Toward the 4 th Call for proposals SEE Programme: the new Calls Ljubljana, 20 April 2011 Ivan Curzolo – SEE Joint Technical Secretariat

Open call: field of actions State of the art The 4 th Call: the main elements What is this presentation about?

Global objective Improvement of the territorial, economic and social integration process and contribution to cohesion, stability and competitiveness through the development of transnational partnerships and joint actions on matters of strategic importance Specific objectives Facilitation of innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge economy and information society by concrete cooperation action and visible results Improvement of the attractiveness of regions and cities taking into account sustainable development, physical and knowledge accessibility and environmental quality by integrated approaches and concrete cooperation action and visible results Foster integration by supporting balanced capacities for transnational territorial cooperation at all levels Priority Axes P1: Facilitation of innovation and entrepreneurship P2: Protection and improvement of the environment P3: Improvement of the accessibility P4: Development of transnational synergies for sustainable growth areas P5: Technical assistance to support implementation and capacity building Promotion of sustainable development Promotion of equal opportunities and non discrimination application of EU principles Visible and concrete cooperation projects; guarantee of qualitative partnerships; active project development beyond open call procedure implementation principles The Programme Strategy

The SEE Programme The Priority Axis 1 Priority Axis 1: Facilitation of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Objective is to facilitate innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge economy and to enhance integration and economic relations in the cooperation area 1.1. Develop technology and innovation networks in specific fields Technological cooperation in specific technology fields; focusing more on processes than products 1.2. Develop the enabling environment for innovative entrepreneurship Addressing structural deficits especially in the SME sector such as missing access to knowledge, bad roads to market, low level of Internationalization 1.3. Enhance the framework conditions and pave the way for innovation Strengthening the enabling innovation environment at the governance level and promotion of public awareness for innovation

The SEE Programme The Priority Axis 2 Priority Axis 2: Protection and Improvement of the Environment Objective is to override the constraints imposed by natural barriers, to foresee future environmental threats and opportunities and to develop common transnational actions for the protection of nature and humans 2.1. Improve integrated water management and flood risk prevention Development of transnational structures and tools for an integrated management of water and flood risk prevention 2.2. Improve prevention of environmental and technological risks Transnational structures and systems/tools for environmental risk protection, and policy development to reduce risks and impacts on human health, biodiversity and other environmental issues 2.3. Promote cooperation in management of natural assets and protected areas Cooperation and know-how transfer in managing natural assets and transnational awareness building on natural assets as development factor 2.4. Promote energy and resource efficiency Coordination and transfer of know-how on energy and resource efficiency policies, to cover the expected rise in energy demand and resources consumption

The SEE Programme The Priority Axis 3 Priority Axis 3: Improvement of the Accessibility Objective is the promotion of coordinated preparation for the development of accessibility networks and the support of multi- modality 3.1. Improve coordination in promoting, planning and operation for primary and secondary transportation networks Provision of tools and space for coordinated promoting, planning and operation for primary and secondary transportation networks Develop strategies to tackle the “digital divide” The support of joint initiatives to lessen the “digital divide” among states and regions especially where market failure is evident or expect 3.3. Improve framework conditions for multi modal platforms The support of multi –modal platforms and the promotion of alternative transport means (e.g. rail or sea compared to road) from the view of public interest

The SEE Programme The Priority Axis 4 Priority Axis 4: Development of Transnational Synergies for Sustainable Growth Areas Objective is to develop and implement integrated strategies for metropolitan areas and regional systems of settlements, work towards optimal polycentric structures in the Programme area and use cultural values for sustainable development 4.1. Tackle crucial problems affecting metropolitan areas and regional systems of settlements Development, implementation and dissemination of concrete strategies and action plans to tackle crucial problems affecting metropolitan areas and regional systems of settlements, focusing mainly on spatial planning Promote a balanced pattern of attractive and accessible growth areas Elaborating integrated spatial and development strategies for strengthening functional regions as carriers of growth and competitiveness and providing partners with tools for the formulation of their role and for the formation of new partnerships within those areas Promote the use of cultural values for development Inclusion of cultural values as an integral part of the programme area in the planning and development processes of urban centres, systems of settlements and surrounding rural areas aiming at creating income and jobs.

What we approved so far?

Reaching the objectives of the programme/priority From the Background study: GAP analysis on how the projects approved in the 1 st and 2 nd Call for Proposal fulfilled the objectives set in the OP by Area of Intervention Relevant elements for discussion: AoI 1.1, 2.1, 2.3, 4.3 are partially or fully covered by the projects approved and “no additional strategic themes” are identified to be developed “with preference” in the 4 th Call for proposal However: quality standards were sometimes not met

Reaching the objectives of the programme/priority (2) From the Background study: Further areas to be developed per each AoI (excluded 1.1, 2.1, 2.3, 4.3) are identified, taking into account: External Drivers: EU policies (EUROPE 2020, 5 th Cohesion Report, Danube Strategy DRS), Thematic policy frameworks, Performance of convergence and RCE programmes, global recession,… and Internal Drivers: IPA integration, actual performance of projects approved (not depending from the number of projects approved on the topic) The aim is to foster the generation of projects which will allow fulfilling the objectives defined in the SEE OP

Example of thematic areas to be considered P1: Still open for 1.2 & 1.3 – with possible adequate allocation of resources 7 themes included Strengthening the uptake of innovative technologies and services through public procurement – previously identified among the strategic directions P2: Still open for 2.2 and 2.4 – with limited allocation of resources Development of Energy related projects still below target; higher focus on Climate Change adaptation in line with ALL EU strategies P3: Still fully open – with possible exceeding allocation of resources: Connecting the Danube strategy is pillar 1 of the DRS; Planned section of TEN-T core network in the area is very dense and needs coordinated approach – Virtual Accessibility is underdeveloped P4: Still fully open for 4.1 & 4.2 – with no available resources To fulfil the initial objectives, a number of strategic themes have been identified, OFTEN CROSS CUTTING TO OTHER PRIORITIES ► governance & spatial planning

Consuming the budget of the programme/priority

Redistribution of budget a possible solution? Overview of the project proposals so far: 1.High number of proposals received, but very low success rate  Lack of transnational approach in the topic proposed and the way it is tackled. The projects are steered by local needs: is the transnational cooperation on the topic a need?  Development of web tools/platforms as main output of most of the projects – no innovation, but research 2.So far 2 projects approved focused on very specific topics related to:  introducing a cooperation-network for logistics and nautical education focusing on Inland Waterway Transport in the Danube corridor supported by innovative solutions and a platform for the introduction of digital, broadcasting services  digitalisation of broadcasting services 3.Virtual Accessibility is tackled in all transnational cooperation programmes:  The rate for success for projects in other transnational programmes is very low (e.g. Central Europe - 1 project, Baltic Sea Reagion-1 project or North Sea Region – 0 projects, etc.)  Most of the projects are addressing sectoral ICT needs (e.g. ICT in transport, health, e-learning solutions etc.) however fully addressed by EU 2020, DRS & 5 th Cohesion Report Budget allocated for P3 – AoI 3.2? can hardly be absorbed

-There is room for further development in order to fully achieve the objectives of the AoIs, as pointed out in the background study; -Very successful AoI: 11 projects approved so far in the 1st Call; expected high participation after 2 nd and 3 rd call were closed for projects is some fields -Topic of minorities and integration will attract high number of proposals Topic identified for the P1, P2 and P3 often cross cutting with AoI 4.1 and AoI 4.2 (governance, territorial impact of TEN-T network, connectivity and social and economic development, risks in urban areas Redistribution of budget a possible solution? Budget allocated for P4– AoI 4.1 & 4.2 not enough

Performance of approved projects Positive elements 1.High enthusiasm in terms of number of applications and partner institutions involved brings to effective results (and success of the SEE Programme) 2.Hard selection of proposals brought to approval of good projects with high commitment 3.Visible impact on the Programme area ► SEE Cooperation is high level! 4.Some areas of intervention are “overbooked” – in terms of number and quality of projects and budget allocated

Performance of projects of the 1 st CfP Difficulties at an administrative point of view 1.Overall delay in starting up the project activities and serious underspending: OVERBUDGETING of AF is reason for decommitment to the Programme ( absorption in WP1/staff much higher than the rest) 2.Management of transnational partnerships sometimes problematic (understanding different cultures, but also different administrative environments, different level of development of the topics, different chain of competences,…) 3.Poor communication to the target groups (results are kept for the project) 4.Care in transferring the data to the programme authorities to be increased (2*amendment of each PR is creating a huge burden in programme structures ) 5.Projects do not feel enough responsibility towards the objectives of the Programme ( not supporting their achievement at a larger scale)

3 rd Call for Proposals4 th Call for Proposals** Strategic (strong top-down elements) Two-Step procedure 30 Meuro ERDF + 7 IPA + 1 ENPI Restricted partnership (in relation to topic) April – September (First step), October – March 2012 (Second Step)* *provisional information (not endorsed by the MC!) Ordinary open (some backgrounds considerations soon available) Single Step procedure 55 Meuro ERDF + 7 IPA + 1 ENPI (remaining funds) Open partnership (as for the 1 st and 2 nd CfPs) October – June 2012 (Second Step) **provisional information (not endorsed by the MC!) The future: 3 rd and 4 th Calls

Ivan Curzolo SEE JTS