BETTER is an Interreg Europe project bringing together the city governments of Genoa- Italy; Gävle- Sweden; Birmingham- United Kingdom; Tartu- Estonia and Nyíregyháza- Hungary. These cities may have various excellences in the field of innovation, but they are similarly committed to stimulating their regional innovation chains.
In Phase 1 of the project (August 2019 – July 2022), more than twenty events – including ‘Thematic Events’, ‘Study Visits’ and ‘Import Workshops’ – were held to develop a clear picture of the good practices of all five cities and to learn from each other. With Semester #6, we are closing the phase of international learning, and it is safe to say that the results are better than expected.
Even though the coronavirus pandemic influenced the interaction between the partners in the last two years, the cities had excellent exchanges of ideas, experiences and inspiration.
All partners worked intensively to transfer their experiences into their own ‘Regional Action Plans’ that comprise activities based on or inspired by good practices learned from each other.
These strategic documents contain the partners’ visions and steps of how they will stimulate their regional innovation chains. The plans are regarded as the primary outputs of the first phase of the project, which is now nearing completion.
It’s time to take action! In Phase 2 (August 2022 – July 2023), partners will undertake activities to implement their action plans. As a result of these steps, innovation and e-government solutions will be better embedded in local policies.
The BETTER consortium is looking forward to getting started with the implementation and thus improving their services through e-government solutions. Using these instruments, local authorities can save resources while private individuals and businesses gain better public administration.
Of course, coordination between the partners remains important for the successful implementation of the plans. The BETTER partners will meet again in 2023 at the final conference to report on the impact of their actions and discuss ways to maintain the cooperation in the longer run.
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