The goal of the mountain.TRIP (Mountain Sustainability: Transforming Research Into Practice) project is to provide stakeholders with readily accessible and understandable forms of research-based information relevant to sustainable development in mountain regions. The mountain.TRIP starts where other EU projects have finished, translating research findings into useful information and developing relationships between users and researchers. To achieve this goal several products were developed within the project. The mountain.TRIP portal contains not only information about the project, but primarily is a pool of knowledge about mountain research and practice. The website also provides community functions to practitioners and researchers to facilitate exchange of knowledge. The mountain.PROJECTS database disseminates results of European mountain research projects through a user-friendly and practitioners-oriented interface and functions. The teaching tool on knowledge transfer shows how to transfer research results and achievements between regions and between science and practice, providing an interactive tutorial of feasibility analysis. A set of brochures and a workshop on “Carpathian fine food” demonstrates how the findings of a larger EU project can be made useful for, and communicated to practitioners. The DIAMONT screenshot tutorials present a unique database with alpine wide data, and guides the user through its functions. Posters for a traveling exhibition on sustainable olive farming demonstrate how research results relevant to a specific region can be delivered to practitioners.
Within the WP5, the mountain.TRIP products were presented at workshops conducted in national languages in Austria, Spain, Poland and Romania, in May and June 2011. Each event was dedicated to the presentation of the mountain.TRIP portal and mountain.PROJECTS database and also one out of four regional products. Content, quality and relevance of the products for practitioners from the regions were evaluated during the workshops. The evaluation presented in the report is based on focus group interviews, discussions with participants and general experiences from the workshops.
Evaluation showed that mountain.TRIP products can potentially meet important needs regarding the communication of research results and improve relationships between science and practice. The mountain.TRIP portal with its community functions was found useful and relevant to the participants, as there is a deficit of such a web space facilitating networking and communication between scientist and practitioners interested in mountain regions. The portal, however, may be difficult to sustain in a long term. The mountain.PROJECTS database was approved by all participants who recommended also that it should be extended to include national, regional and local projects focused on research, applied research, practical activities, evaluation and education. It is also crucial that the mountain.PROJECTS is kept updated in the future. Both the mountain.TRIP portal and the mountain.PROJECTS were found user friendly, however multilingual versions will be necessary to make the tools useful for local stakeholders.
The teaching tool on knowledge transfer and presented feasibility analysis were found very relevant, however too advanced for users unfamiliar with Geographic Information Systems analysis and the use of spatial indicators. Important limitations for the use of DIAMONT project indicators were acknowledged, e.g., availability of data, required knowledge and competences of users. Practitioners found the brochures on “Carpathian Fine Food” useful and relevant, and they were interested in getting involved in related activities in the future. The DIAMONT screenshot movie tutorial received a number of practical propositions for its improvement and suggestions to define the target groups more clearly. The concept of the travelling exhibition was generally approved and many ideas were proposed on when, where and to which public to present it.However, the main objectives of the posters should be reconsidered.
