InnoCom at EU Week
The 21st edition of the EU Week of Regions and Cities took place in Brussels from 9-12 October. This year the event was held completely in-person after several years of online and hybrid events following the COVID pandemic.
The 2023 event attracted over 7,000 participants including representatives from InnoCom's lead partner, who attended two sessions organised by Interreg Europe.
The first, Reaching out to new regions - Solidarity and cohesion through interregional cooperation with speakers from DG Regio, the Interreg Europe secretariat and the Haut de France Region (managing authority) shared news about the expansion of eligible participant countries, including the possibility to add partners from new-entry countries to running 1st and 2nd call projects in 2024. The countries joining the programme are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine. The session featured a Minister from Ukraine and delegates from Ukrainian municipalities.
In a second session, a speaker from the Policy Learning Platform made a pitch for the peer reviews it organizes. Applying for peer reviews involves submitting a short request form, and if approved, the regional or municipal policy is analysed by experts from around Europe who offer informed recommendations for improvement. Dozens of peer reviews have been carried out since their introduction, and more are constantly being planned.