S3 Pilot Action – Interregional Partnership
The high-ranking international association Time Machine Organisation was authorised by the state of Thuringia/DE to answer the above mentioned “Call for expression of interest for Covid-19 Response and Recovery Partnerships – Pilot Action for Interregional Innovation” and to submit a partnership application in the area “sustainable and digital tourism” that was selected for funding in January 2021.
In this one-year pilot action the following seven European regions will join forces:
- Thuringia, Germany (lead) | Represented by Sander Münster (FSU Jena, Time Machine Organisation) & Heiko Kahl (Digitalagentur Thüringen) regional starting advisor
- Saxony, Germany | Represented by Georg Fertig (U. Halle / Computer Genealogy Assoc. / Leipzig Time Machine) & Thomas Köhler (TU Dresden)
- Lower Austria | Represented by Thomas Aigner (ICARUS)
- Cyprus | Represented by Marinos Ioannides (Cyprus University of Technology – CUT)
- Paris, France | Represented by Valerie Gouet-Brunet (National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information – IGN)
- Greater Amsterdam, Netherlands | Represented by Julia Noordegraaf (University of Amsterdam)
- Galicia, Spain | Represented by Juan Castro (Spanish National Research Council – CSIC)
The interregional cooperation will develop advisory and support structures for research institutions, companies, regional authorities and cultural institutions such as museums or heritage sites to receive advice and help in establishing new digital formats.
Business cases emerging from these seven regions will be supported through concrete actions including co-investment models, Internet Protocol and certification support, business coaching and consultancy, linked with EU-funding instruments.
Funding Background
Within the framework of the European Union’s corona virus response and recovery plan, the Commission initiated a new support action for interregional partnerships in 2020, aiming to mobilise regional and national innovation actors to address the impact of the corona virus. This new pilot action, which builds on the successful experience of a similar action on “interregional innovation projects” launched in late 2017, now supports interregional partnerships in four different areas:
- Corona virus-related innovative solutions
- Circular economy in health
- Sustainable and digital tourism
- Hydrogen technologies in carbon-intensive regions
Selected partnerships benefit from the Commission experts’ support, providing, among others, advice on how to best combine EU funds to finance projects. In addition to this hands-on support from the Commission, each partnership can benefit from an external advisory service of up to 100.000 EUR for scale-up and commercialisation activities. The money is provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The partnerships will run as a pilot action until the end of 2021. The pilot stimulates interregional cooperation, with the possibility for the partnerships to apply for support under the new programmes and the “Interregional Innovation Investment” instrument from 2022 onwards.