On June 11th and 12th, the two-day event marking the conclusion of the ‘SMARTIES for SMEs’ project co-funded by the European Union’s COSME Programme, was held at the prestigious headquarters of ENIT – the Italian National Tourism Agency.
On the first day, the project’s transnational meeting took place, during which the partners reviewed the final steps and activities to be completed by September.
On Friday June12th, however, a Networking Event open to the public and the press was held.
During the morning session, the valuable “Compendium on SMEs Needs and Best Practices in Regenerative Tourism” was presented by Ksenija Keča and Vlasta Klaric, Senior Researchers at Sveučilište Libertas – Libertas International University in Zagreb.
This was followed by the roundtable discussion “Wine & Gastronomy Tourism as Leverage for Sustainability”, moderated by Antonio Barone, Director of the Phoenicians’ Route – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.
The speakers who gave their valuable contributions to the discussion on this topic were:
– Emanuela Panke, Expert Consultancy in Rural Development and Cross-Border Cooperation Projects and President of ITER VITIS Les Chemins de La Vigne en Europe – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe
– Carlo Hausmann, Rural Development Expert
– Francesca Boldrighini, Archaeologist at Archaeological Park of the Colosseum, Rome
– Ioanna Maria Kiatipi, EU Project Manager, Actina, Xanthi (Greece)

Among the project’s main achievements are the engagement of stakeholders and SMEs across several Mediterranean countries and regions, as well as technical and financial support provided to 75 innovative projects selected through European calls in five countries – Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Italy.
Some of these projects were presented during the closing part of the networking event.