The North West Europe (NWE) Task Force has agreed on the draft Interreg NWE 2021-2027 programme. It is expected that the first call will be launched around March 2022. So get your project ideas ready now!! 

Are you looking to pilot or scale up local development concepts, or seeking to roll out portions of a regional or national development plan or strategy? If so, you may want to look into the draft Interreg NWE Programme 2021-2027.

The current draft (27 October 2021 version) includes five priorities and nine specific objectives for the future NWE Programme to focus on. The type of projects that will be eligible for funding could be the design and implementation of joint strategies or action plans, pilot actions for testing tools or solutions, or capacity-building and awareness raising.

The priority areas in the current draft and some of the potential applications in the Irish context are:

• Climate – improving water management approaches, reducing air pollution, improving preparedness to adverse weather phenomena, embedding blue and green corridors, biodiversity and natural capital concepts
• Energy – promoting production and use of renewable energy, promoting innovative technologies, solutions, products and services, supporting factors that will increase competitiveness and combat climate change
• Circular Economy – increasing the capacity of waste collection and recycling, processes and product innovation, new business models that encourage the sharing and use of or access to a commodity over the ownership of goods
• Innovation – supporting innovative actors, encouraging solutions for local/regional authorities in digital transformations, facilitating smart transformation, contributing to balanced economic development and territorial resilience, Smart villages and cities
• Inclusion – projects on place-based health and care access, challenges associated with population growth/depopulation, quality employment, sustainable tourism and culture, making natural and cultural heritage better preserved and accessible, business support programmes.

What is Interreg NWE Programme

The Interreg North West Europe is one of the project funding programmes of the European Union for European Territorial Cooperation. It supports cooperation across borders to jointly solve common issues and falls under the “transnational” strands (Interreg B). Interreg NWE fosters transnational cooperation to make the region a key economic player and an attractive place to work and live, with high levels of innovation, sustainability and cohesion. The area covered by the programme is considered as one of the most dynamic and prosperous areas of Europe, and it also faces a number of environmental, social and economic needs and challenges.

Eligibility to apply

The Interreg North West Europe programme 2021-2027 will be open for funding to local, regional, or national authorities, EGTCs, government agencies, and public equivalent organisations with relevant responsibilities.

As this is a cross-border cooperation programme, projects must include a consortium consisting of partners from at least three different countries in the North West Europe programme area (Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and parts of France and Germany).

Co-funding by partners will be required. At this time, it is expected that the co-funding rate will be the same as the 2014-2020 programme (40% co-funding by partner).

Next steps in finalising programme

The Interreg NWE Task Force hopes to submit the final Interreg Programme to the European Commission for approval in January 2022, following formal agreement with the Member States involved in the NWE Programme. The European Commission will then assess the programme and is expected to formally approve the Interreg NWE Programme (2021-2027) by Summer 2022.

First Call

As mentioned above, the first call for proposals is expected to be launched in Spring 2022. But it is advised to begin building your consortium as soon as possible to ensure the proposal is well written!

An online community forum to help find international partners is planned to be launched in 2022.

More Information

Please consult the Interreg NWE programme website and the latest draft of the programme for more information.

You can also contact Ireland’s National Contact Point for Interreg NWE: Sarah Davoren sdavoren@southernassembly.ie.

Sign up to Interreg NWE mailing list here for the latest information from the National Contact Point.