EUSDR PA7, VII SG meetingMr. Stefano Brumat, Project Administrator Rossi

Budapest 20/05/2014

Danube:Future is a joint contribution of the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC)

and the Alps-Adriatic Rectors’ Conference (AARC), thus tapping the largest pool of institutionalized knowledge in the DRB.

Danube:Future targets all 19 countries

in the Danube

catchment

Flagship project of

PA7 Ulm 24.09.2013

Goals

Sustainable Futures need Long-Term Knowledge

“A Sustainable Future for the Danube River Basin as a Challenge for the Interdisciplinary Humanities”

It is innovative project because it brings together researchers and experts from different fields

It has a strong focus on humanities which are necessary because a Sustainable Future cannot be achieved without a Long-Term Knowledge.

What does Danube:Future offer?

Contribution to EUSDR

Danube:Future is connected with all the EUSDR Priority Areas because it potentially contributes to all 4 pillars: Pillar 1, Connecting the region: transportation network evolution (PA 1), transition pre- to post-fossil society (PA 2) and nationalism, war, tourism (PA 3);Pillar 2, Protecting the environment: results of the research module will be useful for the restoration and maintenance of the quality of waters by the hydromorphological change (PA 4), for the management of environmental risks as toxic sediments (PA 5) and for the preservation of biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils (PA 6);Pillar 3, Building prosperity: results of the capacity building module enhance the development of green/blue economy (PA 8) and strengthen the education for people (PA 9);Pillar 4, Strengthening the Region: through contributing to the political and institutional structures (PA 10) and to social prosperity (PA 11).

Contribution to ICPDR

Danube:Future takes also into account the main environmental problems of the Danube and the DRB as they were defined by the ICPDR.

It addresses, in particular: water quality deterioration from organic pollution because the Danube River Basin is greatly affected by the activities of over 81 million people;excessive nutrients which are disturbing the ecological balance in the Danube and the Black Sea;heavy metal input, whereas Cadmium, Lead, Mercury, DDT, Lindane and Atrazine are among the most serious pollutants contaminating the Danube River Basin;hydromorphological alterations because more than 80% of the length of the Danube is regulated, and over 700 dams and weirs have been built along its main tributaries;Floods: in 2002 the floods in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were made worse by canalization causing €14.4 billion of damage;loss of natural floodplains.

Network Area

Core Partners:-Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt-University of Trieste-BOKU Vienna-University of Novi Sad

Endorsing Partners: DRC and AARC

Supporting Partner: IDM

Contributing Partners:-DRC / AARC Universities-Research centers-Institutions working on sustainable development-SMEs-NGOs-etc..

The project organization

EUSDR

Management Committee

Max 10 members (8 from the Core Partners) + 1 representative from DRC + 1 representative from AARC

The EU Commission or its representative, or the Coordinators of the EUSDR - PA 7 (Knowledge society) can participate in the meeting of the Management Committee without voting right

Project coordinator (AAU) + Vice Coordinator (BOKU)

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE Project regulations (22 Nov. 2013) 5 meetings Decisions concerning the project implementation

International Advisory Board

Max 15 members

experts with varied experiences and of different nationalities

Role: It offers advice on matters of development of Danube:Future It increases the international visibility of Danube:Future It allows Danube:Future to benefit from the experience of a high-

ranking interdisciplinary group

5 members were appointed by the MC (3 from Austria, 1 from France, 1 from Ireland) new members still to be appointed

The project structure

The project is divided into 3 modules:

Core module

Capacity Building module

Research module

COOPERATION AGREEMENT to strengthen the Core of the project (Core partners), signed on March 22nd 2014;

MANAGEMENT MC meetings, Project Regulations (3 annexes), administration, reporting

NETWORKING (in 2013) 5th Steering Group meeting of EUSDR PA7 in Bratislava (SK) on

14th February 6th Steering Group meeting of EUSDR PA7 in Ulm (D) on 24th

September; 2nd EUSDR Forum in Bucharest (Ro) on 27th – 28th October by

the Project Administrator; DRC Annual Assembly in Cluj-Napoca (Ro) on 8th November by

the Project Coordinator; AARC SG meeting in Tuzla (Bosnia) on 19th November by AAU

and UniTS

Next event: 3rd EUSDR Forum in Vienna (A) on 27th June 2014 – COSMO 1 session, 9,30

Core module

Danube:Future is aimed at establishing an open access knowledge base to which capacity building and research projects can contribute, thus increasing their visibility and accessibility.

OUTCOMES are available to organizations, institutions and decision makers.

Core module

project website: on-line since March 2013;

developing the DF knowledge-base of experts and projects connected with DFp (according to the Project Regulations, annex II);

developing the DF WIKI;

preparing the 1st DF Workshop for building a new Horizon 2020 consortium, in spring 2015;

Improving visibility of Danube:Future through the websites of EUSDR, EUSDR PA7, DRC, Universities and other organizations

CREATING THE MAP OF THE DANUBE REGION, where you can find projects, expertise, working groups, etc

Latest activities

EUSDR PA10 TAF-DRP

During the first quarter of 2014, the Core partners started discussion on how to implement the DF integrated networked program:

Networking: finding different categories of possible stakeholder, in particular organizations from the eastern part of the DR Start-up idea pool: aimed at creating an online "Sustainable Business Incubator", as the first step of the feasibility studyDecision support system: aimed at finding new forms of dissemination of the research outcomes to the decision makers.

EUSDR PA10 project for Technical Assistance was presented on April 1st 2014 by PA7 PACs positive reply on 13th May 2014

Start of TAF-DRP services: end of June 2014End of the project: December 2014

www.danubefuture.eu

Projects linked to DF

It takes into account existing initiatives and frameworks dealing with sustainable development (EUSDR, smart specialization, …)

DIAnet International School is the first project linked to Danube:Future.

It develops trainings in cultural and natural heritage

It builds institutional capacity for green jobs, and strengthen regional networks

It improves international competitiveness of young scholars

Capacity Building module

1st EDITION - Interdisciplinary methods for the sustainable development of the Danube Region

13 – 22 April 2013 37 participants 12 Countries – 18 Universities Proceedings

2nd EDITION – The role of natural heritage for the sustainable development of the Danube Region

22 – 31 March 2014 35 participants 11 Countries – 17 Universities Proceedings (still in progress)

3rd EDITION – The role of cultural heritage for the sustainable development of the Danube Region

14 – 23 March 2015 ( Call for participants by October 2014)

DIAnet International Schools

Training in interdisciplinary methods (lectures and excursions), with focus on Natural Heritage and Cultural Heritage

Working groups for developing interdisciplinary and transnational project ideas in the framework of H2020 ( 12 project ideas in the Proceedings)

international composition of the students and from their broad disciplinary background and experiences in interdisciplinary work

offering a wide field of topics and opening the school to participants from all scientific fields and countries from the Danube and Alps-Adriatic region provides the chance to foster international and interdisciplinary cooperation

Overall the 2014DIS met the expectations of participants who considered it useful for their future careers

INFO AT: http://www.danubefuture.eu/dianet-international-school

DIS results

Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Rep., Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia

It takes into account the troubled political and environmental

history of the DRB current environmental problems

and their impact on economic growth and sustainable development

It has a focus on humanities and social sciences

It contributes to the core module

It leads to a series of in-depth analyses of the long-term evolution of the DRB and its implications for sustainable development

Research module

Biodiversity in the DR

DRB has a rich biodiversity and host an high number of endemic species, which can be found only in the DR

Mapping biodiversity of the DRB can be done by coupling the work of researchers with a citizen science approach, which can be used for both collecting data and disseminating knowledge. 

UniTS manages several databases on biodiversity they could be used as the first step of the project they can also act as centers for data aggregation from the entire Danube basin, thanks to the collaboration of research institutions in the area. 

Biodiversity in the DR

Easy apps!

Thank you for your attention

www.danubefuture.eu

info@danubefuture.eu