INTERREG II Austria/Czech Republic Austria-Czech Republic Examples of projects ¡ Vienna Centre for business co-operation Interreg II is helping finance a feasibility study on whether, and if so, under what conditions, a East-West Business Centre (EBC) may be able to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vienna and the bor- dering regions of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia to compete more successfully in international markets, by supporting research and development pilot actions and technology transfer and innovative activities. ¡ Eligible Areas The project is structured into four, partially overlapping Austria: Mühlviertel, Waldviertel, Weinviertel stages. Interreg is co-funding the first two stages, which Vienna focus on a series of workshops designed to bring together all relevant partners, and the development of initial plan- ¡ Financing ning strategies on the viability of an eventual Vienna- Total cost: (1995 prices) 12.114 million euro based EBC. It is anticipated that at the end of these initial EU contribution: 4.5 million euro phases, a basis will be provided for a definite decision to be taken on whether to establish the Centre and, if so, ¡ Areas of Intervention how to proceed. One essential element of the project is Improvement of infrastructure 7 % the emphasis placed on tracking its progress: it is evaluat- Economy, tourism and socio-cultural co-operation 69.3% ed at short intervals in order to determine how best the Agriculture and forestry 6.9% next stage should be implemented. Human resources 5.4% ¡ Spatial planning, regional policy VITECC project and technical assistance 11.4% The Vienna Tele Cooperation Centre (VITECC) is a service network using modern communication technology to sup- port and advance interurban co-operation across the EU outside border. Four cities are involved in the project; Vienna, Brno, Bratislava and Györ. The aim of the project is to facilitate the passing on of specific information and encourage the development of cross-border contacts. A co- operation instrument was designed for this purpose, com- prising three main elements; the first is a project home- page on the internet, which enables rapid access to infor- mation and first time contacts via email. The second level of co-operation concerns the development of personal con- tacts in working groups, conferences and individual meet- ings. Finally, mechanisms have been set up to facilitate political contacts. The idea is that by bringing together political representatives from participating cities in regular working meetings, opportunities for stabilising political relations are increased. Each of the participating cities has ¡ Contact its own VITECC office and a contact person who liases with Dipl. Ing. Wolf Huber relevant departments in the various public administra- Bundeskanzleramt tions. As the project has developed, various issues have Abteilung IV/4 emerged as key concerns, on which individual workshops Hohenstaufengasse 3 have been organised. As a result of the project, one such A – 1010 Wien example is a co-operation project on sewerage between Tel: +43 1 53115 2909 Vienna and Brno. Fax: +43 1 53115 4120 4.