Capitalizing on the urban culture of Timişoara - a goal Politehnica University Timişoara also contributes to

Capitalizing on the urban culture of Timişoara - a goal Politehnica University Timişoara also contributes to

A group of 15 Romanian and Norwegian will collaborate in 2023 on a bilateral initiative entitled “Capitalizing on urban culture by promoting cultural heritage and cultural entrepreneurship”, financed from the Fund for Bilateral Relations 2014-2021 of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism. This project is developed by Politehnica University Timisoara in partnership with College for Green Development (HGUt), Norway, and has the main goal of using the existing multicultural urban heritage to promote local growth through cultural entrepreneurship.

To achieve this goal, UPT will organize a mixed exhibition "Urban culture versus the urbanization of culture" in October 2023, which is expected to bring more than 1000 visitors. At the same time, the two institutions will release a book that will contribute to promoting of the cultural heritage of the European capitals of culture in the two countries. Cultural entrepreneurship will represent a distinct chapter in this book, given its relevance in supporting urban regeneration.

The bilateral nature of this initiative lies in the harmony between the expertise of the Politehnica University Timișoara with that of HGUt by approaching the synergy between culture, education and technology, aspects that constantly interact in the urban development process. For two decades, HGUt has been active on the Norwegian scene, studying, analyzing and designing sustainable processes for promoting new economic development based on existing resources and capacities in communities. Reusing cultural heritage (to promote a new way of using traditional goods in order to ensure the needs of future society) is a specialty developed at HGUt. The two partner institutions will, thus, contribute, by organizing meetings and joint cultural events, to laying the foundations of a long-term partnership that pursuing the development of cooperation in the field of promoting cultural heritage, improving knowledge regarding the revitalization of this heritage and urban culture in multicultural environments.

To ensure the best conditions for this project, the team organized bilateral meetings (round tables and workshops) during February 12-16, 2023, at the headquarters of the Norwegian partner in Byrne. The main focus was knowledge sharing on the project topic.

The project team from UPT that traveled to Norway distributed the bilingual (Romanian-English) book edited by the Save Timisoara’s Heritage Association (Asociatia Salvaţi Patrimoniul Timişoara) – "Timişoara then and now" thus promoting the cultural heritage of the city on Bega in the partner college in the Scandinavian peninsula. The volumes distributed were donated by the association.

The “Capitalizing on urban culture by promoting cultural heritage and cultural entrepreneurship” project benefits from a 44,635.12 euro grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA and Norwegian grants.

The EEA and Norwegian grants represent Iceland’s, Liechtenstein’s and Norway’s contributions toward a green, competitive and inclusive Europe. There are two main objectives: reducing economic and social disparities in Europe and consolidating bilateral relations between the donor states and 15 EU states in Central and Southern Europe, as well as the Baltic states. The three donor states work closely together with the EU in accordance with the European Economic Area Agreement. Between 1994 and 2014, the donating states contributed 3.3 billion euro through consecutive grant funding programs. For the 2014-2021 period, the EEA and Norwegian grants total 2.8 billion euro. More details are available at: www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.

Additional information is available from the project director, dr. eng. Rareș Hălbac-Cotoară-Zamfir, Ph.D., email: rares.halbac-cotoara-zamfir@upt.ro.

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