F.R.E.S.H.: FRESH Interregional

1.5.2012 FRESH 6th interregional meeting

20.4.2012 Presentations from the SMART & FRESH event in Helsinki

9.3.2012 Register for the Smart & FRESH seminar

5.3.2012 Policy audit tools

One of the key activities of the FRESH project is under implementation: the formulation of the policy audit tools. The policy audit tools are meant to support implementation of eco innovation in the regions starting from the the FRESH-based eco innovation component. Please go here for more information and follow up of the process.

21.2.2012 FRESH to be disseminated in the UNECE meeting in Geneva, CH 12 &13 April 2012

FRESH project has been given the opportunity to be disseminated during the 5th session of the UN Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies (TOS-ICP), 12 - 13 April 2012, Geneva.  

The FRESH presentation may be found here.

27.1.2012 Smart specialisation event in Helsinki, April 20th 2012

DG Regio Smart Specialisation Unit is co-organising a  smart specialisation event in Helsinki on April 20th 2012. FRESH project has been acknowledged to promote apart specialisation through its eco innovation component. The event is co-organised with the purpose of demonstrating how regions can benefit from smart specialisation strategies. The programme of the event is available here.

The event is addressed to all interested regions. There is a morning session with the introduction of Smart Specialisation themes and an afternoon session where, during thematic workshops regions will be supported to outline their smart specialisation strategies. There are planned to be three such workshops:

• One of them deals with eco innovation & sustainable construction. This is one of the FRESH project key objectives and FRESH partners are invited to benefit from it. However, the workshop is open to all regions with similar interests. 
• The themes of the other two workshops are not defined yet. They will be defined to reflect expressed needs of the participating regions. 
• The final workshop themes will be announced by the end  of February 2012 through the FRESH web site.

All participating regions are expected to send to the organisers of the event baseline material by 20.2.2012. Regions willing to participate please send an e mail to ninetta.chaniotou@kainuunetu.fi . 

23.1.2012 Interreg IV C Lead Partner seminar in Copenhagen

This seminar was organised to train the lead partners from the 4th call of the Interreg IV C  approved project.  In both the FRESH and TRAP projects we will refer to this information that is helping to make reporting more straightforward. It is good that all project partners have access to it and eventually review it. Please find the files here.

22.1.2012 Update on the conclusions from the FRESH good practice analysis

Please go here, for an update with  comments from Policy Theme 7 (PT 7) integrated into the text and access to the closing report of PT 7.

15.1.2012 FRESH and Smart Specialisation

As a result of the fact that the formulation of the eco innovation component is done by following a systematic selection process leading to concentration of resources, and also because the methodology followed is rather close to the one utilised by the S3 Smart Specialisation platform, FRESH contribution to this policy area has been acknowledged and a seminar is going to be organised in Spring 2012 in Helsinki, FI. This information will be updated for more details. A brief outline of how FRESH is aligned with the smart specialisation policy is available here.

25.11.2011 FRESH in the Interreg IV C Good Practice fair in Krakow

FRESH project good practice MERA was selected and presented during the first Interreg IV C Good Practice fair on 24.11.2011. MERA is about sustainable urban housing, including wooden apartment buildings. Its strong point is the concept of self-heating homes. It is based on a technology that collects all types of energy within homes and redistributes it for heating purposes. MERA solutions can save up to 70% of energy needs (and costs) for a home in a northern climate.

More information about the FRESH project & MERA  (Fresh project review & good practices to date (23.11.2011); Cleantech centre; CT Lahti Living business; FRESH MERA, Krakow presentation;  FRESH Poster;  K-EASY Flyer;  LAHTI SBPingeneral; Poster MERA) are available here. 

17.11.2011 FRESH interregional meeting

The 5th interregional meeting of the FRESH project took place, as scheduled, in Lublin, Lubelskie, Poland. The focus of this meeting was on the closing of the good practice analysis and selection phase of the project, and detailing the eco innovation strategy formulation. The offers made for the tender about the policy audit tools were evaluated by the project Interregional Steering Committee and the contractor was selected.

Two FRESH good practices were presented in two international events that  were organised in Lublin during the same period. MERA (self heating houses) from Päijät Häme in the ENERGETICS fair and the Eco Cluster (developing sustainable construction clusters) from Veneto in the Eco Cluster event.

The presentations from the 5th interregional meeting of the FRESH project are available here.

15.11.2011 The last six FRESH good practices now available

Please download the last six FRESH good practices from here

18.10.2011 FRESH seminar on the Code for Sustainable Homes & BREEAM

The seminar took place in Cork, on October 5th 2011. All partner regions are integrating the Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM into their policies. The seminar was organised to address practical, application issues and to gain insights into the results & impact of the two tools on innovation and regional economies. More information here

25.10.2011 Fresh Policy Audit Tools tender

Fresh Policy audit tools (pdf)

27.5. 2011 Presentations from the 3rd international seminar available

Reminder of the programme of the FRESH  3rd international seminar  and access to the presentations through the hyperlinks below.

TITLE OF THE SEMINAR: EMBEDDING ECO-INNOVATION IN THE REGIONAL PLAN AND THE INNOVATION STRATEGY, including Use of EcoInnovation and EcoDesign tools, Sustainability in construction and urban planning.

PROGRAMME

Opening of the session by  Mr. Jyrki Myllyvirta, Mayor of the City of Lahti: Lahti, Green city

9:00 – 12:00 Morning session·       Eco-innovation in the regional development plan and innovation strategy: Comprehensive regional policies promoting eco-innovation and the EU recent developments, Moderator: Mr. Corneliu Berari, WestRDA (RO)   

 1. Law 4/ 2007 in Veneto, Mr. Paolo Zaramella (SCV) on behalf of Regione Veneto, Industry and Crafts Department (FRESH project partner)

2. The regional innovation strategy of Päijät Häme Region, Prof. Tuomo Uotila, LUT (FRESH project partner)

3. Eco labelling, 2nd generation EUROCODES and 350CEN as tools for smart specialisation in the regions, Prof. Antonio Scipioni University of Padova (FRESH project partner)

4. Sustainable procurement (Ms. Isa Maria Bergman MOTIVA)

 1:00 – 5:00 pm Afternoon session·       Sustainable Urban Planning Moderator: Prof Bill Gaughran, University of Limerick, Ireland

5. Mr. Rikhard Manninen, Helsinki City Strategic Planning, Head of Research

6. Cradle to Cradle Network, Interreg IV C capitalisation project &  good practices identified on Sustainable Urban Planning; Mr. Jesper Willms and Dr. Paul Levels

·      Sustainable Construction Moderator: Lauri Kuukasjärvi, Regional Council of Päijät-Häme, Finland

7. Case study Växjö, Mr. Hans Andrén (SE)

8. Case study on District heating, FRESH partner South West Regional Authority (IE) Ms. Sonya Quinn. 

9. Case study from Finland on Sustainable construction, Mr. Vesa Ijäs, Development Manager, M. Sc. (Archit.) Lahti Science and Business Park Ltd, Finland.

26.5. 2011 FRESH & C2CN project synergies

FRESH project  is holding today its 3rd international seminar, in Lahti (FI). Two of our speakers are Mr. Jesper Wilms and Mr. Paul Levels, Cradle to Cradle Network, Interreg IV C capitalisation project, with good practices, inter alia, on Sustainable Urban Planning. For those among the audience that are interested to have more information about the Cradle-to-Cradle Network and / or have copies of the good practices on spatial planning & construction, please contact Timo Pekkonen in Kainuun Etu (timo.pekkonen@kainuunetu.fi), or Ninetta Chaniotou in Kainuun Etu (ninetta.chaniotou@kainuunetu.fi) or even just simply visit the C2CN project web site. 

25.5.2011 FRESH, 4th interregional meeting, presentations available

Please access the presentations from the FRESH 4th interregional meeting throufh the FRESH Dowloads ---> Good practice reports section.

20.4.2011 FRESH 4th interregional meeting and 3rd international seminar

Here can be accessed the agenda of the 4th FRESH interregional meeting and the updated detailed programme of the 3rd international seminar. The meeting takes in Kajaani and Lahti in Finland May 24th - May 26th 2011.

19.4.2011 Life Cycle Management & FRESH, article contributed by University of Padova

FRESH project partner the University of Padova, PP9 is contributing an article to the Life Cycle Management Conference. The paper is analysing the results of the good practice collection and analysis in Policy Theme 6 Comprehensive eco design planning tools. The article concludes that FRESH partnership can help regions "in the definition of their innovation strategy by spreading the adoption of tools, both at regulatory and management levels, that help in the assessment of all aspects of the sustainable construction supply chain."  

The article can be accessed here and also through the FRESH Downloads, Articles section.

11.4.2011 FRESH better practice on resource productivity indicators now available

The Sustainable Design and Construction Supplementary Planning Guidance, deals with resource productivity & land use. It has been identified  as better practice by the FRESH project partners. It was contributed under Policy theme 3  Industry specific measurements of sustainable value creation, by PP10 London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. It can be accessed here.

9.4.2011 Updated list of the FRESH good practices

The updated list of the FRESH good practices can be accessed here. The list includes all contributions made between 5.11.2009 - 31.12.2010. 

8.4.2011 One more FRESH good practice is available

Please go to FRESH Downloads--> Good practice reports  to access  Good Practice 7, the regional innovation strategy of Päijät Häme region, PP3.

7.4.2011 The 4th interregional meeting of the FRESH project

The 4th interregional meeting of the FRESH project will take place in Kajaani, Kainuu on May 24th and 25th 2011.  Please access the agenda of the meeting here.

The 3rd international seminar of the FRESH project will take place on May 26th 2011 in Sibelious Hall in Lahti. The 3rd international seminar focuses on good practices of Embedding Eco innovation into the regional development plan and the regional innovation strategy. For more information please go here.

7.4.2011 The Genuine Progress Indicator

The complete Genuine Progress Indicator report, testing the GPI measurements in two Finnish regions (Kainuu and Päijät Häme) in the context of Policy Theme 2, is now available in English and in Finnish as well as the summary of the good practice (GP2, Policy Theme2) area accessible in the Downloads section -->Good practice reports.

28.3.2011 Self government energy efficient Conference

The Foundation for Lubelskie Development in Lublin (Poland) implements the project “Energy efficient local government”, which  refers to improving energy efficiency through such actions as:Energy savings in various forms,Obtaining alternative sources of energy,The promotion of eco-living and environmentally friendly behavior among the citizens.One of the activities implemented in the project will be a conference "Energy efficient local government - how others do it," aimed at bringing the issues of energy efficiency and to present the Polish and foreign experience in the implementation of actions aimed at improving the energy efficiency of local government representatives, NGOs, media and businesses of the Lublin voivodeship. The conference will be attended by 120 representatives of the above mentioned audiences.Information about the project and the conference are available here:http://www.fundacja.lublin.pl/index.php/en/energy-efficient-local-government/information-about-project

24.1.2011 Good practice upload

Two more good practices have been uploaded, the Code for Sustainable Homes, GP6 and the BREEAM assessment tool, GP8. Please go to the Good practice reports section to download.

31.12.2010 Good practice uploads

Passive Housing from Päijät Häme, FRESH Good Practice 4 and the Eco cluster from Veneto, FRESH Good Practice 5 are now  available. 

24.12.2010 Good Practice 2 background report on the Genuine Progress Indicator is available now

Good Practice 2 (GP2) deals with measurements of Sustainable Value Creation-based development at regional level. Please go to FRESH Downloads ->Good practice reports for more information. 

4.12.2010 Information on the 3rd interregional meeting

The  3rd interregional meeting of the FRESH project took place place in London, on November  23rd, 24th and 25th 2010.  

Please go here to access material from the meeting.