Call for proposals

Interreg Europe programme - third call

Objectives and description 

The Interreg Europe programme, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is designed to support policy-learning among the relevant policy organisations with a view to improving the performance of regional development policies and programmes. It allows regional and local public authorities and other players of regional relevance across Europe to exchange practices and ideas on the way public policies work, and thereby find solutions to improve their strategies for their own citizens.

 

The Interreg Europe programme is divided into four priority axes related to the Europe 2020 strategy. As indicated in the table below, the four priority axes correspond to four out of the eleven thematic objectives. Within each priority axis, one or more specific objectives are defined.

 

Applicants are invited to submit their project application under one of the specific objectives listed below.

 

Priority axes	Investment priorities	Specific objective
1. Strengthening research, technological development and innovation (corresponding to thematic objective 1)	1(a) - enhancing research and innovation (R&I) infrastructure and capacities to develop R&I excellence and promoting centres of competence, in particular those of European interest.	1.1: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, in the field of research and innovation infrastructure and capacities notably in the framework of Smart Specialisation Strategies.
	1(b) - promoting business investment in R&I, developing links and synergies between enterprises, research and development centres and the higher education sector, in particular promoting investment in product and service development, technology transfer, social innovation, eco-innovation, public service applications, demand stimulation, networking, clusters and open innovation through smart specialisation, and supporting technological and applied research, pilot lines, early product validation actions, advanced manufacturing capabilities and first production, in particular in key enabling technologies and diffusion of general purpose technologies.	1.2: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, that support the delivery of innovation by players in regional innovation chains in areas of “smart specialisation” and innovation opportunity.
2. Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs (corresponding to thematic objective 3)	3(d) - Supporting the capacity of SMEs to engage in growth in regional, national and international markets, and in innovation processes.	2.1: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, supporting SMEs in all stages of their life cycle to develop and achieve growth and engage in innovation
3. Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors (corresponding to thematic objective 4)	4(e) - Promoting low-carbon strategies for all types of territories, in particular for urban areas, including the promotion of sustainable multi-modal urban mobility and mitigation relevant adaptation measures	3.1: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, addressing the transition to a low-carbon economy notably in the framework of Smart Specialisation Strategies.
4. Protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency (corresponding to thematic objective 6)	6(c) - conserving, protecting, promoting and developing natural and cultural heritage.	4.1: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, in the field of the protection and development of natural and cultural heritage.
	6(g) - supporting industrial transition towards a resource-efficient economy, promoting green growth, eco-innovation and environmental performance management in the public and private sectors.	4.2: Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular programmes for Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, aimed at increasing resource-efficiency, green growth and eco-innovation and environmental performance management.

 

Important notes

 

1.     It is recommended that third call proposals addressing one of the above topics demonstrate how they differ from (and possibly complement) the numerous projects already approved in these fields. On the other hand, important topics such as renewable energy or water management are so far poorly represented among the 130 approved projects. The issue of financial instruments is also not sufficiently addressed across the different priority axis of the programme. Applications dealing with these topics are therefore encouraged.

Priority axis 4 is slightly lagging behind, representing only 20% of the approved projects. Applications are therefore particularly encouraged under this priority axis (for circular economy) including unsuccessful applications from previous calls. The list of partners involved in the 130 approved application is available on the programme website (http://www.interregeurope.eu/discover-projects).

 

2.     Culture, tourism These two topics have to be tackled with care. First, these topics have already been covered widely under different EU programmes and in particular INTERREG. Any application tackling one of these two topics would therefore need to clearly describe the added-value of the proposal compared to past or existing initiatives in that domain. Second, the development of cultural or tourism activities as such are not relevant to the programme. To be relevant, these topics needs to be tackled either from an economic angle (e.g. cultural industries, tourism sector) or from an environmental angle (e.g. preservation of cultural heritage, sustainable tourism).

 

Eligible activities

This is a call for proposals for interregional cooperation projects: partnerships made up of relevant policy organisations from different countries in Europe work together for 3 to 5 years to exchange their experiences on a particular policy issue. Each region involved in the cooperation project produces an action plan, specifying what will be done in the region to ensure that the lessons learnt from the cooperation project are put into action. Projects are also required to monitor the progress of their action plans, to determine the impact of cooperation.

 

Phase 1 – Focus on the interregional learning process

Three types of activities will be carried out during phase 1:

·         exchange of experience

·         communication and dissemination

·         management and coordination

 

Phase 2 – monitoring of the action plan implementation

Phase 2 is dedicated to monitoring the implementation of the action plan. Monitoring means regularly checking the extent to which the measures described in the action plans are implemented on the ground, evaluating the results of these measures and gathering evidence of success to be reported on to the programme.

 

Eligible participants

The eligible Interreg Europe cooperation area covers the whole territory of the European Union with its 28 Member States, including insular and outermost areas.

 

In addition, Norway and Switzerland are full members of the programme and organisations from these countries are welcome to participate in projects (organisations from Switzerland cannot be lead partners).

 

Partners from other countries can participate at their own costs.

 

The following organisations are eligible to receive funding:

·         Public authorities,

·         Public law bodies (bodies governed by public law),

·         Private non-profit bodies. Private non-profit bodies cannot take on the role of lead partner.

 

Due to the programme rationale, policymakers are the main target group. These policymakers can be national, regional or local authorities as well as other organisations having a role in the definition and implementation of regional development policy instruments. The participation of these competent authorities is essential to maximise the impact of the programme on regional and local policies across the EU. The involvement of authorities responsible for the policy instruments addressed by the project is therefore a prerequisite for applying to the programme. If the relevant authorities are not involved directly as partners in the project, their participation in the cooperation has to be explained in the application form (in section B.2) and a standard letter of support from these authorities must be provided for the participating partners. As far as Structural Funds programmes are concerned, the letter has to be signed by the relevant bodies (e.g. managing authorities), which are listed for each country on the ‘In my country’ page of the programme’s website.

 

Projects have to involve partners from at least three countries, of which at least two partners must be from EU Member States and financed by the Interreg Europe programme.

 

Third call projects are highly encouraged to involve institutions that are not already involved in running Interreg Europe projects, and regions that are not already represented in these projects (while also taking into consideration the characteristics of small countries where the range of eligible organisations is limited, as well as of the large public organisations, organised in many departments).

Funding conditions and duration

The total ERDF budget after the first two calls for proposal (approximately EUR 145 million) of the Interreg Europe programme is made available for the third call for proposals.

 

Under the Interreg Europe programme, the eligible project activities are co-financed by the ERDF at a rate of either 75% or 85% depending on the legal status of the project partner. Partners from Norway and Switzerland are not eligible to receive ERDF but can receive co-financing from their respective national funds.

 

Co-financing rate

·         85% ERDF: Public bodies and bodies governed by public law from all 28 EU Member States

·         75% ERDF: Private non-profit bodies with legal personality from all 28 EU Member States

·         50% Norwegian funding: Public bodies, bodies governed by public law and private non-profit bodies from Norway

·         Swiss funding: Partners from Switzerland are invited to contact the Swiss Interreg Europe national point of contact to receive information on Swiss funding opportunities

 

The average total ERDF budget of a project is expected to be between 1 and 2 million euros. A project can last between 3 and 5 years.

 

Deadline of proposals' submission

The third call for proposals closes on 30 June 2017, at 12:00 p.m. (midday) CEST (Paris time).

 

Applications are submitted online through the Interreg Europe online system (iOLF). 

 

Further information

Please, find attached the call documents.

 

Any additional specific questions related to this call may be addressed to the helpdesk email: application@interregeurope.eu

 

More information: http://www.interregeurope.eu/apply/

 

 

 

Kind Regards,

Rosemary

 

    

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE CALLS IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).