Anne-Christine Habbel & Katrin Müller | Germany
The Interreg project DIGITAL REGIONS is ending as planned and was recently invited to the INTERREG workshop with Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie / Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy as a good example.
The project management consisting of Anne-Christine Habbel and Katrin Müller presented best practices for getting started in Interreg projects to the group of Interreg newcomers in Bavaria. This was specifically about dos and don'ts when submitting applications.
INTERREG is interesting for regional and local authorities, agencies and small and medium-sized enterprises. The idea behind it is to look beyond one's own region, said Director Erwin Siweris, Director of the INTERREG Secretariat in Lille. Changes have to be seen as investments, Siweris continued.
In addition to the Interreg Europe Joint Secretariat staff, who presented the basics of the new INTERREG programme, the German programme representative Dr. Thomas Bonn from the Bayerisches Wirtschaftsministerium / Bavarian Economics Ministry spoke about the currently full funding coffers for the period 2021 - 2027. The EFRE pot, he said, is a heavyweight that has shown good results for a good 30 years: 1€ investment in projects has led to an average of 1.40€ return on investment in the form of new projects.
New to INTERREG is the role of observers: these are multipliers who participate in the project as partners without their own budget.
You can find here a compilation of the EU funding lines of interest to Upper Franconian companies in German. Find more information on the workshop in German.
In the second presentation, the team showed the path of the Digital Business Incubator einstein1 from a thought experiment to a successful innovation space. The aim of the Interreg event was the exchange between different innovation centres all over Europe.
The Hof team was very happy to be able to spread the project both within Bavaria and on a EU-wide level. Several other DIGITAL REGIONS members came to add their supports and insights to the discussion.
To read more about the key learnings of the discussion, go here: https://www.interregeurope.eu/policylearning/news/13960/the-role-of-spaces-for-innovation-key-learnings/?no_cache=1&cHash=f973daeeac5bc60cc13779db6559f58c
Katrin Müller, Network Manager Digital Regions and Research Unit Human-Machine Interface Kronach
Hof University of Applied Sciences
