadmap project – funded under Horizon Europe – aims to support the strengthening of an inclusive research management community in Europe. As a member of the consortium, HÉTFA is responsible for leading the work package on Intelligence aiming to gather and assess the current state of the art and gaps in the field of research management.

The RM ROADMAP project now connects existing European networks on a smart community platform (Knowledge and Community Platform) which will enable an unprecedented co-creation process and discussion on research management. These discussions will be organized into dedicated groups for each country, led by the national RM Roadmap Ambassador. The first online session will commence on 2 October 2023 and will conclude on 13 October 2023. The topic of the session is ‘Understand the landscape – national networks and associations’. Following these discussions, RM Roadmap Ambassadors will compile country-specific consensus documents. Subsequently, national research management communities will vote on these documents, and the insights will inform both the European Commission and European research management.

This initiative involves diverse research management professionals collaborating with researchers to enhance research quality. The active participation of RMs from various backgrounds ensures diverse perspectives enrich the project, benefiting the broader Research and Innovation (R&I) system in Europe.

You can already register to the online platform which enables you to take part in the co-creation. Please consult the co-creation session guides and FAQs here.

Watch the Knowledge and Community Platform demonstration video.

From August 28^th to September 1^st, 2023, András participated in the 62^nd ERSA Conference held in Alicante, Spain. During this event, he delivered a presentation titled “Pandemic and Infodemic Diffusion – Spatiotemporal Patterns of Coronavirus Spread and Pandemic-Related Information in Europe“. In this presentation, András explored the spatiotemporal pattern of the two phenomena – the COVID-19 pandemic and the infodemic related to it in Europe. Our colleague presented relations between these two diffusion processes and geographical factors that may have influenced them. While during the first wave, the Western and Southern European metropolitan areas (those most connected to international networks) were most affected by the Coronavirus, in the later waves, other regions (East-Central European, semi-peripheral, badly governed regions with unfavourable socio-economic situation) affected mainly by the pandemic. Part of the reason for this change may have been the spread of information about the COVID-19. In the first wave, information spread faster than the virus itself. This allowed more time for preparation in the East-Central European countries and have helped to mitigate the effects of the first wave.

From 4^th to 7^th September 2023, our colleague participated in 9^th EUGEO Conference in Barcelona, Spain. In his presentation entitled “The role of information diffusion in the control of COVID-19 pandemic”, András presented that the spread of information about the pandemic was less important after spring 2020, in the later waves. It was characterised by smaller spikes and probably did not play as important a role in the control of the pandemic as it did during the first wave. However, the spread of vaccination may have been facilitated by the spread of information about it, which indirectly contributed to the success of the control of the pandemic.

The two abstracts of our colleague are available here:

https://az659834.vo.msecnd.net/eventsairwesteuprod/production-ersa-public/0c42542f56fa44a4b2e9c2821112ae48 (page 379)

https://www.eugeobcn23.eu/1258-553-the-role-of-information-diffusion-in-the-control-of-covid-19-pandemic-andras-igari/

Our new projects include:

• 2 projects funded by Horizon Europe
• 2 projects under Erasmus+
• 1 project under Creative Europe
• 2 projects under International Visegrad Fund
• 1 ESPON tender

Among the eight new projects, HÉTFA leads three projects as a consortium leader and participates as a partner in six projects.

More information on HÉTFA’s new projects:

• ST(R)E(A)M IT: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/hetfa-leads-the-stream-it-horizon-europe-project-as-consortium-leader/
• V4+WB Network of Research Managers and Administrators Plus: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/v4wb-network-of-research-managers-and-administrators-plus-new-project-led-by-hetfa/
• ESPON EGTC: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/hetfa-research-institutes-proposal-wins-espon-egtc-international-tender/
• ESIRA: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/hetfa-partners-in-esira-a-new-project-selected-for-support-under-horizon-europe/
• Net0Manager: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/hetfa-partners-in-net0manager-a-new-project-selected-for-support-under-erasmus/
• PRODUCTION³: https://hetfa.eu/2023/09/hetfas-creative-industries-lab-wins-a-creative-europe-project/

For any inquiries, please feel free to reach out to us at internationaloffice@hetfa.hu.

The winning project, PRODUCTION³, falls under the category of Creative Europe European Cooperation Projects. HÉTFA collaborates with Valley of Arts (Hungary), Artemrede (Portugal), and Artlink (Serbia) to bring this project to fruition.

At the heart of the PRODUCTION³ project is the focus on audience development. It aims to adapt to changes in audience behavior and expectations by redefining how different stakeholders of the creative value chain interact. The ultimate goal is to foster innovation in reaching out to participants, fans and patrons. The name PRODUCTION³ comes from the project’s three main target groups: art production creators, art production hosts, and art production end-users, represented as P³.

To achieve its objectives, the project plans to experiment with new collaboration models among various players in the creative value chain. It explores audience-centric approaches to production across diverse contexts and facilitate the exchange of expertise in audience engagement among participating countries. Throughout these endeavors, the project is supported by thorough research and evaluation – led by HÉTFA, which yield valuable and sustainable outcomes for the broader Cultural and Creative Sector.

HÉTFA holds a pivotal role in the research aspect of the project. Through impact evaluation and in-depth studies, HÉTFA contributes to the better understanding new audience demands, as well as to the testing and development of innovative audience development methods in collaboration with project partners.

The main goal of the Net0Manager project is to improve the skills and competences of EU managers on carbon management, innovating their mindset concerning Net0 approaches and strategies to be adopted within enterprises. The project aims to up-skill VET trainers and managers in carbon literacy training through new approaches and tools. The ultimate goal is to strengthen managers’ commitment to reach the conditions of a Net 0 enterprise and to contribute to UN SDG by creating shared value.

HÉTFA’s participation in the project showcases our expanded portfolio within the Erasmus+ funding programme. This project’s thematic focus on enhancing carbon management aligns well with HÉTFA’s expertise and demonstrates our commitment to advancing the skills and competencies of EU managers.

Partners will co-create a shared competence map and training path to define Net0Managers’ competences. An online training platform will be developed, which will host open educational resources and training content to develop the main skills needed for a Net0 SME of tomorrow. A training methodology, describing how to implement Net0Managers results will be created for VET trainers together with a set of policy recommendations for stakeholders of the VET system.

Under the lead of Training2000 psc. (Italy), the partnership consists of HETFA Research Institute Ltd. (Hungary), Innogestiona Ambiental sl. (Spain), European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME (Belgium), Sunrise Valley Science and Technology Park (Lithuania), Gebze Technical University (Türkiye).

HÉTFA is one of the partner organisations in the ESIRA project. The new project expands HÉTFA’s Horizon Europe portfolio, representing a further important step in building international research community with our experts’ participation.

ESIRA aims to support innovation and grassroots community building in marginalised rural communities. Over the course of the four-year project, consortium members will monitor, research and facilitate innovation spaces created and led by rural communities, as well as support the implementation of social economic initiatives that strengthen the empowerment and improvement of living conditions of different vulnerable groups of the population, through improved (social) services, economic diversification and sustainable management of natural capital.

The core of ESIRA’s accomplishment lies within its collaborative network. The project unites a diverse consortium comprising 15 partners from 8 countries, including Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Norway, and France. These partners consist of universities, research institutes, networks, and local organizations responsible for project implementation. This collaborative endeavor underscores a shared dedication to driving positive transformations in rural regions.

The consortium of HÉTFA, Nordregio, Politecnico di Torino, Arup and MCRIT was formed to leverage the collective professional strengths of the partners addressing the theoretical and practicable approaches of territorial resilience, on one hand and resilience related data management and visualisation, on the other hand. All the partners have robust cooperation experience in European territorial development studies and have a strong network of relevant experts, policy stakeholders, also providing a comprehensive geographical coverage of different territorial regions and countries.

The main outcomes of this research project will encompass:

• the set up of a comprehensive concept of ‘territorial resilience’
• a core set of territorial resilience indicators at regional scale including the methodology applied and recommendations for future data collection
• a Regional Resilience Dashboard and mapping and analysis of resilience trends at pan-European scale and at the selected case study regions
• policy recommendations on how to better embed the concept of ‘territorial resilience’ into territorial policymaking

The joint research within the ESPON TERRES project contributes to improving understanding, meaning and opportunities of territorial resilience, overcoming policy barriers thanks to recommendations and key messages supporting a fruitful dialogue among researchers (at the scientific level), policy-makers (at the normative level) and practitioners (at the operational level).