1The project "Future in the Alps" with its focus on knowledge transfer was developed in a pre-project between 2003 and 2004. A number of alpine experts were invited to discuss the core topics of a project which should focus on the main future challenges of the Alps. In two workshops, the experts pointed out several thematic fields, which should be in the centre of the project: regional value added, governance capacity, the role of large protected areas, mobility, new forms of decision making and policy implementation. In addition, the experts made clear, that the project should not deal with new research, but it should put the focus on already existing knowledge in order not to re-invent the wheel again and again.
2Collecting and disseminating knowledge should help to contribute in general to a sustainable development of the Alps and in detail to support innovative initiatives, to bring together different actors, institutions and networks from different sectors and levels. In addition, the project should create results and outputs which should be relevant also beyond project end.
3Based on these key requirements, the project team (CIPRA and Karin Hindenlang from WSL) started to design a knowledge transfer project taking into consideration the basics of regional knowledge transfer.
4As part of the Future in the Alps know-how transfer project, CIPRA, the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, collated and processed practical experience gained throughout the Alps, making it available to those who need it. Future in the Alps consists of three parts:
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alpKnowhow, to gather the wealth of knowledge
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alpService, to transfer the knowledge, and
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alpPerformance, to apply the knowledge gained.
5The alpKnowhow part is corresponding to the first 4 steps of A. Simards value added chain of knowledge services (see article A. Simard): generating, transforming, managing and using knowledge internally. The alpService part represents steps 5 and 6: the transfer itself and adding of additional knowledge by the users. Finally alpPerformance complies with steps 7 and 8: the professional and the individual use of the the knowledge gained. Step 9, the evaluation of the knowledge service chain of Future in the Alps, will be done ex post by external evaluation experts.
Fig. 1. The three mainstays of Future in the Alps
Source: CIPRA.
6The objective of the knowledge transfer part "alpService" was to bring the knowledge and the experiences gained in the "alpKnowhow" part to the different target groups of the project. These target groups were: local and regional stakeholders in the 6 thematic fields, scientists and other experts, intermediary institutions (like regional planning agencies), administration, NGO´s and interested individuals. The slogan of the transfer part was: "Disseminating knowledge – connecting people!" The transfer of knowledge should initiate follow up activities carried out by these target goups ("alpPerformance").
7The alpService part included the following tasks:
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Analysing the needs of the regional actors and target groups
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Supporting the constitution of networks and platforms
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Organising an alpine wide competition of good practice projects
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Installing and running an online database
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Developing and offering transfer services:
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- Running conferences and workshops
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- Working out teaching and starting co-operation with educational institutions
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- Initiating global knowledge transfer
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- Publishing the 3rd Alpine Report
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Initiating follow up projects
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Preserving the knowledge gained, ensuring continuity
8The basis for the transfer activities were the materials elaborated by "alpKnowhow":
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six summary topic reports and a synthesis report
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approx. 240 excerpts from the literature on the current level of knowledge
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approx. 160 examples of best practice from across the Alps
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approx. 570 projects submitted in summer 2005 as part of a competition held throughout the Alps (see below)
9In the very beginning of "Future in the Alps", the project team carried out a stakeholder analysis. Then start-workshops with these stakeholders were held in all Alpine countries in order to inform them about the project, to identify the regional expectations and needs. This helped to specify the project contents and to ensure that the outcomes and results would be of best possible use for the regional actors.
10One of the key elements of "Future in the Alps" was networking, to bring people together, to offer a framework for the exchange of knowledge and experience. Therefore the project team contacted a wide range of actors all over the Alps and informed them about the project. As a result, the members of the project team were invited to more than 35 conferences, workshops, expositions at different locations in and outside the Alps in order to present the project and its results on. With these networking activities the project team could reach more than 4.000 persons.
11The different contacts were used to deepen the relations between CIPRA and stakeholders from other sectors and fields (architects, experts in natural hazard management, forest experts, tourism boards, regional managers, knowledge management experts, environmental groups, etc.)
12The alpine wide competition of good practice projects, which was carried out in summer 2005, was a big success. There were 572 projects handed in. All these projects had a detailed description of aims, contents, results, success factors, problems and how they were overcome, transferability aspects etc. All these projects have been online since July 2005 and offer a rich source for successful implementation of regional projects in the Alps.
13In summer 2005 a jury selected 6 projects as price winners. The price money was 25.000 Euro for each of the 6 projects. In addition, the jury awarded additional smaller prices to 2 more projects.
14Taking into account the fact that the handing in of each of the 572 projects was prepared by at least 2 persons, the competition mobilised a wide variety of regional actors, who were included into the project database as target group for further transfer activities.
15The competition also supported the expert teams working in alpKnowhow. These teams evaluated the 572 projects and selected some of them as "alpine wide best practice".
16Parallel to the research work in alpKnowhow and the preparation of transfer activities in alpService, the project team had to provide the technical requirements for the online database and then to establish the database itself. This was done with the support of information technology experts. The project team decided to build up the database on the open source "plone"-technology. One of the key challenges was to deal with the different languages. Actually, the database can be used in German, French, Italian, Slovenian and English, although not all contents are available in all languages.
17After establishing the database and filling in all contents coming from alpKnowhow and the competition, the database was integrated into the existing CIPRA websites and data-bases. In a third step, the database was linked bilaterally with a number of other databases, which focus on similar issues and good practice projects.
18After the research work of the expert teams in alpKnowhow was completed, the competition was held and the online database was established, the project team was ready to start the transfer activities. The focus was on three transfer channels:
191) Web based transfer: online database, electronic newsletter, mailings. 2) Hard copy print products: articles in daily newspapers, articles in journals, books. 3) Direct physical exchange: workshops, conferences, excursions.
20Together with the national CIPRA organisations, "Future in the Alps" carried out the following conferences: "Urban Alps-Rural Alps", 22.-24.9.2005 in Brig, Switzerland; "Climate-Change-Alps", 18.-20.5.2006 in Bad Hindelang, Germany, "The Alps beyond Kyoto", 25.-27.10.2007, Aosta Valley, Italy.
21As a final event, "Future in the Alps" contributes to the Alpweek 2008, where "Sustainable innovation" will be one of the key topics. The Alpweek is held in Pays des Ecrins (France) from 11-14 June 2008.
22Besides these conferences, the project team has set up a workshop-series with 12 transnational workshops. These workshops were dedicated to the different key topics of "Future in the Alps" and designed according to a workshop concept, which had been elaborated by the project team before. The workshop concept included the following principles:
- Local co-operation: In order to support further networking, each workshop was organised in co-operation with a local partner. Local partners were: regional governments, the LEADER network, regional management agencies, educational institutions, INTERREG projects etc.
- Cross border aspect: Most of the workshops were held in border regions in order to bring together actors from different countries with different backgrounds and experiences.
- National languages: As the English language is still a barrier for direct exchange of experiences between stakeholders from Alpine countries, the project team decided to run the workshops in national languages and to provide simultaneous translation.
- 3 key elements of the Agenda: Each workshop was divided into three sections: at the beginning there was a plenary with presentations, then there was a field trip or local excursion to a best practice example and finally there were small working groups in order to deepen the discussion and exchange.
- Social aspects: One of the key elements of these workshops was to create a warm and open atmosphere for all participants, to create a perfect framework for social contacts and a exchange between the participants.
- Synergies with other transfer activities: The workshops were used to promote the other transfer channels of "Future in the Alps": the online database, the 6 thematic reports, the 3rd Alpine report etc.
- Feedback and evaluation: the participants of the workshops were asked to fill in a questionnaire and to give a feedback to the workshop organisers.
- Documentation of results: All the material presented at these workshops (ppt-files, abstracts etc.) was collected and uploaded on the project website. They are available in the online project database.
23The 12 workshops were frequented by 750 participants all in all. This is an average of more than 60 participants per workshop. About 170 participants gave feedback to the project team via a questionnaire. The feedback can be summarised as follows:
- Knowledge transfer and exchange of experience are estimated as crucial task not only at present but also for the future.
- The workshop participants see CIPRA as an important player in the Alps. They expect from CIPRA continuous networking activities, knowledge transfer and exchange of experience, support in the organisation of conferences and workshops, internet offers such as discussion fora and help-lines.
- The workshops are estimated as a very successful knowledge transfer tool: they link theory and practice, support networking and sharing of experiences, offer access to best practice projects and new knowledge. Being also a bourse for new (project) ideas, the workshops are considered as a real window of opportunity by the participants.
- It turned out that problems in different thematic fields are often similar in different regions. This means that participants can share their analyses and learn from each other.
- Excursions to best practice examples are a crucial experience for learning and understanding.
- Many participants highlighted the need of methodological learning. This is mostly required in the field of public participation and conflict management.
- The participants also pointed out, that the small working groups in the third phase of the workshops were very helpful for direct exchange and getting to know the other participants and their background in detail.
24All in all, this feedback of the participants is very positive and encouraging for the project time. It seems that "the right things have been done" and "that the things have been done right".
25"Future in the Alps" aims at preserving the knowledge gained and ensuring, that this knowledge will be used beyond the project end. Therefore the project team decided to summarise the main results and experiences and to create teaching and learning materials, which can be used by educational institutions all over the Alps. This teaching and learning material is divided into 8 tutorials. It is available on cd-rom and will be put online in the second half of the year 2008.
26In addition, the project team established contacts to educational institutions all over the Alps in order to find out, in which way future trans-national teaching programmes could be designed. The result was a short feasibility study about a "MAS – Excellence in Alpine Development": It turned out, that developing such a trans-national Master Curriculum would be too much demanding in the frame of the "Future in the Alps" project, therefore, the project team concentrated on the teaching and learning material. The idea of creating a trans-national education programme for Alpine development issues is still alive and will be continued under another framework.
27As the global transfer resources were limited in the project, the team concentrated on three activities:
- A transfer workshop for key actors from Eastern European countries, held in Budapest, 22.-23.1.2007
- A transfer workshop for key actors of the Carpathians, held in Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, 31.5.-2.6.2007
- A knowledge transfer co-operation with InWent, German development organisation. In this transfer co-operation, 25 key actors from the Himalaya region (Pakistan, China, Nepal and Tadzhikistan), take part in a one year change management training in Germany. "Future in the Alps" contributes with 2 two-week training modules in autumn 2007 and spring 2008. In addition, many actors of the CIPRA and "Future in the Alps" network offered the participants two practical training units in their institutions (6 weeks each).
28Under the framework of "Future in the Alps", CIPRA published the 3rd Alpine report. This report is one of the key products of the project. The book is divided into three parts: the first part presents selected best practice projects and the persons behind, the second parts gives background information related to the 6 key topics of the project and the third part is a collection of recent data and development trends in the last 20 years. The 3rd Alpine Report has been published in German, Italian, French and Slovenian. Possibly an English version will be published in 2008.
29NENA is a project financed under the INTERREG-Alpine Space programme. The NENA project was initiated by the project team of "Future in the Alps". NENA intends to promote the better use of endogenous resources, sustainable production and innovation along the production and distribution chain in the field of wood production and renewable energy.
30Whereas cooperation platforms at regional, possibly national level exist, enterprises and their umbrella organisations only seldom cooperate with their counterparts across the boundaries. This is the chance that the NENA Network intends to offer its members: to raise competitiveness whilst orienting their activities towards more ecological and social sustainability. Therefore, NENA is a learning network. As for other alpine wide networks, the Alpine Convention is a framework for the network aims and activities.
31NENA is not only an INTERREG project, it is also a network which has been officially established in January 2008. The network members are sustainability and innovation oriented umbrella organisations and enterprises. They have following aims:
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to exchange experiences and to share knowledge as well as to carry out long term cooperation on specific topics and projects within the Alps,
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to act result, output and benefit oriented,
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to help alpine enterprises to raise their innovation potential and their competitiveness,
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to join in PR and marketing activities to increase the demand/market for products of the network enterprises,
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to increase the contribution of alpine enterprises and their umbrella organisations to sustainable development in the Alps,
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to continually expand its memberships.
32NENA will continue beyond "Future in the Alps". The network will be financed on the one hand by its members and on the other hand through an INTERREG follow up project.
For more information: http://www.nena-network.net/
33With DYNALP² the Alliance in the Alps community network is pursuing the work on sustainable development and implementation of the Alpine Convention initiated by the DYNALP Project. DYNALP² implements the findings from CIPRA’s Future in the Alps Project at the community level and promotes exchanges between the municipalities.
34The DYNALP² Project is scheduled to run for a term of just over three years, from April 2006 to June 2009. The Project has a total funding volume of €1,775,000. The MAVA Foundation for Nature Conservation/CH is assuming €1,275,000 of that amount, alpine municipalities provide 500.000 € co-financing.
35The focus of DYNALP² is on projects in communities which make a real contribution towards implementing sustainable development and the Alpine Convention. Projects in the amount of €20,000 and €40,000 are sponsored by up to 50%. DYNALP² projects focus on one or more of the following topic areas: Regional Value Added, Governance Capacity, Protected Areas, Mobility, New Forms of Decision Making, and Policies and Instruments. Until now 36 projects with a total volume of 500.000 Euro were approved.
36Besides the implementation projects, Theme-related workshops are to be expanded under DYNALP² as experience has shown that the benefits for communities are very high. After brief introductions to the theoretical aspects, representatives of Alpine communities obtain practical experience from other communities and are able to witness initial results on field trips. Discussions provide a means of sounding out the transferability to their own community of what they see and hear. DYNALP² provides theme-related field trips which are usually scheduled to tie in with the workshops in terms of both content and timing.
For more information: http://www.alpenallianz.org/en/projects/DYNALP²
37The six winners of the Future in the Alps competition had to define, for which activities they would use the price money. These activities were defined as pilot projects and carried out by the price winners themselves. Examples: the extension of public private partnerships in order to enlarge the Logarska Dolina Landscape Park in Slovenia, a film about the citizen´s initiative in Val Pusteria (Italy), the publishing of a book about sustainable mobility in the tourist municipality of Werfenweng etc. The role of the Future in the Alps project team was to provide some monitoring in order to ensure that the expected results were achieved.
38The idea of "Future in the Alps" was to identify and to circulate useful knowledge in the Alps. This idea and the activities related do not stop at the end of a project. Therefore it was the intention of the project team to create structures and to set up activities which have the chance to survive after the closure of the project. Some of these are: the follow up projects NENA and DYNALP², the regional pilot projects, the online database, the networking activities etc.
39In addition CIPRA intends to continue the most promising activities in a follow up project, which should start in early 2008.
40The role of knowledge transfer in regional development has been increasing in the last years. Therefore knowledge transfer activities have been set up under different frameworks: Knowledge transfer plays an important role in the new Swiss regional policy, "Learning Regions" are a focus of the 7th EU Framework Research Programme, the item of "Learning Regions" also stands for an initiative in the Austrian Rural Development Strategy 2007-2013. Also the EU LEADER programme and the INTERACT and ESPON initiatives of the European Commission focus on knowledge transfer. So "Future in the Alps" is in line with this trend.
41In the project "Future in the Alps" CIPRA tried to identify successful practical knowledge, to transform this knowledge and to circulate this knowledge all over the Alps. The project team has reached nearly all of the project aims and expected outputs, some have even been exceeded. To give an example: in the initial project proposal 5 international workshops have been foreseen. In reality 12 international workshops have been carried out. This change has been made because the project team came to the conclusion that direct physical meetings between stakeholders in an adequate framework would be most promising for the transfer and exchange of tacit knowledge – following the motto "High touch instead of high tech!"
42At the very beginning of the project it became clear, that such a complex project would need regular monitoring. Therefore a five person "reflection group" was installed. In this group included a respresentative of the client, the president of CIPRA International, a public relation expert, a scientist and a regional planner. The project team and the reflection group held joint workshops at least once a year in order to discuss the present state of work, to analyse in detail main problems and to decide about modifications of the work programme the time schedules and the financial allocation.
43Although the complexity of the project was a big challenge mainly for the reflection group, the joint workshops turned out as very helpful for the management of the project. During the first reflection workshops the question emerged, how the evaluation of success of a project like "Future in the Alps" could be done in a meaningful way. In general, the evaluation of knowledge transfer projects is still in its infancy. Projects like "Future in the Alps" dealing with the matter of trans-national, multi lingual, space and actor-oriented knowledge transfer are very rare. Hence, evaluation of such projects do not exist so far – at least as far as the project team knows. Therefore, the evaluation of success of "Future in the Alps" is a kind of experiment itself. In order to give a certain base to this experiment, the project team proposed to orient the evaluation towards the practice of programmes and institutions dealing with knowledge transfer.
44The evaluation standard of projects and programmes takes into account the following three aspects (European Commission 1999):
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"Outputs": the products that are available at the end of a project (e.g. a report, a book)
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"Outcomes": the results (e.g. new findings)
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"Impacts": the effects the project has. We can distinguish between short-, mid- and long term effects as well as between direct and indirect effects.
45This evaluation standard is used for the assessment of EU programmes like INTERREG, LEADER etc. and it appears to be useful also for the evaluation of a project like "Future in the Alps". Hereby it is obvious that the evaluation of outputs and outcomes is manageable in the majority of cases, but the evaluation of impacts often faces serious problems. Often it is nearly impossible to identify the net effects of a project or programme, because these projects and programmes are normally embedded into a framework of various additional support programmes and market activities.
46Therefore, an evaluation of "Future in the Alps" at present stage has to focus on outputs and outcomes. The evaluation of impacts is a complex issue with a mid term perspective.
47Programmes and institutions generating and transferring knowledge often use knowledge balances as an evaluation tool. Hereby knowledge is shown as intellectual capital, which can be described by following indicators (Begusch-Pfefferkorn, 2006, Universität für Bodenkultur, 2005): Persons (human capital): qualification, fluctuation, age structures, management structures
- Relations (relation capital): contacts, cooperation, collaboration in projects, network memberships, organisation of events, participation in committees, communities of interest, presence in media etc.
- Infrastructure (structural capital): hard- and software, database contents and processes In the scientific balance of the inter-and transdiciplinary oriented Austrian Landscape Research Programme (ALR, 1995-2005) following criteria have been used : scientific gains, internationalisation, deployment in practice, and additional leverage effects. (See K. Begusch-Pfefferkorn in this volume).
48For the evaluation of "Future in the Alps" the project team has identified some key indicators, amongst them:
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the identification of best practice examples and the present state of knowledge regarding the six thematic fields of the project
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the success of conferences and workshops
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the success of the online database
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the success of the 3rd Alpine Report
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the quality of the learning and teaching materials
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the networking activities
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the transfer of open an new questions to the scientific world
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the approval of follow up projects
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the quality of public relation activities
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the quality of project management
49A short term external ex post evaluation of "Future in the Alps" is carried out in spring 2008. In the course of this evaluation it will be decided, how the evaluation of mid term effects of "Future in the Alps" could be organised in a promising way.