Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme (2007-2013)
About The Programme
The Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme works with cutting edge policy areas in regional development through transnational projects. A principal aim of the programme is to expand the scope of territorial cooperation and focus on high quality projects in innovation, the environment, accessibility, and sustainable and competitive communities.

Newsletter 15

New Programme Approved

On 3 October 2007, the Operational Programme for the Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme was officially approved by the European Commission. The approval comes after nearly 2 years of preparation.

You can find more information in the press release.










First Call for Applications Closed
The first Call for Applications is now closed. A total of 11 applications have been received by the programme secretariat. The total amount of grant applied for is �31.6 million.

The applications will now be processed by the programme secretariat and will subsequently be presented to the Steering Committee for decision. This meeting will take place on 6-7 December 2007 in Gothenburg, Sweden. All project applicants will be informed on the outcome of the meeting in relation their project immediately following the meeting.

Project Idea and Partnership Search Tool Online

A Project Idea search tool has been added to the Project Ideas section. This tool makes it easier to navigate through the more than 100 project ideas on the programme website. It is possible to search on priority, country or key word as well as a combination of these three.

A Partnership Search tool is currently under development and is scheduled to go online in time for the 2nd Call for Applications in early 2008.

Project Development Workshop on Innovation

A number of thematic seminars will take place in the coming year in order to explore the scope of the new programme and raise the quality of potential projects. The next event is a Transnational Project Development Workshop on Innovation. This event will be held on 19-20 November in the SmartLIFE Centre in Cambridge. Registration for this event is still possible until 5 November 2007.

Innovation is considered to be one of the key areas of interest in order to deliver strong projects for the new programme period and the event will aim at bringing out potential ideas and partnerships with special focus on facilitating innovation.

A project development workshop on Sustainable and Competitive Communities is planned for 28-29 January. Location and exact dates are to be confirmed. Watch the News section of the programme website for the latest information.

Joint Annual Conference 2008
The Joint Annual Conference 2008 will be held in Herning, Denmark. Next year�s event will be organised in cooperation with the North Sea Commission as well as the Baltic Sea Commission.

The 2008 venue is located in central Jutland and is accessible via Billund International Airport, which has scheduled flights to a number of European cities.

Since arranging 3-day event for more than 500 participants is a big undertaking, initial steps are already being taken. The preliminary dates for the conference are 11-13 June 2008. More information will be available sometime early next year.

IIIB Projects Still Running

With the IVB programme running and the first project applications for the new programme submitted, it is worth reminding that there still are projects running under the IIIB programme.

All the IIIB activities will be completed by the end of 2008. The final report of the programme will then be written and submitted to the European Commission in June 2009.

There are 70 projects approved under the IIIB programme in total, of which about 30 are still running.

IIIB Web Video Project Update

The 8 initial web based videos in the video project are now finalised and will all be made available on the programme website. In addition, a programme introduction video for the IIIB and IVB programmes will go online shortly. Hard copies of all the videos are in production and will be available at the secretariat.

At IIIB Monitoring Committee meeting 11, it was decided to further expand the scope of the project, to incorporate another set of videos. The scope of the new set of videos is under evaluation. More information will follow.

Staff Changes

After 10 years before the mast, Lorraine George has decided to leave the secretariat and to seek new opportunities closer to her family in England. Lorraine has been the main architect behind the North Sea Region programme as it has developed until today. In addition to her profound strategic skills, she will be greatly missed for her unique ability to combine a high degree of professionalism with a very well developed sense of humour.

The selection process for a new Head of Secretariat will be initiated a soon as possible. Christian Byrith has been appointed Acting Head of Secretariat in the transition period.

Asta Gulijeva has been working as Project Development Officer at the Secretariat since April 2007. Asta is 28 years old and comes from Lithuania where she has been working for the European Social Fund Agency. In addition, she has international experience within several European countries.

Wouter Bol has been working as Project Development Officer at the secretariat since August 1st 2007. Wouter will be involved with organising workshops and seminars as well as assisting in the closure of the Interreg IIIB programme. Wouter is 25 years old and comes from the Netherlands. He worked for the MSUO in the period February-July of this year and has previously worked at an Environmental NGO within the Safety at Sea project.

 

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Calendar
Joint Annual Conference 2008
From: 11 June 2008
To: 13 June 2008
Second Call for Applications
From: 18 February 2008
To: 17 March 2008
Transnational Project Development Workshop on Sustainable and Competitive Communities
From: 28 January 2008
To: 29 January 2008
Steering Committee Meeting 1
From: 06 December 2007
To: 07 December 2007
From: 19 November 2007
To: 20 November 2007