New member of Interreg programme family has its first call still open
Interreg Aurora is a new programme in the Interreg community for cross-border cooperation. As the name implies, Interreg Aurora covers northern regions in Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and it is integrated with Sápmi and the indigenous Sami people. The Interreg Aurora launched its first call in 21 June and the deadline for it is in 31 August. The second call for project proposals will open in February next year.
The Interreg Aurora programme shares the general Interreg values of strengthening the competitiveness, sustainability and attractiveness of the programme but has also an overarching goal of sustainable development. The programme priorities and their specific objectives are:
Priority 1: A smarter Europe – Smart and sustainable growth1.1. Smart specialization, research and innovation
2.1. Climate change adaptation
2.2. Nature protection and biodiversity
Priority 3:
A more social Europe – Education, culture and sustainable tourism
3.1. Education and
lifelong learning
3.2. Culture and
sustainable tourism
Priority 4:
A better Interreg Governance – Better and more sustainable cross-border
cooperation
4.1. Cross-border capacity building
There are two project types in Aurora, small-scale projects and regular projects. Small-scale projects have a maximum budget of 60.000 euro (max 20.000 euro per country) and a lifespan of 6 – 12 months. Regular projects are any projects above the limits of a small-scale project. Regular projects can have a lifespan of 36 months.
The programme funding from the European Regional Development Fund covers 65 % of Swedish and Finnish project costs and 50 % of Norwegian costs. Thus, Swedish and Finnish partners need to finance 35 % of their costs and Norwegian partners 50 % of their costs through own or other external sources.
