Anniversary conference on territorial and inter-organisational cooperation

In 2023, the Research Institute on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation of the WSB University celebrated its 5^th anniversary with a conference held in Brenna, Poland. CESCI was among the partners of the event and delegated a keynote speaker thereto.

The WSB University is a Polish private university which is ranked as the 3^rd among the Polish universities. Its Research Institute on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation was established in 2018 and it has been organising its annual conference in Brenna since then. This year, the Hotel Kotarz in Brenna gave home to the speakers coming from 10 countries onsite and further 7 online, from Europe, America, Africa and Asia.

In line with the main fields of research of the institute, the presentations and the round-table discussions addressed territorial (especially cross-border) as well as inter-organisational cooperation. The participants were greeted by Mr Marcin Karol Litwin, Director of the Visegrad Institute Foundation of Cieszyn, Mr Łukasz Sułkowski, Vice Rector of the WSB University and Ms Joanna Kurowska-Pysz, Director of the research institute organising the conference.

The thematic scope of the presentations and round-table discussion was very broad, from cross-border public services to educational cooperation forms in the ASEAN area, from the experiences of the Baltic Sea Region Macro-regional Strategy to cross-border telemedicine between Poland and Germany, from the role of artificial intelligence in decision making to sustainable business development in border areas, etc.

One of the keynote speakers was Gyula Ocskay, secretary general of CESCI and a research fellow of the UPS-CESCI Research Group on Cross-Border Cooperation. In his presentation titled ‘Integration in a re-bordered world? Reflections on the development of cross-border functional areas’ he discussed the present-time polycrisis in Europe and the role that the so-far-developed cross-border functional areas can play in the revitalisation of cross-border cooperation.

Besides the scientific program, the organisers invited the participants to a study tour including the visit of the castle in Grodziec renovated with ERDF support, where the first modern map of Poland had been plotted, and the Garden of Tradition in Jasienica where the mayor of the commune, Mr Janusz Pierzyna gave an overview on the cross-border projects and activities of the municipality.

The series of annual conferences continues in 2024. CESCI remains a strategic partner of the event which is selected by the Polish government to be granted to the next year as well.