In the framework of the EU Industry Days and Week 2022, the EU Delegation to ASEAN and the EU-ASEAN Business Council is organising a webinar EU & ASEAN green transition: focus on renewable energies The webinar will offer an overview of ongoing actions in the EU and ASEAN to support the EU green deal priorities and green agenda with a focus on renewable energies. It will present the opportunities that the Team Europe Initiative might offer in ASEAN for the decarbonisation of the energy sector. Speakers will focus on the strengths or weaknesses of the renewable energies uptake and in exploring how to step up EU and ASEAN cooperation to achieve results in a short term. The webinar will be organised in the format of a moderated panel discussion (introduced by two video messages from high-level speakers from both EU and ASEAN side). Panellists: • H.E. Igor Driesmans, Ambassador of the European Union to ASEAN • Dr. Ahmad Zafarullah, Director, ASEAN Integration Monitoring Directorate, ASEAN Secretariat • Gurbuz Gonul, Director, Country Engagement and Partnerships, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) • Dr. Marija Zima-Bockarjova, R&D and Marketing Manager for Smart Cities and Solutions, ABB Electrification • Frank Phuan, CEO, Executive Director of Sunseap Group Pte Ltd Moderator: Donald Kanak, Chairman, EU-ASEAN Business Council

The EU Industrial Strategy is a key element towards a greener, more digital and more resilient future. It identifies tools to support businesses and manufacturing activities in their digital transformation and transition to a carbon-neutral economy. It also encourages the adoption of new solutions for economic recovery and resilience development, following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, the events that will open the virtual edition of "Re-Build" represent a moment of confrontation between the world of politics and institutions and the local productive ecosystem. In particular, the focus is on the new European, as well as national and regional, strategy in the building and construction sector. This sector accounts for one third of global energy consumption: for this reason, the issues of green building, environmental sustainability, safety, and innovation in materials, with particular attention to systems for the production of energy and heat, are fundamental to lead to a greener and more sustainable world. What is more, it is necessary to improve the global competitiveness of industrial and production activities, creating jobs while respecting the most delicate territories, such as mountain areas. The revitalisation of the mountain building system, with particular attention to the ecological transition and the inclusion of the younger generations, is therefore the real challenge that our territories will have to face in the coming years.

Technology Part: hands-on workshop in terms of microcontrollers programming. Young people will be able to improve their programming skills and test new software environments. Workshops dedicated to Arduino platform and LEGO Mindstorm will also enable participants to get familiar with the basics of Industry 4.0 principles, namely Internet of Things technologies.Event will cover the topic of digital and creative aspects of the industrial revolution with a special focus on youth. Divided into two parts it will give a complex overview of new skills development - both in terms of technical as well as soft competencies. Second part dedicated to Humans will take place on 2nd March

The main aim of the event is to discuss the role of skills and education in the green and digital transition of the chemical industry to make it resilient on the market disruption and problems with the value chains. Chemicals are everywhere in our daily lives, bringing many economic and environmental benefits, but they can also be harmful to human beings and the environment. The core of the conference will be the discussion on strengthening and speeding up the transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral economy, as anticipated in the European Green Deal. In this context, the development of innovative skills and a better understanding of the safe use of chemicals can bring a tremendous benefit for society and the environment. We see the need for further development, update, and maintenance of the EU comprehensive and protective regulatory framework for chemicals and its supportive global knowledge base. Additionally, we want to present the best practices that can be replicated by other stakeholders that can effectively reduce the costs and time needed to implement new technologies. Another important issue is to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy with resilient value chains and through that enhance the global competitiveness of the European chemical sector. This is vital to ensure sustainable development of the sector in the future and set the globally respected leadership in that area and provide additional export opportunities for the European chemical sector, whilst also providing an opportunity to fix higher environmental standards globally. We want to create a trustful platform for the cooperation between different stakeholders, mainly the education providers (higher education institutions, VET providers, and others), industry, policy and decision-makers on the regional and European levels. That kind of cooperation needs to be enhanced and supported across the EU and across the whole ecosystem. One of the ideas might be the creation of inter-regional learning communities that combine innovating, working and learning to create a long-term impact and eliminate the differences that exist across Europe.

This event aims to look at the future of digitization from the perspective of trends and the future of work. The main purpose of the event is to bring together senior and young experts with vision, who can co-create and bring new perspectives on the digital future of Romania. The event aims to present directly the priorities of the Europe program for the next period, with a focus on digital transformation and green and digital transition.

Congress of the future of the Energy Sector, the importance of the green and energy transition, including top speakers from government, companies, startups, research centres and universities.

Driven by the current situation of global distribution channels it is crucial to preserve the sustainability and resilience of the local economy. The current challenges in supply chains make traditional distribution unsustainable, thus, it is time to revive short supply chains. Tourism is the primer economic driver of the region. Its positive impacts on the development of the county’s economy should be directed towards fostering short supply chains to contribute to the goals set through EU green policy

online-offline (hybrid) round table

A Startup village Today, each of us imagines what the concept of a smart village should look like and what its components are. On the other hand, do we know what a startup village should look like? What are its most important elements? How could the synergy between the youth and the startup village work? Recently the European Commission has launched the Startup Village idea which is a part of the EU’s long-term vision for rural areas and the Commission Action Plan for Rural areas. A targeted direction of startup village development could ensure the economic development of the regions, the wider adoption of digital solutions, the involvement of young people and women and the achievement of the goals of the Green Deal as well as a successful adaptation to changes in business and society. Also, the Startup Village concept implementation would boost research and innovation in rural communities and help build up a more innovative entrepreneurship that will attract more young and talented people. Director of AgriFood Lithuania DIH Kristina Šermukšnytė-Alešiūnienė was invited as a keynote speaker in EC initiated conference “Startup Village Forum” in November. She said: “Startup Village concept is a great idea which has a lot of potential to create a lot of well-paid work places in rural areas. The technologies and innovative solutions have the potential to bring back more entrepreneurs – especially young people with startups – to the regions. We all have to work together and to ensure the support for investments and funding, create necessary infrastructure for startups in rural areas, help them to gain new competences, provide test-before-invest opportunities, and provide the possibility to test startup products in real conditions. So there is a need to create a startup ecosystem with shared values in rural areas. All community members should be included: local business, farmers, research institutions, local public authorities and finally society. Such organizations as DIHs could be orchestrator for these ecosystems”, – strong support for Startup Village idea was expressed by director at AgriFood Lithuania DIH Kristina Šermukšnytė-Alešiūnienė. The supply of sustainable, healthy and high-quality local products would enable the startup village to connect with the metropolis and ensure the sustainable development of the regions by supplying local products, promoting their consumption and fostering good relations between consumers and producers. This would not only reduce food waste but also increase the economic capacity of regions, ensure good food quality, promote job creation and restore balance in the food chain. This would achieve many of the objectives of the common agricultural, regional development and youth empowering policies.

Part Human: Human face of IT - what do you need to know to start working in the IT sector? HR - onboarding - team building - how does it work? During EU Industry Week 2022 we focus on people and their competencies in the context of working in the IT industry and more broadly - in the scope of digital transformation. However, not only technical but also soft skills and what a career in the high-tech industry looks like. We will show the perspective from both sides of the desk - both recruiters and people who have successfully applied for positions in the sector. The event will include panel discussions with industry practitioners who will tell what onboarding and working in IT looks like from backstage. On the other hand, we want to show success stories of people who not so long ago studied at the local university in Bielsko-Biała and now are working on a global scale projects! What was the most suprising? What was the most difficult in getting a dream job position? What are the benefits of working in the IT industry?The event will have a hybrid formula – on-spot in local cafeteria, where apart from a large dose of knowledge we also provide delicious coffee! In addition, it will be broadcasted live on the YouTube channel of the Regional Development Agency in Bielsko-Biała and in social media. The event is organized by the Regional Development Agency S.A. in Bielsko-Biała with the support of Startup Podbeskidzie Foundation. The event will be also a summary of the InduCCI (Interreg Central Europe) project, which the Regional Development Agency has been implementing since 2019. The aim of the project was to indicate the role of technology-related creative industries as a driver of regional development and industrial transformation. In addition to interesting IT-talks - also the results of the pilot actions - Industrial Hackathon and Youngster FabLab - will be presented. The event will cover the topic of digital and creative aspects of the industrial revolution with a special focus on youth. Divided into two parts it will give a complex overview of new skills development - both in terms of technical as well as soft competencies.

As Industry4Ukraine platform, we organize the national campaign "Preparing Youth for Industry 4.0". The campaign will last on February and will be finished on 3th of March 2022 with the national conference. It will be an offline event in Kyiv resuming 5 regional EU industry days through Ukraine with similar topics. Regional events will be done as round tables consolidating local clusters, incl. State administrations, universities, startups and SMEs.

Three-day forum, topics, guided tours on modern technological enterprises in Zaporozhzhya

In 2019, about 40% of overall EU imports from LDCs and lower or lower-middle-income countries used preferential tariffs granted by the EU's Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). Of these preferential imports, about € 52.94 billion were imported under zero GSP tariffs, while an additional € 20.54 billion benefitted from positive GSP duties. This resulted in savings of import duties of about 1.9 billion euros, indicating the economic significance for EU importers. The objective of the high-level EU Industry dialogue is to increase awareness about the benefits for EU Industry when using the GSP scheme, as well as to provide opportunities and ways to enhance the usage of GSP for European stakeholders in selected beneficiary countries, with a focus on specific sectors and industries. The discussion-driven format will allow stakeholders to engage in constructive conversations, through sharing their own experience on the usage of the GSP, while underlying its impact on their business. The event will feature two roundtables, and the discussions will focus on: • The social dimension of the GSP, and the importance of responsible value chains • The relevance and incentives of the GSP for EU importers as a way to diversify investments • Forward-looking perspective considering the Commission's proposal for a new GSP framework

This workshop will bring together leaders in the polymer-based industry in Ireland with researchers, graduates, government officials to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) on how the polymer sector in Ireland, one of the country’s leading manufacturing sectors, can take steps towards becoming a circular sector in the future.

Getting small and medium-sized businesses to start a new narrative