The particularity of the Central Macedonia RTP is that it comprises projects which are expected to be implemented via separate operational programmes within the Community Support Framework and Community Initiative. This decentralised implementation structure requires the organisation of a central hub to record, monitor and assess the progress and the results of the various programme actions, and thus make possible corrective adjustments and supplementary initiatives during the course of implementation.
This is the first objective of the Observatory: to monitor the progress of the implementation of the RTP and the results of its actions, and to assess its usefulness to regional competitiveness and the innovation system. A second, and equally important, objective is to provide information on technology and innovation support activities. This includes information on the regional technology supply, information on technology demand on the part of companies in the Region, information on technology support programmes, and information on the innovation infrastructure that is gradually being developed in the European Union.
In accordance with the above, then, the Observatory is being developed as a local hub for the collection, evaluation and dissemination of information relating to:
the RTP and its results
supply and demand of technology services in Central Macedonia
technology support programmes and infrastructures.
It is a function that requires the development of two inter-connected systems: a system for the monitoring and evaluation and an information system.
Monitoring and evaluating the RTP actions is a very important component which will be developed once the implementation of the RTP actions has begun. It will permit the assessment of the Plan's benefit, corrective adjustments to certain projects during the course of implementation, and deeper understanding of the content of public support for innovation and technology.
The method of monitoring and evaluation includes three levels of approach:
(1) Monitoring of the implementation of the RTP projects, via indicators of physical object and cash flow evolution, which will be supplied by the implementing authorities.
(2) Evaluation of the direct effects of the actions, by recording the results of the actions on its target groups and beneficiaries.
(3) Evaluation, by selected indicators, of the utility of the Plan within the broader regional innovation system and regional competitiveness.
In this sense, the evaluation of any RTP project is effected on the level of the progress of the physical and financial object of the project, on the level of the services offered to user (companies or organisations), and on the level of the benefit to the regional innovation system because of the dissemination of know-how and technology. The most important level within the above structure is the second, relating to the evaluation of the benefits reaped by target groups from the various actions within the programme. This involves a methodology which through systematic monitoring of a specific number of benchmarks assesses the real contribution of each action.
Precondition for such evaluation is the development of a network for data gathering and diffusion of reliable information on innovation and development in C. Macedonia.
In the actual stage, the information system is composed of experimental infrastructure functioning at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace. It permits the storage of vast quantities of information, access to which is via Internet, in the address of the server (http: // rtp.auth.gr). This infrastructure supports the dissemination of information relating to the RTP, the innovation system in C. Macedonia, and the full presentation of the objectives, method, work-packages, strategy and projects prepared within the framework of the Plan. On an average, were recorded 55 "visits" per day from 78 "visitors" from various countries of Europe, the USA and Australia.
The thematic structure of this information includes three distinct units:
Table 10.1: Table of contents of the information system
1. Regional Technology Plan of Central Macedonia
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In its more developed form during the implementation, the information system becomes part of the evaluation, by collecting and processing of information from numerous observation points at the recipients of the RTP actions. This information will permit a fullest development of on-line services, on the prefectures of C. Macedonia, the demand and supply of technologies, the industrial location areas, the innovation environment, the trends of industrial branches, and other more specific issues.
The development of the Observatory marks the completion of the C. Macedonia RTP preparation. It is delivered a strategy supporting the regional innovation system based on a substantial regional consensus, a number of elaborated projects for the immediate implementation of the strategy, and an on-line information system on the Regional Technology Plan, and the innovation and development in C. Macedonia.