An overview Interreg IV B North Sea Project Vital Rural Area

Project organisation 13 partner regions from 6 North Sea countries (N, NL, B, DK, D, UK) Lead partner: Region Northeast Fryslan (NL) Scientific team and scientific group University of South Denmark (DK) Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (NL) University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK) Project management Peter Laan / Wietse Hermanns

Project finances Budget ( ) o Total funding € 7,7 Mio o ERDF funding € 3,85 Mio o Cofinancing partners € 3,85 Mio

To find strategies to fortify rural areas by: 1) Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs by empowerment of SME’s towards new economical prospects and innovations 2) Improving the overall perception of the region by branding towards a professional exposure of regions 3) Delivering more and better services by optimizing services, towards more and better accessible services and amenities Scope of the project and content basis

43 ‘best practice’ project cases Fitting into one of the 7 Vital themes Outcome of the project

The Rural Power Pack Based on the project results and scientific knowledge the Rural Power Pack was developed: o A general working method/standard for tackling rural problems commonly encountered in rural areas o Tested transnationally on its transferability to other regions o Offering tools and instruments to be used in other regions

The Rural Power Pack

Example Rural Power Pack methodology

Dissemination of project results Dissemination of results ( ) over a web-based structure by: o appealing presentation of results (uniform project format, “story telling” form) oconnecting to networks and projects throughout EU 27 oaiming for interactive growth of knowledge by sharing project results and experiences oadding results from other projects and programmes

Dissemination in UK o Vital partner Norfolk County Council connecting to other UK regions (i.a. Suffolk) and other EU regions o UK Country page on Vital website Themes: SME Empowerment and Education o Output: - addition of new projects, new partners, new insights into themes chosen plus new themes to be developed - by Master classes, webinars, conferences, events - presentation of Vital dissemination results on Annual Conference Interreg North Sea of June 2014

Dissemination as precursor of new programming and theme development o Combining themes into a new theme -> Healthy Ageing, Welfare and Lifestyle o Searching for new partnerships using the existing ones o Heading for a new project either within the Interreg North Sea programme or another program

Welfare, lifestyle and ‘healthy ageing’ project themes Technology Prevention of care Care: organization and financing Personel and offer to market demand Social cohesion / exclusion, Community building and Good governance Care and housing, multifunctional use Poverty Nutrition and mal-nutrition Food quality and life style Employment young-old Smart medicines, domotics and ICT-applications Obese Workforce Physical activity