The overall objective of BioVill is to develop regional bioenergy concepts in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia and Romania up to the investment stage in order to become “bioenergy villages”. This will increase the market uptake of bioenergy on the basis of cooperation with partners from countries with established bioenergy markets (Austria, Germany). The following specific objectives and activities will contribute to the overall objective: (1) 5 villages have developed the institutional set-up and energy management concept for becoming a bioenergy village up to investment stage for physical infrastructure with at least one bioenergy village in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and Macedonia. The local market uptake of bioenergy value chains are to be proven by signing of letters of commitment. (2) Mobilization of 62 GWh/y heat and power based on solid biomass in at least 5 target villages. The individual biomass value chains will include the production and distribution of heat and electricity. The concepts include technical and non-technical aspects for each target village. (3) Increase public acceptance of sustainable bioenergy and raise public awareness on commercial opportunities for farmers, foresters and the bioenergy value chain as a whole by means of public participation. This will be realized by ensuring the public participation of the inhabitants (5,000 households) in the target regions for setting up at least 5 villages across the 5 implementing countries. (4) Capacity Building of users and key actors in business and legislation to manage the bioenergy villages in a sustainable way and be able to either enact the EU based national legislation or make full use of the opportunities that these new markets create for them. In the set-up of bioenergy villages along the bioenergy value chains it will involve at least 500 participants in order to have a critical mass of key actors.

A project proposed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Climate Protection and Energy Agency of Baden-Württemberg/Germany and European competence centres on Energy Performance Contracting (EnPC) in Croatia, Greece and Slovenia, a competence centre for e-learning in Slovakia, and key actors for the promotion of EnPC at the local level in Latvia, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine. Objective of EnPC-INTRANS is to increase the market uptake of technologies for the improvement of energy efficiency (EE) in public buildings and services by means of fostering private sector participation in innovative financing schemes for EE investments. This will be achieved by means of implementing large-scale capacity building for local public authorities and SMEs to jointly set-up and use adapted EnPC models for EE services (topic 3 in the scope of the EE21 call). European best practices in EnPC are adapted to local conditions (WP2) and presented to relevant target groups in the partner countries (WP3). Training needs of local public authorities and SMEs are assessed in intensive stakeholder dialogue, providing the basis for design and implementation of efficient training concepts and tools making use of advanced on-line technologies for European-wide capacity development (WP3). Trainers are trained throughout the partners’ networks (WP4) and the developed training concepts and tools are demonstrated in national and international cooperation seminars (WP5). The achieved impact of large-scale capacity development on the European market for EnPC projects is continuously monitored and evaluated (WP6), and the project results are disseminated to all EU28 member states (WP7). At least 50 trained trainers and 3,000 trained experts will directly benefit from the project and cater for the initiation and development of EnPC projects in partner countries and beyond, providing for energy savings of more than 60 GWh per year when implemented. (The lead Partner) GIZ has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with the implementation of the project ‘Energy Efficiency in Municipalities’ in the Ukraine. The EC through this Horizon 2020 project thus contributes complementarily to achieving the overall objectives of the BMZ-funded project as the BMZ-funded project supports the implementation of the EU Horizon project. None of the activities covered by this work programme are funded by any other funding.

Cultural tourism entails opportunities but also risks. If not managed properly, cultural tourism can easily turn into a “value extractive” industry, generating negative environmental, social and cultural impacts on local communities and ecosystems. This project will develop specific strategies to promote an understanding of cultural tourism, which moves away from a “stop-and-go” consumer-oriented approach towards one that puts humans and circular economy models at its centre, paying attention to nature, communities and cultural diversity. “Place”, intended as the genius loci, the ancient spirit of the site and “people” as co-creators of its uniqueness, culture, art, tradition, folklore, productivity, spirituality, are the focus of Be.CULTOUR. Wide and diversified partnerships of stakeholders from 18 EU and non-EU regions of Northern-Central and Southern Europe, the Balkans, the Eastern neighbourhood and the Mediterranean, will be the driving force of the project. A community of 300 innovators (which includes regional authorities and municipalities, clusters and associations, museums and tourist boards, entrepreneurs, chambers of commerce, citizens, researchers, practitioners as well as project partners) in 6 pilot regions will co-create innovative place-based solutions for human-centred and circular cultural tourism. Collaborative “Heritage innovation networks” will be established in 6 European deprived remote, peripheral and deindustrialised areas and cultural landscapes identified as “pilot heritage sites”: committed to the project’s objectives, they have defined clear cultural tourism related challenges requiring innovation, which will serve as the basis for the collaboration with 12 additional “mirror ecosystems”.