ISCom met in Brussels

What will the new programming period offer for the Baltic Sea Region cooperation - especially in the field of Information Society? How has the information society development proceeded in the city of St. Petersburg? These were the questions discussed in the seminar "New programming period 2007-2013 - New information society cooperation opportunities for Baltic cities", organised by the UBC Commission on Information Society (UBC IS COM) in the premises of Finland's Permanent Representation in Brussels on 6 March 2007.

The successful seminar gathered over 50 representatives of different cities and organizations from over 10 countries.

After opening speeches and the presentation by the Stockholm Region Representation in Brussels, some of the most suitable forthcoming financing programmes for BSR cooperation were introduced to the participants. Dr Elisabeth Helander from the DG Regional Policy talked about the European territorial co-operation from the Baltic Sea Region point of view. All three strands of the INTERREG programme, as well as the URBACT development network programme can be used in developing new projects in the area. According to Dr Helander, first calls are supposed to open in autumn 2007. The ICT policy support programme, included in the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP) and presented by Mr Juan Gonzales from the DG Information Society and Media, included just the right elements for projects within UBC IS COM interest areas. The first call is supposed to open already before summer.

An important part of the event was to present an overview on the recent development of information society performance in St. Petersburg, a current chair of UBC IS COM. St. Petersburg participated in the event with a high-level delegation. With the presentations by Mr Igor Lonsky and Mr Alexander Pochatkov, the city was introduced as a lively, international city with a huge potential in the sphere of ICT and Information Society. The seminar ended with a discussion on future project ideas, where the INTERREG IIIC financed project "Challenge of eCitizen" was presented as a good example of cooperation with concrete results in partner cities' information society development. These results are acknowledged also by the EU Commission that has considered the project as a starting point for a Fast Track network on e-government.

The seminar participants took home up-to-date information about the upcoming opening financing programmes, some new contacts and a better understanding of St. Petersburg as a possible partner in information society cooperation. UBC IS COM hopes this will eventually lead to new projects and novel forms of cooperation.