About ERNACT

Browse here to find out about ERNACT EEIG

European Regions Network for the Application of Communications Technology was founded in 1991. ERNACT is an international network of European regional and city public authorities that work together to access European Union digital technology programmes and funding for the benefit of their areas, companies and universities.

We implement innovative digital-age projects to improve our member regions’ digital needs. We capture opportunities by designing cooperative projects and initiatives – with support from the European Union – that recognise the global and interconnected nature of today’s digital world.

Our team has 25 years of expertise in leading interregional projects and we have a strong record of achievement in linking with other European regions. To-date, we have developed over 30 transnational cooperation projects with governments, universities and research centres in more than 150 European regions and cities, with a combined population of 50 million, across 20 countries.

Benefits of co-operating with other like-minded regions in the ERNACT network?

You will share knowledge and good practices with an experienced network dedicated to the Smart Specialisation.
Develop new partnerships to progress your own region’s Digital Agenda needs.
Active participation in ERNACT Digital Agenda projects.
Propose new ERNACT projects according to your region’s needs.
Avail of the network’s project proposal development service.
Receive regular EU Digital Agenda opportunities reports.
Attend Brussels-based Digital Agenda programme workshops
Effect ERNACT policy through management meetings
Receive assistance to liaise with the European Commission relating to the development of ERNACT and its projects.

The ERNACT network of regions has established a model for successful European cooperation. This encompasses Member Regions, Interregional Management Committee and the ERNACT office.

Member Regions: can be local or regional authorities or other public sector non-profit organisation.

Interregional Management Committee (IMC): It comprises the representatives of member regions. The IMC is responsible for overall strategy, management and financial control of the ERNACT network.

ERNACT Office: The secretariat delivers the services of the network to members and projects. The office is located in CoLab, a campus digital start-up incubator, located in the North West Ireland Crossborder digital corridor.

ERNACT has taken care over the years to retain a core team of experienced project development and management staff and partners that enable to:

Create a strong collaboration system to efficiently carry out projects and project management functions.
Project a costing system especially designed for European projects.

Overall, ERNACT is increasing its use of digital media systems within its own cooperation networks to connect the regions, which is particularly important to those divided by large distance.

Please find below full details about the organisations and contact people or our member regions.

Brian Boyle - Donegal County Council (Donegal)

Brian, Chairperson of the ERNACT Interregional Management Committee (IMC), is Head of Information Systems in Donegal County Council (Ireland) and a Director of the ERNACT EEIG Board of Management. Boyle has responsibility for the development and implementation of Strategic and Operational Information Technology planning for Donegal, as well as management of Corporate Public Relations and Communications Strategies. An Accountant by profession Brian has many years experience working in the Local Government ICT arena. He has also extensive experience working on National and EU programmes in the Information Society, Telecommunications and eGovernment business areas.

Donegal County Council, as the Local Authority for County Donegal (Ireland), provides an extensive range of public services for residents, businesses and visitors services in the County. These range from Planning Control, to the provision of Social Housing, to the upkeep and improvement of Roads, to Pollution Control, to Fire, Library and Sanitary Services. The Council also plays a proactive role in the development of the County, including growing the economic welfare of County Donegal in an effort to make the County a better place in which to live, work, relax and invest.

Branislav Milosav - RDA Banat (Banat)

RDA – Banat leads the economic development of the Banat region (Serbia). Policies are developed with a broad range of partners from public, private and civil sector. RDA Banat was the first socio–economic development institution setup in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, of which the Banat region forms a part. The agency develops policy on key priorities for the Banat's territory (three Banat districts); contributes to the use of available resources according to priorities; brings partners from all sectors together and encourages them to achieve better results; promotes awareness of opportunities available in Banat.

Irena Zivkovic - RDA Banat (Banat)

She has a B.S. in Economics, Finance and banking management. Her current position is Director RDA BANAT, Zrenjanin (Serbia), in which the main activities are: development and implementation of the annual action-plan as approved by the RDA Assembly; promotion of the Region; development of partnership approach to economic and social development within the Region; making funding case for external investment on project opportunities within the Region; concluding agreements, contracts and other legal acts on behalf of the Agency; working with municipalities and others in the development of regional projects; creating overall internal operational procedures; setting up external communication incl. PR, company strategy, business plan, audits of the Agency; general oversight, governance and financial management.

Inmaculada Valencia - Cantabrian Government (Cantabria)

Almost twenty years of expertise in European Affairs, more than 500 conferences given about the European institutional system, the story and the evolution of the European integration process, the enlargement process, regional and cohesion policy. Since 2003, she has been an external speaker at DG Communication and member of the Team Europe. She has a deep and global knowledge of all the European policies since it is part of her daily tasks as Director General of Economy and European Affairs, at the Cantabrian Government. She has also managed the Brussels' Office of Government of Cantabria since its opening in 1998.

The Cantabrian Government (Spain) is one of the statutory institutions that conform the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. This Government is the superior collegiate body that directs the politics and the Administration of his Spanish autonomous community.

Jorge Muyo López - Cantabrian Government (Cantabria)

Gus Hastings - Derry City and Strabane District Council (Derry & Strabane)

Cllr. Hugh (Gus) Hastings, SDLP, has chaired the Derry City & Strabane District Council’s (Northern Ireland) Environmental Services Committee and sat on the Development Committee and Policy and Resources Committee amongst others. Gus has also been involved in a number of local community organisations, including Environment and Regeneration Committee, Health and Community Committee, Planning Committee (LDP), Association for Public Service Excellence, Board of ERNACT EEIG, North West Region Cross Border Group.

Derry City Council is the statutary local government organisation for the Derry City Council area in Northern Ireland. It has four primary roles: PUBLIC SERVICE PROVISION, Council carrying out its functions and services; DEVELOPMENT, acting as initiator/enabler/facilitator on social, economic and environmental initiatives; REPRESENTATIVE, elected members represent the Council on various Boards and other bodies; CONSULTATIVE, represents electorate on Central Government issues such as planning, water, roads and housing.

Michael Cooper - Derry City and Strabane District Council (Derry & Strabane)

Michael Cooper is a Sinn Fein elected representative on Derry City Council. He is also the proprieter of tour guiding company DerryBlueBadgeGuide.com and Tourism and Heritage Officer at the Gasyard Trust. A member of the Institute of Tourist Guiding, he was also a director at the 2013 City of Culture Company. Michael has a BA in Irish History & Politics, a PG in Cert Computing & Information Systems and a MA in Irish History & Politics from the University of Ulster. His aims are Community development and capacity building, Social economy development, Social justice and equality and regeneration of Derry with particular focus on tourism and the digital economy.

Stephen Gillespie - Derry City and Strabane District Council (Derry & Strabane)

He joined Derry City Council (Northern Ireland) in May 2013 as the Strategic Director for Development with responsibilities for Economic Development, Tourism, Events and Marketing, Leisure, Heritage and Community Services. Prior to taking up this post, Stephen worked for 15 years for the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners as the Financial Controller and Company Secretary. Stephen is a qualified Management Accountant and in 2011 become a Chartered Director. Stephen qualified as an Accountant with Desmond and Sons Limited, a clothing manufacturer, in 1998 and since has worked in both the private and public sectors.

Niamh Kennedy - Donegal County Council (Donegal)

She was elected to Donegal County Council (Ireland) on May 2014.

Rena Donaghey - Donegal County Council (Donegal)

She has been a Donegal County Councillor (Ireland) for the last 15 years and part-time IT teacher with Donegal ETB. She studied Local Government Studies at the Galway University. She has been the vice chairperson of Donegal County Council on two occasions. She has set-up many community organisations.

Allison Dancey - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (Newfoundland and Labrador)

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada) has recently joined out network. The seat of government is at the capital city of St. John's, which is also the oldest city in North America. Newfoundland and Labrador is Canada's most easterly province.

Euken Sesé Sarasti - Fomento de San Sebastián (San Sebastián)

Euken Sesé has experience in managing public organizations, based on: intellectual capital internal innovation, economic sustainability of organizations and networking and partnership at various territorial levels.

Fomento de San Sebastián (Spain) is a public municipal company dedicated to the promotion, economic and social development of the city through innovation, the generation and transformation of knowledge, networking and the promotion and management of projects, all in accordance with criteria of sustainability.

Gorka Díez Jiménez - Fomento de San Sebastián (San Sebastián)

Graduated in Law and Master Degree in European Law. Gorka Díez has a working experience of 10 years in European projects management: 7FP, 6FP, ICT PSP, Civitas, Interreg programmes and coordination as well as participation in different networks at the local, national and European level

Jaakko Hallila - Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia (South Ostrobothnia)

The Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia is a statutory federation of municipalities consisting of 19 municipalities. The Regional Council is a public regional authority and is able to influence regional decidion making. According to the Regional plan 2030 South Ostrobothnia is a pro-welfare region of entrepreneurship and culture that is attractive both nationally as well as internationally. The Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia sees that developing broad band connections and exhanging the good practises in this field is important for the well-being of the region and implementing the actions necessary for the Regional Plan.

Marjatta Eväsoja - Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia (South Ostrobothnia)

Aurora Lindberg - Association of Local Authorities in Västernorrland (Västernorrlands)

She has overall responsibility for the business and a specific responsibility for the strategic development issues in the ALAV (Sweden). She has been the most recently Head of Strategic Development with responsibility for regional development, development projects and horizontal objectives in Umeå municipality.

The department of Research & Development at Association of Local Authorities in Västernorrland, ALAV, supports the municipalities in Vastrnorrland in their pursuit for knowledge based social- and welfare services. The departments research philosophy involves conducting a practice-related research and in co-production with the staff of the municipalities create an environment for critical thinking and a researching curiosity. In concrete terms, it means that the R&D department wants to give the employees of the municipalities an active role in their own knowledge development.

Fred Nilsson - Association of Local Authorities in Västernorrland (Västernorrlands)

Raluca Cibu-Buzac - WRDA (West Romania)

She is Director for Regional Policy and Internationalisation within West RDA. She studied Journalism and Communication and European Studies. Raluca has gained extensive experience in Regional Development and Project Management, with more than 15 years in various senior management positions within the Regional Development Agency West Romania, coordinating areas such as regional policy, regional and international projects, investment promotion, and clustering, regional innovation strategy. She is president of Tehimpuls – The Regional Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer and of Automotivest – Regional Automotive Cluster. Raluca gained extensive experience throughout the years in her positions as Director for Regional Policy and Internationalisation within West RDA, President of Automotivest Cluster, President of Tehimpuls Association and also representative of Tehimpuls within ICT Cluster.

The West Region Regional Development Authority (RDA) is directly responsible for the management of a variety EU Funds for Romania. It has acted as the Intermediary Body for the Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013, with direct responsibility for the management of more than € 458M of EU funds. The RDA is also responsible for regional policy (e.g., the regional development plans and innovation strategy, sustainable energy usage, renewable energy and eco-innovation).

Sorin Maxim - WRDA (West Romania)

Sorin Maxim is the general manager of the West Regional Development Agency (RDA West Romania), since September 2001. As the general manager, Maxim ensures the management of the agency’s activities, the programs that are administrated by RDA West as a Intermediate Body for: The Regional Operational Programme and The Sectoral Operational Programme "Increasing of Economic Competitiveness". Also, he coordinates the activities concerning regional planning, the cluster’s and regional association’s activities and participates at numerous events that are organized in different countries from the European Union with the goal of promoting the West Region and to attract new investors. Moreover, Sorin coordinates the Regional Office for Cross-border Cooperation Timisoara-Romania-Serbia border as President, and the Regional Office for Cross-border Cooperation as Vice-President.

Learn more about our experienced staff.

Colm Mc Colgan - General Manager

Colm has been designing and delivering international Digital Tech and High-Speed- Broadband projects in the various EU innovation programmes for over 20 years. He previously held a number of information systems development positions in the private sector, including Coca Cola. He was Information Systems Manager with Rauma Repola (Finland). Colm has a BEng and MSc Computing and is a PRINCE2 registered project management practitioner.

Marion Boyce - Project Administrator

Marion Boyce has a BA (Hons) Public Management with specialisms in Local Government from the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin and a Certificate in Business and IT from LYIT. Trained in Public Sector Procurement, PRINCE2 Registered Practitioner and a Microsoft Office User Specialist. Marion is experienced in Financial management, Administration, Personnel, proposal preparation, Local Government Finance & Reform, EU funding programmes and geographical information systems.

Dr Caitriona Strain - Programme Manager

Caitriona is an expert in European transnational, interregional and crossborder project management, with specialisms in energy technology and policy, digital technology, transnational knowledge transfer, and public procurement. She has a Doctor of Governance which examined the low carbon socio-technical energy transition in Ireland with a specific focus on the policy and community dimensions. She also has a BSc (Hons) Applied Computing, MSc Computing and Design, qualifications in HR and management, and is a PRINCE2 registered practitioner.

Ianire Renobales - Digital Communications Officer

Ianire Renobales has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of the Basque Country. She is experienced in corporate communications and social media strategy, management and marketing. Previously, she worked in a European Agency and various communication companies in Spain and UK. She has recently completed a number of specialist digital media training courses.

Jose Manuel San Emeterio - Project Manager

Jose Manuel has a MSc Telecommunications Engineering from University of Valladolid and BSc Telecommunication Engineering from University of Cantabria. Project Management Professional (PMP®), he has long experience in ICT project management and EU funding programmes with specific expertise in broadband, wireless access communications and eServices development coming from working for different public and private sector organizations.