Ms. Anita Nikova, SEE ICT Forum Board representative, participated to the Preparatory Workshop for Western Balkan – “Western Balkan Futures: Foresight 2020 Project”, that took place on 10-11.03.2010, in Bled, Slovenia, in organization of Cener for eGovernance Development for SEE (CeGD).
The main objective of Preparatory Workshop was to kick off a discussion the “Western Balkan Futures: Foresight 2020 Project”, which will aim at:
1. Developing a Knowledge Society in the region while speeding up the integration process to the EU
2. Identifying priority areas for social and economic development in the Western Balkan region
3. Opening opportunities for sectoral development and thus increasing the role of the region in the global economy.
Western Balkans Futures 2020 Project will provide a framework for a group of institutions, regional initiatives, centres of excellence and people concerned to jointly think about the future in a structured and constructive manner. Western Balkans Futures 2020 Project covers supranational and regional level of co-operation. On one side, it is complementary to the EU integration process of Western Balkans countries, and on the other side it is complementary to the EU 2020 Strategy. The project will follow the principle of the “moving target” of approximation of laws and strategies’ design, in order to achieve inclusive, participatory, effective and efficient policy making, related to knowledge society development in the countries of Western Balkans.
The foresight exercise will promote mutual cooperation in European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Western Balkan countries in order to inspire Knowledge Based Society development in the region. The backbone methodology of the “Western Balkans 2020 Futures Project” will be foresight (futures studies).
This preparatory workshop generated first ideas on the development of a proposal for the “Western Balkan Futures: Foresight 2020 Project” and will be submitted to IPA or other programmes for funding.
Please find attached the Western Balkan Futures: Foresight 2020 Project presentation.