The EU_SHAFE project concludes its journey in Bizkaia with the organisation of an event that will retrace the valuable exchange of good practices between the six participating European regions.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia is the host of the EU_SHAFE project’s final event that will be held in Bilbao from the 20th to 22nd March 2023 in prestigious venues including the Guggenheim Museum and the Euskalduna Congress Center.


The European regions participating in this project led by Bizkaia (Spain), Coimbra (Portugal), Heart of Slovenia (Slovenia), Aarhus Municipality (Denmark), Louth (Ireland) and Hamburg (Germany), will visit the first etxeTIC centre launched by the provincial institution and the apartments the adapted apartments 'Etxegoki' of Bilbao.


The main objective of the EU_SHAFE (Europe Enabling Smart Healthy Age-friendly Environments) European project is the collaboration between different European regions to improve policies and initiatives by developing a comprehensive approach to Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments through a ‘learning by sharing’ methodology between the different regions, for which they have shared the good practices implemented in each of them.


The EU_SHAFE project, launched in 2019, is at its final stage. Bizkaia Provincial Council, which has led this project, will be hosting the regions that have been sharing it: Coimbra (Portugal), Heart of Slovenia (Slovenia), Aarhus Municipality (Denmark), Louth (Ireland) and Hamburg (Germany). 

The working sessions will begin on 20 March at the Guggenheim Museum and will run until 22 March, when they will conclude with a pooling of all the projects at the Euskalduna Conference Centre. Both spaces are icons of Bilbao and Bizkaia’s transformation, just as etxeTIC aspires to be in the community healthcare transition. Representatives from the European regions will view on site the etxeTIC public service launched in Bizkaia, an example of good practice within the EU_SHAFE project, and will also see the apartments with Etxegoki support.  

The EU_SHAFE project is funded with 1,500,000 euros from Interreg Europe, a pan-European programme co-funded by the European Union alongside Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (until 2020). Throughout its development, the EU_SHAFE project has identified more than 40 good practices that the members of the consortium -Cáritas Diocesana in Coimbra, Razvojni center Srca Slovenije, d.o.o., Center for Frihedsteknologi - Aarhus Kommune, Ollscoil Teicneolaíochta Baile Átha Cliath, ECHAlliance, University of Deusto, Frei und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behorde für Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz and Louth County Council and Bizkaia Provincial Council- have shared with different public authorities and key stakeholders at close to 50 both intra- and inter-regional learning events.