Atlantic Cities was present at the Atlantic Week organised in Bordeaux in late November, where the two important Atlantic rendez-vous of the year were held: the Interreg Atlantic Area annual event and the Atlantic Stakeholders Platform Conference.
The Atlantic community of stakeholders gathered to discuss common priorities and synergies to build a future that is resilient, inclusive and sustainable.
During the INTERREG Atlantic area annual event, the results of the external evaluation of the 2014-2020 projects and the criteria for the third call were presented. A “Blue Synergies” session was also organised to capitalise on past projects and make connections.
Regarding the evaluation, the consultants looked at 71 projects, that brought together 1147 partners, in the framework of 3 different calls between 2014 and 2021, with a total funding of 185 million euro. In order to analyse the extent of tangible results, they divided the study into impact, results (200) and outputs (500). The results were divided into 7 categories: new transformative solutions; new services; action plans endorsed by public authorities; new networks involving triple/quadruple helix; capacity-building actions and the involvement of the private sector. These insights, together with examples, are very valuable to assess the overall impact of the programme.
Their research also showed that on average the project partnerships consisted on 16 beneficiaries (8 partners + 7 associated). Most of them tackled the programme’s priority nº1, that is innovation, and respected the quadruple-helix cooperation approach.
The third call for projects was also presented. The joint secretariat insisted in the fact that projects must be replicable, 100% results-oriented, involve stakeholders from the 4 Member States, among them sub-national level authorities, and work towards achieving a sustainable blue economy.
Last but not least, the two-day conference emphasised the importance of the European cohesion policy, which aims to reduce disparities between European regions, in a context of growing peripherality for the Atlantic area in a European Union that is finding new centres of gravity eastwards.
After France’s term this year, the presidency of the Atlantic Maritime Strategy goes to Ireland.
