UniClaD is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building project, coordinated by Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution (HEI), bringing together more than 20 partners from Europe and Eastern Partnership countries to achieve common goals. The project is worth almost 1 million Euros.
The final events of the project “Enhancing Capacity Of Universities To Initiate And To Participate In Clusters Development On Innovation And Sustainability Principles” (UniClaD) (Nr. 609944-EPP-1-2019-1-LT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP)-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) took place from 30 September to 4 October in Baku, Azerbaijan, and was crowned by a two-day conference. This dissemination event brought together not only consortium partners from Spain, Italy, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, but also the heads of Erasmus+ National Offices, National Innovation Centres, Science and Research centres from different countries, representatives of the agricultural and agribusiness sector, higher education institutions’ communities and other project stakeholders.
The final conference focused not only on the results of the project, but also on the challenges and their solutions. During the almost four-year period, project encountered plenty of challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the withdrawal of a partner, 23 partners from 9 countries with different working styles and cultural differences, the change of project coordinator, 7 times change of the officer at the European Commission who supervises the project, the war in Ukraine which significantly restricted the mobility of 9 partners from Ukraine and made it complicated to continue the project, the suspension and then the extension of the project period, etc.
Despite all the challenges, the project partners are excited about the achievement of the project’s objectives and the quality of the results. The main objective of the project was Development of the potential of universities as an integral part of agro-industrial clusters by the creation of expertise centres as pre-conditions for the development and successful functioning of agro-industrial clusters. During the project period, 9 Open Expertise Centres have been set up in Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Moldova in the fields of dairy products, IT, aquaculture, agriculture, food processing and green tourism. The established Expertise Centres operate on the basis of research bases to develop research and outsourcing activities between universities and businesses. In the long term, it is expected that these expertise centres will expand and create a whole cluster ecosystem in the regions.
The project also achieved additional objectives: the legal framework for cluster development in Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan was developed, 9 study tours in EU countries were implemented, during which EU partners shared best practices in cluster development in the agriculture and food processing sectors with more than 90 academics and business representatives from Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan. More than 60 students from the Eastern Partnership countries had the opportunity for a month-long internship in the EU partner universities, where they consulted with local lecturers and carried out applied research for their Masters and PhD theses. During the project period, two manuals “Practical Guide to Clusters” and “Innovation Management” were published, and scientific articles in the fields of agribusiness and innovation were produced and published.
Parviz Bagirov, Director of the Erasmus+ National Agency in Azerbaijan, underlines the importance of the project for the region. According to him, competition for Erasmus+ Capacity Building projects is very high each year, with only about one in ten projects funded. ‘UniClaD was the only Erasmus+ Capacity Building project funded in 2019 in the field of agricultural development, and its activities and results create high added value not only for the country as a whole, but also for the Eastern Partnership region.’
Vytautė Giedraitienė, the UniClaD Project Coordinator, is also very satisfied with the results achieved: ‘The UniClaD project has been assessed by the European Commission as eligible for funding, but with a high level of risk due to the very large number of partners and activities. It is therefore rewarding that, despite all the risks and difficulties encountered during the project, solutions have been found to overcome the challenges, to achieve and even in some cases exceed the key performance indicators (KPIs). This could not have been achieved without the proactive and collaborative partners who, throughout the project, were committed to finding solutions rather than excuses. As a result, UniClaD is already considered as a good practice example in Capacity Building projects even before the official end of the project.’
It is important to note that the project was not only implemented successfully, but also brought additional, non-project related benefits. Anar Haciyev from Azerbaijan Technical University is excited about the career opportunities that the project has helped him to achieve: ‘When I joined UniClaD, I was a senior lecturer, but now I am the Vice Dean for International Affairs of my faculty, thanks to the experience I have gained from this project. I have improved my English language skills and now teach technical English to students. I am also sharing my experience from the project to help students prepare for their departure under the Erasmus Student Mobility Programme.’
The international Capacity Building project UniClaD has opened up opportunities for the partners not only to meet the specific objectives of the project, to purchase the necessary research equipment, but also to establish sustainable partnerships between institutions, to develop research activities, international staff and student exchanges, and to work on new projects addressing the challenges of the modern world.
More about the project: www.uniclad.net
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