Enterprise.Vorarlberg (Unternehmen.Vorarlberg)

Best Practice

Topics

• Policies and instruments
• Governance capacity, New forms of decision-making

Short description

Enterprise-Vorarlberg (Unternehmen.Vorarlberg) is a new and simple instrument to demonstrate, evaluate and communicate impacts of actions and measures in regional and local planning. It is an instrument for municipalities and regions to support the continous process of regional development. At the same time the project provides awareness and self-assessment for a sustainable development.

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Project executive

Büro für Zukunftsfragen (Office for Future Questions) of the Provincial Government of Vorarlberg. The Büro für Zukunftsfragen co-operates with 9 regional institions: Energieinstitut Vorarlberg (Energy Institute Vorarlberg), Südwind Agentur für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (Südwind Agency for development co-operation), Institut für Sozialdienste (Institute for social services), Junge Industrie (Young Industry) and Industriellenvereinigung Vorarlberg, Klimabündnis, Aktion Sichere Gemeinde and the Umweltgemeindeverband.

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Participants

Platform Unternehmen.Vorarlberg (actors see field project executive), project management: Büro für Zukunftsfragen; 16 municipalities in Vorarlberg, these are 17% of all municipalities in Vorarlberg, attendants as coaches of the municipalities

Objectives

Several municipal activities emerge from one-dimensional problems (e.g. creation of living space due to lack of living space). But all these actions have impacts on other fields (e.g. traffic problems, social problems). The project Unternehmen.Vorarlberg aims at contributing to a sustainable development of all municipailities. Impacts of projects are evaluated in an interdisciplinary way, best practice examples are collected.

Activities

Start-up was in 2001, when the Büro für Zukunftsfragen developed the project in co-operation with two other organisations, the Vorarlberg Transport and Tariff Association and the Environmental Association. The provincial governor agreed to the project, financing through the government of the Federal Province was provided. The project can be classified as top-down project. The first implementation steps were undertaken in 2003 when an online database was installed which was important for networking beween the different actors. The following activities were carried out:(1) self-evaluation of the development process of the municipality. Is the development equal to Local Agenda 21? (2) Creation of an evaluation team (multipliers from economy, environment, welfare, global responsibility). (3) Collection of formative measures within the municipality. (4) Evaluation with the aid of a list of questions. Every action / measure is evaluated due to their impacts on economy, environment, welfare and global responsibility. (5) The results are presented. A profile for sustainability of the municipality is developed. (6) The results are published on an internet database. (7) The values of impact are lowered automatically after time has expired. (8) A new self-directed start beginns (cykle 1-2 years).

Process

There is no information available.

Results

At the beginning of the project evaluation the municipalities start to think about how to bring more positive interdisciplinary impacts with the project. The impacts of all actions can be seen immediately and the sustainability profile of the communities can be seen directly. Another result is the continous repetition of the evaluation.

Evaluation

The project has not been evaluated yet.

Difficulties

Unternehmen.Vorarlberg can only be implemented in communities that are already on a sustainable way. It has turned out that the co-operation with the communities is harder and more time-consuming than the responsible persons had imagined in the beginning. It needs excellent knowledge in moderation and community work.

Budget

125.000 (Euro)

Financial backer

Provincial Government of Voralrberg, Büro für Zukunftsfragen; there is a cost-sharing of standing charges by the municipalities and the partners

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.unternehmen21.net

Publication

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Project executive as above

Contact person as above

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

There are no direct impacts on nature and environment. Indirect impacts: effects of activities on nature and environment are visualised.

Economic value added

The project Unternehmen-Vorarlberg aims at interdisciplinarity and activities that have more positive impacts on all regional development fields, e.g. an environmental project that adds new apprenticeship training positions, a mall in the centre instead of the periphery,...

Socio-cultural value added

The project Unternehmen.Vorarlberg brings actors from all regional development fields together (environment, economy, welfare and global responsibiliy). The evaluation groups are of all ages and the aspects of gender mainstreaming are taken into account.

Innovative content

Unternehmen.Vorarlberg is a new product of the Büro für Zukunftsfragen. There was a need for an instrument of evaluation and education. Unternehmen.V is a "missing link" between the activities and projects of sustainable development of communities and of monitoring and evaluation of impacts.

Good governance

The project is based upon a self-assessment and collaborative learning processes.

PR impact

internet-plattform www.unternehmen-v.at. This database has become the main source of information about sustainable development in Vorarlberg.

Multiplier effect / networking

(1) networking of users: The municipalities use the platform for looking after good practice examples and contact the project management of these projects. (2) networking of project management and partners: very actively, meetings and continous self-engagement; (3) cross-border network: adoption in the region of Lake constance and in Upper Austria.

Transferability

Unternehmen.Vorarlberg was developed for municipalities. In the meantime there are more adaptions: The instrument was successfully tested in the private industry and in the administration departments of Vorarlberg. The main part of the project - the interdisciplinary dialogue for evaluation and the simple presentation of the results - is transferable to other fields of development. The project Unternehmen.Vorarlberg is listed under a Creative Common Licence. The instrument was often adopted, e.g. in the region of Lake constance and in Upper Austria.

Remarks

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Further information