Kaliningrad Region Scientific Technology Environme

Kaliningrad Region is located close to the center of Europe on the southern eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. It is the most western enclave territory of the Russian Federation. It borders with the Lithuanian Republic in the north east, with Poland in the south and it is washed by the Baltic Sea in the west and north-west. The state area boundary is 540 km including 140 km of sea boundary. The territory of the Region occupies 15.1 thousand sq. kilometers. The population of the Kaliningrad region constituted about 950 thousand people, including 77% of urban and 23% rural population.

It has been very militarised territory with numerous ecological problems and lacking of natural resources.
For solving of economic and social problems of the Kaliningrad region in parallel with ecological problems and for realising of sustainable development principles Kaliningrad Regional Economic Development Agency (REDA) proposes to establish in Kaliningrad Region Scientific Technology Environmental Park (STEP).

There is good chance for such project now:
– Regime of the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad region is acting since 1996
– Russian President and Government announced about support for creation of science parks in Russia
– 3 civil state higher schools – the Kaliningrad State University, the Kaliningrad State Technical University and the Baltic State Academy of Fishing Fleet
– A lot of scientific organizations
– Very high growth of regional economy
– Rich experience of cooperation with EU countries

The specific objectives of the project could be:
– to set up an “environmental unit” within the organisation of the Kaliningrad REDA, eventually labelled as the sustainable STEP of Kaliningrad Region;
– to promote standing synergy and networking among professionals, scientists and entrepreneurs dealing with specific environmental sustainability issues with the aim to promote eco-efficient innovation and development;
– to give evidence to a cluster of environmental technology providers with the twofold purpose of increasing competitiveness of local products and services for regional, federal and transnational users and to attract foreign investors in the sector;
– to spread awareness of environmental management systems among public and private stakeholders and to support the generation of new projects and their implementation through locally available resources;
– to create a favourable climate for the start up of small innovative enterprises in the sector;
– to create the effective basis for the design in the regional programmes of the establishment of a sustainable “scientific and technology environment park” in Kaliningrad;
– to strongly contribute to the actual enforcement of the vision of Kaliningrad as a green region as a guideline of regional development.

The concept of the STEP project underpinning these specific objectives is that to set up a very light body aiming to catalyse environmental innovative skills and initiatives in the region would be the first stage of a process that will eventually lead to bigger results.
STEP unit at the Kaliningrad REDA could be the pivotal reference for a number of local stakeholders, both industrial and scientific and administrative ones, in order to promote a growing number of new initiatives characterised by environmental sustainability and eco-efficiency.

The role of the STEP unit would refer to:
– monitoring EU and international initiatives;
– fostering scientific and business clustering in the environmental sector;
– facilitating the transfer of environmental sustainability know-how and clean technologies;
– supporting the territory environmental management, including the safeguard and the valorisation of the cultural and natural heritage in the framework of the tourism development of the region;
– diffusing Environmental Management System – EMS in the industrial sector, according with the framework of international standards (ISO14000, EMAS);
– promoting voluntary integration of EMS criteria into the design processes of new productive areas for fresh investments;
– supporting local industrial groups in opening new business initiatives, reconciling competitiveness and environmental performance;
– advising of relevant stakeholders on how to support the start up of small innovative enterprises in the environment sector;
– delivering environmental education and training activities for public administration officials, companies managers and personnel;
– enhancing the opportunities of accessing environmental awareness for a wider public, students in particular.

Contact person Sergei Kondratenko
Economy Development Agency of Kaliningrad Region