Description (EN): The aid granted to SME through various forms,represents an important part of the public resources allocated to the regional development.Considering the remarkable amount of resources involved, it is in the interest of each Public Authority to outline the situation regarding the exact amount of the aid granted and, at the same time, to know what is the impact on the area of the regional subsidy policy. Furthermore the present economic crisis calls for evaluation of contingent policies to be implemented in 2009/2010 by Local Authorities to support the SMEs sector. OSAIS affects basically two aspects: 1) analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the regional subsidy policy in terms of effectiveness. 2) analysis of the impact in terms of efficiency, trying to identify among the different financial tools (grants, interest rate rebates, guarantees, capital injections, accelerated depreciation allowances etc.) the most effective practice (i.e. the best practices).
Both aspects will be taken into consideration to evaluate a) long term (structural) policy and – also – b) short period (contingent) policy to face the current economic crisis.The goal of the project will be carried out through several activities. The preliminary activity will consists in a series of 6 Joint Thematic Seminars and in data collection by each partner through the creation and networking of data-base. This data processing will be the object of a Joint Thematic Survey which will involve institutions, Universities and stakeholders. The result of the study will be the identification of best practices in the area of state aid grant. These best practices will be exchanged among the partners through 6 study visits, 11staff exchanges, 1 joint interregional training session. The dissemination part of the project will be carried out mainly through the publication of a Best Practice Guide, website, a Launch and a Final conference, press conferences, newsletters, brochure,
leaflets, reviews advertisement, TV spots, participation at “Open Days” event. A Conference will be promoted with the involvement of the European Observatory on State Aid. An innovative component of the project will be the development of a new approach to subsidy policies, documented in the OSAIS Guide. The project will go further towards an effective improvement of the regional/local policy in the domain of state aid. The participation in this project is determined by the will of taking advantage of the existing European experiences. The work of the component "exchange of experiences" will be included in the development of Action Plans by some partners with detailed specific aid schemes focusing on the most efficient way to support the SME system with the full band witdth of state aid in all contrivable economic, environmental and social areas.The Action Plans will be submitted to the relevant regional legislative/executive bodies.
Read more Achievements (EN): OSAIS aims to carry out the analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the regional subsidy policy in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, identifying the most effective practice in Europe among the different financial tools analyzed. The 1st semester of Osais was characterized by the necessity to facilitate the start-up of it. The project started with the Kick off meeting in Wien, where the partnership begun to identify the methodology for the survey and impact analysis about the delivering state aid. During this period, 3 thematic seminars were organized. During the 2nd semester 2010, the partnership implemented all the activities of the project. The 2nd Steering Committee, combined with the 4th Thematic Seminar, was organized. Two newsletters were realized as well as two advertising campaigns were made. 5.300 units of flayers were produced. During the 1st semester 2011, the 3rd Steering Committee, combined with the 5th Thematic Seminar, was organized in Trencin. In June
the Joint Interregional training session on legal issue was organized in Aya Napa.The dissemination of the leaflets was carried on.In March the 3rd Newsletter was published. An advertising campaign was made after the meeting in Slovakia and another newspaper article was prepared at the end of June.It was improved and completed the overall Osais methodology for analyses and identification of Good Practices for regional state aid scheme; it was implemented the data base; Partners updated their working documents on aggregated overview state aid figures 2005-2009, overview state aid topics and relevant European regulation, description of temporary crisis schemes and on description of selected aid schemes; they also started with data gathering for individual state aid projects, regional context setting, overall impact of state aid schemes and their macroeconomic effects; finally they filled in the gathered data in the developed templates/data base. During the 2nd semester 2011 Osais carried
on the following activities.In October the 4th Steering Committe, combined with the 6th Thematic Seminar, took place in Reims. Two newsletters were published. An advertising campaign have been realized by some Partners of Osais; the project website has been maintained, updated and enriched with new material.The project has also gained visibility during the Open Days Local event in Poland as well as during the 1st Interreg IVC Conference in Krakow. It has been improved and completed the overall OSAIS methodology for analyses and identification of Good Practices for regional state aid schemes. Partners have finalised the data gathering for the impact analysis; they have updated as well their working documents on aggregated overview state aid figures 2005 - 2009, overview state aid topics and relevant European regulations, description of temporary crisis schemes and on description of selected state aid schemes and regional context setting. Partners also started the Staff Exchanges. During
the 1st semester 2012 the following meetings took place: in January, in Lisbon, the workshop on ‘Survey findings and Good Practice Selection’; in march, in Opole, the 5th Steering Committee and the 1st study visit; in may, in Murcia, the EOSA conference and the 2nd study visit. Regarding the activities carried on by Partners, during this period they started to analyse the data collected from the beginning of the project and carried on the activities of staff exchanges (and study visits) to exchange practices on functioning of similar state aid schemes. At the same time, they continued with the activities of communication and dissemination of Osais’ findings: the 6th newsletter has been produced and published; the project website has been maintained and updated; the leaflets have been disseminated; TV spots have been produced and disseminated. Partners also started the discussion on the structure as well as the contents of Osais guide (to be produced in the next reporting period).
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