A Croatian Delegation from the Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management and several Croatian Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) went to the UK and Ireland for a week in March to see UK and Irish counterparts in action. The trip was initiated and organised by our Strategic Programme Fund officer, Ivana Vukov, as part of the wider UK project of facilitating regional development in Croatia. The delegation was keen to see examples where RDAs and local government propose, fund and implement programmes which foster economic and environmental development of their respective regions.

The first destination for the visit was Scotland’s Highlands which, like some of Croatia’s more rural regions, face challenges keeping small communities connected and economically viable. The Delegation met representatives from the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency, The Highlands and Islands Enterprise. HIE has an annual budget of £85 million to support high growth businesses, strengthen communities and create the infrastructure and conditions necessary for regional competitiveness.

HIE is funding and supporting a number of transformational projects in the Highlands including the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) Millennium Institute, the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkneys, and the Centre for Health Science.
The Health Science Centre was created by a seven-way public, private and academic sector partnership among HIE, NHS Highland, NHS Education for Scotland, the University of Stirling, the UHI Millennium Institute, the University of Aberdeen and LifeScan Scotland Ltd.  

According to Lindsey Moodie, the Centre’s Business Development Manager, what makes the £24 million pound Centre so special is that it encourages collaboration. “The facility houses healthcare education and training, research, business incubation, patient care and healthcare commercialisation under one roof. Because we share common spaces and walkways this encourages the different healthcare sectors and organisations to meet and collaborate.” This facility is important as it will in due course attract the best researchers and lead to increased research and development in the fields of healthcare, medical science and biotechnology.

The HIE also explained how it supports new and innovative SMEs through provision of feasibility studies, identifying new market sectors, assistance with an innovation, advice on export markets, training and funding. The HIE’s initial investment and job creation programme provides discretionary financial assistance in the form of grants, loans and, where appropriate, equity investment for business development projects in the HIE area. Priority is given to projects creating employment in the manufacturing, food and drink, knowledge and tourism sectors.

Our guests went on to visit Farr Wind Farm and the Inverness Scottish School of  Forestry, where they use a wood chip fuel system. Both renewable energy forms have similar potential in Croatia, particularly wind farms. At Farr Wind Farm, the forty turbines produce enough energy to heat 50,000 homes. Hamish Ellen, who is an Engineer at Farr Wind Farm talked to the delegation about the environmental impact of the turbines. “Two concerns”, he said “are often raised: noise and the impact on local wildlife.” Both are exaggerated. “If there’s wind blowing” says Hamish, “you can’t hear the turbines and we haven’t noticed any impact on birds and wildlife. Climate change is the biggest threat facing wildlife.” At the Scottish School of Forestry, students not only take courses on managing forests and trees but actually take part in the production of the woodfuel, which heats the school. Using a woodfuel has cut their electricity bills in half !

In Galway, the Delegation visited Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Regional Development Authority for the Gaeltacht, the scattered Western regions of Ireland where Irish is spoken by around 90,000 Irish speakers. Údarás aims to promote the economic, social and cultural development in the Gaeltacht and preserve the Irish language.

Údarás is using a Rural Social Scheme to give low-income farmers and fishermen additional employment  with local energy conservation, maintenance and enhancement work to supplement their income. Údarás Community Development Manager Tadhg O Conghaile explained that the farmers and fishermen were now helping to clean and take care of cemeteries, piers, slips and beaches in the Gaeltacht, maintain community halls and sporting facilities and other work that benefits the community. “All of which is giving them new skills while helping them maintain their livelihoods and remain living in the rural areas.”

The Marine Institute Headquarters, situated in a state of the art new building in Oranmore, Galway, was the final location for the Delegation. The Institute is the national agency responsible to the Irish government for advice on and implementation of marine research, technology, development and innovation policy. The Institute research, assess and advise on the sustainable exploitation of the marine fisheries resources in the waters around Ireland and is exploring ways in which it can exploit Ireland’s enormous tidal power potential – both areas also of close interest to Croatia. The Delegation learned about the numerous different private research projects the Institute is assisting to exploit tidal and wave energy.

“The trip was designed to share British and Irish know-how with the Croatian regional development experts. If one message has to be taken back home, it would be the benefit of joined-up working that RDAs in Scotland and Ireland foster as means of offering added value to both small developing and larger ones willing to export” says Ivana Vukov, the project officer.

After the trip, Mrs Marija Rajaković, Head of Sector for Regional Development and Cross Border Cooperation in the Ministry of Regional Development said that the trip had been really worthwhile for her and the rest of the delegation: “Scotland and Ireland face similar regional development challenges as Croatia. It was really useful to see how RDAs operate in Scotland and Ireland and how they are more an extension of main government, than part of the regional government. It was also good to see how cooperation between the public, private and R&D and Science institutions functions in places like the Marine Institute Headquarters. We also have the contacts now for the future to exchange ideas with our Scottish and Irish counterparts.”