1. Background & problem to be addressed Cloud-based, virtualised IT platforms & infrastructures offer a strong potential to deliver cost-effective, scalable digital public services and to unlock regional growth and competitiveness. EC promotes a common EU Cloud Strategy as a means to help governments and citizens to access and develop advanced online services. The South East Europe (SEE) area suffers from great inadequacies in the provision of eGovernment services to citizens (G2C) and businesses (G2B). This cohesion gap sets economic and administrative barriers that hinder access of citizens and businesses to digital public services. As a result, regional development and competitiveness in SEE remains an unfulfilled potential requiring cross-border policy action. 2. SECOVIA main objectives SECOVIA promotes jointly developed, advanced IT solutions that harvest the benefits of cloud computing to support access to shared public IT services, resources & infrastructures and tackle the digital divide among SEE territories. 3. Main activities planned - Current status assessment on virtual accessibility services & infrastructures. - Experience exchange on shared, public IT services & infrastructures. - Assessment of SEE stakeholder needs and policies on shared, public IT services & infrastructures. - Feasibility analysis and roll-out plan for proposed transnational providers of shared cloud-based services, & infrastructures (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS). - Improvement of public-private investment policies on virtual accessibility. - Consensus-based common policy positions on joint, cross-border cloud provision to serve the needs of SEE administrations. - Capitalisation of results through stakeholder networking and follow-up initiatives. 4. Main expected outputs - Comparative studies on SEE virtual accessibility policies, state of the art analysis on current funding mechanisms, best practice guide on virtual accessibility solutions. - Transnational experience-exchange workshops on virtual accessibility strategies. - Surveys of SEE stakeholder views on the potential of shared public IT services & infrastructures, state of the art analysis on cloud supply for the public sector, legal framework, organisational, financial & technical requirement analysis, roll-out plan for proposed inter-institutional IaaS/Paas/SaaS providers. - Stakeholder sustainability network, public consultation events on public-private partnerships, capacity building workshops, policy coordination meeting on shared public IT services & resources, common policy position papers on joint investments in inter-institutional IaaS/PaaS/SaaS providers for public administrations. 5. Expected results & impact -Common/ converging approaches among SEE administrations on shared IT resources & internet-based public services. -Joint operating entities providing cloud-based services & infrastructures for SEE administrations. - Improved public administration capabilities to support sustainable investment schemes for virtual accessibility. -Shared experience, common knowledge resources & cross fertilised practices on virtual accessibility in SEE. -Increased awareness on stakeholder needs of shared IT resources and internet-based services. -Triggering of follow up projects & capitalisation of results in SEE through established transnational partnerships & stakeholder networks. The results of the project shall be publicly accessible. 6. Consortium and territorial coverage The SECOVIA partnership consists of 13 partners representing 10 counties and approximately 65% of the total population of the SEE programme area. The SECOVIA consortium includes 3 regional governments, 3 territorial associations, 5 regional development agencies and 2 ICT institutions. It brings together advanced and converging territories to set up an enabling environment for experience exchange, sharing of IT resources and joint development of inter-institutional, cross-border virtual accessibility solutions. Achievements: SECOVIA Closing Conference, Rome, 22.09.2014The closing event aimed at communicating project results, promoting experience exchange on virtual accessibility strategies and raising awareness on the potential of cloud computing for public organizations. The conference was also the occasion to stimulate a debate at International level on Cloud Computing perspectives and on the related strategies applied by the EU and the SEE countries.The conference was addressed to the general public and to the partnership and to their national delegates on Digital Agendas with the objective to share the SECOVIA project achievements and to promote an exchange of experiences on cloud computing solutions and to explore its potentialities. The speakers were selected to provide a detailed overview of the national Cloud strategies and politics with the main purpose to stimulate the sharing of good practices and of different views on the topic. As the last part of the event a round table was held to discuss challenges and opportunities of Cloud Computing for SEE Public Administrations, with the objective to promote the access to IT public services, resources and infrastructures, on line with the indications of the Digital Agenda for Europe.Project website has been developed to inform stakeholders and experts but also general public, about the project. The website is used to diffuse general information on the project and ist partners, as well as to disseminate news and current development of cloud based services. Visitors can also find interviews and interesting videos about the project and cloud computing topic.The consortium has launched a new Facebook page where visitors are able to join to the group and share informations with each others. Project partners continuously post fresh news about the project and cloud computing. To visit our Facebook site go to http://www.facebook.com/secoviaAn introductory video was made by the Bulgarian partner. It draws up the general informations about the cloud, SECOVIA project, partnership, how to implement the cooperation between different countries public institutions and so on. The video is available on the following link (and also on the project communication channels):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2pjPa37Qzw