Call for peripheral and lagging areas: Pioneering innovative solutions in small-scale projects (Interreg Central Europe, third call)

The Interreg Central Europe Programme has opened its third call for proposals on 15th of October 2024. With this call, Interreg Central Europe invites public and private organisations to submit transnational cooperation ideas for small-scale projects. The submission deadline is 10th of December 2024.

The overall objective of the call will be to "pioneer solutions for peripheral and lagging areas, making them more attractive to live and work in". Consequentially, the call will have a territorial and thematic focus and will address small-scale projects. The call budget is around 14 million Euros ERDF.

Territorial challenges

The central Europe territory is characterised by structural differences and economic disparities between different types of regions, notably more advanced and industrialised areas (e.g. capital regions, metropolitan areas) and deprived areas (e.g. peripheral areas including inner peripheries, rural areas which are lagging behind). The latter are characterised by lower competitiveness and shrinking populations, and they face many different challenges in relation to economic development, connectivity, demographic change and social cohesion. Furthermore, there are significant disparities in the quality of governance and public services.

Targeted territories

With this call, the Interreg Central Europe Programme wants to unlock the development potentials of peripheral and lagging areas. Projects shall deliver local and regional solutions tailored to the specific challenges of these places in line with the principles of the Territorial Agenda (TA) 2030, with lessons learned from related pilot actions serving as insights for project applicants.

In order to qualify for the territorial focus of the call, areas to be targeted by projects have to show one or more of the following characteristics:

• Low economic potential;
• Poor access to services of general interest, often affected by demographic change;
• Lack of relational proximity, decline in significance, influence or connectivity.

Thematic focus

The call is thematically focused and open for proposals in four programme specific objectives (SOs):

• SO 1.2: Strengthening skills for smart specialisation, industrial transition and entrepreneurship
• SO 2.5: Greening urban mobility
• SO 3.1: Improving transport connections of rural and peripheral regions
• SO 4.1: Strengthening governance for integrated territorial development

Projects shall promote good governance through inclusive and participatory processes, on supporting socio-economic transformation by developing human capital and improving connectivity and governance in the concerned territories.

Please note that this call will also include hearings as a novelty. In these hearings, applicants have to deliver a short pitch deck and explain proposals “in their own words”. The hearings will be held in English.