Irish Regions Office Website

December 14, 2009

Interreg NWE latest Irish project approvals

The Steering Committee of the North West Europe Programme conditionally approved 14 more projects (from 37 applications) at its 5th meeting in Brussels on 8- 9 December. Four of these involved Irish partners:

- Senior Enterprise, led by the Mid-East Regional Authority, will support and tap into the potential of people aged 50+ as an undervalued resource for entrepreneurial activity and enterprise creation in their local communities. The focus will range across new businesses start-ups (alone or with others); investing in or acquiring businesses started by others; and advising or supporting innovation in SMEs.

- The SUCCESS project, which involves the Dublin Regional Authority, has been awarded EUR2.8m from the ERDF to establish a 'carbon card' scheme in four major city regions in order to change the patterns of citizen and consumer behaviour towards activities which will increase sustainability and reduce CO2 emissions. The project is led by Belfast City Council with Brussels and Liverpool being the other participants.

- CODEMA (City of Dublin Energy Management Agency) will be using their involvement in the GREENOV project to develop expertise, and stimulate the innovation capacity and economic prospects of SMEs active in sustainable renovation of buildings as part of the transition to low-carbon cities and a sustainable economy.

- DIT, Bolton St.'s Dept of Transport Engineering are partners to Enevate which will enable cooperation and collaboration to accelerate the introduction and growth of the market for Electric Vehicles (EV) across the NWE programme area.

Interestingly, none of the approvals were within the 'Environmental Challenges' category whereas 'Innovation', 'Connectivity' and 'Strong and Prosperous Communities' were all represented on several occasions. The programme has now allocated in excess of half of its overall budget. Its 6th Call for Proposals will open from 12 March to 9 April 2010.

Contact: ajordan@seregassembly.ie

Posted by iroronan at December 14, 2009 06:29 PM