First half period project implementation:  January - June 2000
 

Total value:     48.200 EURO, from which: Phare-Europe grant: 32.000 EURO and CAT - 16.200 EURO.

Transylvania Business Center (CAT) submitted to the Delegation of European Commission in Romania the project (no. 9021/01.10.1999/Programme Phare - EUROPA) approved for co-financing (Delegation of European Commission in Romania, no. 1684/20.04.2000).

In the first half of the implementation period January 1st - June 30th 2000, the following activities and results have been achieved:

1. Organization measures have been taken concerning:
1.1. Nominating and instructing the implementing team, formed by 4 specialists employed by Transylvania Business Center (CAT): one man and three women.
1.2. Evaluation of the CAT resources available ( printed material ordered in november-december 1999, material, equipment, labor force...) and allocation for the first half implementation period the following equipment: 1PC-686, 2PC-486, 2 Internet cable modems, 2 printers (black&white), 1 scanner, 1 copy machine (black&white), 2 telephone lines, 1 fax, 1 cellular phone, 4 desks and 8 chairs, 2 bookshelves, 1 TV set, 1 player -recorder, 1 video-camera. The equipment are estimated to 7.600 EURO.
1.3. Renting 30 sqm. with 300 EURO/month for BRE982 activities; total for 6 month was 1800 EURO .
1.4. Allocation of the cash amount of 5.800 EURO, from CAT budget, collected from the monthly subscription of the SMEs members. This amount covered a part of the expenditures with communication (telephone, e-mail, Internet), sites design and development, printings, envelopes, stamps, internal delegation (transport, accommodation, pocket money), reunions, seminars and meetings, local media, advertising.
1.5. Total expenditures for 6 month are: 15.200 EURO

2. Printing new materials regarding CAT-BRE 982 activities and cooperation profiles (CPs).

3. Circulating the CAT-BRE 982 presentation documents and CPs:
3.1   by post to over 2000 companies from Transylvania and Banat regions;
3.2   by direct mail-couriers to over 800 companies from the city of  Cluj-Napoca;
3.3  by handling to over 900 managers or SMEs' representatives during meetings, seminars, reunions,   business cocktails, exhibition and fairs.

4. Transmitting over 1000 e-mail to different Romanian companies, organizations , centers, consultants, registered in CAT data base, containing CAT-BRE 982 offers and the invitation to access the interactive site: http://e-cat.ro/bre.html.

5. Transmitting over 200 fax messages in Romania, containing CAT-BRE 982 message to companies from our data base and the invitation to benefit from this services. Other 80 fax messages were sent in Italy, France, England, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Hungary and more, for business links.

6. Offering over 200 hours of consulting (in average 2 hours/day) to 70 SMEs, interested in CAT-BRE982 activities. The consulting was offered in our office or to the clients headquarters in: Cluj-Napoca, Zalau, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Brasov, Sibiu, Alba Iulia, Aiud.

7. There were finalized, checked, filled in and introduced in the Central Unit BRE Data Base-Brussels        32 CPs. Other 42 CPs are on stand by for additional information and then we will decide to take them into consideration.

8. Sending once a month press releases to the local newspapers, radio and TV stations, with information regarding CAT-BRE982, business opportunities and links, internationalization and new economy. The same information were circulated to SMEs, the CAT members and observers. For transparency and the general public access to this information, a site was created at http://e-cat.ro/tbreview.html.

9. Developing the CAT-BRE 982 site with BRE on-line application form and an easy reply system with: instructions, advantages, list of  CPs and  business opportunities, at http://e-cat.ro/bre.html.  Additional sites with useful information for SMEs were developed at http://e-cat.ro/e-business.html.

10. For transparency and accessibility to this project, it was created a special site at http://e-cat.ro/breuropa.html and links to this rapport at  http://e-cat.ro/breuropa/R1.html .

11.  Creating a special site for SMEs , with the presentation of the most important links to European Commission as: programs, Directorates General and Services, grants and calls for proposals, database and more at http://e-cat.ro/CAT-EU.html  .

12.  Including special links to CAT-BRE 982 in the most popular local business sites as: BURSA TRANSILVANA http://bt.e-butsa.ro , ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE http://e-bursa.ro , CyberCity  http://ClujNapoca.ro .

13.  Registrating CAT-BRE 982 site to the most important Internet search engines. Advertising the site and presenting it to the local media (newspapers, electronic newsletters, radio, TV stations).

14. Organizing TV presentation shows with TV EUROPA NOVA - Cluj (January 26 and  May 31, 2000).

15. Presenting the business and cooperation opportunities in "Buletinul  Bursier"  of Transylvania Commodity Exchange, "Business VIP", "Oportunitati Transilvane", "Oportunitati de Afaceri", "Oferta" reviews. A special article was written for the most popular review "Cluj-Napoca", with referring to the direct connection between CAT-BRE982 and Electronic Market, sent to over 5000 people during meetings, seminars or sent by direct mail and available in public institutions, chambers of commerce, hotels, airport  and airplanes.

16.  Participating to local and regional exhibitions and fairs with CAT-BRE982 offer. It were realized more than 100 direct contacts with the participating SMEs. To EXPO-TRANSILVANIA fairs : " AMBIENT INSTAL" February 7-11 (25 direct contacts); "AMBIENT CONSTRUCT" February 24-28 (22 direct contacts); "FORESTA" March 14-17 (18 direct contacts); "AUTOEXPO" April 1-2 (8 direct contacts),  "EAST EURO FAIR" April 14-18 (14 direct contacts), "AGRARIA" May 9-12 (3 direct contacts), "PRIPACK-Printing" June 6-9 ( 21 direct contacts).
Site    http://www.expo-transilvania.ro

17.  Agreements with some banks to allow CAT to display CAT-BRE 982 liflets to the clients (ex.: Banca Napoca, situated in the center of the town).

18. Organization and participation to reunions, seminars, meetings with owners, managers and SMEs representatives:
18.1 Business reunions in Cluj-Napoca of CAT and Bursa Transilvana on January 26, March 13, April 17, May 30.
18.2. Business trip for reunions at the Chambres of Commerce: Zalau ( 15 direct contacts), Baia Mare (22 direct contacts), Satu Mare ( 19 direct contacts), in the period 12-16 March 2000.
18.3. Seminar in Cluj-Napoca on "Globalization, SMEs and CAT-BRE982" organized by CATclub Monitorul on March 17, with the participation of 58 companies, banks, media and local authorities.
18.4. Reunion in Sibiu with business representatives from Sibiu, Alba, Brasov, Hunedoara, Covasna, Mures, Cluj, Salaj, Bihor, Maramures and Satu Mare counties. The reunion took place on March 12 and direct contacts were realised with 24 managers and representatives of Transylvanian companies.
18.5. Seminar on April 1, concerning the " Business environments in Romania" with CAT-BRE982 presentation to the students from European Studies Faculty. The seminar was attended also by professors, managers (around 160 participants).
18.6. Seminar concerning "Internet, the business world and CAT-BRE982", organized with the Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca. 18 participants from local companies, media and universities attended the reunion on May 26.
18.7. Organizing business seminar in Zalau on May 29, regarding " E-commerce and CAT-BRE982", attended by 52 business representatives from SMEs, local authorities, bank and important companies from this town, the capital of Salaj County.
18.8. Training Seminars with students from CAST - Transylvanian Students Business Center and pupils from LBC-Lyceum Business Center, for better understanding the CAT-BRE982 activity and the EC-internationalization and cooperation mechanisms. The meetings took place every month and the "future businessmen" performed in practical application, offered by the SMEs.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The project started in time and in good conditions with the resources of Transylvania Business Center. The implementation produced results and the European Commission image, the BRE Programme and other integration tools were promoted to over 8000 companies from the Transylvania region. We estimate that this first contact was received by over half a million people.

The European Union business culture and knowledge concerning: Single Market, Partnership, Internationalization, Globalization, EU-ICT, Phare Europa and more, entered in the conscience of thousands recipients. Promoting concrete and not theoretical concepts and measures of the European Commission as: BRE-Business links,  IST-advance communication, Leonardo da Vinci, JOP and others, more than 300 managers and SMEs responded with questions, preparing the future cooperation proposals.

PHARE and EUROPA are important words in the business vocabulary of the Transylvanian owners and managers. We have to consolidate these achivements by a new "one-to-one" campaign, in the second half  of this year.

I appreciate that with the preliminary resources allocated by our non-profit organization (CAT), we have created an impact on the Transylvania market, introducing in our region the "Bureau de Rapprochement Des Enterprises" BRE982. Its cooperation activities degaje a new and strong bridge for the internationalization of  our SMEs and for the acceleration of the integration process in the EU Single Market and structures.

2. Transylvania Business Center's limited resources, were carefully administrated but they have physical limits, determined by the level of the members' monthly subscriptions.

That is why it is urgently needed to be allocated the 32.000 EURO, approved from PHARE-EUROPA Programme , as soon as possible.

We want to sustain the rhythm of the implementation of the project during the summer and to accelerate in the second part of this year. Usually in summer our incomes are dramatically decreasing because the companies postpone the payment of their monthly subscriptions, after holiday.

The 32.000 EURO, PHARE-EUROPA co-financing grant will be immediately allocated to purchase new   modern equipment and to cover a part of the CAT-BRE 982 activities' costs, as we proposed in the "Detailed Budget of Activities" ( at http://e-cat.ro/breuropa.html ).

3. In the second half of the implementation period of CAT-BRE 982 project: July-December 2000,  we shall concentrate on the modern communication aspects, the new economy and culture created by the European Commission.

4. Even if we made progress in Cluj-Napoca and some Transylvanian towns as regarding the companies connection to Internet, there are still many managers, owners, professors and others, who do not want to use the PC-Internet. Many of them are still afraid of their incompetence and inability. They do not facilitate the access of the young employees to the new communication technologies and partnership opportunities.

We shall make more visits to companies, to talk directly with the owners and managers and to offer a package of services: business links - CPs plus personal websites and free e-mail accounts. The European Commission and EU printing materials will be welcomed for circulation to the local communities.

The seminars will contain not only information about CAT- BRE 982 activities, but their connection with Internet tools and facilities. European Commission web sites and their links are a good resource of  knowledge and orientation for the SMEs and the business communities. The reunions will be organized with the participation of Transylvania Commodity Exchange, a well known data base in the region and with bank who develops the Internet Banking.

We estimate that with our self-supported resources, available until now, we touched around 45% of the targets and potential BRE982 clients. A good background was created and, in the second period of this year, we shall be able to rich the large number of our  targets - the SMEs.  In the same time we shall consolidate CAT-BRE 982 on the market and the trust in the EC programmes, in our region.
 

Dr.Radu-Adrian Mlesnita
CAT-BRE982 Correspondent and Project Co-ordinator

Cluj-Napoca  5 June 2000