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Description
The aim of the project is to increase the economic and commercial potential of the city and the competitiveness of life in the city. The result of the project will be the implementation of the New Nisko Development Path. The key effects of the project implementation:
- creating conditions for the development of local entrepreneurship, space to support the development and establishment of new companies, and increasing communication between the local government, business and schools;
- development and integration of human capital and improvement of the quality of life in the city in the area of accessibility, developing the leisure offer;
- improving the quality of the local natural environment by implementing a local air quality monitoring system;
- increasing the quality of city management and development in the area of institutional and intelligent development.
The thematic scope of the project:
1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP NISKO 2024. Nisko: a city friendly to entrepreneurship and open to innovative solutions
2. NISKO: I LIVE HERE - I REST HERE. Nisko: a city that strengthens the open and inclusive capital of local society - improving the quality of life in the city (smart living and smart people) and an attractive city to live in
3. The GREEN City of NISKO. NISKO: a city that naturally cares about the environment
4. NISKO - SMART CITY, strategy, development, innovation, participation and accessibility, smart governance thanks to smart mobility
The project is addressed to all social groups of residents, in particular entrepreneurs, young people, working people, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Part of the Partnership: implement and launch a new system of educating young residents towards modern qualifications - in the field of IT and foreign languages.
Summary of project results
The key problems and challenges that the project was to fix included:
Problem 1. Low level of local entrepreneurship, small number of jobs created in the city;
Problem 2. Limited housing and economic offer of the city;
Problem 3. Emigration of residents – loss of human capital;
Problem 4. Limited financial capacity of the city to develop;
Problem 5. Problems in access to basic infrastructure in the city;
The first problem is related to the limitations of the city in the development of local entrepreneurship, the number of enterprises operating in the commune and the number of jobs created. In this case, a significant problem was also the low interest of young people in setting up their own business in the commune. The problem is high unemployment rate, which is much higher than municipalities with similar characteristics and location. Over 50% of the city''s inhabitants work outside its area. The result of this problem is the loss of the city''s income to finance its own development, low housing development rate, persistently high unemployment, the local labour market described as "difficult", economic stagnation, depopulation of the city and economic migration, lower material status of residents, marginalisation of the city. The reasons for this state of affairs were the lower level of local education, technologically inadequate to new market challenges, the city''s poor investment offer, low entrepreneurial culture, low level of competitiveness of many companies in the commune, poor offer in supporting the operation of local companies, lack of BEI (Business Environment Institutions). The second problem was related to the city''s limitations in the area of housing development, limitations resulting from the poor housing offer, but also from the quality of local air and related air pollution. The result of the housing problem is the outflow of residents from the city, migrations and gradual depopulation of the city. The reasons include economic problems, low access to new jobs, low potential of the city to attract new residents and reduce economic migration. The third problem directly concerns the outflow of residents from the commune and city area. This is based on both migration and natural growth. The result is the loss of the city''s income to finance its own development, or problems in the area of providing public services to residents and maintaining public infrastructure. A significant demographic and economic problem is the growing share of people in post-working age, which already exceeds the number of people in working age. The result is a reduction in the ability to develop the local labour market. The fourth problem is related to the limited financial capabilities of the city to implement its own development path. Lower financial capacity of the Municipality budget leads to a developmental distance of the city in the area of providing the required public infrastructure and public services. The fifth problem is the limited accessibility of residents to the public infrastructure. The consequences are threats to the safety of residents in road traffic, the marginalization of the city, problems with the proper provision of public services for residents, depopulation, and low levels of economic and housing development. The issues and challenges presented have primarily affected the limitations in the socio-economic development of the municipality and the growing development gap compared to municipalities with similar structures, functions, and locations. These issues were thoroughly diagnosed during the project preparation phase and were also directly pointed out by residents during the public consultations.
The implementation of the project contributed to increasing the economic potential of the city and the competitiveness of life in the city in the designated areas of the project, which was the main objective of the project. The project supported the development of local entrepreneurship by building its own system of supporting local business, creating a network of cooperation between the local government, school and enterprises, as well as increasing the participation of entrepreneurs in the process of managing the development of the city. An important element of the development of local entrepreneurship was the improvement of the level of local education, in particular focused on learning key competences: foreign languages and IT. The objectives were achieved by equipping educational laboratories and creating a uniform system of teaching foreign languages and computer science. The project also created space for the development of the city''s local investment offer, through the development of a marketing study towards the construction of a strategic project for the municipality in the field of construction of a railway terminal. An element of the project was also to improve the quality of leisure activities in the city and in the municipality by preparing an interesting offer of cultural, recreational and leisure events. In this case, an important element was the development of the capacity of the city and partners involved in the implementation of the project to provide cultural services, sailing education, or the ability to conduct classes in the field of cultural heritage, based on the commune''s own values and potential, to promote its own local products (handicrafts and culinary heritage). Thanks to the project, the city and municipality of Nisko developed and implemented its own air quality monitoring system, based on the installation of 10 measuring stations and the launch of a mobile application for constant air quality monitoring. The application had the dimension of both controlling and measuring air quality, but also the dimension of education and information, encouraging residents to join the process of cleaning the municipality of dust and pollution emissions into the air. Another element of the project was to create a space for the development of the municipality based on the values of social participation and ensuring accessibility to the municipality''s offer for all residents, in particular for people with disabilities. In this regard, a multimedia application with an accessibility map and a tourist and bicycle map of the city and municipality has been developed. As part of the application, each of the public buildings was characterized in terms of meeting the accessibility conditions for people with disabilities or the elderly. A key element of the municipality''s development in the area of social participation was the establishment of four socially acting councils as part of the project, representing four social groups, whose aim is to advise the Mayor and actively participate in the social and economic development of the municipality. As part of the project, the following were established: Council for Entrepreneurship, Seniors, Youth and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities.
The direct results of the project included:
- Improving the quality of investor service and direct communication with investors. Within the structure of the Municipality and Town Office of Nisko, the Investor Service Centre (COI) was established. The aim of the COI is to establish communication with potential investors in the commune and to promote the economic offer of the commune.
- Creating a space for cooperation between the local government – business – school and residents.
As part of the project, its own system for the development of local entrepreneurship was created, the main objective of which is to increase cooperation between key entities responsible for the social and economic development of the commune. The system is based on the cooperation of four key sectors: - local government – initiates, supports local companies, creates conditions for entrepreneurship, supports and creates space for networking (exchange of contacts); - business – a sector of key importance for the social and economic development of the commune, responsible for creating jobs in the commune; - education – primary and secondary schools – are responsible for educating students and preparing qualified staff. The project created a space for exchanging communication, joint implementation of activities and defining future goals. One of such elements was the organization of study visits for local youth in local companies, or the organization of entrepreneurship workshops for young people, training of vocational education teachers in modern forms of business activity and the basics of knowledge about the local labor market, as well as the organization of the Niżański Career Fair for students and local companies. An important element of this activity was also the development of regular meetings for the four indicated sectors in the form of "business breakfasts".
- Developing one''s own development path based on three key diagnosed pillars of development: education, entrepreneurship and innovation.
As part of the project, the commune''s own development path in the area of economic development was developed and implemented, based on the commune''s own potentials, defined problems and challenges. A good practice under the project was to combine three areas: education, entrepreneurship and innovation into one common organism, which in a comprehensive and complementary way contributes to the development of the commune. Education is an area that is responsible for preparing people for professional activity, both in the area of new staff and in the area of business activity. Entrepreneurship is the basic area affecting the economic development and financial condition of the Commune. Innovation is an area that distinguishes the developed development path and is the basic element of the competitiveness of the commune''s public service offer with other local government units in the area of demographic competitiveness. As part of this result, a uniform system of foreign language and IT education was created from kindergarten, through primary schools to secondary school. A coherent teaching system consisted in the implementation of a uniform teaching system: - creation/equipment of language and IT laboratories in primary schools according to a uniform scheme; - creation/equipment of language and IT laboratories in secondary schools, as an element of continuing education after primary school; - preparing teachers to teach computer programming at a level higher than covered by the teaching system; - implementation of a pilot curriculum for teaching students in an extracurricular system by trained teachers; - implementation of a uniform system of teaching computer science, by developing ready-made scenarios of computer programming classes for teachers (a system created by a qualified entity on the market, for which teachers have been trained; - implementation of an innovative system of teaching science from the youngest students – implementation of didactic educational blocks for learning science, technology, preparation for the profession into the teaching system from kindergarten to primary schools. As part of the development of entrepreneurship, space for communication between the school and entrepreneurs was provided. In the area of innovation, the project included the construction of the Multimedia Education Centre as a space for educating residents in the area of modern technologies. The center included the construction of a multimedia exhibition in the area of technological agency, which was divided into three periods: technologies of yesterday, technologies of today and technologies of the future. The Centre also included workshop laboratories for education in the field of CNC and 3D printing, computer graphics and film, IT programming, robotics and automation.
- The quality of public services was improved, adapting their scope to the needs of residents and changing civilization conditions.
As part of the project, a multimedia application was developed and implemented for residents about the public offer of the municipality and the city of Nisko, events and leisure activities in the city with the offer of public services for residents. The application has three main specialties: a tourist map with information about the monuments and history of the commune, a bicycle map with the course of routes and pedestrian and bicycle paths, and an accessibility map for people with disabilities. The accessibility map presents information on infrastructural conditions for the accessibility of individual public facilities and places, as well as commercial and service facilities, for use by people with disabilities or the elderly. The task of the application was to create an integrated single information system about events in the city, collecting information from all entities performing public tasks, including public administration, cultural, sports, historical entities, etc. A key element of the good practice was the introduction of a guide on the accessibility of individual facilities and public places for people with disabilities. This task was preceded by the development of an accessibility audit, to which both public entities and entrepreneurs were invited.
- Implementation of a system of social participation in the development of the municipality and the city.
As part of the project, a space was created for the social activation of residents, engaging residents in social participation and co-deciding on the future of their own city. The result of this action was the establishment and implementation of four expert/social councils into the structure of the local government, representing the affairs of the residents. As part of the project, the following were established: the Municipal Council of Seniors, the Youth City Council, the Social Council for Accessibility and the Expert Council for Entrepreneurship.
- Development of the city''s investment offer As part of the project, a marketing study was carried out to assess the possibility and need to build the LHS terminal as a key project for the development of the municipality and the town of Nisko.
The analysis is part of the new investment offer of the municipality and the city in the area of inviting an external economic partner to build a transshipment terminal on a broad-gauge railway line. The result will be the creation of new jobs and the development of the municipality in the transport area. This is an element of the use of the commune''s potential resulting from its excellent transit location and access to the broad-gauge line in the commune. The result will be the economic development of the commune.
- Implementation of air quality monitoring in the entire municipality and city of Nisko.
The result of the project is the implementation of our own air quality monitoring system in the municipality and city of Nisko. The creation of an air quality measurement system made it possible to monitor the air quality in real time throughout the municipality and the city of Nisko. The system enables air quality measurement and forecasting, indicates sources of air pollution in real time and provides clear and understandable information about threats for each resident. The system is fully integrated – from the devices to the software. With the help of an air quality measuring station, it is possible to collect and process data. The sensors measure the concentration of PM1, PM2.5, PM10 particulate matter, air temperature, atmospheric pressure, air humidity and the concentration of NO2 and SO2 gases. The air quality measurement system is informational, educational and controllable. The system is based on 10 measuring stations with multimedia boards installed in the commune and on the implemented multimedia application, which provides access to the system for all residents of the commune.
Summary of bilateral results
As part of the project, the Municipality and Town of Nisko established bilateral cooperation with the Municipality of Midt-Telemark from Norway. The cooperation agreement covered three areas of exchange of experience: 1. Quality and methods of education in the knowledge-based economy; 2. Supporting entrepreneurship. 3. Development of the city''s offer. The cooperation included the exchange of experience of both cities through the organization of 6 study visits.The result of this cooperation was the development of a list of good practices that each partner plans to implement.