Call for Observers

The Interreg IVC project CASTLE (Cooperation Among SMEs Towards Logistics Excellence) was born to answer regional needs to improve SMEs logistics policies. It started in November 2008 and relies on a solid past cooperation among ten partners in Italy, Poland, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, Hungary & Austria, especially developed in Interreg initiatives. Indeed, the original partnership intended to involve the entire LRN network.

The CASTLE objectives and ratio are rooted in past research and study activities on the regional logistics EU status and perspectives, which elected SMEs logistics networking as a priority intervention area for public policies.

In fact, EU regions strongly base their future economic competitiveness on SMEs and on their ability to face new globalised production and market imperatives. Logistics efficiency impacts on SMEs market presence and on the environment. Nevertheless, SMEs systems lack logistics innovation and training and rely on SMEs individual logistics organisational models, mainly based on all-road transport solutions.

CASTLE creates an operational matrix of best practices and experiences exchange for the development of SMEs logistics public policies which can shorten the divide between transport & logistics effectiveness vs environmental protection & energy saving (win-win policy making).
The methodology put in practice by CASTLE for the improvement of policy making concerns:

  • the surveying, analysis, exchange and transfer of best practices,
  • the creation of a new regional policy tool usable by policy makers;
  • joint partners policy making exercises (EU Transfer Forum).

These activities are also triggered on a bottom-up approach in terms of logistics governance consolidation, thanks to the set up of Regional Forums on Logistics which bring SMEs logistics needs to policy makers on the base of the triple-helix principle.

An ongoing best practices capitalisation, dialogue and transfer among the partners and with other EU regions is established also thanks to a specific enlarged transfer programme which targets 40 EU regions. Therefore, the Project allows now the involvement of additional partners regions and we would like to open this opportunity to EU2020 Regions partners.

In fact, CASTLE has a commitment to involve in its activities further members which can benefit from the project technical activities.

There are different possible increasing levels of involvement of the EU2020 Regions network members:

  • Pure information through mailing;
  • Distribution of the project technical materials (best practices reviews and surveys);
  • Participation to the CASTLE Conferences, (Bring policy makers);
  • Contribution to CASTLE with technical contents on Best Practices in the project fields if the members think to have relevant experiences (Surveys)
  • Participation to specific CASTLE Training Sessions for policy makers;
  • Bilateral Meetings also involving the relevant policy makers/public administrations to enter into details into the best practices in policy making (also in the form of restricted workshops);
  • CASTLE Award winning and participation to a residential training (the price should be awarded during the second CASTLE forum meeting, which will be held in Brussels in November 2010).

If you are interested in receiving information on the project activities and participating in the project enlarged transfer programme, please, do not hesitate to contact us. We can have an exchange of views, even just to know your ideas/needs in logistics and understand possible ways of collaboration.
In addition, you can find below an application form which you can use to subscribe to the network.