2. S3 Project aim The main goal, thus expected result, of the S3 project would be to strengthen tools used for Structural Fund policies (SF), through the access to the experiences of others.

3. The S3 Partners 1. Emilia- Romagna Region, GD industry, trade and tourism (IT) 2. Ostrava Regional Development Agency (CZ) 3. Office of the Košice Self-Governing Region (SL) 4. Regional Development Agency of North Great Plain (HU) 5. Region Madrid, Directorate generale of state cooperation & European affairs (SP) 6. Development Bank of Saxony-Anhalt (DE) 7. Ignalina regional development agency (LT) 8. Regional Government of Campania (IT) 9. Centre for Innovation and Business Development – CIDEM (SP) 10. Latium Region (IT) 11. Finlombarda Ltd (IT) 12. Region of Western Greece (GR) 13. Objective 1 Programme Directorate South Yorkshire (UK) 14. E.C. Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) of Western Greece GR)

4. The S3 Partners SF functional identity The partnership is made of 9 countries, and 14 partners (4 of which new Member States). In 9 cases, the participating institutions are public authorities, part of regional governments. In 5 cases, being development agencies at regional level, they act as intermediate bodies. As far as regional governments are concerned they act as either Managing Authorities/Intermediate bodies of SPD (Spain, Latium, Emilia Romagna) of objective 2 programmes, or as Managing Authority of objective 1 operational programmes ( Western Greece, South Yorkshire, Campania). As far as Public Equivalent Bodies are concerned they either act as Intermediate Body (Saxony-Anhalt) or will be in charge of objective 1 operational programmes as Intermediate bodies (Ostrava, Kosice, North Great Plain, Ignalina).

5. S3 Objectives networking experiences/best practices on regional development programmes in view of the potential application in the new programming period of Structural Funds and of the EU enlargement, networking people in order to strengthen and exchange know-how and skills, networking results in order to disseminate information EU-wide and in new member states regional institutions,' making the network a reliable counterpart for EU institutions in the process of revision of Structural Funds policies

6. S3 Methodology The networking structure will facilitate the discussion and comparison among EU regions, the following main aspects will be promoted: identification of functioning modalities as far as programming, managing, monitoring and evaluating, assessment of the added value of experienced instruments in terms of their capacity to achieve results, evaluation of possible difficulties in combining innovative instrument with EU regulations.

7. WP1 Management & Co-ordination Emilia- Romagna Region Strategic Focus: This component aims at guaranteeing an effective management and co-ordination of activities that will be developed throughout the project. The goal is to adopt a common working methodology that will facilitate the work of the 14 members of our network and guarantee that all rules have been respected. expected out puts: Three progress reports and one final report One kick-off meeting and one final meeting Four meetings of TAC and SC

8. WP2 Networking experiences: analysis and share of best practices. Centre for Innovation and Business Development – CIDEM (SP) Strategic Focus: This component focuses on the analysis, discussion and sharing of best practices in order to identify innovative tools of programming, managing and monitoring structural funds programmes. Managing Authorities will be grouped in 3 transnational thematic working groups and will share and discuss successful experiences expected out puts: papers, reports and recommendations on the experiences analysed, set up of Thematic Working Groups

9. WP3 Networking people: hands-on experience of best practices. South Yorkshire (UK) Strategic Focus: Activities aim at making people of different EU regions co-operate with each other through an exchange of staff. Staff with relevant experience on SF will contribute by sharing it with colleagues from other regions. A one-week study will allow staff from interested regions and colleagues of hosting regions to work closely together. expected out puts: exchange of staff and study visits, in-house training seminars, meetings for the dissemination of the achieved results;

10. WP4 Networking results: dissemination and information activities. Western Greece Region Strategic Focus: This component focuses on networking the results. The project will focus on organising events and workshops in order to share and disseminate the results of the project EU wide. In this way, the added value of the individual Structural Funds interventions in the different regions can be expanded throughout Europe. expected out puts: editorial and graphic line (web-site, newsletters, etc.), meeting at regional and national level and a final meeting at European level, contacts and meetings with existing similar networks and with EU institutions.

11. Thematic Working Thematic Working Groups (TWG) TWG PARTNERSHIP will deal with experiences, referring to the application of the principle of partnership (art. 8 EC Reg 1260/99), thus the capacity to involve local and public competent authorities, economic and social partners and any other relevant competent bodies in the preparation, financing, monitoring and evaluation of the Programmes TWG ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT will deal with experiences promoting innovative tools adopted in the implementation of SF programmes as far as the methodologies adopted and the systems developed. TWG INFORMATION will deal with experiences defining innovative tools and methodologies for accomplishing the requirements of art. 46 of EC Reg. 1260/99 in disseminating information about SF programmes and operations to the potential final beneficiaries and to the general public.

12. Main objective of the thematic working groups to select, according to a set of commonly shared criteria, the experiences to be discussed - to analyse the experiences according to a methodology focusing on operational modalities, their added value in terms of capacity to achieve results and potential difficulties faced in strictly following the EC related regulations. to disseminate the results of the analysis firstly at network level, then to a wider audience through meetings and events

13. Management Structure Two main structures have been foreseen to be: the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Steering Group (SG); a Technical secretariat (TS) supporting both structures

14. Technical Advisory Committee The TAC is made up of a Project Co-ordinator (PC), a Financial Co-ordinator (FC) and Component Co-ordinators (CC). The TAC is the structure dealing with the overall coordination of technical and financial project activities. The TAC will ensure: - co-ordination of activities of different components, - an information flow to the partners, to the SG and to the EC - the fulfilment of the regular technical and financial reports addressed both to the EC (progress and final) and to the SG - the implementation of strategic decisions carried out by the SG. - effective implementation of components through a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of projects' activities and their effectiveness according to project objectives.

15. Steering Committee The SG is the strategic structure of the project. It is led by the Contract Manager (CM) and made of representative of each project partner. Main task of the SG is the evaluation of the effectiveness of the project activity according to the information provided by the TAC (reports and requested information) and the evaluation and revision of strategic priorities.. In order to satisfy specific items, it will be allowed for external experts or other project structures to be involved in SG meetings.

16. Financing ERDF funding 956.943,50 National co-financing EU Member States: 568.609,50 TOTAL BUDGET: 1.525.553,00