The table of the coordinators of the work groups of the General Convention on Mountain Areas met on Tuesday, 19th February, 2019 to present the first contributions and the first ideas emerged from the 11 working groups to the Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomies, Sen. Erika Stefani.
UNIMONT – Center of Excellence of the University of Milan, as coordinator of the “Mountain Culture and Science” Table and co-coordinator of the “Macro-regional EU strategies and new EU planning” Table participated in the Coordinators’ table which included national representation of all the components of the triple helix model, namely: universities, public administration and business.
To assess the first priorities and gather the first suggestions for the definition of a systematic strategy for Italian mountain areas, UNIMONT organized two discussions – on site and in the virtual classroom – between the members of each table it coordinates. 28 participants from nine Universities, five Regions, three Research Centers, two Trade Associations, two Local Development and Territorial Promotion Agencies, a supra-regional Governance Body and a business incubator participated in the “Mountain Culture and Science” Table whereas there were 18 participants from nine Regions, five Trade Associations, a supra-regional Governance Body and a University at the “EU macro-regional strategies and new community planning” table.
These first meetings showed how mountains can be a great laboratory for the challenges of modern society. Thanks to their peculiarities and their resources, mountain areas must emerge from marginality and become the key protagonists of their own development. Therefore, good coordination and a consolidated and stable network are required in order to combine skills and knowledge, collaborate and share good practices, adopting innovative technologies and leveraging on European macro strategies and new EU planning, in order to implement concrete actions for the development of mountain areas at a national level.