From 26th to 28th August the Road Cluster organised a study trip to the 28th Conference of the Baltic Road Association (BRA) in Lithuania to learn about developments in the sector and introduce the Cluster’s work to a broader audience.
The international conference of the Baltic Road Association was held in the Litexpo fair centre in Vilnius from 26th to 28th August 2013, and was opened by the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius. Simultaneously with the conference there was an exhibition with 100 participants – the largest exhibition in the conference’s 81-year history. In the exhibition companies introduced modern equipment that is used in the road sector as well as various technologies and materials relevant to the field.
This event is the largest in road sector of the Baltic countries with over 500 participants in total. More than 100 people participated from Estonia: among them entrepreneurs, representatives of research institutions and relevant officials of the field. 144 presentations were given in the international road conference, 30 of which by participants from Estonia. Presentations were given by Road Cluster's Development Managers Rene Pruunsild (TTK University of Applied Sciences) and Ott Talvik (Tallinn University of Technology), and Andrus Aavik, Dago Antov and Juhan Idnurm from Tallinn University of Technology.
Presentations given at the conference are available here.
Estonian Road Cluster participated in the exhibition with a joint poster board introducing the sector and providing visitors with information on cooperation opportunities with Cluster members. All Road Cluster’s partners were represented on the poster board which enabled to give an overview of the situation of the Estonian road sector and services.
To better introduce the objectives of the Road Cluster, a brochure was prepared to provide information on the partners of the Cluster, and common marketing messages were formulated. Cluster seminars were held at the end of two conference days to summarise the information obtained during the day and discuss follow-up joint marketing activities.
The Road Cluster achieved the objectives set for the study trip: the participants listened to conference presentations, held several substantial discussions and provided visitors with information on cooperation opportunities with Cluster members. The Road Cluster team also provided information to road sector companies who may be interested in joining the Cluster and carrying out joint activities.
The Baltic Road Association is an association of Baltic road specialists, and has been a cooperation platform for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for exchanging know-how and experiences since 1927. The first joint conference of the road specialists of the three countries was held in Riga in 1932. Pursuant to the rotation principle the next joint conference and exhibition of the Baltic countries will take place in Tallinn in 2017.
The Road Cluster project is supported by Enterprise Estonia and the European Regional Development Fund.
Additional information:
Märt Puust
Project Manager
Estonian Road Cluster
mart.puust@asfaldiliit.ee
