The principal objective of this research is to advance understanding of the capitalist development of European illiberalism. ILLINVESTMENTS addresses two understudied features of illiberal capitalist development in Europe: (1) extra-European investment inflows into countries where illiberalism is under variegated development, and (2) illiberal capitalist development in Western Europe. ILLINVESTMENTS presents a novel approach to exploring an emerging multifarious investment nexus at the intersection of multiple geographical and market contexts investigates the ways in which extra-European investment inflow contribute to what it terms ‘illiberalisation’: a process by which any liberal/former liberal democracy moves towards the strengthening of the executive at the expense of the judiciary and legislature. This project examines the relationship between two sectors that have experienced significant investment inflows from Chinese and Gulf-sourced capital in shaping the illiberalisation (infrastructure and real estate) in three EU member states, at what it sees as varying stages of illiberalisation: Hungary (advanced), Italy (aspiring), and Germany (pre-). Research activities are divided into two parts: (a) theoretical, which will take place at the University of Rijeka, and (b) empirical, a qualitative case study analysis, principally using semi-structured interviews with sectoral actors, conducted in the three countries under study. ILLINVESTMENTS will create much-needed knowledge of the wider dimensions of illiberalism, moving beyond the common focus on political leadership, which is unable to capture the varied aspects of illiberal capitalist development. In so doing, ILLINVESTMENTS will fill four knowledge gaps: (1) illiberalisation as a process; (2) illiberalisation in Western Europe; (3) the role of sectoral actors in the capitalist development of illiberalism, and; (4) the role of extra-European investment inflows in the European political economy.

The proposal’s main aim consists in organizing an international conference entitled “The role of cultural heritage in socio-economic development and preservation of democratic values – HERItage". The conference was originally planned to be organised in Opatija by the University of Rijeka, as part of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in March 2020, but due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the conference is organised as a virtual one from June 15 to June 18, 2020. The original three-day conference with more than 300 speakers has been turned into four video sessions. The main objective of the conference is to identify priorities for an agenda to safeguard and develop cultural heritage as one of Europe’s most defining features – a sense of belonging and of our economic driver. The HERItage conference is intrinsically related to the European Capital of Culture 2020 (ECOC2020), which takes place in Rijeka in 2020. The conference hence aims to maintain and develop the quality and continuity of scholarly debates and to encourage international and cross-border cooperation. Particularly the conference aims to discuss: - The role of universities in promoting and preserving cultural heritage: education, research and social responsibility - The role of scientific research in strengthening the preservation of industrial heritage - Challenges and opportunities of digital transformations: the role of digital tools in preserving cultural and industrial heritage Focus will also include public policies: cultural heritage and democratic values and cooperation and innovation: cultural heritage and social transformation. The conference builds on the provisions of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020, SC 6 as well as on the “Orientations towards the first Strategic Plan implementing the research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe”. It also relies on the synergistic and collaborative efforts of the Joint Programming Initiative Cultural Heritage and Global Change and its perspective ties to digitisation and computing facilities. The HERItage conference will gather stakeholders from academia, governmental organizations, industries, SMEs and end users of research results.