The whole day event brought together diverse Irish partners among the quadruple helix (public, academia, SMEs and civil society) across several European programmes (Interreg Europe, Interreg North-West Europe, Interreg Atlantic Area, Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic, URBACT, and ESPON). The primary objective of the event was to identify project overlaps, explore potential opportunities for collaboration, and define and make recommendations on what should be the priorities of future Interreg programmes based on regional needs and the impact of projects.
The event was opened by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly’s Leas-Chathaoirleach Joanna Tuffy, before the morning segment introduced attendees to the process of designing future Interreg funding programmes (2028-2034). The morning continued with each of the programmes’ National Contact Points (NCPs) providing a snapshot of the current Interreg programme offer in Ireland, before the segment concluded with an overview of a report focusing on Ireland's performance in Interreg funding, its successes and current gaps. Authored by the Southern Regional Assembly, the publication also saw its two sister Assemblies and NCPs contribute data to produce this analysis.
The afternoon segment saw breakout workshops of project representatives, according to three topics (Digitisation for Local Authorities, AI Solutions for SMEs, and Ecosystems for Offshore Renewable Energy). Each workshop was facilitated by an Interreg NCP.
URBACT Ireland was pleased to have current URBACT Transfer Network CITI4UD, represented by Dublin City Council’s Aoife Hannon, situated in the workshop Digitisation for Local Authorities, while former Action Planning Network Cities@Heart, represented by Sligo Business District’s Gail McGibbon and Edel Doran, was placed in the workshop AI Solutions for SMEs.
Following quick fire presentations by the projects in each breakout, workshop participants broke into subgroups. For example, in the case of the workshop Digitisation for Local Authorities, this resulted in one side of the room focusing on digital tools, AI and data, while the other side focused on policy implementation, planning and governance within local authorities.
The task set for each side was to identify
Overlaps: are two project solving similar problems in different regions, are there duplicated tools, pilots or stakeholders? etc
Synergies: are there joint actions which could be taken, outputs or pilots shared or co-developed, an opportunity to pool communication or event resources, adopt another project's method/toolbox? etc
Improving Interreg into the future: on which topics and priorities does it make sense to work collaboratively with other regions in Europe, concrete examples of project impact, and how programme designers could make future programmes easier for projects to deliver?
The workshop facilitators reported back brief summaries to the plenary at the event’s conclusion, allowing reflection and responses from members of the Interreg monitoring committee(s) in attendance. The day proved to be a real success and helped break down barriers and silos within and across organisations involved in Interreg projects in Ireland, developed plentiful synergies and networking potential into the future, and provided some key insights for programme developers to take away and reflect upon.