SEE Contact Points: Austria

"Countries in South-Eastern Europe have always been of immense appeal for me. No wonder that I already visited some interesting places in this area - and I hope that I will even get in closer touch with this diversified and absorbing region" 

The SEEnews is continuing its journey through the South East Europe area and is speaking to the National Contact Points of the countries participating in the SEE Programme. This time it has stopped in Austria, a country with an extensive experience in the management of territorial cooperation programmes. We are speaking with Kathrin Gruber, the national contact point of the SEE programme, and we ask her to introduce herself and her work to the SEEnews readers.

Hello, my name is Kathrin GRUBER and I am your contact person at the Austrian National Contact Point.

A few words on the Austrian NCP: The Austrian NCP is embedded in the structures of the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning (OEROK) and is financed by the Federal Chancellery of Austria. As our NCP is also engaged in other transnational ETC programmes and network programmes, the team consists of three people: Andrea RAINER CEROVSKÁ, Martina BACH and me.

Since March 2008 I am working at the Austrian NCP and I am mainly in charge of the programmes SOUTH-EAST EUROPE and INTERREG IVC. As a geographer I have a lively interest in regional development, especially in peripheral regions. Countries in South-Eastern Europe have always been of immense appeal for me. No wonder that I already visited some interesting places in this area - and I hope that I will even get in closer touch with this diversified and absorbing region, also with the aid of the SEE programme. 

 KG
 A propos SEE programme: We are now facing the closure of the 2nd step of the 1st Call for Proposals and accordingly we are all busy in supporting prospective project partners. The SEE programme arouses big interest in the whole cooperation area, but also in Austria. Quite many Austrian partners were involved in project proposals submitted in the 1st step and the involvement of partners in the 2nd step is remarkable too. Accordingly we offered a SEE National Info Day which was well attended by around 100 Austrian applicants. As we expect an increasing interest in the SEE programme we will most probably organize another Info Day in spring 2009 to present the framework of the 2nd Call.

In order to support Austrian applicants we are offering detailed information on the SEE programme on our website and it is also possible to register for the OEROK newsletter to get compact information on news in transnational ETC programmes and network programmes regularly. Furthermore, SEE projects will be presented in our Project Database after approval. This database now comprises information on projects which were approved in the funding period 2000-2006 (CADSES and Alpine Space). In the future it will include projects approved in other programmes of the current funding period too.

To get further information on the SEE programme in Austria please visit our website: http://www.see-eu.at/

I am looking forward to working together with you!

Best regards from Vienna,

Kathrin Gruber - Austrian National Contact Point for the SEE programme