Interregional bridging and local benefits : A case of Visegrad University Association prof.Ing. Peter Bielik, PhD Rector SUA Nitra, Slovakia President VUA

Basic question is what is the Visegrad? The Visegrad Group also known as the "Visegrad Four" or simply "V4" reflects the efforts of the countries of the Central European region to work together in a number of fields of common interest within the all-European integration. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have always been part of a single civilization sharing cultural and intellectual values and common roots in diverse religious traditions, which they wish to preserve and further strengthen.

The name Visegrad is meaning "the upper castle“. After the destructive Mongol invasion of Europe, the town was rebuilt and the Hungarian king Charles the First, made Visegrad the royal seat of Hungary. In 1335, Charles hosted at Visegrad, congress with the Bohemian king, John of Luxembourg, and the Polish king, Casimir the Third. It was crucial in creating a peace between the three kingdoms, and forging a joint alliance against the Ottoman Empire. This early alliance created a legacy of democracy and international cooperation for mutual benefit in Central Europe.

In 1991, after the revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe, the leading politicians of Hungary, Czech and Slovak, and Poland met here to form a periodical forum among these countries, the Visegrad group, with an intentional allusion to the meeting centuries earlier In 1991, after the revolutions in Central and

In 2010 Visegrad University Association (VUA) was established within a strategic project Sustainability in Agrisector of V4 Countries and Cooperating Regions that Slovak University of Agriculture is coordinating with the support of the International Visegrad Fund. The main aim of the association is to link partner universities in order to provide quality education and scientific environment and to promote development of closer cooperation among the Visegrad group as well as cooperating regions respecting new strategies related to the EU's growth strategy for the coming decade Europe 2020.

Therefore, the VUA would like to provide opportunities for a greater interaction of Visegrad academic and research activities as well as to accelerate their innovation and technology transfer for raising the profile of the region in the field related to all aspects of sustainability.

Visegrad university association and interregional cooperation as the outlines for further cooperation as follows: regional cooperation: transfer of experiences in regional cooperation in any area; protection of environment and bioeconomy in our regions: To restore and maintain the quality of waters, nature, to manage environmental risks and preserve biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils, effective use of energy and bioenergy production systems and protecting the environment, to involve the topics of biotechnology, food security, food safety, renewable energy sources.

Promotion of democracy, good governance, culture and tourism: encourage people to people contacts, support economic and social development, facilitating networking in the cultural sphere and local development building Prosperity in our regions: to develop the knowledge society through research, education and information technologies, to support the competitiveness of enterprises, including cluster and agribusiness development and to invest in people and skills

Interregional cooperation helps to build networks to develop good practice and facilitate the exchange and transfer of experience by successful regions with the aim to improve the quality level of the university education and research. International cooperation will be also an important cross-cutting priority of Horizon Main priorities of Horizon 2020 are fully in harmony with priorities of life sciences, agri-sector and environmentally focused universities and so, in the same time with harmony our regional cooperation within the Visegrad University Association.

Within the context of the main initiatives for the next programming period of the EU , the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) seems to be the crucial challenge and opportunity to plan and realize the common VUA activities and projects, too. The area covered by the EUSDR stretches from the Black Forest (Germany) to the Black Sea (Romania-Ukraine- Moldova) and is home to 115 million inhabitants. Danube region covers 14 countries – 9 EU member states, 3 accession countries and 2 neighbourhood countries.

As part of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Innovation Union flagship initiative sets out a comprehensive innovation strategy to enhance Europe's capacity to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Why it is important for the VUA? It highlights the importance of knowledge and technology transfer from universities and other public research organisations to market actors as one of the way to achieve these goals. There is a great diversity between the various countries and regions of the Danube Region.

The EUSDR addresses a wide range of issues; these are divided among 4 pillars and 11 priority areas: Connecting the region Mobility and multimodality, Sustainable energy Culture end tourism, People to People Protecting the environment Water quality, Environmental risks Biodiversity, landscapes, air and soil quality Building prosperity, Knowledge society Competitiveness, People and skills Strengthening the Region Institutional capacity and Security.

What are the main challenges for the VUA within this Strategy? 1. We have to speak about finances now and we have to ensure systematic embedding of the EUSDR in institutional, national and regional programmes for the period , especially European Structural and Investments Funds, Horizon 2020, COSME and the Connecting Europe Facility. 2. We need the strategic thinking in a bigger perspective (non-EU countries). 3.There are three key words/approaches for the VUA: linking – supply chains – brain circulation. 4. We have to understand and adopt the comparison advantages of the VUA and the Danube Region – it means to understand the essence of “belonging together”, because the cooperation does not mean only “working together”.

VUA YOUTH was established during the First Visegrad doctoral symposium organized at St. Istvan University Godollo in Hungary, October 2013

Thank you for your attention!