SILA2021

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS:

   The Smart Islands and Villages Lab (SILA2021) conference is organized as SDEWES pre-conference on island Mljet .

   The goal of SILA 2021 conference is to act in accordance with the EU strategy on islands development and launching new projects.

SILA2021 invites you to discuss how digital technologies, science-society and international cooperation, social innovation and Living Labs could address global challenges of smart islands and rural communities. It includes the challenges of COVID pandemic and climate change - economic development, physical, social and mental well-being of local population, resilience and the development of sustainable tourism, green energy, and mobility on islands in rural areas

   The conference promotes and support dialog, cooperation and exchange of experiences between Southern Dalmatia and Central Baltic region and countries

The conference invites online participation, presentations, participation in panel and co-creation sessions addressed concrete problems, challenges and projects in these fieled .
Participants at SILA 2021 need to fill in the registration form the registration link: https://forms.gle/5rbB2RYsgNbyoNc9A

All those interested can get additional information from MIPRO office: mipro@mipro.hr

The conference program can be found below

SILA2021 conference invites you to join Smart Islands and Villages Innovation Network and to participate to Smart Island Digital Nomads and Remote Workers virtual community Lab and projects. The expressions of interests to be submitted at: http://www.smartislandregion.com/eoi-in-sila-network-and-island-community.html

Southern Dalmatia and Central Baltic regions, archipelagos, islands, rural areas have a lot of similarities and complimentary features, synergies that could benefit the regional development and their countries

Conference scope:

The SILA2021 hybrid inter-regional international conference is aiming to regional development and COVID post-pandemic recovery of coastal smart regions, islands and rural areas of Croatian Adriatic and Central Baltic Seas regions.
It addresses complex problems and challenges of island and regions sustainability, energy, tourism, resilience, economic development, well-being and health - many of them are related the local impact of global processes and crises such as COVD pandemic, climate change, environment, migration.

The conference is aiming to: to address global, pandemic and environmental challenges, sustainable development of islands and rural areas and well-being of population mobilizing multidisciplinary science - smart ICT & digitization - society cooperation
to establish international cooperation network and Smart Island Lab project interest group

The conference concept follows the vision of Croatian Academy of Science Bisevo island multidisciplinary sustainable development project concept presented on the pictures below.

by applying:

- scientific research multidisciplinary knowledge based on cooperation between different areas of science: system complexity science, social – human and medical science, ICT and smart digital technologies, regional science others

- smart digital/ICT technologies and digital innovation (hubs) capacities to create digital platforms and electronic services for businesses, authorities, tourists and local population to help pandemic recovery and to facilitate economic and social developments

- social innovation and Living Labs methods and tools

by connecting local, regional and international communities:
aiming to mobilize local activities, capacities and interests in new technologies, educations, communities and civil society dialogs and active participation in smart islands and village developments and to facilitate interest in learning and international cooperation.
The conference provides discussion platform and presentation floor for local people, communities and organizations from different parts of EU including Southern Dalmatia/Croatian Adriatic and Southern Finland/Central Baltic regions to help them to explore the complimentary between local business ecosystems , to allow to discuss cooperation, partnerships and new projects to help to reestablishment tourism and local economies to facility post COVID recovery .
The conference will discuss opportunities and concrete steps in post COVID smart tourism development, new forms of tourism like digital nomads and remote (DNRW) island , green mobility and energy, mental wellbeing, economic recovery of Croatian Adriatic/South Dalmatia and Central Baltic/ Southern Finland regions which could benefit from inter-regional exchange of views, experiences , best practices and to leverage from complimentary of smart regions policies and capacities in ICT, tourism, environmental protection green blue energy, mobility, public health and education sectors.

it includes interactive co-creation and panel sessions focused on practical implementation of key topics, providing discussion platform for further developments, establishing network and projects and Smart Island Lab

discussion topics:

the complementarities, common interests and opportunities, cooperation between Croatian Adriatic and Central Baltic Regions addressed sustainability , resilience, economic development, well-being and health in COVID pandemic recovery
new forms of smart sustainable tourism on islands and in rural areas during COVID pandemics - recreational tourism, tourism safety, thematic tourism, digital nomads and remote workers (DNRW) tourism
system complexity and view of global vs regional challenges, socio-technological system of systems resilience and modelling, the impact (pandemic, climate , migration, resilience, international relations) on islands and regional areas
the role of digital smart technologies and digital platforms in islands and regional areas COVID recovery, resilience, economic development, well-being and sustainability with concrete practical examples of implementations and roadmaps
COVID pandemic and mental well being and health, the role of media, social impacts, systematic view and the role of ICT, digital services and social media
Smart island and regions science network, DNRW community, smart island lab
other topics

Island as a Lab and Digital Nomads and Remote Workers (DNRW) community
This initiative and effort targeted to establishing Smart Islands Innovation Living lab on island in cooperation with universities, NGOs and public authorities, digital nomads and remote workers (DNRW) communities and initiatives. It is aiming to establish Smart Island scientific and artistic communities of interest in residency on island connected and co-working with local population, implementing innovations agendas, supporting multidisciplinary scientific cooperation, hosting meetings, co-creation and co-working sessions on island and in hybrid format

Who should attend?
Islands and rural communities, NGOs, tourist boards and agencies, operators, innovation organizations and centers, digital innovations hubs, regional, national and local authorities , SMEs and companies , and all interested in establishment cooperation, partnerships and new projects, international cooperation on these topics

Expected outcome of the conference:

the possibility for islands, rural communities, NGOs public authorities to get familiar with the new opportunities and best practices in smart tourism, green mobility, energy and digitization that might contribute post-pandemic COVID recovery by creation new businesses, establishing safe procedures and introducing new services) the examples, and reference links will be available online after the conference)
to collect expressions (locally and internationally) of interests , project development ideas to be discussed. To establish partnership to follow up for new tourist businesses, services, cooperation initiatives, artistic residencies and, social innovation initiatives , NGOs establishing
to develop recommendations, next practical steps, business plans for post COVID smart sustainable tourism development including thematic tourism, schools exchange, volunteering tourism, Eco tourism, Digital Nomads in the rural areas and islands
to establish new marketing channels and cooperation between tours organizers/operators , tourist boards in Baltic and Adriatic regions
to discuss international cooperation opportunities between universities, companies, NGOs and public organization for smart sustainable tourism development based on digital and social innovations and Living Lab experiences
to establish new cooperation links nd new contacts between organization and people living in coastal areas and on islands at Adriatic and Central Baltic Sea regions
to start preparation of projects and center development
it is expected to launch one or several thematic initiatives/projects (see IMPLEMENTATION sessions in the agenda below)
to establish international interest group, multidisciplinary network and forum with the involvement of regions , islands NGOs and authorities, digital hubs and innovation organizations, universities and schools interested in applying innovative smart digital technologies, social innovation and cooperation with scientific community, Living Labs to facilitate post pandemic recovery, smart sustainable tourism envelopment and improvement of well-being of local rural and islands population

For those who will be voluntarily coming to Saplunara: please contact Ivana Ezgeta on accommodation, catering, and meeting place : +385 99 508 4512 , ezgeta.ivana1@gmail.com

accommodation, catering, and transportation to be paid by participants

for any additional logistical information for traveling and accommodation in Saplunara please see the link: http://www.smartislandregion.com/location-and-logistics.html

THE SILA2021 FINAL PROGRAM

AGENDA STRUCTURE

8 October, Friday 10:00 - 17:00 CET/11:00 - 18:00 EET

OPENING AND KEYNOTES

09:00-09:05 MIPRO, Vice-President, Karolj Skala, Welcome to SILA 2021

09:05-09:10 Dubrovnik-Neretva region, Head, Nikola Dobroslavić, Welcome address

09:10-09:15 Member of the European Parliament, Tonino Picula, Energy Transition of islands from national and EU perspective

09:15-09:30 Islands Innovation, James Ellsmoor, Islands Matter - Global Island Networks for Sustainability

09:30-09:35 European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica

09:35-09:45 Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, President of the Helsinki- Uusimaa Region - Markku Markkula

09:45-10:10 Croatian Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, Assistant Minister, Tajana Huzak, National Island Development Plan for the period from 2021 to 2027 and Opening SILA 2021

THEMATIC TOPICS , STRATEGY AND INTER-REGIONAL COOPERATION TOPICS (CHANEL 1 ) (CHANEL 2 ) AD HOC SESSIONS

Track 1: Green Energy for Islands (Leader Ernest Vlačić)

Welcome addresses: Energy/Environment (Croatian)

10:15-10:20 Islands in turbulent times of climate changes, Marija Pujo Tadić,
International Institute for Climate Action
10:20-10:25 CET Holistic and flexible energy solutions – learnings and next steps from demo in
(11:20-11:25 EET) Åland, Finland, Åsa Hedman cases/examples of practical projects/actions implementation
10:25-10:40 Current progress in the development of smart islands – H2020 INSULAE project, Marko Mimica
10:40-10:55 Examples of successful Energy Transition on islands, Vjeran Piršić, Eko Kvarner
10:55-11:10 Analytic results of crucial parameters measurement on Unije Island, Damir Medved, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
11:10-11:25 SE Vis – photovoltaic power plant – implementation challenges, Ivo Čović, Končar
11:25-11:40 Clean energy transition strategies for Dalmatian islands, Ivan Zoković - Cola, Island Movement
11:40-11:55 Hydrogen as emerging potential for energy transition on island, Ivica Jakić
12:00 -12:30 Panel discussion: “Plausible strategic development directions for agile energy transition on islands”
Panelists: Marko Mimica, Ivica Jakić, Ivan Zoković - Cola, Vjeran Piršić, Ivo Čović,
Marija Pujo Tadić (TBC)

Track 2: From Smart Product to Health Tourism (Leaders Slavko Vidović and Neven Vrček)

14:00-14:20 Future Readiness and Resilience of Smart Islands (through Business Agility and Bimodal Management, Slavko Vidović, Smart Industry Expert Group
14:20-15:00 Panel Session: “How to develop Smart Product and achieve Sustainable Island through Island Digital Ecosystem”
Panelists: Slavko Vidović, Neven Vrček, Silvana Tomić Rotim, Boris Blumenschein
15:00-15:20 Distribution platform for health tourism products and services, Silvana Tomić Rotim, ZIH Zagreb
15:20 - 15:40 Food & Rural Center of Competency, Boris Blumenschein, InfoDom Group
15:40 - 16:00 Q&A Session

12:15-14:45 CET / 13:15-15:45 EET

Tracks 4 & 5 Smart regions and smart islands: Science/technology -
society dialog. Smart Rural Island Living Lab (Leader A. Boukalov/FINLAND, co-leader Rene Lisac, CROATIA)

12:15-12:30 CET / 13:15-13:30 EET Suvi Vähä-Sipilä, Presentation about Forum Virum and the Carbon neutral drone services solutions -project, Project
Manager, Forum Virium Helsinki, Finland

12:30-12:45 CET / 13:30-13:45 EET Rene Lisac, Bisevo Island project, Interest in Adriatic- Baltic cooperation for Islands and Rural Living Labs, Spatial
Development, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, Croatia

12:45-13:00 CET / 13.45-14:00 EET Marko Forsell, Rural Industry DIH, Centria University of Applied Science, Finland

13:00-13:15 CET / 14:00-14:15 EET Ivana Vuka, Blue DIH Digital Innovation Hub partnership of the Croatian Adriatic region, with centers in Split, Dubrovnik,
Zadar, Knin, and Šibenik, University of Split Innovation Centre, Croatia

13:15-13:30 CET / 14:15-14:30 EET Marijana Pećarević, The importance of environmental protection in the future development of society

13:30-13:40 CET / 14:30-14:40 EET Tena Velki, Impact of digitization on youth mental health; impact of COVID related online activities on mental health.
Recreational Center for children (children with special needs: with developmental disabilities, neurorisk children, gifted children)

13:40-14:00 CET / 14:40-15:00 EET Kristina Perkov, City and Islands - an interdisciplinary educational model of island sustainability planning, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, Croatia

14:00-14:10 CET / 15:00-15:10 EET Jelka Tepšić, Dubrovnik Deputy Mayor, Sustainable tourism and city development

14:10-14:30 CET / 15:10-15:30 EET
Panel discussion: “Regional development, future cooperation”
Markku Markkula, Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, President of the Helsinki- Uusimaa/Southern Finland Region, Finland
Jelka Tepšić, Dubrovnik Deputy Mayor, Dubrovnik, Croatia

14:30-14:45 CET / 15:30-15:45 EET Conclusions and recommendations to the NATIONAL ISLAND DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2021-2027, SO1.1, SO3.3, SO4.1, SO4.2
Final discussion with all the participants about future cooperation possibilities

Ad hoc session 11:30 -13:00 EET/ 10:30 - 12:00 CET

Track 5B: Inter-regional Croatian, Adriatic – Finnish cooperation, and
exchange of experiences - Konavle Region HR - Vantaa Airport business
innovation area FI (Leader A. Boukalov)

10:30-10:40 CET / 11:30-11:40 EET Welcome addresses. Opening the session by tour detable

10:40-11:00 CET / 11:40-12:00 EET Ulla Ruuskanen, Project Manager, Mayor’s Office, City of Vantaa: Co-creation platform for aviation and airport area’s
stakeholders, the Avia network, Finland

11:00-11:15 CET / 12:00-12:15 EET Ivo Radonić, Mr. Pušić, Općina Konavle, Municipality of Konavle, Croatia

11:15-11:30 CET / 12:15-12:30 EET Karmen Kutnjak, Center for Entrepreneurship presentation, networking, exploring entrepreneurship potential, development of business incubator network and exchange of the know-how, Dubrovnik, Croatia

11:30-11:45 CET / 12:30-12:45 EET Mara Knežević, Croatian Chamber of Commerce in
Dubrovnik, Croatia

11:45-12:00 CET / 12:45-13:00 EET Discussion - Airport business development: presentations by Dubrovnik airport area and Helsinki-Vantaa airport area;

Recommendations for encouraging the entrepreneurial environment and strengthening the competitiveness of the islands and regions economy (SO 2.1)

Ad hoc session 15:00-16:00 CET

Projects development co-creation sessions/discussion (Leader Tena Velki) virtual

Establishing specialized experts groups
Discussion about future projects
Impact of digitization on youth mental health; impact of COVID related online activities on mental health
Recreational Center for children (children with special needs: with developmental disabilities, neurorisk children, gifted children)
Conclusions. Action plan.

9 October, Saturday 10:00 - 12:00 CET/11:00 - 13:00 EET

THEMATIC TOPIC AND TRACK -TOURISM CHANEL 1

10:00-11:30 CET

Track 3: New Forms of Tourism (Leader Vjeran Filippi)

10:00-10:15 Sustainable tourism on islands, Renata Tomljenović, Institute for Tourism Zagreb

10:15-10:30 Digital Nomads on Islands, Mario Mrkša, CEO Grabhome

10:30-10:45 Public-private partnership and social innovation, Vjeran Filippi, president, LAG5

10:45-11:00 Luxury tourism on islands, Zoran Pejović, Hospitality Consultant, Paradox Hospitality

11:00-11:30 Discussion and Conclusion

11:45 Closing SILA 2021

11:30-11:45 CET Discussion and Conclusions

11:45 - 12:00 Closing SILA 2021

SILA2021 conclusions, recommendations and action plan:

1. Recommendations for National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program has been provided

2. Proposal for implementation of Recommendations (above)

The Joint Innovation Camps JIC (1) or similar instruments to be applied in the program implement the quadruple and quintuple innovation helix (3) approach and EU RIS3 Smart Specialization strategies for island projects development.(As discussed at the SILA2021 panel of

Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, President of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region - Markku Markkula, and Dubrovnik City Deputy Mayor Jelka Tepšić)

The use of international high-class experts at JIC panel will ensure the transparent, focused, and efficient use of resources targeted at the specific needs of islands in the National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program.

In HR

Prijedlog za provedbu preporuka - provedba JIC

Provedba “Zajedničkih inovacijskih kampova” (JIC - Joint Innovation Camp) kao sofisticiranih metodoloških instrumenata za provedbu “QUAD helix” pristupa i strategija pametne specijalizacije (Smart Specialisation) EU RIS3 za razvoj otočnih projekata.

Korištenje vrhunskih međunarodnih stručnjaka na JIC panelima osigurati će transparentno, fokusirano i učinkovito korištenje resursa usmjerenih na specifične potrebe otoka u Nacionalnom planu za otoke 2021.-27. i Akcijskom programu.

Provedba JIC uključuje podršku EU komisije i JRC institucija, prisustvo inozemnog (Finskog) stručnog i znanstvenog iskustva, profesionalno vođenje provjerenog procesa i uključivanje svih relevantnih razvojnih aktera. Rezultati procesa mogu biti višestruki: strateški konsenzus zainteresiranih strana na odabrani planerski izazov (Challenge), lokalno izvedena i prilagođena inovacija, priprema za cjelovito koncipiranje razvojnih projekata u skladu s prepoznatom i usaglašenom generalnom strategijom i sl.

Joint Innovation Camp (JIC) for National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program

1. Background

The JIC initiative was proposed and inspired by the panel discussion at the SILA2021 of Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, President of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region - Markku Markkula, and Dubrovnik City Deputy Mayor Jelka Tepšić) where the JIC topic - “New forms of sustainable tourism during COVID pandemic” been prioritized.

2. Innovation Camp introduction notes

   The Innovation Camp (1) is a process, in which territorial and other societal challenges are explored in an entrepreneurial discovery (2) process which includes a face-to-face Camp and a more extensive follow-through, leading, ideally, to the rapid realization of the best ideas for territorial development in practice. This makes it an effective instrument for addressing territorial innovation and societal challenges in a powerful and effective way. It combines an entrepreneurial way of thinking and working with a concrete process for developing breakthrough ideas and insights, aiming at producing real-world impact. Participants from diverse backgrounds, countries and disciplines work together, to discover and leverage in-and-out-of-the-box opportunities for creating breakthroughs, in a process of collaborative solution seeking.
   As opposed to most of the other participatory methodologies, the Innovation Camps develop an innovation process led by the stakeholders themselves, starting from shaping the challenges during the Camp preparation to reframing them and conceiving innovative solutions during the face-to-face Camp to make those solutions feasible, testable, and able to be implemented and scaled up as part of the Camp process, once the face-to-face camping is over.
    There are dozens of innovative instruments and diverse methodologies for social renewal, and hundreds of workshops take place every year, often producing promising results. But many fail to move beyond the output of the events themselves to create lasting effect in society.
    Innovation Camps have shown that this can be done, even when dealing with complicated and complex issues.
    The Innovation Camp co-creates solutions for implementing regional smart specialization strategies and supporting the economic transformation in the Regions involved. JIC brings together: regional actors, citizens, universities, politicians, businesses and other stakeholders to innovate around global and regional challenges selected for the Camp. Regions get inspiration and high-level support through the official peer-to-peer reviews of their research innovation strategies organized by the EU Joint Research Center. JIC foster bottom-up regional innovation and facilitates trans-regional network building. Advised by experts in co-creation, smart cities and citizen-driven innovation the camp provides a democratic environment to build partnerships, experiment and set up engaging processes for generating solutions and projects together.

3. Joint Innovation Camp and its possible roles in National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program
The Joint Innovation Camps JIC or similar instruments could be useful for the National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program helping to define the key challenges and priorities , implementation strategies and to drive implementation projects.
JIC will apply transparently and efficiently the quadruple and quintuple innovation helix (3) approach and EU RIS3 Smart Specialization (4) strategies for island development with the participation and contribution of international and local island communities.
   The implementation of JIC will attract the best international experts including the expertise and experts of EU Commission of Regions and JRC, leading countries.
The Joint e.g. international innovation camp structure allows to leverage from complementarities of business ecosystems of macro regions like - Baltic and Adriatic macroregions, will stimulate international cooperation for the benefit of countries involved, neighboring regions and the EU.
   The JICs can be organized as a serial activity focused on the key challenges of the National Plan for Islands 2021-27 and Action Program, EU policies to be carried out on a regular basis on the island.
For example, the rural island of Mljet could be the one of the JIC implementation and validation, test and demonstration site/platform (so called “Living Lab”).
The Mljet island has an attractive location for regular international experts’ meetings due to the proximity of international airport and touristic region. At the same time the island faces many challenges that require further social and infrastructural developments. The island and its people managed to preserve its unique cultural heritage that could make local population participation in the JIC activities quite valuable.

4. JIC financing structure
The financing mechanism proposed by the manual (1) include:
“Challenge-owners should pay to have their challenges addressed. This support feeds commitment; a Camp is serious business, where external experts and innovators are mobilized to invest their time and thinking power to deal with the Challenge Owners’ difficult issues. This should not be a free lunch.
Support from local authorities and business interests should be accessed to sponsor workspace, venues, catering, accommodation and logistics.
Camp conveners might pay, or identify adequate resources, for the travel and accommodation costs of a percentage of the participants whose own organizations are not able to pay these themselves.
Public funding (notably ESI funds, but also other regional and European funding sources) might provide the basis for organizing individual Camps, and for financing the infrastructure that connects diverse Camps in a learning network for societal and territorial innovation.”

5. Candidate JIC topics
The JIC topics might include but not limited to:
Initial JIC -Opportunities and challenges in implementation of transparent, inclusive and sustainable strategies / experiences of Nordic Countries
1st JIC -New forms of smart sustainable tourism in Dubrovnik and its regions and islands. Cooperation and sharing of innovation cultures and experiences, establishing business connections with Nordic Countries
2nd JIC -Integrated Smart Island strategy for Dubrovnik region
3rd JIC – New forms of socially oriented tourism, including health tourism, post COVID recovery, cams and recreation activities for children with special needs camps, mental health of remote works and digital nomads

References:

(1) - EU Joint Innovation Camp Methodology Handbook: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/ecbc234f-fccc-11e7-b8f5-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-64631795
(2) Entrepreneurial Discovery https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/w/the-entrepreneurial-discovery-process
(3) - Quadruple and quintuple innovation helix approach: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruple_and_quintuple_innovation_helix_framework
(4) – Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) https://www.interregeurope.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/plp_uploads/policy_briefs/Smart_Specialisation_Strategy__S3__-_Policy_Brief.pdf

Call for Expressions of Interest in JIC:

Patronage of Croatian Ministries :

THE SILA2021 FINAL PROGRAM