Classic Christmas cookies have carbon footprint that is many times higher than their own weight. And this is mainly due to the animal fat contained in the butter. But there are more climate-friendly alternatives, which we have taken a closer look at in the style of a product carbon footprint.

Like beef, butter is an everyday food-item that comes from cattle farming and therefore has one of the highest specific GHG emissions. Beef or red meat is already widely known for its harmfulness to the climate - butter is on everyone's lips, but is not yet recognized as being particularly harmful to the climate.

We therefore wanted to pay special attention to butter at Christmas and show tangible alternatives. Incidentally, what we are showing here using the example of Christmas cookies we normally do with other products and production processes - then we call it the product carbon footprint or company carbon footprint, and we then derive climate protection strategies from this.

Recipe for a product carbon footprint including an alternative for Christmas cookies

• Analyze the ingredients and production - i.e. baking recipes for your favorite cookies - in our case "Linzer eyes", "Vanilla crescents" and "Ginger bread" from the master confectioner Kaplan am Kurpark.
• Convert the recipe with the respective emission factors of the ingredients into GHG emissions. We used data from the Swiss company Eaternity, which was very user-friendly to apply in a tool from the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
• Identify the main drivers of emissions and find an alternative. In our case, this was easy: there is margarine. Since margarine is made from vegetable fats, it avoids the methane emissions of livestock farming and, above all, has a lower greenhouse gas footprint. For cookies, butter can be substituted 1:1 for margarine.
• The calculated result for our favorite cookies (at 12 g per cookie):
  - Linzer eyes: 46 g CO2e with butter vs. 19 g CO2e with margarine
  - Vanilla crescents: 67 vs. 32 g CO2e
  - Gingerbread: 19 vs. 13 g CO2e
• Check the quality: The use of margarine could have a decisive influence on the result, which is why we also tasted it. The quality test took place at our Christmas party and we didn't taste any difference between cookies with butter or margarine.
• Publish the results in an understandable form: A school project group from the Ecole in Güssing, led by Jakob Lorenz from class 4ako, kindly assisted in the creation of the explanatory video in German language. If you want to see ist anyway, follow this link.

Here are the recipes we used for baking (be careful, these are large quantities of cookies 😊):

Linzer eyes - Ingredients:

• 2,200 g almond dust
• 1,800 g butter / margarine
• 1,100 g powdered sugar
• 15 g vanillin
• 10 g cinnamon powder
• 10 g baking powder
• 5 g salt
• 5 g clove powder
• 1,800 g flour
• 700 g corn powder
• 300 g whole egg

Preparation:
Briefly mix the almond dust, powdered sugar, butter and spices.Add flour and corn powder.Mix briefly and add the eggs.Form bricks and place in the fridge. Baking temperature: 160°C After baking, fill with smooth currant jam.

Vanilla crescents - Ingredients:

• 2,800 g butter / margarine
• 1,200 g powdered sugar
• 500 g vanilla sugar
• 100 g baking powder
• 10 g Orangia Sun
• 10 g salt
• 10 g vanillin
• 4,000 g flour
• 2,400 g walnuts, grated
• 500 g whole egg

Preparation:
Lightly knead together the sugar, butter, vanilla sugar, trimoline, vanillin and salt. Add the flour and nuts and knead lightly again. Add the whole egg to the dough. Leave to cool thoroughly. Shape the croissants and bake. Baking temperature: 160°C Sieve with icing/vanilla sugar immediately after baking.

Vanilla powdered sugar: 1,000 g powdered sugar, 150 g vanilla sugar

Gingerbread - Ingredients:

• 750 g sugar
• 250 g water
• 2,250 g honey
• 1,700 g rye flour
• 1,700 g wheat flour
• 300 g wegg yolks
• 50 g cinnamon
• 40 g citrus pearls
• 12 g clove powder
• 10 g cardamom
• 10 g nutmeg powder
• 2 g vanillin
• 100 g milk
• 40 g ammonium
• 100 g milk
• 20 g potash
• 400 g margarine/climate-friendly instead of butter

Preparation:
Boil sugar and water. Heat the honey and mix with the sugar water. Add the rye flour and wheat flour. Mix with the honey for 30 minutes. Leave to cool. Mix the egg yolks and spices. Add to the basic dough. Mix the milk and ammonium and add. Mix well. Mix the milk and potash. Mix well. Add the cold butter/margarine. Roll out to 6 mm and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Baking temperature: 160°C

We wish you much success! In the best case, simply replace the butter with margarine in your own recipes. Just try it!

The international CSSC Lab project presented its main results at the final conference on 10-11 November in Bračak, Croatia.

A joint initiative of 17 partners from 11 European countries called CSSC Lab is coming to an end. Thanks to almost three years of intensive collaboration, a number of very useful techniques and tools have been developed to support the development of technological solutions for municipalities and cities in the field of sector coupling and energy storage. These topics are also current priorities for mitigating the effects of the energy crisis in Europe.

"The idea of our project goes back five years, when sector coupling and energy storage at municipal level was not a hot topic", says Marko Čavar, managing partner of CSSC Lab. "The timing of our initiative, which was supported by the Danube Transnational Programme grant, corresponds exactly with the start of the energy crisis after the infamous events of earlier this year. A few months afterwards, we saw a huge increase in interest in the results of our project in all partner regions and it was undeniably easier for us to fill our training capacities, for example. At the same time, however, we were also able to better target the measures that were developed in the framework of the so-called regional action plans, i.e. some kind of guidelines for coordinated action at regional level", adds Marko Čavar.

The final conference took place on 10-11 November in the sensitively restored premises of the historic castle in Bračak, known as the Energy Centre Bračak, where the CSSC Lab's lead partner, the Croatian company REGEA, is also based. The event was simultaneously streamed online for those who were unable to attend.
"We presented key outputs of the project, such as a set of proposed measures in each region, an electronic tool for selecting the appropriate technology, a set of trainings for the municipal sector, our online knowledge platform and dissemination activities", says Marko Čavar. "However, we are most proud of the successful implementation of four specific technology investments, which serve as a reference of good practice for the public. These are installations using sector coupling and energy storage principles in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia", adds Marko Čavar.

More information about the project and its outputs can be found at www.cssclab.eu

STRIDE Final Conference on 21st November 2022

The Interreg Danube Transnational Programme STRIDE project – standing for Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region – is led by the Local Energy Agency Spodnje Podravje (LEASP) together with seven project partners and eight associated partners from Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the past two years, the STRIDE project provided, through knowledge transfer and development of planning tools, comprehensive support for regional and local policy makers for the improvement of energy planning. Within the project, regional partners carried out regional analyses and developed strategies, action plans, methodologies, a guidebook and a open-source networking platform to enable and accelerate the integration of smart grid concepts into regional and local policies.

Join the STRIDE project consortium on 21st November 2022 at the 5th International IEEE Conference & Workshop in Óbuda on Electrical and Power Engineering in Budapest, Hungary to learn more about how the STRIDE Methodology for Regional Analysis, guidebook and digital platform can be applied throughout the entire Danube region and beyond.

Registration for the STRIDE final event as a part of the international IEEE Conference is free of charge but required for participation at the event.
Registration link
Link to event page on website

More about the project

Second part of CSSC mid-term conference in Freiburg was held from 15-16 September 2022

Due to the corona pandemic, the CSSC mid-term conference in Freiburg was held in two parts, with the in-person study visits being moved to September 2022. While this was an opportunity to discuss project developments, the main purpose of this meeting was to familiarize the partners with the best practice CSSC solutions in Freiburg and the surrounding region.

On the 15th of September 2022, the partnership met in the morning and was greeted by a representative from the town hall of Freiburg. Here a best practice example was presented relating to CSSC. The town hall of Freiburg is an innovative building, believed to be the biggest EnergyPlus building in Europe. The starting point was the presentation of the energy concept, realized with efficient equipment for building services, which meets the demanding requirements of the users but also the conditions of sustainability.

After that, the mid-term conference was officially opened where the current status of the project was presented as well as the progress made on the investments. Here, it was agreed that the partnership was well on the way to meeting the project objectives and that it had indeed succeeded in showing the viability of CSSC solutions in small and medium-sized municipalities.

On the 16th of September 2022, the partners went on an excursion to Donaueschingen where they attended a CSSC best practice guided tour regarding renewable energy projects in the municipality. The local authorities presented their plans and measures for climate protection as well as concrete steps on how the municipality can achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2032.This was an opportunity to interact with local citizens and the City of Donaueschingen as an associate partner (AP). The partnership also visited the source of the Danube since this is where the Danube River is believed to begin.
After that, the excursion continued to Gutach im Breisgau where partners ended the day with a CSSC best practice guided tour where an electricity and heating concept for a neighborhood in Gutach im Breisgau that meets the climate-neutral standard for buildings in 2050 was presented. Innovative technologies such as PV systems, heat pumps, ice storage and even connection of an electrolyzer for hydrogen production will be optimally integrated here in the future. Here, they also met the associated partner (AP) City of Gutach im Breisgau and spoke to local citizens.

More about the CSSC project

DanubePeerChains strategy video on strategic work has been published by ConPlusUltra.

Leading the strategic work of the DanubePeerChains project consortium, ConPlusUltra coordinated the process of developing nine action plans across the Danube Region. Each of the regional action plans proposes measures to foster digitalization based on the know-how acquired in the DanubePeerChains project. Want to find out how to organize a regional actional planning process? Learn from our experiences …

Open DanubePeerChains strategy video on linkedin

On 19.05.2022, Dr. Vanessa Boas held an introductory presentation on the CSSC Lab project at the CEESEN partnership conference in Ptuj (Slovenia). The CSSC Lab is an INTERREG-financed project, having a budget of roughly 2 million EUR at its disposal, spanning 11 countries.

The project’s main aim is to test and promote city storage and sector coupling solutions in the Danube region. Its main target group are small and medium-sized municipalities since these harbour vast potential in terms of the role they can play in the energy transition. This potential is currently not being seized since municipal staff frequently lacks the necessary know-how needed to implement technical energy projects.

There are a total of four demo centres in the project (Slovenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia), all of which test different sector coupling approaches and are running in varying contexts (very small municipalities to medium-sized cities). During the conference session, the speakers from Austria and Slovenia focused on the Austrian and the Slovenian cases, both of which are situated in rural communities.

The Austrian demo centre was launched in June 2021 as part of the solar.one building in Stegersbach. Then, the Slovenian demo centre opened in Desternik, Slovenia in July 2021. Both centres provide the local community with access to an e-vehicle charging station running purely on solar energy. In the case of the Austrian demo centre, heat is also captured and used for heating and cooling the building. In both cases, batteries are used to store the energy to ensure it can be employed when it is needed.
The centres clearly show that rural communities can play an active role in advancing the green transition in Europe! More information can be found here: https://www.cssclab.eu/

https://www.conplusultra.com/projects/ceeseu-horizon-2020/

Have a look at the fourth STRIDE newsletter where we report on project implementation across the partner countries. The newsletter also includes information on the setting up of four new energy communities with the support of ConPlusUltra.

You can find the newsletter here: Read fourth STRIDE newsletter

STRIDE Homepage

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On 5th and 6th May,  the second EDU4future partner meeting in presence was held in St. Pölten.  ConPlusUltra as Austrian project partner welcomed 10 project partners from 5 Countries.

The Czech project partner Trexima presented the results of the comparative analysis, which was compiled from the 6 country reports and deals with the question "How are the requirements of Industry 4.0 transferred to vocational training in the different countries?
Based on this comparative analysis, recommendations from best practice examples from the various countries will be developed by the Austrian partner in a final step.
The highlight of the meeting was an excursion to the leading company Geberit in Pottenbrunn, where all questions about apprenticeship training were answered. Afterwards, the project partners were able to visit the production facilities. The participants were visibly impressed by Geberit as a best practice example of Austrian vocational training.

More about the project

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ConPlusUltra attended the 8th STRIDE partner meeting in Zagreb between the 11th and 12th of May 2022. The STRIDE project deals with  "Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region. During the event, ConPlusUltra’s energy expert, Cosmin Capra, held three presentations relating to the development of smart grid strategies and action plans, the Austrian documents and the trainings planned in the Vienna Region.

In his first presentation on 11/05/2022, Cosmin Capra presented the methodology applied for the development of the country-level smart grid strategies and the national action plans. The data collection methods and the methods of analysis employed were covered in his presentation as well as the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in addition to the main weaknesses of the methodology.
It is important to note that ConPlusUltra coordinated the development of three in-depth reports per project region, which were used as a basis for developing the national action plans and strategies. The first report provides information on the current regional energy context focusing on smart grids, current legislation in the field and support schemes. The second report covers the smart grid potentials of the different countries and the final report outlines different scenarios.

After the methodology was outlined, all partner countries presented their national strategies and action plans. This was also an opportunity for Cosmin Capra to present the action plan for Austria, which focuses on renewable energy communities as a means of feeding renewable energy into the grid. In particular, it looks at the development of complex photovoltaic systems and the integration of different components using microgrid solutions.

ConPlusUltra also shared its plans regarding the trainings to be conducted for the Vienna Region. 3 modules in total have been prepared lasting 45 minutes each. The topics covered include 1. Energy transition and renewable energy communities, 2. Financing for renewable energy communities and 3. Technical solutions and impact on the power grid. The trainings will be held in May and June 2022 for a previously defined target group.

For more information, please visit the project website

Invitation CEESEN Partnership Conference 2022

May 18-19, 2022 the CEESEN Partnership Conference will take place in Ptuj, Slovenia and will focus on the development of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans.

The conference will gather municipalities, local decision-makers, and experts to learn about new ideas, acquire information about possibilities, and build useful connections with one another as well as with actors from the governmental, NGO, and corporate sectors.

It will address those municipalities who are planning to take the first steps and would like to know more about the Covenant of Mayors and the SECAP. Topics covered include the dos and don’ts of developing a climate strategy, tackling energy poverty, adaptation, and establishing energy communities.
Attending the conference is free, prior registration is required.

You can register here

Read more about the CEESEN project

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696173

ConPlusUltra holds Action Planning workshop in Linz

On March 23rd 2022, all the partner regions of the DanubePeerChains project took part in a two-hour workshop organised by ConPlusUltra. The aim of the workshop was for partners to present the actions they have foreseen in their regional action plans and to receive feedback from other partner regions.
In total, there were three rounds, with three countries being in three different groups in every round. This allowed for substantial diversity in feedback and in viewpoints. At the end of the workshop, the partners shared their lessons learnt.

The workshop showed that the partners have a lot to learn from each other and can also replicate the measures of other partners in their own regions. This is because many of the challenges in the Danube Region are similar in terms of digitalisation and upskilling.
A full peer review will take place in May 2022 where partners will present their entire draft action plans. Each country will take part in two sessions and will largely be matched with new partners to those it spoke to in the workshop in Linz.
The final action plans will be made available on the DanubePeerChains webpage and also shared during the project’s final conference in Bucharest at the end of 2022. Read more about the project

STRIDE regional smart grids analyses is finalised

ConPlusUltra is an active partner of the “Stride Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region” project. In this context, it has been in charge of overseeing the completion of smart grid analyses. While this process was overseen by ConPlusUltra, Austria, it relied on the input of all the partners who were required to contribute to the analyses with their regional know-how and data. This has resulted in a total of 8 analyses for Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The STRIDE regional smart grids analyses sketch the specific characteristics of each region, highlighting the status of RES and smart grids, providing a SWOT analysis, identifying smart grid potentials as well as focusing on challenges, conclusions, and recommendations regarding smart grids for the given region. Based on three larger reports, these analyses were compressed into executive summaries, allowing for a quick overview of the most important topics.

To give an idea about the analyses, the example of Austria will be presented. For this analysis, the focus lies on the city of Vienna, which boasts an innovative energy supply system that features a variety of plants in the city area (hydro, wind, biomass and waste, solar and conventional). In terms of smart grids, the analysis notes the increase in smart metering capacity and in the number of subsidized storage capacities for PV systems. It adds that by the end of 2022, 95% of Austrian households and businesses will be equipped with a smart meter.
Illustrating the diversity in the Danube region, the analysis of Bosnia and Herzegovina reveals a lower use of smart grids in the country compared to Austria. For the regions selected (Zenica-Doboj Canton and Central Bosnia Canton), the report explains that only 3 electric vehicles were registered, and that only 4 AC charging stations for electric vehicles had been built at the time of writing. In terms of smart meter usage, in 2019, about 11.86% of consumers were using such technologies.

The analyses show that there are substantial differences between regions and that the partner countries are in no means uniform in terms of their short-term smart grid potential. Nevertheless, the cooperation approach of the STRIDE project makes it possible for partners to learn from each other and to allow for knowledge transfer on smart grids in the Danube region. These analyses will form of the backbone of future project activities including the development of Smart Grid Strategies for each region and capacity building activities.
If you are interested in the project, please find more information here: Stride – Improve Energy Security and Energy Efficiency

ConPlusUltra’s experts give training at CEESEU Bootcamp in Tartu

From March 8th to 10th, ConPlusUltra attended CEESEU’s second bootcamp in Tartu, Estonia. A total of 42 project partners and municipal representatives from Germany, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Austria took part in the three-day training.
Since some municipalities struggle to prepare and implement Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP), this bootcamp concentrated on topics such as SECAP implementation in Central and Eastern Europe, data collection and technological solutions for SECAP implementation as well as SECAP financing in the region including proposal writing.

Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP)

ConPlusUltra’s energy team was invited to give several presentations related to SECAP implementation, monitoring and financing. In addition, it organised a group exercise on the different barriers faced in SECAP development and implementation across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The presentation by Andreas Karner on the first day of the bootcamp focused on the content of a SECAP, the elaboration process including stakeholder involvement and the subsequent implementation. He then went on to describe how to ensure a sustainable energy monitoring process including the setting of targets as well as best practice implementation principles. This was also an opportunity to present the Urban Adaptation Support Tool as well as the accompanying Excel template, which outlines all the steps needed to develop and implement an adaptation strategy.

At the end of the session, the participants were split into four groups and asked to answer one of the following two questions: What challenges have you faced in the development of SECAPs? What challenges do you think you will face in the implementation of SECAPs? The group exercise revealed that the countries in the region face numerous barriers related to both the development and implementation of SECAPs. These include a lack of data, difficulty understanding citizens’ needs and insufficient political commitment.

On the third day of the bootcamp, Cosmin Capra gave a presentation on a range of innovative financing options for SECAPs. These included traditional bank loans, alternative financing schemes such as Crowd Investing, Crowdfunding and Energy Performance Contracting. These instruments, while not widely used in Central and Eastern Europe can be employed to mobilise the necessary finance to implement municipal-level SECAP measures.
The majority of the presentations will be made available on the CEESEN website so please keep following the page if you are interested in the recordings of the bootcamp.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696173

The ConPlusUltra free webinars in autumn cover the following topics of legal compliance in German language:

• Das neue Strahlenschutzgesetz
• Pflichten und Haftungen von GeschäftsführerInnen und verantwortlichen Beauftragten im Umwelt-, Anlagen- und Arbeitsschutzrecht

Bisherige Gratis Webinare und wiederkehrende Themen:

• Überblick Normenmanagement
• Strukturierte Bescheidablage
• Compliance Check
• Überblick Gesetzesmanagement
• Anforderungen an eine Compliance Software

More about the ConPlus Ultra webinars

If you are interested in smart energy grids than read the STRIDE 3rd newsletter, which is now available.

Have a look at our latest newsletter where we report on our mid-term event, the new project platform and project implementation across the partner countries. The newsletter also includes information about the project’s smart grid analyses, which look at the current situation and smart grid potentials in Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina. These analyses were overseen by ConPlusUltra but include local know-how and data from the partners.

You can find the newsletter here: Read STRIDE 3rd newsletter

ConPlusUltra as STRIDE project partner

ConPlusUltra finalises Regional Action Planning Methodology

ConPlusUltra has developed a methodology for Regional Action Planning for DanubePeerChains.

DanubePeerChains is a three-year project financed by the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme. It aims to empower Labour Market Support Organisations (LSOs) and Business Support Organisations (BSOs) as well as their target groups to help them better integrate into transnational value chains. This is done by building their capacities and providing them with relevant training related to digitalization.

At the same time, a central part of the project is the development of regional action plans to make sure that the results of the project are extended throughout the region. By the end of 2022, a total of 9 regional action plans will have been prepared for Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. These will be elaborated in close cooperation with stakeholders and thanks to an internal peer review process, which the associated partner Moldova will also partake in.
The Action Plans will define concrete support measures to utilise each region’s value chain potential. Such measures should allow for the upgrading of qualifications of regional companies through the upskilling of staff with a special focus falling on digitalisation. This in turn should enable companies to be integrated into transnational digital value chains in cooperation with labour market and business support organisations.

Methodology for  Regional Action Planning comprised of three tools

It is important to note that these final action plans will be shared with policymakers at the project’s final conference in Bucharest in the second half of 2022. This will ensure that the measures proposed are sustainable and will be implemented beyond the lifetime of the project. Moreover, the project has a strategy and policy recommendations - which will partly be inspired by the action plans - and should also help transfer the project results to policymakers at the macro-regional level of the Danube countries.

To support the action planning process, ConPlusUltra has developed a methodology comprised of three tools:

• Action Plan Template
  The Action Plan Template addresses the specific regional context, 2-3 priority areas, 2-3 concrete actions and a section reflecting on the contribution to the DanubePeerChains Strategy and the policy recommendations.
• Action Development Spreadsheet
  The Action Development Spreadsheet has been developed to enable partners to formulate very concrete actions, making it possible to move from the strategic level to implementation.
• Speaking Notes
  The speaking notes make it possible to give a strategic overview of the project and related topics. More concretely, they cover the project, the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region, a slide on the regional labour market strategy of the partner and finally, the action planning process.

The partners have received these tools in order to be able to use them for their own action planning processes.
You will be able to find the results of these processes on the project website by the end of 2022.

Read more about the project

ConPlusUltra GmbH is climate neutral. The annual greenhouse gas emissions of ConPlusUltra GmbH are calculated with a corporate carbon footprint. For this purpose, greenhouse gas emissions resulting from our business activities are included. At the same time, we are constantly working to reduce our emissions every year.

The remaining 2020 greenhouse gas emissions have been compensated by supporting a recognized offset project. The certified climate protection project in Ethiopia supports the improvement of quality of life of 5,000 households through a mix of emission avoidance and reduction measures, including the use of efficient cooking stoves, training in vegetable cultivation, a reforestation project, solar-powered lighting, and drinking water treatment.

The first Workshop "Greening Hurghada" took place last week.

UNIDO, in association with the Ministry of Environment of Egypt, is currently developing of a full-scale multi focal area project to be financially supported with a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and entitled ‘Greening Hurghada’.

The project’s objective is to reduce the environmental pressure of the tourism sector and related activities to mitigate GHG emissions, preserve biodiversity in the coastal area of Hurghada, and integrating biodiversity conservation into climate smart infrastructure investment development.

A first stakeholder workshop has taken place in Hurghada gathering approx. 25 representatives from ministries, government authorities, UNIDO, local council, tourism sector, and NGOs to discuss the basic needs and directions of the project.

Andreas Karner from ConPlusUltra is leading a team of international and national experts, including INTEGRAL and SENS that have been assigned by UNIDO to develop the project that is expected to be launched by autumn 2022.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On 4th and 5th November, after one year, an EDU4future partner meeting in Verona was finally held. The Italian project partner t2i, responsible for technology transfer and innovation in the Veneto Chamber of Commerce, invited the 5 project partners to the project meeting. After one year, the preliminary results of the country reports of all 6 countries were presented. The country reports give an overview of how the requirements of Industry 4.0 are implemented in the different European VET systems. The final results are to be published at the end of January.

Austria's country report is being finalised. If you are interested in reading and evaluating the report before its official publication, please send us a request.

More about the project

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On the 16^th of September, the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) project held its STRIDE Mid Term Conference interregional workshop to exchange technical and legislative knowledge on smart grids, as well as officially launch the STRIDE Smart Energy Platform. Hosted by ConPlusUltra in Vienna, Austria, the STRIDE Mid Term Event and press conference was open to all interested parties involved in the energy sector or have influence in energy policy.

The STRIDE Mid Term Event served as an opportunity for invited target groups and associated strategic partners of the STRIDE project to join a Interreg Danube interregional workshop encouraging knowledge transfer of smart grid concepts. Moderated by the European Institute for Innovation – Technology (EIfI-Tech), participants of the workshop were provided with a comprehensive introduction to the training material currently being developed within the scope of the STRIDE project, which will be made available to members of the STRIDE Smart Energy Platform.

Topics of the introductory STRIDE trainings ranged from smart grid motivations to smart grid strategies and energy policies at the local, regional, national and EU-levels, and the open-source training material will continue to be developed and disseminated through the digital STRIDE platform. Stakeholders also heard engaging presentations and examples of good practices from: the Slovenian-Croatian SINCRO.grid colloaboration project, presented by ELES (Dr. Uroš Kerin); Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies (BEST), based in Austria; GAP Elektroistra (GAP - Grid Automation Planning), presented by the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar in Croatia; and Vienna’s Viertel Zwei project, presented by representatives of the Viertel Zwei project.

The STRIDE Mid Term Event concluded with the presentation of the STRIDE Smart Energy Platform, now live, as well as the premiere of the STRIDE project animated video. In addition to providing registered members with tools and resources for the improvement of energy planning, the STRIDE platform creates a network of experts, policymakers, and other relevant actors to boost the development of smart grids throughout the Danube Region. Registration to the platform is free.

ConPlusUltra as STRIDE project partner

ConPlusUltra attends second DanubePeerChains Partner Meeting

From 14-16 of September 2021, ConPlusUltra attended the second Danube Peer Chains Steering Committee meeting in Zagreb, Croatia. This was an opportunity to see the project partners from Germany, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro for the first time since the launch of the project in July of 2020.

Since most partners already arrived on the 13th, a joint dinner was organised at a traditional Croatian brewery in the centre of Zagreb on the evening prior to the start of the partner meeting. At this point, most partners had only seen each other online and were meeting in real life for the first time. Split into small groups, the partners spent the evening mingling and exchanging ideas.

The official programme began with presentations and discussions on work package 2 “Toolbox for capacity building of Labour Support Organisations (LSOs) and Business Support Organisations (BSOs) as well as specialistis/entrepreuneurs” led by Business Upper Austria. This also included a workshop for which the partners were split into three groups and invited to apply the Diamond Methodology on Wood/Furniture, Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics/Electronics & Automation. ConPlusUltra led the discussion on the strengthening of the wood/furniture value chain, collecting input from the different partners. Each moderator then presented the results to the consortium.

The second day began with the first year-review for which all work package leaders presented the key achievements of the first 12 months of the project. The day ended with a discussion on the training programme for SMEs including the capacity building method for SMEs, which was jointly developed by Business Upper Austria and ConPlusUltra. The day ended with a presentation by the University of Belgrade on the guidelines for the assessment of the trainings conducted in the framework of the project.

On the last day of the meeting, work package four “The Action Planning Process” and work package “Communication” were presented by ConPlusUltra and Tehnopolis respectively. The focus of the presentation by ConPlusUltra lay on the upcoming action plan development process including the planned peer review, which will start shortly. For this process, each region has to propose measures to strengthen cooperation between LSOs and BSOs as well as building the capacities of SMEs in the framework of an action plan. The next step of this process is that these draft action plans are to be shared with other partners during peer review sessions. In the work package presentation on communication, Tehnopolis focused on the upcoming communication activities including press releases and videos. The meeting ended with a farewell coffee and all participants expressed their gratitude to the project partner ZICER for having hosted the meeting.

Read more about the project: https://www.conplusultra.com/projects/danubepeerchains/

Official project site: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/danubepeerchains

The E-FIX Project has published its Roadmap

The E-FIX project has finalised its E-FIX Roadmap for innovative energy financing in the European Union and the Eastern Neighbourhood. As a document developed with substantial stakeholder involvement, the Roadmap presents a vision for innovative financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects till 2030.

It is supposed to serve as a tool for decision-makers and European stakeholders to boost the use of innovative financing instruments such as leasing, crowdfunding and energy service contracting. Relying on the experience of the partners in Armenia, Austria, Georgia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Poland who all conducted pilot campaigns, it highlights the potential these instruments have for meeting the Green Deal and other international climate objectives.

The document is structured along the following sections:
1. What is energy efficiency and why does it matter?
2. What are the EU’s climate ambitious?
3. How can energy efficiency be financed?
4. What is the role of innovative financing mechanisms?
5. What barriers still stand in the way of energy efficiency projects and finance?
6. Key actors in the implementation
7. What can be done to render energy efficiency investments more attractive?
8. What opportunities are there related to energy efficiency?
9. A vision for Europe to 2030 related to innovative financing for energy efficiency
10. E-FIX Recommendations to key European stakeholders
11. The contribution of the E-FIX project

Download the E-FIX Roadmap here

See project results of E-FIX: http://energyfinancing.eu/en/

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The EDU4future "International Methodology" developed under the leadership of the German project partner AFBB is the central starting point for successfully mapping the situation in the individual countries. Through this EDU4future "International Methodology", it will be possible to compare different ways of transferring "digital" labour market requirements into vocational education and training.

In addition to the other project partners SOPK, TREXIMA, ConPlusUltra, t²i - trasferimento tecnologico e innovazione s.c. a r.l., and G&P svetovanje Gregor Jagodič, representatives from VET schools and companies and other institutions were involved in designing the process. The methodology is available in 6 European languages.

International Method EN

In the next stage of the project, all 6 country teams will prepare country reports based on the international methodology. From these results, processes of transferring the needs of companies to "Industry 4.0" to the vocational education system in the individual countries will be found.
Afterwards, their mutual comparison, evaluation and processing of recommendations for public sector organisations, vocational schools, companies, clusters, etc. will be carried out.

First expert evaluation panel planned for September 2021

ConPlusUltra will invite representatives of organisations from business and VET to an expert panel in September 2021 after the first version of the Austrian country report has been drafted. In the half-day workshop, the raw version of the Austrian country report will be evaluated and further developed on the basis of the experts' opinions. People from industry, politics and education who are involved in vocational education and training are invited to express their interest in participating.

Press release2_EDU4future

Project description

The project received funding under Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ program, Strategic Partnerships[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Horizon 2020-funded Project “E-FIX” was entitled “Innovative Financing for Sustainable Energy Investments”.

E-FIX final conference  was an opportunity to present and discuss energy financing from a range of angles, including the European Commission’s standpoint, that of the 6 partner countries (Austria, Armenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Poland) and also that of independent experts. This diversity of voices made it possible to grasp the complexity of the topic, which is very likely to gain in importance in the upcoming years. The use of polls allowed the audience to share their views on the topic.

Green deal

Pierre Schellekens, representing the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy, highlighted the key European priorities in the years to come including the revision of the Renewable Energy and the Energy Efficiency Directives as well as an increased emphasis on hydrogen. In terms of innovative financing, he stressed that most funds for the Green Deal would come from the private sector and that innovative financial instruments are a way of increasing the engagement with the private sector. Moreover, he noted that the Green Deal would be mainstreamed into all projects in order to achieve maximum effect.

Pilot financing campaigns

Andreas Karner, the project manager of E-FIX from ConPlusUltra in Austria, highlighted the characteristics of the project and its main achievements. As a partnership of 6 countries and 14 partners, the project combined the expertise of finance and energy efficiency experts over a period of 40 months. The main achieviements include the implementation of pilot financing campaigns focussing on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in the public and private sector through the demonstration of innovative financing instruments such as energy performance contracting (EPC), crowdfunding and leasing, which triggered about 30 million Euros of investment. In addition, large-scale capacity building activities in the form of training materials and tools were created as well asaction plans for energy efficiency at national level being drafted, energy financing competence centres being set up and a European Roadmap being developed, serving as a guide for the financing of energy efficiency measures until 2030.

In the nextsession, the project partners from the respective countries presented their pilot financing campaigns and lessons learnt. In general, all partners agreed that there is vast potential for the different instruments and in fact a financing mix is required, but that crowdfunding proved especially challenging due to the pandemic. In the case of leasing, a major barrier identified in Armenia and Georgia was the lack of regulatory framework and the low environmental consciousness in the countries. In the case of energy performance contracting the pilot projects realised in Poland and Croatia have been very positive, although EPC still is not a widely used model in these countries.

Panel discussion

Session three consisted of a panel discussion made up of experts from the different partner countries. The experts agreed that projects funded solely through the crowd cannot compete with public funds or cheap loans, but that Public Private Partnerships have huge potential, e.g. through a combination with EPC contracts. It was also recognised that a mix of financing mechanisms is needed and the concomitant regulatory framework. As the level of public and private funding into sustainable energy projects will increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the newly established EU Recovery Fund (Next Generation EU), a huge investment volume is to be expected in the upcoming years. The E-FIX Roadmap was also praised for its utility in guiding a range of actors related to energy perfomance contracing, crowdfunding and leasing. All experts concurred that awareness raising is key for energy efficiency to take off in the EU and beyond.

Get more Information

http://energyfinancing.eu/en/

https://www.conplusultra.com/projects/e-fix/

Get familiar with the current project progress concerning integration of smart grid concepts in this seond STRIDE newsletter. Read interesting news about the new STRIDE Web Platform, which is now available online in this second STRIDE newsletter.

The STRIDE project (Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region) aims to improve energy planning through the integration of smart grid concepts in the Danube Region.

The Interreg project STRIDE, which started in 2020, is carried out by the local energy agency Spodnje Podravje (LEASP) together with seven project partners and eight associated partners from Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria and Bosnia Herzegovina.

In the second STRIDE newsletter, the project partners provide insights into the progress of the project. For example, the ConPlusUltra team reports on the three projects from Vienna that will be examined more closely as lighthouse projects in the course of the STRIDE project. The undertakings Seestadt Aspern, Viertel Zwei and the Microgrid Campus were selected for this.

Klick on the picture to open the second STRIDE newsletter:

In this newsletter, the project partners report on the latest Ambassador Trainings in Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Georgia and Poland.

The aim of these is to strengthen capacities related to innovative financing instruments at local level. The newsletter also includes an invitation to the final conference, which will take place on June 2^nd 2021 and will deal with the topic of innovative financing in Europe.

More about E-FIX project

The fourth E-FIX newsletter

Within the framework of the STRIDE project ConPlusUltra analyses smart grid initiatives in the City of Vienna.

Vienna is particularly interesting as a model region for a number of reasons. Not only is Vienna the federal capital of Austria and has about 2 million inhabitants, but the city is also of particular importance from the point of view of energy consumption.
Vienna has a gross energy consumption of 39.678 GWh and a recent share of renewable energy of 20 %, based on gross energy consumption. The main energy sources in Vienna are 6 big power plants which use combined heat and power to provide heat and electricity to the grids. The 5 biggest power plants are powered by gas but there are also some smaller power plants using municipal waste or biomass.

[caption id="attachment_11234" align="alignnone" width="463"] Quelle: Energiedatenbank MA 20[/caption]

The Seestadt Aspern, Viertel Zwei and Microgrid Campus in Vienna were selected as good practise examples. These three projects are intended to make a contribution to the energy transition in the City of Vienna and thus help to make the future of the city more sustainable and energy-efficient.
So it remains exciting to see what conclusions ConPlusUltra will come up to as a result of these assessments.

Read more details about these three best practice projects

On 22.04.2021 and 29.04.2021, the Austrian partners hosted their second E-Fix Ambassador training in the form of a webinar. At the beginning of the first webinar, Andreas Karner, from the lead partner, ConPlusUltra, provided a sketch of the most evident effects of the pandemic on energy consumption and the economy. Then, predictions were made about the long-term changes to be expected in terms of the role of renewables in the post-pandemic world.
These developments were then linked to the use of innovative financing mechanisms for energy efficiency projects. After providing a summary of all three instruments covered by E-FIX (ESCO, leasing and crowdfunding), the seminar focused on crowdfunding. In particular, it looked at the different project types suitable for crowdfunding and the main criteria to be met for a crowdfunding project to be viable.

Tool for assessment of energy projects

After that, Thomas Lindner from Vienna University of Economics presented a catalogue for the evaluation of energy projects, which was developed in the framework of the E-FIX project. This is a tool, which makes it possible for potential investors to assess the viability of energy projects. Such a tool is important as it reduces the complexity of such investments and increases their attractiveness by reducing the level of perceived risk.
The webinar ended with the presentation of a number of case studies and examples of crowdfunding projects related to energy efficiency. It was noted that crowdfunding is particularly appropriate for the renovation of buildings and for street lighting projects. Municipalities were identified as key partners for such crowdfunding projects. The webinar was attended by 14 stakeholders and representatives currently involved in the implementation of energy projects with a special interest in identifying new sources of finance.

2nd webinar "crowdfunding as an innovative energy financing instrument"

A further webinar was organised by CONDA on 29.04.2021, which provided in-depth information on crowdfunding as an innovative energy financing instrument as well as on the setup of crowdfunding campaigns. At the beginning of the webinar, Daniel Horak, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of CONDA, talked about the rationale behind founding the company. He then explained the main developments in the crowdfunding sector, showcasing the different opportunities crowdfunding entails as well as the advantages over other financing mechanisms along with the associated implementation challenges. Finally, the newly established crowdfunding platform “crowd17.at” was presented, which is going to be launched by mid-May in order to promote energy and environment-related projects in Austria. A total of 11 participants attended the webinar.

Read more about the project: https://www.conplusultra.com/projects/e-fix/

E-FIX website: http://energyfinancing.eu/en/

Enhancing the capacities of Danube area

To facilitate their access to innovative transnational value chains, Danube Peer Chains has been working on enhancing the capacities of Danube area labour and business support organisations, local industry and entrepreneurs.

To achieve this end, it is working in a partnership made up of business and labour support organizations, technology transfer centres, vocational/educational institutions and policy actors. These partners come from both EU and non-EU countries, including Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Moldova.
By having this mix, it is possible to cooperate with partners situated at different levels of the value chains focused on in the project. This approach also makes it possible to target countries typically active in production sectors who are particularly affected by new upskilling demands linked to the digitalisation of value chains.

Outputs are available free of charge

A number of major deliverables have been released in recent weeks, which allow the project to move towards meeting its overall objectives. These include:

• The transnational benchmark analysis of labour market conditions including identification of qualification and support demand as well as a factsheet on the analysis.
• an analysis of the latest status of the EUSDR Strategy / S3 strategies in the partner countries
• a transnational competence map of knowledge related to digital value-chain creation
• a mapping of competencies in key knowledge fields of digitalization
• a collection of support instruments in place to develop labour markets in digitalization
• methodology for the integration of existing industry sectors into digital value chains
• a regional analysis with a focus on labour market characteristic

All outputs are available free of charge here: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/danubepeerchains/outputs
This autumn a range of trainings with be offered for companies and their employees. We will keep you updated on these via our website!

[caption id="attachment_10669" align="alignleft" width="585"] Firgure out from Transnational benchmark analysis of labour market conditions incl. identification of qualification and support demand[/caption]

New tool developed for municipalities.
A matrix for city storage and sector coupling (CSSC) technologies has been developed in the framework of the CSSC Lab project for municipalities in the Danube region to use. It makes it possible to identify different CSSC solutions for a range of city types.

To find out more read our latest blog article:  interreg-danube.eu

A new blog article has been published on the regional analyses conducted as part of the CSSC Lab project. These analyses describe the status quo in terms of city storage and sector coupling and look at the potential of numerous Danube countries. In particular, they focus on 19 mid and small-sized cities, which are considered representative for the region.

Find out more here: Interreg Danube

More about the project: https://www.conplusultra.com/projects/cssc-lab/

Together with its partners, ConPlusUltra will be implementing the H2020-financed Central and Eastern European Sustainable Energy Union (CEESEU) project from 11/2020 to 10/2023. The project builds on the previous work of the PANEL2050 project and strives to strengthen the capacities of public administrators in CEE countries. For more information on the project, follow this link: CEESEU-HORIZON 2020 – ConPlusUltra

Following on from the first training in December 2020, participants from water and wastewater utilities and municipalities across North Macedonia were invited to attend the second BACID II training on 04.02.2021. While the first training focused on energy assessments for municipal infrastructure, energy efficiency in buildings and energy efficiency in water supply/waste water utilities, the second training dealt with solar photovoltaic systems and municipal energy planning. Participants were given homework to complete after the first training, which was then discussed during the second training.

A total of 23 participants attended the second training, coming from 12 different municipalities and 11 utilities.  They are explicitly encouraged to share their knowledge within their institutions at local level. Both trainings were hosted by the Association of public utility services providers of Republic of North Macedonia (ADKOM). Energy consultants from ConPlusUltra (Austria) implemented the trainings with support from the local partner Balkan Development Solutions BDS (North Macedonia).

More Infoemation:https://www.bacid.eu/BACID_-_Building_Administrative_Capacities_in_the_Danube_Region

The Action is implemented with funding from the Austrian Development Cooperation through the BACID grant scheme (Building Administrative Capacities in Danube Region & Western Balkans), managed by the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns and KDZ Centre for Public Administration Research.

Disclaimer: This publication / document has been produced with financial support of the Austrian Development Cooperation. Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication / document belong solely to the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Austrian Development Agency or the Austrian Government.

To find out more about what has happened in the first 6 months of our INTERREG project “CSSC Lab”, take a look at our first newsletter. In particular, it zooms in on the four demo sites in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia. You can access it here: Interreg Danube (interreg-danube.eu

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)

In the framework of its third call for proposals, BACID II “Building Administrative Capacity in the Danube Region and Western Balkans (2018-2021)” awarded ConPlusUltra a contract to conduct two trainings for trainers working for North Macedonian utilities. The project, which is entitled “"Building capacities in the utilities sector of North Macedonia for the more resilient, inclusive and sustainable provision of services for citizens”, will familiarise participants with key issues related to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. They will then be encouraged to train representatives at municipal level in order to share their know-how.

The first training was hosted by Association of public utility services providers of Republic of North Macedonia (ADKOM) on 17.12.2020. 29 representatives from 15 utility companies and 14 municipalities took part in the session. The five-hour training covered the topics “energy assessments for municipal infrastructure”, “energy efficiency in buildings” and “energy efficiency in water supply/ waste water utilities”. At the end, the participants received homework in order to apply their newly-acquired knowledge. A further training is planned in February 2021 to help them deepen their understanding of the topics “integration of renewable energy in public infrastructure” and “municipal energy planning”. All sessions will be led by consultants from ConPlusUltra (Austria) and Balkan Development Solutions BDS (North Macedonia).

The Action is implemented with funding from the Austrian Development Cooperation through the BACID grant scheme (Building Administrative Capacities in Danube Region & Western Balkans), managed by the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns and KDZ Centre for Public Administration Research.

Disclaimer: This publication / document has been produced with financial support of the Austrian Development Cooperation. Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication / document belong solely to the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Austrian Development Agency or the Austrian Government.

The first Newsletter has recently been published. It sums up our STRIDE (Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region) Project, the issues addressed and the project goals. Information on the impact project and the project partners is also available.

A report of the first digital public kick-off event, which took place on 5^th November 2020, is also included in this newsletter.

STRIDE Newsletter20_12

CSSC Lab is publishing blogs on its demo sites. This week’s blog introduces the Austrian case in Stegersbach. This demo site shows how a building can achieve self-sufficiency through the use of sector coupling and city storage solutions. To find out more click here: Interreg Danube (interreg-danube.eu)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has been awarded funding from the Erasmus + program for the project "edu4future". The implementation of the project began with a virtual kick-off meeting on November 26, 2020, which was organized by the SCCI Regional Chamber Trenčín. It was attended by the project partners from the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.
The aim of the project is to identify mechanisms, which make it possible to transfer employer requirements related to digitalization and Industry 4.0 to vocational education.
The implementation of the project will contribute to making secondary education programs more adapted to the future needs of the labor market Industry 4.0. At the same time, it will also take into account the new COVID 19 context and its effects on the labor market.

Press release1_EDU4future

Project description

The project received funding under Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ program, Strategic Partnerships[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The two-page newsletter will give you insight into the key project content, objectives and running of the project. The “DanubePeerChains” project allows for business agencies and labour market institutions to cooperate and jointly develop appropriate qualification measures for small and medium-sized enterprises in the Danube region. The purpose of this is to raise their competence levels related to Industry 4.0 value chains. Stay up-to-date and discover all key facts related to the project in our first newsletter.

Read newsletter

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On October 29th 2020 CSSC Lab held its kick-off meeting, which was attended by a range of actors from the Danube region. The fact that the event attracted representatives from both the private and the public sector highlights the relevant of the topics “city storage” and “sector coupling” for Europe today.
The event served as an opportunity for the consortium to introduce the project and to provide more details on the four demo investment sites, in which numerous city storage and sector coupling solutions are being tested.

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On the 5th of November 2020, the project STRIDE – which has been approved in the 3rd call of the the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) - hosted its official public kick-off event. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually as an online conference with the purpose to raise the awareness of project target groups about the project goals and forthcoming activities and provide information to stakeholders about the expected results and benefits of the STRIDE project.
First, Ana Leganel, Interreg DTP Joint Secretariat (JS) project officer, welcomed all the partners and stakeholders and spoke about the ‘’synergies that can be created between STRIDE project and the other DTP financed projects, especially CSSC LAB’’. In both projects, STRIDE and CSSC Lab, ConPlusUltra is significantly involved as a project partner and work package leader.
Tea Potocnik, representing the lead partner LEASP, highlighted the relevance of the associated strategic partners: ‘’Associated strategic partners play a crucial role in the STRIDE project, as they are the ones that will implement or support the implementation of the smart grid strategies and action plans – and in this respect, it is important to include them in the extensive dialog from the beginning of the project.’’
As the project coordinator added, , ‘’The kick-off event was a first in the series of events organised within the project STRIDE in which associated strategic partners will actively participate.’’

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On October 27th, DanubePeerChains organised its kick-off event entitled “Leap into Digital Value Chains”. As the title indicates, the event provided an overview of key topics and challenges related to digital value chains and the digital transformation of industry. To this end, numerous speakers from both Slovenia and beyond were invited to share their know-how.
The event began with a project presentation by Eva Breuer, representing the lead partner BIZ Austria. Subsequently, Mrs. Željka Kelkedi presented the Slovenian context of the project. She was followed by Mr. Kornél Nemeth who focused on the major challenges faced by small and mid-size companies in industry 4.0. After that, the role of the digital innovation Hub Slovenia in digitalization of Slovenian SMEs was examined by Katja Mohar Bastar. In the later sessions, Mr. Bojan Zupan presented good practice examples of digitalisation in industry, while Mr. Erik Kapfer gave an overview of enabling technologies in industry and the educational system. The final presentation was given by Mrs. Ines Gergorić who explained how HR can support the emergence of digital value chains.
The conference was organised under the coordination of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. Reaching both Slovenian stakeholders and interested parties at European level, the event was held in both languages with simultaneous translation. The fact that over 50 participants took part in the event is indicative of the importance of digital value chains in the Danube Region and highlights the necessity for projects such as DanubePeerChains.

DanubePeerChains is a project implemented under the INTERREG DanubeTransnational Programme co-financed by European Union funds.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Official project website" color="CPUBlue" link="url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interreg-danube.eu%2Fapproved-projects%2Fdanubepeerchains|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Official project leaflet" color="CPUBlue" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conplusultra.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F11%2FLeaflet-DanubePeerChains1.pdf"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The public kick-off of the STRIDE project will take place on November 5th, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. with a kick-off event. In the event, the goals, contents and activities of the project will be presented to the public.

People interested in improved energy planning through the integration of smart grid concepts are invited to learn more about the project.

Invitation

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The public kick-off of the CSSC Lab project will take place on October 29, 2020 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Find out more about the goals and content of the project, as well as the planned pilot projects with innovative solutions in the field of sector coupling.

More about the project and CPU project team

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In July 2020, the DanubePeerChains project was launched. For the next two and a half years until end of 2022, the project will receive funding from the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme. Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH is the leader of the project consortium consisting of fourteen project partners and five associated strategic partners from the Danube macro-region including the Western Balkans.

The online kick-off event, which is open to the public, starts on October 27th.

ConPlusUltra, in its project partner role, coordinates the preparation of action plans for each of the partner regions and the development of a transnational strategy for the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises in transnational Industry 4.0 value chains. The project budget amounting for 1,784,455 € is granted by ERDF, IPA and ENI funds of the European Union.

Upskilling programme for the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises from the Danube countries into transnational Industry 4.0 value chains

Goals and strategies
In a cooperation between business support and labour market support organisations the DanubePeerChains partnership will develop a programme of support measures for upskilling of small and medium-sized enterprises from the Danube countries and Western Balkans acc. to their development demand to path their way to transnational integration of Industry 4.0 value chains.
How does it work?
Project work starts from the analysis of the potential for transnational value chain integration based on the target sectors, i.e. mechatronics, machine building and plant engineering, electronics, robotics and ICT. Based on the identified development demand of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the partnership will develop an upskilling programme as well as support measures for regional SME target groups. At the same time, first trainings and pilot projects will be launched involving regional companies. Business support and labour market support organisations from all partner regions will exchange experience to tailor the newly developed instruments acc. to SME demand. Project results are further used for the preparation of regional action plans and for substantiating the European Strategy for the Danube Region.

Project coordination: Business Upper Austria - OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH
The consortium involves 14 project partners and 5 associated strategic partners from 10 countries of the Danube macro-region - from Bavaria and Austria, to the eastern Danube area and Western Balkans:

• Lead partner: Business Upper Austria, Mechatronik-Cluster (Oberösterreich, AT)
• Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (SLO)
• Zagreb Innovation Centre Ltd. (HR)
• ConPlusUltra GmbH (NÖ, AT)
• Pannon Business Network Association (HU)
• National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection (RO)
• Romanian Cluster Association (RO)
• Cluster Mechatronik & Automation e.V. (DE)
• R-Tech GmbH (DE)
• School center Skofja Loka (SLO)
• Innovation and Enterpreneurship Center Tehnopolis (ME)
• University of Belgrade (RS)
• Foundation for Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Transfer (BiH)
• Montenegro Ministry of Economy (ME)

DanubePeerChains is a project implemented under the INTERREG DanubeTransnational Programme co-financed by European Union funds.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Official press release" color="CPUBlue" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conplusultra.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F10%2FDanubePeerChains_Press_release.pdf|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Official project website" color="CPUBlue" link="url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.interreg-danube.eu%2Fapproved-projects%2Fdanubepeerchains|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title="Official project leaflet" color="CPUBlue" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conplusultra.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F11%2FLeaflet-DanubePeerChains1.pdf"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

"Compliance for Future: Fit for the future with effective compliance" is the title of the Compliance Solutions Day 2020 event.

The Compliance Solutions Day 2020 starts on September 24th at 8:30 at the Apothekersaal in Schloß Schönbrunn, Vienna. Due to the limited number of participants, a live stream is also possible this year. Three interesting keynote speakers, numerous lectures and many exhibitors await you. One of the lecturers is Mag. Peter Gratzl, Head of ConPlusUltra Compliance Management.

Register here!

CSD_Programmheft_2020_CC

The STRIDE project was approved by the Monitoring Committee of the Interreg Danube Transnational Program on May 18 th 2020. Goal of the STRIDE project is, to develop and integrate Smart Grid strategies and action plans at a regional/local level with a joint collaboration of participating Danube regions.

The STRIDE project, standing for Improved energy planning through the Integration of Smart Grid concepts in the Danube Region, is led by the Local Energy Agency Spodnje Podravje (LEASP) together with seven project partners and eight associated partners from Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Smart grids will make an important contribution to the development of the power grid in the future. Smart Grid concepts cover all areas – from the planning, operation, maintenance of the grid on one side and on the other side from production, transmission, distribution and end-use. Because of that Smart Grids have established a position very high on the European Union’s agenda.

Although prepared from a technological standpoint to implement Smart Grids, the Danube region is still in the early stages of the actual deployment of smart distribution systems, as regions and local communities across the Danube area lack knowledge and capacities for the integration of Smart Grid concepts into regional and local policies. Through knowledge transfer and the development of planning tools, the STRIDE project aims to provide a comprehensive support for regional/local policy makers for the improvement of energy planning.

Read: STRIDE Original Press Release

[caption id="attachment_9146" align="alignleft" width="585"] STRIDE Kick-off meeting took place online[/caption]

It is fair to say that the last Interreg Danube Transnational Programme call was hotly contested!  This makes us all the prouder of having three of our projects on the 25 project winner’s list out of 270. These projects are scheduled to run for a total of two and a half years in partnership with our consortium members from the Danube region and the Western Balkans.

Both the projects „CSSC Lab“ and „STRIDE“ focus on energy storage and sector coupling, which are central to the debate on the energy transition. CSSC Lab concentrates on these topics at municipal level and STRIDE considers the development of regional micro-grid solutions.

The main aim of the DanubePeerChains project is to develop educational measures for small and medium-sized enterprises, which reflect the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These will be designed in cooperation with business support organisation and labour market institutions.

In all three projects, CPU will take a lead role in the conducting of strategic action plans as well as the carrying out of pilot measures and practical demonstrations. Kick-off meetings were organised for each of the projects in July. We expect to have the first results of our analyses at the transnational project level by the end of the summer.

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Content of the third E-Fix Newsletter

• What is E-FIX about?
• Online lectures about Energy Efficiency Leasing at Caucasus University
• Second Ambassador Training in Czech Republic
• E-FIX at Clean Air Congress E-FIX at EUWRC
• Pilot financing campaigns continue
• Ambassador Platform

3rd E-FIX Newsletter pdf: Download

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