Representatives from a range of local and regional authorities across Europe met in Letterkenny on November 26th as part of an Interreg IVC project called Promoting Innovation in the Knowledge Economy (PIKE).
Through participation in the ERNACT (www.ernact.net) network since its foundation in 1990, Donegal County Council has been involved in a range of European, Interregional, as well as cross border public sector Information Society technology projects. This involvement enables the Council to access EU funding for technology projects within the County.
The PIKE project involves Donegal County Council, Galway County Council and ERNACT (Ireland), the Regional Authority of Olomouc (Czech Republic), EMCANTA and Regional Government of Cantabria (Spain), Sterea Ellada (Greece), Municipality of Burgas and ARDI (Bulgaria), Västermorrland (Sweden), Derry City Council (Northern Ireland) and Comune di Bologna (Italy). The project was designated by the EU Commission as ‘FastTrack’ and supported by the participation of Katja Reppel from the EC DG Regional Policy Unit. Involved also is the BMW Regional Assembly based in Roscommon which has responsibility for Regional Operational Programmes.
The aim of the project is to improve regional and local Innovation & Knowledge Economy policies through the exchange, sharing and transfer of eGovernment and Wireless Broadband good practices, and through the integration of these good practices into the Convergence and Regional Competitiveness and Employment policies of all the participating regions. Donegal County Council’s Online Planning System was selected as one of the four good practices for transfer.
Donegal County Council hosted the Good Practice Transfer Workshop. Participating authorities were welcomed by Mr. Brian Boyle, Head of Information Systems. Delegates explored how good practices were developed and implemented in the transferring regions.
The Workshop was an initial step in assisting European local authorities to get started with innovative practices in ICT. It facilitated interested regions to have access to, and benefit from, the knowledge and experience of authorities already up and running. Plans were also made to further enable knowledge transfer through study visits.
Following the Workshop, Donegal County Council hosted the PIKE Steering Committee Meeting to determine next steps. Further information on the project is available at the project website : http://www.pike-project.eu
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The PIKE project is part-funded by ERDF