The Transylvania University of Brasov, one of Romania’s largest universities, hosted the second official meeting of the ECOSTAR initiative. 18 participants from the 9 partners involved in the project met from 20th to 21st October in Brasov.
After a welcoming address from the University of Brasov, the project coordinator – Alessandro Leonardi (University of Padova) – went through the question of the identity of ECOSTAR, in particular, the concepts of impact hubs and accelerators; the accelerator process, actors and services; the business models we’re looking at; and main challenges that face us, were all explored in depth. After that, Pilar Gorria (NEPCon) focused on governance and funding, showing us the main topics of the later World Café, where we discussed identity, governance and the financial aspects of the ECOSTAR initiative. Mauro Masiero (ETIFOR) presented the business case studies to be published on the website by the end of the year, after which, there was a field trip to visit the Dino Parc. After that, Marta Bracciale (ETIFOR) get back to the project to talk about the communication issues, expecially website and promotonal materials.
During the second day, Lucio Brotto (Univesrity of Padova) involved people in a discussion about the training course structure, program and accreditation, followed by Carmen Aviles (UPM) who focused on the business plan award and learners’ mobility. In the afternoon, Alessandro Leonardi (University of Padova) replaced Katrin Rushton talking about the monitoring and quality plan, showing where to find the monitoring tools, how they work and the responsibilities of each WP leader. The day ended with a discussion introduced by Pilar Gorria (NEPCon) and Davide Pettenella (University of Padova) about the launch event that is to be organized for ECOSTAR, and all the other projects events.