TEVI – Territorial Evidence Support of European Territorial Cooperation Programmes
Theme: Territorial cooperation; territorial governance, territorial indicators and monitoring
Scope
The core mission of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme is set within the framework of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) goal which calls for strengthening of the evidence base in order to reinforce the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy and the achievement of its overall thematic objectives through:
“analyses of development trends in relation to the aims of territorial cohesion, including territorial aspects of economic and social cohesion, and harmonious development of the European territory through studies, data collection and other measures”.
Within this context, the ESPON EGTC is constantly striving to develop a knowledge base capable of delivering valuable, high-quality territorial evidence support to EU funded programmes for their strategic programming, implementation and monitoring purposes. Cross-border, transnational and interregional ETC programmes within the EU, and between Member States and neighbouring countries (Interreg, Interreg IPA cross-border and ENPI/ENI cross-border programmes) therefore comprise a very important stakeholder group for ESPON territorial evidence. These ETC programmes provide a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different member and partner states, and their regions. This is all the more important given that the challenges faced by countries and regions increasingly cut across national and regional boundaries and require joint, cooperative action at appropriate territorial levels and scales.
The Interact Programme also supports ETC programmes in their work through acting as a hub to allow programmes to exchange experiences and network, and encourage innovative ways of cooperating. A key tool maintained by Interact is the KEEP database which provides a centralised data platform for all ETC programmes. The KEEP database currently integrates ESPON territorial evidence through providing mapping and data on selected thematic issues. However, it is considered that there is an opportunity to significantly deepen and strengthen this integration through enhancing the range of ESPON territorial evidence available on the KEEP database while simultaneously improving the visibility, usability and practical relevance of ESPON to ETC programmes in concrete practice.
Objectives
The primary objective of this project is to make ESPON territorial evidence and knowledge base more accessible and useful in practice for programme managers, joint technical secretariats and policymakers involved in the practical implementation of ETC programmes through:
- Using ESPON territorial evidence, and other relevant data sources, to produce a thorough evidence-based baseline assessment and territorial characterisation of each ETC programme in the context of current EU Cohesion Policy thematic priorities and the specific programme objectives.
- Using specific performance monitoring indicators to develop a set of territorial indicators which can be used to support the monitoring of programme implementation and progress towards identified targets, and assist in evaluating the impact of programme interventions.
Selected ETC Programmes
Following a Europe-wide survey of interest, the ESPON EGTC has selected 12 ETC programmes (cross-border and transnational) for the 2014-2020 period which comprise the geographic scope of the project. The selected ETC programmes are as follows:
- Mediterranean Programme (Interegg V-B)
- South West of Europe Programme (Interegg V-B)
- Italy - Croatia Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Italy-Austria Programme (Interegg V-A)
- South Baltic Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Central Baltic Programme (Interegg V-A)
- North West Europe Programme (Interegg V-B)
- Two Seas Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Öresund-Kattegatt-Skagerrak Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Deutschland-Nederland Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Austria – Czech Republic Programme (Interegg V-A)
- Central Europe Programme (Interegg V-B)
The 12 selected ETC programmes are considered to be a pilot selection for examining the feasibility and usability of the project outputs. A key outcome from the project shall be to test the ability to transfer the methods and indicators to other EU funded programmes in the future, beyond the initial pilot selection.
Contractors
- ÖIR GmbH (Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning), AT (lead contractor)
- Delft University of Technology, NL
- Laurentia Technologies S.L, SP
- Nordregio, SE
- University of Strathclyde, UK
- Politecnico du Milano, IT
- Ms. Erin Stewart, AT
Budget: € 614,350
Lifetime: February 2018 – August 2019
Deliveries
- Inception delivery, 13 June 2018
- Interim delivery, 13 November 2018
- Draft Final delivery, 12 April 2019
- Final delivery, 13 August 2019
Contact: Gavin Daly (Project Expert), [email protected], György Alfoldy (Financial Expert), [email protected]
