Project partners and stakeholders from Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Moldova and Turkey met for the first time within online the kick-off project event due to covid-19 restrictions. The partners’ meeting was hosted by the lead partner – Development Agency of Kavala from Greece. The event attracted more than 35 representatives of the partner organizations, national stakeholders, institutions and organizations.
The kick-off meeting was officially opened by Mr. Michael Skordas, the General Manager of Kavala Development Agency. Brief presentation of the project goals and expected results was made by Dr. Nikolaos Thomaidis, Project Manager of HERIPRENEURSHIP followed by partner presentations of experiences and expectations in the project implementation.
Dr. Dorothea Papathanassiou-Zuhrt, Cultural Heritage and Tourism expert moderated the second session of the meeting, focusing on the project work packages. The first day of the meeting ended up with examples of good practices related to the project.
The second day, 22.12.2020, started with virtual study tour at the Archaeological Site of Philippi UNESCO World Heritage Site and collaborative partner session where the intrinsic characteristics and features were demonstrated and project applications were broadcasted.
In brief:
The project aims to raise awareness of cultural heritage and prove the economic benefits of its promotion. To prevent brain drain and replace outdated skills and mind-sets with a new, shared vision for development, HERIPRENEURSHIP helps establish a new paradigm for cultural heritage management and communicate heritage significance to the public and ensure the uptake of CB heritage offers created by the Digital Mega Integrators (Netflix, Youtube, Arte; History Channel etc.). HERIPRNEURSHIP will involve actors from various administrative and social levels, so as to strengthen their capacity to effectively manage heritage for tourism and activate skilled workforces for sustainable development. HERIPRNEURSHIP proposes a cognitive and educational framework for using of a place’s assets, which would guide final beneficiaries (regions, communities, SMEs) to identify, signify, valorize and manage the heritage potential of the territory, in order to use heritage potential as a vehicle for tourism strictly connected with a unified signage and interpretation system.