MARATON

Project summary

General cross-border objectives of the project MARATON were: the establishment and promotion of support services – a meeting place for companies, researchers and students in the form of on-line stock market of research students’ assignments; fostering economic growth and competitiveness of the economy; connecting enterprises, students and researchers from higher education sector to work on joint research projects; create bilingual tools to support enterprises (especially SMEs) in order to increase the competitive advantage and promote the development of innovative products, services and technologies; strengthening cooperation between enterprises and educational, research and development organizations, for the improvement of the business innovativeness and technology. Cross-border impact is reflected in the economic growth and social development of the border area, with the focus on SMEs, which provide additional jobs and reduce the “brain drain”. Cross-border cooperation is important for the project, because it leads to added value for enterprises and students through enhanced cross-border cooperation, and thereby reduces the isolation of peripheral regions. The project has also led to new ICT infrastructure, which serves as a source of information and as a communication channel / channel of exchange of ideas and human resources that are capable of innovation. The project offered a common training, because it established a unique methodology and bilingual stock market, which until then did not exist. Specific cross-border objectives of the project were: establishment of joint, bilingual web and mobile applications; online market for student research papers for companies; filling the database with the research tasks; promotional campaign to raise public awareness; transmission of results and experiences from the project out of the area and onto future target groups.