The Policy Learning Platform is the second action of the Interreg Europe programme, established to boost EU-wide policy learning and capitalisation on practices from regional development policies. The platform offers the following services to support policy learning:

• Expert Policy advice (e.g. through Peer reviews,matchmakings, Policy Helpdesk),
• Policy solutions (e.g. policy briefs, editorials, a database of good practices),
• Commuity of practitioners (e.g. thematic networking, capacity building and policy learning events).

You can explore the services that the Policy Learning Platform offers in this brochure.

The Policy Learning Platform was launched in October 2016 to support policymakers to deliver better policies in their regions.

An international team of experts specialised in the policy fields addressed by the programme or in knowledge management and communication was commissioned by the programme (through a public procurement) to deliver the Platform’s services to the regions across Europe interested in improving their regional development policies.

Yes. Partners in interregional cooperation projects should be actively involved in the work of the Platform during the lifetime of their project.

Projects are required to report on their participation in Policy Learning Platform activities in their progress reports. Projects should contribute to the Platform’s content and share their knowledge and experience. For instance, each region participating in a project has to feed interesting and relevant good practices developed in their region into the Platform’s online database.

Furthermore, projects should participate in Platform events (e.g workshops dedicated to project partners, webinars) and be ready to share their knowledge (e.g. speakers in events, contributions in policy briefs and publications, peers in peer reviews and matchmaking sessions).

They are also invited to register in the Interreg Europe community, especially the persons responsible for specific policy field in order to create a community of regional practitioners throughout Europe.

Yes! You are able to access the Platform services for free even if you are not participating in a project.

As a general community member, you can join our events and have access to our written publications.

Also, the policy helpdesk is accessible to all our community members. If you represent a public authority, you can also access our matchmaking sessions and peer review services. Check our policy learning services to discover more.

Yes, we welcome our community members to submit ideas for specific topics and policy challenges to treat in our online events or written publications. We only require them to fall under one of the main topics of the programme:

• Smart,
• Green,
• Connected,
• Social,
• Citizens
• or Governance.

You are welcome to contact our thematic experts with direct questions related to specific topics or activities. Should you have more general questions, you can also contact members of the Platform management team. 

No, the Platform experts cannot support applicants in drafting their project applications.

Instead, you can submit your project idea and request feedback directly from the Joint Secretariat of Interreg Europe. You can request feedback only during open calls, otherwise the tool is closed. In addition, you can also use the self-assessment tool to evaluate if the project idea is relevant for Interreg Europe.