Under the slogan ‘Bringing territoriality into Interreg’ Interact works together with the Interreg community and national, regional and local territorial actors on strengthening the territorial dimension of Interreg cooperation (programmes and projects). The work started back in 2020 with events on the notion of territoriality and functional areas and focused in 2021 on the linkages and interaction between Interreg and the Territorial Agenda 2030. It is now high time to move from awareness raising and the conceptual discussion to the day-to-day implementation level …

Outline

… to the day-to-day implementation level showcasing that the notion of territoriality in Interreg is not just a nice-to-have concept. Making things work across borders is the unique selling point of European Territorial Cooperation. Hence, territoriality in cooperation across borders and countries is not just a concept, but something tangible and already happening on the ground.

But what is this famous ‘Territoriality’? And why should I, working for an Interreg programme or project care about? And if I cared, how, very practically, can I integrate and strengthen the territorial dimension of my programme our project? And how does this all link to the bigger strategic perspective of territorial cohesion in Europe?

We will present you at this event the so called ‘Territorial Package’. A set of fiches which have been developed by an informal Focus Group consisting of representatives from Interreg programmes (cross-border, transnational and interregional) as well as national and regional territorial actors – covering the following aspects:

• Fiche #1: Why territoriality?
• Fiche #2: Territoriality – What is it all about?
• Fiche #3: A truly territorial project – Some examples
• Fiche #4: Interreg and the Territorial Agenda 2030
• Fiche #5: Functional areas as living labs for territoriality
• Fiche #6: Programme and project life cycle – Promoting territorial projects
• Fiche #7: Programme and project life cycle – Promoting territorial partnerships
• Fiche #8: Programme life cycle – Focus: Project selection

Objectives

The set of eight fiches covers various relevant aspects and wants to help you, the Interreg practitioners, to bringing and strengthening the territorial dimension of your programme and projects. Besides presenting the Territorial Package and listening to some programme testimonials, we would also like to collect your feedback, your experiences, your success stories and challenges in bringing territoriality into Interreg.