On May 16th, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, with the support of the S3 Community of Practice Secretariat (S3 CoP), organised the first of a series of webinars to present the experience gained during the first year of the 3 Working Groups on Interregional Collaboration, Industrial Transition and Innovation Diffusion. These webinars are designed to engage S3 practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders in a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities in the related field.

The specific webinar on Interregional Collaboration joined 150 participants who demonstrated that this topic is relevant for EU regions whose focus lies on building on the priorities set out in regional S3 and seeking opportunities for interregional collaboration.

The session recapped the insights drawn from the 2023 activities of the S3 CoP Interregional Collaboration Working Group through the following key messages:

• Understand the value-added of interregional collaboration by using data, exemplary cases, etc.
• Communicate the value-added of interregional collaboration both beyond the acquisition of funds or positive narratives, and the gain of political commitment and stakeholder engagement.
• Build capacity for interregional collaboration adding expertise.
• Make more use of existing relevant networks.
• Mobilise domestic funding as complementary funding sources that align funding search to domestic strategy.
• Create strong local nodes for interregional collaboration around domestic priorities.
• Interreg Europe and the I3 Instrument were also presented as key funding sources for Interregional Collaboration with current and nearly calls in place.

Two cases of networks as capacity building for Interregional Collaboration were presented: the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) and the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN), both explore effective strategies to transition from a 'one-person game' to a more structured institutional framework for effective interregional collaboration engagement.

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The periphery regions of Malta and La Reunion presented what challenges they face and how to overcome them. They shared a well-structured message of levers to intensify Interregional Collaboration by establishing greater synergies between funding sources in peripheral regions, mainstreaming the cohesion imperative in horizontal programs and paving the way for collaborations.

The S3 CoP experts shared trips and tricks for discussing the importance of aligning the search for Interregional Collaboration funding with an appropriate governance model. Specific cases, such as the S3 Partnership on Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing and the S3 Partnership on Smart Sensors for Agrifood, were also shared.

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About the S3 CoP WG on Interregional Collaboration

This Working Group kicked off in June 2023 and pursues the following aims:

-          To collect and document knowledge and good practices in different European regions

-          To identify common needs, problems, and challenges

-          To co-develop, support, deploy and monitor solutions to such challenges

The Working Group meets twice a year, for three years, and comprises experts from the quadruple helix.

It works towards identifying and discussing a set of implementation challenges, devising activities to address them through peer learning and expert support directly with regions.

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Discover more:

Inforegio - Interregional Collaboration (europa.eu)

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