INTERES PUBLIC
Reporter REGIO: episode 5
European funds make dreams come true!
The unique technology in Romania, in geodesy and cadastre, in Botoșani City
Success stories, possible with the support of Regio Nord-Est 2014-2020
A few years ago it was just a prototype. And a dream. Today it`s a unique model in Romania and belongs to a beneficiary of the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020. The equipment we are talking about is a complex mobile 3D scanning system used in geodesy, topography, and cadastre, a model found in less than 10 copies in Europe and, as of February 2022, unique in our country. The submitted project has a total value of almost 1 million euros, with the non-refundable financial assistance of 600k euros, and included 4 graphics stations, a server, licenses, training, and a mobile photovoltaic system.
Adriana Bâlbă is the person who dreamed of this scanner ever since she saw it for the first time, at an international fair, and wanted to bring it to the North-East region, in Botoșani. Adriana is the manager of the company Geodezie Cadastru Moldova SRL since 2013, the beneficiary of POR 2014-2020, she is constantly concerned about the evolution in this area and believes that this mobile scanner helps her to keep up with technology. The moment she saw this equipment at the international fair was like a revelation.
``I was like a child who wanted a toy very badly``
Because she always wanted to be up to date with all the news in the field, Adriana remembers that in 2009 she participated in a world-class trade fair, held annually in Germany, InterGeo. There she saw how technology can help her in this area of geodesy, how important it is, and how many advantages it brings. At this fair, she saw for the first time a 3D mobile scanner for the cadastre. „I was like a child who saw a toy she wanted in a giftshop window„, says Adriana. The price for this kind of equipment was, as expected, very high. Over time, analyzing the market, she realized that she couldn’t make such an investment and looked for solutions. “I started with a wish. What if… What if we owned something like this? I was thinking how it would be, everything would change, the advantages, the services that we offered would be various. I wanted an evolution because it was needed. You want more from a technological point of view, especially on the cadastral topography side,” says Adriana.
Then she thought about European funds. Theoretically, it was a simple project, with few purchases, but she had the surprise of support being refused, one by one, by two consulting firms from Bucharest and Suceava. Time was passing, and there was little left until the deadline for submitting projects, but she did not give up. She continued to believe in her project and reached, on the last mile, another consultant from Iași City, with whom she collaborated until the end. „We were lucky enough to be recommended a consulting firm from Iași City, and although at first we only talked by phone, I believed in them, and they believed in the project. I submitted the project with great emotions and knew that the chances were 50-50. I hoped with all my heart that we would get this chance. It was both luck and desire. When our project was approved I couldn’t believe it, it was a dream come true. Now we just have to prove that we deserved this system and make it work as best we can. This period also allowed us to put the situations together, to arrange everything in such a way that at this moment we are ready for the implementation of the project and dedicate ourselves with full openness. It’s a new system, we take any information from scratch, we make one step at a time„, says Adriana Bâlbă.
Training with specialists from Germany and Finland
The scanner arrived from the supplier in February this year, and since then the whole team has been… learning. Online training is held with specialized people from Germany and Finland. Being a very complex device, this training is made of stages of theory and practice. The first stage, of measurements, has already been completed, with the corresponding number of training hours. Next is the data processing part, according to the schedule, and by the end of the year, all training steps must be completed.
At the moment, the system is used for tests, during which the whole team learns practically, but also for work where details are needed, especially in topography. Unlike a classic scanner, where it is measured starting from two reference points, this 3D system model scans the entire environment and measures in detail everything related to the desired area. From this detailed information, the necessary data is subtracted that determines the coordinates of each scanned object. The powerful software then processes the data, transfers it to other programs, and transforms it into coordinates that can be used by architects or designers. In the future, after the whole team will have acquired all the necessary information, Adriana can contract works where a larger volume of details is needed. „I want us to accurately master all the information, and I want us to use this scanner exclusively in our work,” she says.
``I advise anyone who wants to access funds, to make the step, with all confidence!``
Adriana Bâlbă says that accessing European funds represented a real chance for her and her team and she wants to offer her services outside the country as well. „We are in Botoșani City, this area of Romania that is cataloged as it is, and we want to prove that it is possible to overcome our condition, that there is potential. We have big thoughts, to reach Europe as well, we hope to achieve them. We must! We would not have been able to take this step alone. I advise anyone who wants to access funds, to make the step, with all confidence! When you want something, sooner or later it will happen. Sometimes what we want is not so easy to get, and then we don’t have to give up„.
Adriana Bâlbă is an example of modesty and optimism. She is always looking for solutions to improve, and the young team she formed is always by her side, in any challenge. Including this mobile scanning system has been a challenge, but by studying and applying the theory in practice, the equipment is becoming friendlier day by day. Adriana believes that European funds fulfill dreams, as they fulfilled hers. „I am grateful to have been given this chance and we want to continue to evolve. There is great potential in the North-East Region! Many people want and can! It is a great chance for us, the Romanians, to be able to benefit from these European funds. Why not access them? Why shouldn’t we take advantage of this opportunity? After all, these funds are not a fad. EU allows you to fulfill your dreams! To achieve more, to overcome our condition, more than we could do alone„, concludes Adriana Bâlbă.
Reporter REGIO is a new North-East RDA initiative, which focuses on promoting the successful projects of our beneficiaries, projects that have managed to stand out by bringing added value and impact to the community. At a time when negative news predominates, we offer you beautiful but true stories for reading, meant to strengthen the belief that „it is possible”! Be part of the story!
Are you a Regio beneficiary? Let us tell you the story.
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Cristina and Alexandru are 100% present in their business. Filter all stages, from ideas to feedback. But at the same time, they kept their simplicity and work side by side. Vali Pintilescu says about the two spouses, with admiration, that they are atypical entrepreneurs. „They are very involved in this work, more than hundreds of entrepreneurs I know. When you see that the business is on an upward trend, you let it grow. But they are still here, working every day and I think that could be the secret ingredient, the recipe for success „.
Cătălin and Oana were at that point in their lives without too many financial possibilities, with a small child and a recent bank loan for an apartment. Their little girl was sleeping on a mattress they were not very happy with, so they decided to put a woolen „grandmother’s” blanket on top. The inconvenience was that the blanket was very slippery. So, they decided to take it to a local tailor shop to put cotton on it. It turned out so good and the baby was sleeping so well that they decided to make another blanket. In the meantime, the local tailor shop had closed due to a lack of orders. Then, Cătălin decided to make one himself, what could be so difficult?
He found an UK entrepreneur online who wanted to start a business, but didn’t want much volume and needed flexibility. He asked for some samples, he liked it and offered them a collaboration. When they saw that the partnership was materializing, Oana and Cătălin looked for a stable wool supplier and took care of all the necessary documents for export. They set up SANODOR SRL, they entered the list of exporters, so that when they sent the first order, on Good Friday in 2014, all the documents were ready. „Together with our collaborator from Great Britain, we have developed our products a lot in a year, we have brought them to a quality level so that there was no difference between our products and those on the UK market. In the UK the world is very open to wool products, there are many NGOs, there is a wool culture. Even Prince Charles has an NGO called The Campaign for Wool, which has grown worldwide. The wool market is encouraged from sheep breeding to the store that sells the final product, blankets, clothing, quilts „, says Oana.
The Tatu couple says they would apply again to a European-funded project. „European funds are extremely useful. Whoever gave up or did not apply was either afraid or unprepared. There is a bunch of paper to be made, indeed, but the final goal matters. We really needed that equipment, it was our only chance and we could only get it with European funds „, confesses Oana. Cătălin says that “many good businesses do not have the ability and capacity to think a project with EU funding. They could scale the business very easily by accessing the funds. They are very good family business, with very good quality products, but which are in a latent state of development. These businesses need to be identified and attracted to European funds„.
Pursuing the efforts to improve the quality of the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation of the North-East Region, North-East RDA revised the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation of the North-East Region, taking into account the recommendations resulting from the analysis carried out by the experts of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of European Commission at the request of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, within the Technical Assistance Program “RIS3 in Lagging Regions, Phase II”, funded by European Commission through DG Regio.
