1. Management structure - experiences regarding structure and resources
2. Relevant problems encountered in managing the project and the solutions adopted
3. Trans-national co-operation and/or strategic networks
4. Encourage of relevant stakeholders, observers and target groups to participate
5. Involvement of sectors/actors as foreseen
6. Development of particular fields of expertise/acquirement of new knowledge
7. Experience with trans-national cooperation
8. Contacts/Synergies with other programmes and projects
9. Influence on the regional economy of the participating regions
10. Follow-up activities and further steps for utilisation and dissemination
11. Our partnership after closure of the project

1. Management structure - experiences regarding structure and resources

The management is responsible for the entire implementation. There is the SG (steering committee) which is chaired by by the LP. The SG is made up of fixed representatives from each of the project participants. The SG made the decisions with everyone in agreement. The LP (Lead Partner) took over the responsibility for the T-PM (Transnational Project Management). The L-PM (local project management) is for the most part, identical to the representative of the project participants and has direct contact with the individual network partners (cluster organisations and SME’s) during implementation as a coach and helps them with the accounting and preparation of reports. All information exchange is done electronically, a project CMS was implemented.
There were clear regulations on that structure and no problem in that. During the project some situations arose. One of them was that the costs for the LP were much higher then 4% of the budget. The main hurdle was the CoE-process. It took too much time and was too costly. This process should be changed urgently and done like in the EU framework programs.

2. Relevant problems encountered in managing the project and the solutions adopted

The partner change was extremely burdensome for the whole consortium; the additional costs were approximately 20% of the PM-costs. Cost shifting regulations and the agreements for common cost causes loss of time. To involve the large number of local participants a strict project management was needed. The partner, Rhonealp feels that involving SMEs in international co-operations is a big challenge and they find the use of umbrella organisations is a good approach. They also feel that building up a network is a long term process and that it will take more than the 2 years of project duration to accomplish this. CIPRA found that it was sometimes hard to come to an agreement in the trans-national T-Conferences; the communication method has to be chosen carefully. Styria felt that the most relevant problem is convincing SME’s to go to fairs and events in other regions networking for their own advantage.

3. Trans-national co-operation and/or strategic networks

The main aim of the NENA project was to establish an Alpine wide network of SME´s. This network was founded within the project and will exist after the project ends. It was successful in strengthening and enlarging the network at a local level, and increasing the trans-national cooperation between the partners at a strategic level, knowledge transfer and in knowledge transfer between and to companies, consultants and planners.
Slovenia: Our cooperation with the Austrian partners proved very successful. It enabled us to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the Austrian district heating systems with which they have had several years of experience and to avail ourselves of their sample documents. The Bozen partner is convinced that Nena definitely helped to establish useful ties to similar organizations and enterprises in other European countries and it can be considered a valid starting point for further and closer cooperation. For Rhonealp, NENA has generated many occasions of trans-national partnerships. The consequences of the know-how exchanges are improving knowledge of Clusters amongst themselves. For the University of Rosenheim the Project was the first step into a further transnational co-operation with the NENA Partners. For ITZ Central Swiss it was very important to enlarge and strengthen their trans-national co-operation.

4. Encourage of relevant stakeholders, observers and target groups to participate

Including cluster organisations in the project, was the key success factor to use the multiplication effect. Most of the partners held regular meetings on a local level.
Target groups and stakeholders recognized the big effort of the project partners to emphasize such an important theme like energy efficient buildings in a vulnerable environment like the Alps. Nevertheless a continuous information flow was necessary to keep them involved on several occasions.
Slovenia stated that the events organised (2 international workshops, Bregenz Event and Torino Event, national excursions and conferences) were open to various stakeholders and target groups, beyond the project partners. These events were an opportunity to contact many interesting potential network members. Piemonte used the web-site and the local press to promote dedicated workshops. Vorarlberg, Styria and Rhonealps organized their actions with representative local organizations. Slovenia and Styria informed the public about the NENA project with press releases and in cooperation with radio stations a.s.o.

5. Involvement of sectors/actors as foreseen

From the Point of the LP there were more or less all the actors involved that were foreseen. In a quantitative manner there were more then expected. The involved cluster organizations were able to mobilize their members to a degree, very well. For Rhône Alps, NENA has been the occasion of a meeting of different categories of complementary actors and the actions have ended up being very fruitful for exchanges and collaborations.

6. Development of particular fields of expertise/acquirement of new knowledge

The partnerships exchanged and acquired new knowledge. Some examples for the acquisition of new, stronger knowledge:
Vorarlberg: developing a seminar and teaching about energy efficient buildings; Eco-power: developing and promoting methods to increase the demand of investments in new plants, getting knowledge about the energy cabin from Styria: On the other hand Styria got knowledge about passive house and eco power stock exchange. Tyrol acquired experience with the Innovation Assistant concept and made a young professional exchange with Vorarlberg and are thinking about establishing the same type of innovative education in Tyrol. Bozen: the partner itself had the chance to increase its know-how level, i.e. during the fair Reconstructa in Turin, on the topic “building automation”. CIPRA had the opportunity to gain experience in working with the world of enterprises. The studies and surveys on the regional wood value-added chain and on domotics gave interesting findings and helped Piemonte to better understand the local economic key segments to which it will make sense to address targeted policies to support the development of the market and R&D activities in order to foster competitiveness and innovation. Rhonealps got knowledge about passive construction and established links with French and Alpine Space actors. Above all Slovenia obtained new knowledge in the field of wood biomass, its utilization and district heating systems using wood biomass. This newly acquired knowledge motivated them to deepen their expertise in renewable energy sources and continue their cooperation within the NENA network. Styria developed different financing models for implementing a new heating system called energy cabin. The advantages and disadvantages of contracting, leasing and self financing were elaborated.

7. Experience with trans-national cooperation

Vorarlberg is convinced that the trans-national status gave a higher acceptance on a local level, and a better strategic perspective for the participating companies. The main added value in the project is the exchange of Know-how and methods in special fields (ecological and energy efficient buildings, value added chain wood, mobilization method for sustainable energy production, domotics, a.s.o.). The project partners are now aware of the fact that certain issues should be treated on an international level and that the progress of their projects can benefit from international exchange.
So, i.e. the Voralberg model has been particularly determinant and many exchanges were organised in 2007 between Rhône Alpes and Voralberg. The first projects begin to see light in Rhône Alpes with Austrian equipment as they are the only ones on the market and the French companies are motivated to develop new products. The Slovenia partner said: “Transnational cooperation and meetings with other partners proved very rewarding, just as the exchange of experience and know-how with other partners. We have consolidated our network and established contacts with foreign partners and experts in wood biomass”.

8. Contacts/Synergies with other programmes and projects

Regarding Rhône Alpes, the program which helped them the most was Climalp. Indeed, the program initiated the co-operation on passive house and wood construction with Voralberg in 2005 and 2006 and for example driven to the first example of a passive house. Slovenia has established a link with partners and intend to expand their cooperation to further projects in the field of renewable energy sources and climate change.
Styria, Bozen, Switzerland and Vorarlberg made contacts via the EC-IEE-program, the LEADER Program (transnational), and the conference at the EUSEW- European Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels. Contacts have been made but not with other INTERREG projects except there was a discussion with the parallel project RegioMarket regarding renewable energies and worthwhile cooperation.

9. Influence on the regional economy of the participating regions

Vorarlberg pointed out that during the project the number of young craftsmen in the wood chain rose in Vorarlberg about 20%; the value-added chain wood increased in the last two years by about 15% (much more than the average!), more then 40 new jobs; With the actions in NENA the demand of eco-power is now two times higher then at the start of the project. Within NENA, Styria set up projects, which substitute fossil fuels, and increase the local economy and employment. In Bozen the project influences the local economy by strengthening local enterprises through marketing activities.
Within the NENA Project, Regione Piemonte has improved the already existing ITACA Protocol for the assessment of the environmental sustainability of buildings, by adding domotics to the evaluation topics which influences numerous value added chains (energy saving, ICT & TLC, electronics and robotics, building construction, household appliances, design and architectural engineering) by raising the quality of life.
Nena has direct consequences on companies in Rhône Alpes. For the passive construction, (some equipment doesn't exist in France) by setting up a program of research and development by French builders. Regarding photovoltaïc, solutions of renting roofing developed in NENA will have as a consequence the multiplication of projects of substantial size and employment in all areas from production to installation.
Through the newly created Master programme from the Partner Rosenheim 15 architects (10 from the nearer surrounding areas) were trained in the field of wood and energy-saving construction. This Education will lead to more timber buildings planned and executed from architects, which means that timber companies will get more orders.
In Slovenia the Studies have shown that there are sufficient amounts of biomass residue available in the territories of the Bovec, Cerkno, Kanal ob Soči, Kobarid and Tolmin municipalities. Feasibility studies on biomass district heating have demonstrated that the system would be economically viable in the towns of Bovec and Kanal, whereas the opposite is the case for the Poljubinj business zone.

10. Follow-up activities and further steps for utilisation and dissemination

Besides a lot of developed tools, services and methods an important dissemination tool is the NENA-Website. Here important information’s and Links in the sense of knowledge data base are hosted. After finishing the project an operating Network (NENA-Association) was established and is active. At the moment, common projects are in development. The concrete follow-up activities are:
On the Education sector:
Passive house seminars, as it was developed, will be held in different places and educational environments. Master Courses will be carried out every year from Rosenheim in the College of Rosenheim and at other locations (negotiations are still running). The special training and exchange of young professionals is now a yearly program and invites other regions to take part on it.
On the Product and service level:
The ecological evaluation of public buildings is now developed and will be a method which can be used in the Alpine regions. It is a basis for dissemination projects. The ecopower financing system will be used for further investments and will be promoted through an established association “Ökostrombörse”. Soon after finishing the project NENA there was successful dissemination in Vorarlberg.
On the Cooperation level:
The newly founded network is to continue international cooperation whether a new Interreg project is approved or not. A further INTERREG project would, however, give the network more means of action. In the meantime most of the project partners founded the NENA Network association.
Using study results
On the basis of economically viable results of studies, further activities are being carried out in cooperation with the Bovec and Kanal municipalities with regard to the investment in biomass district heating plants. In the district of Murau, a co operation between 4 regional enterprises and an enterprise from Vorarlberg was established. The aim of this co-operation is to implement passive houses in the region and to raise awareness about energy efficient houses. The pilot projects of WP7.7 and other investment projects are ready for implementation; this will be progressed after project end.

11. Our partnership after closure of the project

With NENA an Alpine wide network for knowledge transfer and co-operation is founded! The established network structure with an international coordination unit leads to an independent organization. The network members use the result of the NENA-project as a common basis for permanent know how exchange and for ongoing project cooperation.
Currently, common activities are planned. The trans-national activities are focused on the value added chain of wood and renewable resources to provide sustainable development in the Alps.