Between the 14th and 15th of June, a seminar organized by the Financial Mechanism Office took place in Brussels, Belgium, with the aim of sharing good practices and lessons learned by EEA Grants Business Development Innovation and SMEs Programme Operators (PO).
In addition to the participation of Portugal, through the Directorate General for Maritime Policy (DGPM), as responsible for the Blue Growth Programme, representatives from Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania were also present.
The first day was dedicated to the Status of Programmes. Sandra Silva, Programming Services Director of DGPM, informed about the state of play of the Portuguese Programme followed by a discussion panel where Susana Ramos, Head of the Portuguese National Focal Point also intervened. The day ended with a debate about the risks and mitigation measures and how to support female entrepreneurs through this funding.
The next day was focused on the lessons learned so far in the Programme period. After lunch three breakout sessions took place, where DGPM team members gave their insights. On Bilateral Cooperation panel, Cátia Marques, reveled some good examples of Portuguese projects. Sandra Silva participated on the Results and Evaluation session and Mafalda Matos on the Legal Issues panel.
At the end of the Seminar, all participants highlighted the importance of these meetings to share good practices and lessons learned among beneficiary countries of the EEA Grants 2014 - 2021.