BorderLabs CE

Project acronym: BorderLabs CE
Project title: Participatory cross-border governance for transition management in central European cross-border regions

Overview

As a consequence of progressing EU integration, nearly half a million citizens commute across central European borders, and several tens of thousands inhabitants have chosen municipalities beyond the border as their residence. However, public administration and policies are not yet sufficiently addressing the needs of cross-border communities. There is need to enhance the capacity of local and regional administrations in cross-border functional areas in central Europe to properly manage cross-border integration processes, adequately addressing civil communities’ needs.

The partners of BorderLabs CE teamed up to

• thematise and valorise cross-border functional ties,
• spread the practices of cross-border strategic planning,
• enhance cross-border participatory governance and
• manage cross-border obstacles.

Within the project new governance models and solutions in the fields of integrated cross-border strategy development, participatory governance, cross-border development of sustainable and slow tourism, cross-border marketing of local products and reduction of border obstacles will be piloted and evaluated, and transnational learning and exchange will be facilitated. In the effect of the project, cross-border cooperation governance in participating cities and regions – from the twin-city level to the regional one – will be substantially improved. All results and findings will be made available for the central European cross-border cooperation community via multimedia platform, enabling the implementation and mainstreaming of solutions. As a result of the project, not only models will be developed for integrated cross-border participatory governance but also a Charter for more integrated central Europe will be drafted and signed.

Outputs

Charter for participatory cross-border cooperation governance in Central Europe – challenges, needs and successful approaches
Solutions (multimedia learning platform) for integrated cross-border development in Central Europe, addressing the fields of integrated planning, participatory governance and obstacle management
Pilot actions on integrated cross-border development in Central Europe, addressing the fields of integrated planning, participatory governance and obstacle management
Project partners and associated partners cooperating for the elaboration, the follow up and uptake and the dissemination of new models and solutions developed in the result of pilot activities

Pilot actions

Pilot 1 – Integrated cross-border strategy development
The aim of the pilot activity is to develop and to implement a joint governance model for integrated cross-border strategy development in the Three- Country Area between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Pilot 2 – Participatory governance for transition management in cross-border twin cities
The aim of the pilot activity is to establish a temporary twin-city dialogue forum, to exchange experiences, to learn from each other and to improve methods and practices of involvement of local cross-border communities.

Pilot 3: Cross-border development of sustainable and slow tourism
The aim of the pilot activity is to develop a model on cross-border development of sustainable and slow tourism and provide benefit for 27 Italian and 13 Slovenian municipalities in a cross-border area of Slovenia-Italy to improve cross-border sustainable tourism.

Pilot 4: Cross-border marketing and promotion of products
The aim of the pilot activity is to roll-out and to evaluate a producer-oriented support mechanism for cross-border sales and distribution of local agricultural products in the Ister-Granum crossborder region by reducing border obstacles and facilitating the establishment of short (cross-border) supply chains.

Pilot 5: Facilitation of joint management of border obstacles
The aim of the pilot activity is to gain applicable knowledge on how to remove border obstacles in the trilateral cross-border area between Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. As a part of the pilot concrete obstacles will be identified, 2-3 border obstacles will be selected to be discussed by stakeholders with an objective to find solutions how to overcome these obstacles.

Factsheet

Project duration: 01.06.2024 – 30.11.2026
Programme: Interreg Central Europe
Lead partner: Saxon State Ministry for Regional Development (Germany)
Partner countries: Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Hungary
Partner budget: 134.400,00 € (ERFA 107.520,00 €)
Project budget: 1.710.608,72 € (ERDF 1.368.486,97 €)

Project partners:

• Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI, HU)
• Dolnoslaskie Region – Institute for Territorial Development (IRT, PL)
• Euroregion Nisa (ER Nisa, CZ)
• City of Frankfurt (Oder), (Frankfurt (O), DE)
• European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation – EGTC GO, (EGTC GO, IT)
• Ister-Granum European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation Ltd. (EGTC IG, HU)
• European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation NOVUM (EGTC NOVUM, PL)
• State Government of Upper Austria (Upper-Austria, AT)

This project is supported by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund. For more information visit https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/borderlabs-ce/.