Basic Conditions and Key Points of INTERREG IVC
InterregionalCooperation in EuropeINTERREG IVC Programme 2007 - 2013
Programme’s Characteristics INTERREG Programmes Overall Objective Structure Priorities
Main Characteristics of the Types of Interventions Regional Initiative Projects Capitalisation Projects
Co-financing
Partnership Eligible Institutions / Organisations Lead Partner Principle
Provisional Time Frame
Structure
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Project Activities Project Components
Monitoring Project Activities Outputs and Results Indicators
Budget Cost Budgeting Eligible Costs / Budget Lines Reporting
Project Application Necessary Documents Co-financing Statement Project Time Plan Selection Criteria
Structure
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Structural Funds Policies 2007 - 2013
Objective 1: Convergence match high performance and developing regions
Objective 2: Regional Competitiveness and Employment implement Lisbon and Gothenburg targets
modernise regional and local development
Objective 3: European Territorial Cooperation transfer best practices to regions wishing to improve
Programme’s Characteristics
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INTERREG C ≠ INTERREG A & B
Key elements: Link to regional / local policies
Exchange of experiences
Identification and / or transfer of good practices
INTERREG IVC ≠ implementation programme
INTERREG IVC ≠ research & development programme
Programme’s Characteristics
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1 Programme for
27 Member States + CH + NOR
INTERREG IVC is a ’Capitalisation’ Programme, focusing on the identification, analysis and dissemination and transfer of good practices by public authorities in order to improve the effectiveness of regional and local policies.
Programme’s Characteristics
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INTERREG IIIC versus IVC
INTERREG IIIC 315 MEUR ERDF
Cofinancing up to 50% (75% for Objective 1 Regions)
Four programmes: 4 Managing, 4 Paying and 4Audit Authorities
4 JTS
All themes of regional and local public activities
Three types of operations
INTERREG IVC 321 MEUR
Cofinancing 75/85 % b
One programme: 1Managing, 1 Certifying and 1 Audit Authority
1 JTS in Lille and 4 Information Points in Rostock, Katowice (with support from Vienna), Valencia and Lille
Focus on Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas
2 types of interventions
Programme’s Characteristics
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Overall Objective of INTERREG IVC
Improve the effectiveness of regional development policies
Contribute to economic modernisation and increased competitiveness of Europe
… by…
Enabling exchange of experiences and knowledge
Matching less experienced with more advanced regions
Ensuring transfer of identified good practice into mainstream programmes
Programme’s Characteristics
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Programme PrioritiesPriority 1: Innovation and Knowledge Economy (177 M€ ERDF /
55%) Innovation, Research & Technology Development
Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Information Society
Employment, Human Resources and Education
Priority 2: Environment and Risk Prevention (125 M€ ERDF / 39%) Energy and Sustainable Transport
Biodiversity and Preservation of Natural Heritage
Natural and Technological Risks
Water & Waste Management
Cultural Heritage and Landscape
Priority 3: Technical Assistance (19 M€ ERDF / 6%)
Programme’s Characteristics
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Types of Interventions
Regional Initiatives projects Exchange of experience and good practice, development of tools
and instruments of regional policies
Capitalisation projects, including Fast Track projects Capitalisation projects: optimise results achieved, transfer of good
practices identified into main stream programmes
Fast Track projects: Specific European Commission assistance and expertise offered to certain capitalisation projects with reference to the Regions for Economic Change (RFEC)” initiative
Aim: detailed action plan to transfer best practices identified into mainstream programmes
Types of Interventions
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Type 1 ‘Regional Initiative Projects’ Definition & Main Characteristics
Cooperation projects between partners on a shared regional policy issue within the two thematic priorities of the programme
‘Classic’ type of interregional cooperation projects
Intensity of cooperation from networking activities to intensive joint implementation, to mini-programmes
Regardless of this intensity, 2 requirements for all projects:
- Specific focus on exchange of experience / identification of good practices in the policy area tackled by the project
- Necessity to deliver concrete outputs (e.g. good practice guide)
Types of Interventions
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Type 1 ‘Regional Initiative Projects’ Overview of Recommendations
Size of Partnership Basic level: min of 8 to max of 20 partners
Minimum requirement: partners from at least 3 countries from which two have to be from EU-MS and financed under IVC
Duration Up to 36 months
Budget Min ERDF: EUR 500,000 / Max ERDF: EUR 5 million
Average Volume: EURO 2 million
Types of Interventions
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Intensity of Co-operation, Activities and ResultsIntensity of cooperation Example of activities Expected results Basic Exchange and dissemination of experience
Thematic seminars, Study visits
Exchanges of staff Conferences Web sites, newsletters,
brochures Production of good practice
guides
New knowledge and skills Possible improvement of
regional / local policies and strategies
Medium Exchange and dissemination of experience + transfer of practices / development of new approaches
In addition to ‘example 1’ activities: Pilot experimentations (for instance in the context of a transfer of
practice) Development of regional policy
tools (methodologies, software)
In addition to ‘example 1’ results: Successful transfer of practices
between partners Direct improvement of
regional/local policies and strategies
High Exchange and dissemination of experience + joint development of new approaches (mini programme)
In addition to examples 1 and 2 activities:
Development of sub-projects
In addition to ‘examples 1 and 2’ results: Improvements of policies /
strategies at the sub-projects’ level
No preferences will be given to projects with a particular level of intensity of cooperation during the assessment process
Types of Interventions
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Capitalisation
Contribute to optimising the results achieved in a specific domain of regional policy
Consist of the collection, analysis, dissemination and transfer of good practices
Preferably transfer of the good practises identified into the Structural Funds mainstream programmes
Types of Interventions
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Nature of Proposed Activities
Under INTERREG IVC, local implementations will be possible only if the following 3 criteria are respected:
Relevance to the programme
Interregionality criterion
e.g. transfer from one region to another
Additionality criterion
Activities would not be supported without the INTERREG support
Types of Interventions
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ERDF Co-financing Rate for Partners
The ERDF amount will be matched with national co-financing Up to 75% for partners coming from the following Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK.
Up to 85% for partners coming from the following Member States: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.
Partners from Norway and Switzerland can make use of the respective allocations of Norwegian Swiss funding in the programme
The other partners can participate in INTERREG IV at their own costs
Co-financing
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Who Can Apply / Partners
INTERREG IVC is dedicated to public authorities and bodies governed by public law
Bodies governed by public law (Directive 2004/18/EC, Art.1) a) meeting needs in general interest, no industrial or commercial character
b) having legal personality
c) financed for the most part by the State, regional or local authorities or other bodies governed by public law or
subject to management supervision of these bodies or
having administrative, managerial or supervisory board more than half of whose members are appointed by these bodies
INTERREG IVC operations can only involve contributing partners. It is not possible to participate with an “observer” status.
Partnership
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Lead Partner Principle
1 Lead Partner for each project Forming link between project and JTS/MA
Responsibility for management, communication, implementation and co-ordination of activities among involved partners
Full administrative and financial responsibility
Bears legal responsibility and liability for the whole partnership
To ensure tasks, Lead Partner has to appoint or sub-contract a coordinator, responsible for organisation of project’s work
a financial manager, in charge of accounts, financial reporting and internal handling of ERDF funds and national co-financing
Partnership
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Provisional Time Frame
Autumn 2008 expected opening of second call
Winter 2008/09 Deadline for submission of project proposals
Spring 2009 Approval of first project proposals
Projects should be ready to start implementation within 2 month following the date of approval
Time Table
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Project Components
Logical organisation of Project Activities into Components with 2 Focuses:
Implementation-related (e.g. Management and coordination, Communication and dissemination)
Content-related (e.g. Exchange of experience)
Components are NOT determined by chronology of activities or location
Minimum of 3 Components (pre-defined)
Maximum of 5 Components + Component “Preparation-activities”
Compulsory Project Time Plan Component work runs parallel
Project Activities
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Project ComponentsPre-defined:
Components 1 and 2: “Implementation Related”
Management and Coordination
Communication and Dissemination (+Website Development)
Components 3: “Content-related”
Exchange of experiences (Content of the Website)
Component “Preparation activities”
Not pre-defined:
Components 4 and 5 are free to use
Activities should be complementing and must not overlap with activities in Components 1-3
Project Activities
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Component “Preparation Activities”
Approved Projects can receive funding for preparation costs, such as: Development of the Project idea and partner search
Meetings with Project partners
Completion of the Application From
Participation in INTERREG IVC Partner search forum, Lead Applicant seminar, individual consultation with members of the Joint Technical Secretariat and/or with the Information Points.
Preparation costs are: subject to ceiling of EUR 30.000,
only eligible if incurred between 1st January 2007 and submission date of Application Form
to be paid out before they are reported
to be proofed according to accounting requirements of INTERREG IVC programme Keep all your Bills!
Project Activities
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Component 1 “Management and Coordination”
Activities necessary to run an INTERREG IVC project
Management and coordination costs should not exceed 20% of overall budget
List of indicative activities: Finalisation and conclusion of the partnership agreement
Preparation of progress reports
Organisation of Steering Committee meetings
Monitoring and control of the incurred expenditure
Project Activities
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Component 2 “Communication and Dissemination”
Dissemination of project activities and achievements to relevant stakeholders outside the project (e.g. policy makers at the local, regional, national and European levels)
List of indicative activities: Publication and dissemination of joint leaflets / brochures / newsletters
Organisation of joint launch and closing conferences
Development of the project’s web site
Organisation of press conferences
Dissemination of project outputs (good practice guides, policy recommendations, etc.)
Project Activities
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Component 3 “Exchange of Experience”
Core Component of INTERREG IVC “exchange of experience dedicated to the identification and analysis of good practices”
Identification and exchange of good practices developed by the partners Organisation of activities to ensure efficient exchange of experience amongst partners
Production of a concrete document and follow up of these exchanges, providing a comprehensive summary of results of the exchange of policy experiences (e.g. good practice guides, case study collections or policy recommendations paper)
Containing detailed information on relevant practices identified during the exchange of experiences; descriptions of main lessons learnt from these practices.
Project Activities
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Component 3 “Exchange of Experience”
List of indicative activities: Organisation of joint thematic seminars / workshops / conferences
Organisation of study / site visits
Organisation of staff exchanges
Organisation of joint interregional ‘training’ sessions
Production of joint thematic surveys / studies
Production of case studies / good practice guides / policy recommendations / strategic guidelines
Development of action plans
Project Activities
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Outputs and Results
Usefulness and efficiency of interregional cooperation has to be clearly demonstrated!
Outputs (Quantified term: tangible deliverables)
Report on WHAT the main “products” are
Measured in physical units, e.g. number of seminars, site visits, conferences, participants, publications, good practices identified, or policies addressed
Results (Qualified term: effects resulting from project and production of outputs)
Report on WHY the project is delivering a specific output
Measured in physical units, e.g. number of staff with increased capacity {new knowledge and skills}, number of improved regional or local policies
Monitoring of Activities
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Outputs and Results
Monitoring of Activities
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Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level1/ Contribution to the Programme’s objectives
1.1/ Objective: Exchange of experience and improvement of capacities and knowledge of regional and local stakeholders in particular by matching less experienced regions with regions with more experience
Output indicators No. of interregional events organised by operations to exchange
experience
No. of participants in these interregional events
Result Indicators
No. of staff members with increased capacity (awareness / knowledge / skills) resulting from the exchange of experience at interregional events
No. of action plans developed by Objective ‘Convergence’ regions further to the lessons learnt from ‘Objective Competitiveness’ regions
Monitoring of Activities
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1.2/ Objective: Identification, sharing and transfer of good practices into regional policies and into EU Structural Funds mainstream programmes
Output indicators No. of good practices identified by Regional Initiative Projects
No. of good practices already identified and made available to regional and local actors involved in Capitalisation Projects
Result indicators No. of good practices successfully transferred within Regional
Initiative Projects
No. of action plans developed under Capitalisation Projects
Amount of mainstream funds (Cohesion/ERDF/ESF) dedicated to the implementation of good practices coming from Capitalisation Projects
Monitoring of Activities
Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level
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1.3/ Objective: Improvement of regional and local policies
Output indicators No. of regional/local policies and instruments addressed in the field tackled
by the project
Result indicators No. of regional/local policies and instruments improved in the field tackled by
the project
Monitoring of Activities
Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level
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Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level
2/ General performance of projects
2.1/ Management and coordination
Output indicator Average number of steering committee meetings organised by operations per
year
Monitoring of Activities
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Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level
2.2/ Dissemination
Output indicators No. of press releases disseminated
No. of brochures (no. of issues created, not no. of copies printed or disseminated)
No. of copies of brochures disseminated
No. of newsletters (no. of issues created, not no. of copies printed or disseminated)
No. of copies of newsletters disseminated
No. of dissemination events organised
No. of other events participated in (with presentations/stands about the operation activities)
Monitoring of Activities
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Pre-defined Indicators at Programme Level
2.2/ Dissemination
Result indicators No. of articles/appearances published in the press and in other
media
Estimated no. of participants in events (organised and participated in)
Average no. of visits per month to an operation’s website
Monitoring of Activities
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Optional Self-defined Indicators
Definition of own output and result indicators
Indicators must be meaningful and measurable
Clear distinction between output and result indicators
Monitoring of Activities
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Optional Self-defined Indicators
Example of project : Water management with a particular focus on flood prevention
Output indicators Number of river basins ad-dressed within the project
Number of comparative survey(s) on the number and characteristics of recent floods in the participating regions
Number of flood awareness campaigns that are analysed within the project
Result indicators Number of new projects dedicated to water management resulting from the
exchange of experience
Number of new river basin management plans initiated through the cooperation
Number of new tools developed for flood awareness campaigns
Monitoring of Activities
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Monitoring of Activities
Screen Shot of Application Form
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Budget1. Agreement on project content
2. Construction of project time plan, definition of activities by component, their duration and of outputs
3. Identification of partners involved in carrying out determined activities by component
Identification of resources needed by each partner to complete activities
Approximation of related cost and forecast of payment date
Reorganisation of these figures by budget line
Budget
!!! Shared Costs (e.g. website design, catering, conference organisation): Each partner should check beforehand that their controllers agree with the foreseen shared costs!
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Budget Lines / Eligible Costs
Staff
Administration
Travel and Accommodation
Equipment
External Expertise and Services; comprising experts’ staff, administration + travel, equipment costs if applicable
Preparation costs (up to EUR 30.000; only eligible for approved projects)
There will be no advanced payment, only reimbursements of eligible expenditures !
for personnel employed directly by partners in AF
Budget
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Reporting
Subdivision of Project in 6-month periods
Each period:
Submission of progress report consisting of:
Activity part
Financial part
Budget
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Budget
Screen Shot of Application Form
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Budget
Screen Shot of Application Form
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Project Application2nd Call will most probably not differ much from 1st
guidelines for 1st call still adequate
The application should be developed in close cooperation with the future partners
Programme language is English only
Application Pack: Application Form (EXCEL-Document)
Co-financing statements from all partners
Project time plan
Project Application
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Project Application
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Project Time Plan
Project Application
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Eligibility Criteria
Submission of Application Form in time
The Application is complete including:
- Application Form (EXCEL-Document)
- Co-financing statements from each partner
- Project time plan
Duly and fully filled in Application
Co-financing statements printed on letter headed paper- stamped- signed and dated
Sum stated corresponds to amount indicated in Application Form
At least 3 Partners from at least 2 EU Member States
Project Application
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Quality Criteria
Based on 2 types of selection criteria: ‘content related’ criteria
‘implementation related’ criteria
Criteria must be fulfilled as much as possible, due to stiff competition!
Project Application
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Content Related Criteria
Criterion 1: Relevance of the proposal Contribution to main objective of the Programme (i.e. improvement
of the effectiveness of regional / local policies)
Clear link between project theme and Programme priorities
Clearly interregional activities
Clear focus on the exchange of experience building on experiences of partners
Clear contribution to Lisbon / Gothenburg agendas
Project Application
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Content Related Criteria
Criterion 2: Coherence of the proposal Clearly defined and meaningful objectives and expected effects
(outputs and results)
Logical interrelation of issues, objectives and expected effects
Rationality of proposed approach and methodology
Clear and coherent work plan
- Precisely defined activities and outputs
- Correspondence of activities with objectives and expected effects
- Logical links between components
- No overlapping activities between project components
Project Application
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Content Related Criteria
Criterion 3: Quality of the results Precise (specified and quantified) and clear (visible and measurable)
outputs/results
Sufficient planned information and publicity measures
Results need to be innovative and bring clear added value compared to other current or past initiatives
Clear demonstration of project’s impact on partner’s policies
Clear and convincing provisions to ensure the durability of the project’s results
Project Application
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Implementation Related Criteria
Criterion 4: Quality of management Functioning management and coordination procedures
Clear management structure/transparent decision-making and monitoring procedures
Clearly explained day-to-day management procedures
Rational financial procedures
Lead Partner’s experience in project management
Project Application
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Implementation Related Criteria
Criterion 5: Quality of partnership Involvement of relevant partners for solving the defined problem
Eligibility of partner’s position to directly influence their regional policies / strategies
Commonality of tackled issue to all partners
Balanced financial contribution between partners / Or if not, justification in project’s
Arrangements
Geographical coverage of the partnership beyond cross-border or transnational cooperation programmes
Mix between well experienced and less experienced partners
Project Application
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Implementation Related Criteria
Criterion 6: Budget and Finances Demonstration of value for money / Reasonable budget compared
to planned activities and number of partners involved
Logical distribution of budget between budget lines and Components
Reasonable allocation of budget to management and coordination tasks (Component 1)
Financial arrangements need to reflect planned activities
Realistic and coherent six-monthly payment forecast
Justified level and nature of “External expertise and services” costs
Budgeted equipment costs (e.g. IT equipment) must clearly benefit the partnership
Project Application
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Reference Documents Operational Programme
Programme Manual
Application Pack