On June 16, 2020, the first monitoring visit was held, organized by the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro, Directorate for Finance and Contracting of the EU Assistance Funds (CFCU) and Project Implementation Unit (PIU) accompanied with members of the International Consulting Expertise consulting team. The monitoring visit was scheduled to control the first-quarter report as well as other planned activities that were to be implemented in the first quarter of the project implementation. Team members used this visit to clarify some of the upcoming project implementation procedures.
ECOMON and RTEPMS Projects Featured on CDM Portal
ECOMON and RTEPMS projects by UDG were featured on popular Montenegrin news portal CDM on May 5, 2020. The portal described both projects, their goals and impact and reflected the importance of eco monitoring and development of new decision support module. The post is available at the following link.
UDG Website Post
An article on RTEPMS and ECOMON projects and related activities was posted on UDG website homepage.
Second Workshop on Technical Support for Grant Beneficiaries
Within the IPA project “Technical support for grant beneficiaries in the implementation of projects” organized by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro and consulting firm International Consulting Expertise, on March 27, 2020, online training on secondary procurement was held. Beneficiaries were informed of the specific requirements and all rules governing the implementation of grant projects in this area, and in particular of the general principles of secondary procurement, important issues regarding the eligibility of costs, tendering procedures, etc. More at link.
Real-time Environmental Parameters Monitoring System RTEPMS
New ECOMON project at University of Donja Gorica is perfectly aligned with an existing action called RTEPMS being implemented by Faculty for Information Systems and Technologies in partnership with Regional Waterworks for the Montenegrin Coast company, which is sponsored as innovated project by the Ministry of Science, Montenegro. This action targets development of the IoT platform to be used by IoT sensor nodes to be used for monitoring water quality parameters, but also for environmental purposes. Additionally, the RTEPMS project should produce prototypes of sensor nodes for water quality monitoring. The RTEPMS platform together with sensors nodes will be used to develop new expert system modules that target specific user applications such as: rivers, lakes, seacoast, water wells, etc. ECOMON aims at providing an in-house and field lab for IoT equipment and sensor evaluation and it would be extremely beneficial for the RTEPMS action and similar projects in near future. More info at the RTEPMS project website.
Implementation Workshop
The Collaborative Grant Scheme for Innovative Project Ideas implements a technical support project whose activities include assistance in capacity building of grant beneficiaries and support for project implementation.
In this regard, in compliance with the current COVID-19 pandemic measures, on behalf of the Ministry of Science as the responsible institution for the Collaborative Grant Scheme for Innovative Project Ideas EuropeAid/162457/ID/ACT /ME team of experts from the consulting company International Consulting Expertise (ICE) has organized an online implementation workshop for beneficiaries of IPAII projects. The workshop was held as a Webex meeting on March 25, 2020. between 9:30 and 15:00 and ECOMON/UDG team members took pat in this event.
The workshop included a detailed presentation of the Grant Project Implementation Guide: basic roles, specific and general terms of the contract, procedures in contract modification, as well as a detailed overview of all supporting tools that are an integral part of the Guide.
A European Green Deal
Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges, Europe needs a new growth strategy that transforms the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where.
This week, the European Commission presented the first-ever European Climate Law, to transform political promises into legal obligations. It will set a legal commitment to a climate-neutral EU by 2050.
For more details, please check the following link.
Ready, set, go!
On March 10, 2020, the ECOMON project officially started with the signing of the contract by the Directorate for Financing and Contracting of EU Assistance Funds (CFCU) within the Ministry of Finance and Management of the UDG. The ECOMON project is one of 13 projects funded by the European Union through the IPAII Project Financing within the framework of the public call for proposals “Collaborative Grant Scheme for Innovative Project Ideas”.
The main objective of the call is to contribute to the field of science and innovation, with the aim of establishing a vital scientific and research and innovation environment. Strengthening the research community, especially through the engagement of young researchers, is intended to encourage the development of a research system in Montenegro. The idea of this call is that through the implementation of innovative projects, the grant beneficiaries will enable better synergy and development of scientific and technological opportunities, through increasing research capacity, commercialization of research products, as well as increasing labor mobility between the public and private sectors. In this way, the opportunity for researchers and innovators to highlight important topics and ideas in the field of scientific innovation, whose development and application will contribute to strengthening the overall system and creating a knowledge society in the country.