The "development aspect" in the title is the aspect created in an area by the educational institutions and the productive potential, with the new generation, the students, the future scientists, the employees, the professionals, and the entrepreneurs as a link. Development starts with the big training epicenters, the higher education institutions, that provide the future staff and knowledge, through research and the recording of the current production status. Universities across the country are interconnected with their regions, with existing productive bodies, with public organizations, but also with local companies, disseminating people and expertise. We present one city of each heartland region, a specific subject of expertise, research program, laboratory, or school, and its relations with the region, with a background of the future and development.

“Development Aspects” visit the University of Ioannina and introduce the program “Regional Excellence”, under which four important research projects are being developed. The latest developments in personalized medicine for the treatment of cancer, through an extensive interdepartmental research of the University in collaboration with hospital bodies, resulting in the emergence of innovative “tools” of prevention and diagnosis. The connection between science and culture using technology as a “bridge”, which promotes the local tourism product, through the formation of virtual and augmented experiences to visitors.