Draft programme
strategy
Support of the programming of the
cooperation programme INTERREG
Austria – Czechia 2021-2027
8th DRAFT version - short, October 2021
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Disclaimer:
The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the official opinion of the contractor.
Methodological note: some sections might be subject to textual cuts, respecting specifications
regarding max. characters in the IP template.
The Programme draft focuses on section which will be part on the future public consultation.
Recommended citation:
8th
draft of the cooperation programme INTERREG Austria – Czechia 2021-2027, Draft programme
strategy - short, October 2021
Authors:
M&E Factory monitoring and evaluation GMBH: Christine Hamza, Andreas Resch
Vychodoceska rozvojova GmbH: Jiří Škoda, Tereza Tyrychtrová
Contractor:
Mag.a Kathrin Huber
INTERREG V-A Austria-Czech Republic
Verwaltungsbehörde / Řídicí orgán / Managing Authority
Amt der NÖ Landesregierung
Abteilung Internationale und Europäische Angelegenheiten (LAD4)
3109 St. Pölten, Landhausplatz 1
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Content
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Programme area ...................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Regulative framework............................................................................................... 5
1.3 Purpose of this document......................................................................................... 6
2 Overall programme strategy ........................................................................................... 7
2.1 Priority 1 - Research & Innovation............................................................................ 7
2.1.1 Specific objective - Research and innovation..................................................... 7
2.2 Priority 2 - Climate & Environment............................................................................ 9
2.2.1 Specific objective – climate change adaptation................................................ 10
2.2.2 Specific objective – nature protection and biodiversity ..................................... 11
2.3 Priority 3 - Education, culture & tourism ................................................................. 13
2.3.1 Specific objective – Education and training...................................................... 14
2.3.2 Specific objective – Culture and tourism .......................................................... 15
2.4 Priority 4 - Cross-border Governance..................................................................... 17
2.4.1 Specific objective – Legal and institutional cooperation.................................... 17
2.4.2 Specific objective – People-to-people action for increased trust....................... 18
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Abbreviations
CP Cooperation programme
CPR Common Provisions Regulation
ETC European Territorial Cooperation
ERDF European Regional Development Fund
ISO Interreg Specific Objective
MS Member State
PG Programming group
PO Policy objective
R&D&I Research, Development, Innovation
SCO Simplified Cost Option
SO Specific objective
SPF Small Project Fund
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1 Introduction
The draft of the Interreg cross-border cooperation programme Austria – Czech Republic for
the programming period 2021-2027 is the result of an intensive discussion among
stakeholders and programme management bodies since early 2019 taking into account
analytical findings from preparatory studies. The Interreg AT-CZ programme 2021-2027 builds
on the achievements and cooperation established during 2014 and 2020 and previous
programming periods.
1.1 Programme area
The programme area covers the following NUTS 3-regions:
Table 1: Cooperation Programme INTERREG Austria – Czechia border regions 2021-
2027
Country NUTS 3 Belongs to NUTS 2
Austria
Mostviertel-Eisenwurzen (AT121)
Niederösterreich (AT12)
St. Pölten (AT123)
Waldviertel (AT124)
Weinviertel (AT125)
Wiener Umland – Nordteil (AT126)
Wien (AT130) Wien (AT13)
Innviertel (AT311)
Oberösterreich (AT31)
Linz-Wels (AT312)
Mühlviertel (AT313)
Steyr-Kirchdorf (AT314)
Czech Republic
Jihočeský kraj (CZ031) Jihozápad (CZ03)
Kraj Vysočina (CZ063)
Jihovýchod (CZ06)
Jihomoravský kraj (CZ064)
Source: Amt der Niederösterreichischen Landesregierung (2019); letter from the EC 02/2021
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Figure 1: Programme area Interreg VI-A Austria – Czechia 2021-2027
Source: https://www.at-cz.eu/at/programm/programmgebiet
1.2 Regulative framework
The main aim of the programme is to strengthen cooperation among Czech and Austrian
stakeholders to reduce the mental and legal barriers across the border and to better cope with
joint challenges such as climate change, demographical change, economic disparities and
territorial imbalances.
Financial framework
The most significant changes compared to the previous programming period is the reduction
of the ERDF budget. Total ERDF budget of the 2021 – 2027 programme is 86.821.148,- EUR
which is app. 11% lower compared to previous period (97.814.933,- EUR).
Legal framework
New CPR, ERDF and ETC regulation although aiming for a continuation of the current
programming period do foresee some changes in the new programming period for the crossborder
cooperation between EU MS which strongly effects the thematic orientation of the
cooperation programmes, for example:
 Thematic concentration on 5 policy objectives (CPR1
Article 5);
 The Interreg regulation2
article 14 lists additional Interreg relevant specific objectives
and ISO (“a better cooperation governance“)
1
REGULATION (EU) 2021/1060 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 June 2021
2
REGULATION (EU) 2021/1059 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 June 2021
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1.3 Purpose of this document
The purpose of the programme draft in hand is to present the programming status as a basic
information for future stakeholders – programme partners. Table 2 shows the current structure
of the programme draft. In line with the thematic concentration requirement.
Table 2: Draft AT-CZ cooperation programme structure
Priority Specific objective Type of action
Priority 1 / PO1
(short title:
“Research and
innovation”)
SO i) (short title
“Research and
innovation”)
 1.1 Cross border research and know how exchange
 1.2 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions in shared
research facilities and research application
 1.3 Communication and mobility of researchers
Priority 2 / PO2
(short title
“Climate &
Environment”)
SO iv) (short title
“Climate change
adaptation”)
 2.1 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to improve the preparedness towards
climate change impacts.
 2.2 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions in climate
change adaptation
 2.3 Awareness raising and training on climate change
adaptation
SO vii) (short title
“Nature protection
and biodiversity”)
 2.4 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to improve water management
 2.5 Joint pilot actions and investments in joint
ecological water management solutions
 2.6 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to enhance biodiversity
 2.7 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions to improve
and protect biodiversity
 2.8 Awareness raising activities and training for
enhanced biodiversity
Priority 3 / PO4
(short title
“Education,
culture &
tourism”)
SO ii) (short title
“Education and
training”)
 3.1 Cross border cooperation to improve the crossborder
education offers of kinder gardens, primary,
secondary, tertiary education and vocational schools
 3.2 Joint pilot action and investments to improve the
cross-border education offers of primary, secondary,
tertiary education and vocational schools
SO v) (short title
“Culture and
tourism”)
 3.3 Cross border know how and data exchange to
foster resilience of the tourism and cultural sector
 3.4 Joint pilot actions and investments to foster
resilience of the tourism and cultural sector
Priority 4 / ISO1
(short title “Cross-
border
Governance”
ISO ii) (short title
“Legal and
institutional
cooperation”)
 4.1 Joint strategy development and know how
exchange
 4.2 Joint pilot actions to approach the removal of
border obstacles
 4.3 Networking and cluster activities
ISO iii) (short title
“People-to-people
action for
increased trust”)
 4.4 Small projects to improve cultural, social and
economic relations in the border area
Source: 8th
Programme draft
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2 Overall programme strategy
2.1 Priority 1 - Research & Innovation
Innovation and research
The border region is generally well-equipped with research and development facilities.
Nevertheless, cross-border cooperation is an opportunity to create and strengthen R&D&I
platforms in order to unlock the full potential of R&D in the region’s economic development.
This is not limited to sharing good practice in technology transfer and related fields;
cooperation could also increase market availability for local R&D institutions and give them
the opportunity to engage in global networks.
An important challenge for the cross-border innovation environment is also mobility and
exchange of experts and research staff. Furthermore, SMEs play a crucial role in innovation
policy, as they are likely to face barriers when innovating or commercialising their innovations.
Thus the cooperation programme considers SO i (Research and innovation) as significant SO
with high needs and potential for joint approaches.
Table 3: Overview of types of action under the respective priority and specific objective
Priority Specific objective Type of action
Priority 1 / PO1
(short title:
“Research and
innovation”)
SO i) (short title
“Research and
innovation”)
 1.1 Cross border research and know how exchange
 1.2 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions in shared
research facilities and research application
 1.3 Communication and mobility of researchers
2.1.1 Specific objective - Research and innovation
Expected contribution to specific objective:
 utilization of the R&I potential of the programme area,
 development of specific areas of research common to both sides of the border,
 increase the competitiveness of SMEs through improved access to R&I results and
advanced technologies,
 diffusion of innovations, where the peripheral parts of the programme area also benefit
from the joint results implemented in areas with a concentration of research and
innovation activities,
 acceleration of the transfer of research and innovation results into practice (to the
market of goods or services, incl. public services),
 increasing the efficiency of the use of existing or new research and innovation
capacities,
 sharing and transfer of know-how of research institutions.
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Types of actions
Type of action 1.1 cross border research and know how exchange
The aim of the type of action is to strengthen cross border cooperation among researchers as
well as with SMEs. Particular fields of interest in the region are for example circular economy,
bioeconomy, biotechnology, ICT and digital transformation, environmental branches, life
sciences, creative industries, medicine, building and construction materials and the
introduction of eco-innovation.
Indicative actions:
 cooperation in research and innovation in fields of common interest with possible
involvement of SMEs
 research and innovation driven by demand from local businesses with specific focus
on sectors of relevance in the border area.
Type of action 1.2 joint pilot actions and joint solutions in shared research facilities and
research application
The aim of the type of action is to improve existing and boost new shared research and
innovation infrastructure and services in the cross-border region and to improve access to
research infrastructure for SMEs.
Indicative actions:
 investments in new jointly used/shared R&I facilities, based on relevant research
strategies and with high thematic focus to the programme area;
 adding services to core offerings of industries by “servitization” to make industries more
innovative and competitive;
 extension and modernisation of technology facilities and research capacities of crossborder
interest; Sharing of high-quality R&I facilities;
 better linking research institutions with SMEs and increase access of SMEs to R&I
results, application of research and innovation results with the aim to reach the market;
 joint set-up of innovation hubs.
Type of action 1.3: communication and mobility of researchers
The aim of this type of action is to increase access to research results to the to the relevant
target groups in the cross border area like SMEs or researchers with suitable communication
and to enhance the exchange between individual researchers. The indicative actions should
only form a part of projects and are not seen as stand-alone projects.
Indicative actions:
 supporting the cross-border mobility of researchers;
 science communication (informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related
topics).
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2.2 Priority 2 - Climate & Environment
Climate change
Climate change is an identified challenge for the AT-CZ border region. It is expected that
regions on both sides of the border will be affected in similar ways by climate change, including
an increase in warm temperature extremes, decrease in summer precipitation, increase in
water temperature, increase in the risk of forest fires and decrease in the economic value of
forests.
Cross-border cooperation in this field is already well advanced and can therefore be identified
as a reasonable means to effectively address issues arising from climate change, such as
disaster risk assessment and management, or flood protection etc.
Environment
With regard to the conservation of biological diversity, the strength of the border area lies in
the large number of protected areas of different classifications in the Austrian and Czech
regions. Protected areas and their interlinked biotope systems represent the most important
starting point for conserving biodiversity and adapting to climate change. Cooperation between
these areas, both in terms of protected status and across national borders, is therefore an
important topic for the Interreg programme.
Thus, the cooperation programme considers SO iv (Climate change adaption) and SO vii
(Nature protection and biodiversity) as significant SOs with high needs and potential for joint
approaches.
Table 4: Overview of types of action under the respective priority and specific objective
Priority Specific objective Type of action
Priority 2 / PO2
(short title
“Climate &
Environment”)
SO iv) (short title
“Climate change
adaptation”)
 2.1 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to improve the preparedness towards
climate change impacts.
 2.2 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions in climate
change adaptation
 2.3 Awareness raising and training on climate
change adaptation
SO vii) (short title
“Nature protection
and biodiversity”)
 2.4 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to improve water management
 2.5 Joint pilot actions and investments in joint
ecological water management solutions
 2.6 Joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data
exchange to enhance biodiversity
 2.7 Joint pilot actions and joint solutions to improve
and protect biodiversity
 2.8 Awareness raising activities and training for
enhanced biodiversity
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2.2.1 Specific objective – climate change adaptation
Expected contribution to specific objective:
The programme will contribute to climate change adaptation by supporting joint action in:
 joint adaptation actions in sectors particularly affected by climate change, (e.g.
production, environmental protection, civil society, agriculture and forestry),
 resource efficiency as climate adaption measures,
 climate fit communities & cities: climate protection and adaptation to climate change in
communities and cities as an integrative cross-cutting theme.
Type of actions
Type of action 2.1 joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data exchange to improve
the preparedness towards climate change impacts.
The aim of the type of action is to enhance the cross-border understanding of climate change
impacts and to enable adequate actions based on a common data base.
Indicative actions:
 exploring the impacts of climate change in the programme area and specific regions
including economic risks created by climate change;
 data exchange and set of monitoring systems of climate change related impacts;
 know-how exchange across the border on climate change related impacts.
Type of action 2.2 joint pilot actions and joint solutions in climate change adaptation
The aim of the type of action is to implement joint risk management, joint solutions and
investments across the border to be better prepared towards climate change.
Indicative actions:
 strengthen cooperation to build up an integrated risk management system;
 cooperation in climate change adaptation actions (e.g. planting drought-resistant
species, urban / rural gardening, green and blue infrastructures for reducing heat island
effects);
 joint solutions for environmental measures on agri-land and in forests (e.g.: soil
improvement, avoidance of erosion);
 joint pilot activities for example in the areas of greening, reduction of land consumption,
building refurbishment, water retention for a pleasant microclimate, increase of
resilience in the soil.
Type of action 2.3 awareness raising and training on climate change adaptation
The aim of the type of action is to increase awareness of the danger and social, economic and
ecological consequences of climate change impacts and to enhance behavioural change of
the public as well as local authorities.
Indicative actions:
 Awareness raising campaigns, making the issue of climate protection visible to the
population in the communities (e.g. awareness raising campaign among community
leaders, common civil protection awareness raising);
 Training and skill development in the field of climate change (e.g.: support population
training);
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2.2.2 Specific objective – nature protection and biodiversity
Expected contribution to specific objective:
The cooperation programme will contribute to nature protection and biodiversity by supporting
joint action in:
 joint improvement of water management concepts and practice to better adapt to
climate change,
 ecological measures to improve the natural status and water quality of surface
waters/rivers in the border region,
 supporting joint ecological actions to preserve and restore biodiversity in sensitive
areas including better control of invasive species and relevant pests,
 the sustainable use of natural resources can also be supported by eco-tourism projects
in an integrated way,
 increase the awareness of the population on biodiversity issues by environmental
awareness raising activities.
Type of actions
Type of action 2.4 joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data exchange to improve
water management
The aim of the type of action is to enhance the cross-border knowledge and data exchange to
support adequate and coordinated water management in the region.
Indicative actions:
 cooperation for the better protection and management of water resources (e.g.: springs
and small watercourses, ground water, joint river basin management, linking water
management and nature conservation);
 joint actions to increase the cross-border knowledge base concerning the border area.
Type of action 2.5 joint pilot actions and investments in joint ecological water
management solutions
The aim of the type of action is to implement joint projects which should improve the water
resource management of the region and increase the preparedness towards unforeseen
events such as floods or droughts. The type of actions includes communication and
awareness raising measures for wider public.
Indicative actions:
 joint solutions for appropriate water resource management (e.g.: agricultural irrigation,
water retention, ecological measures for natural water retention, securing the drinking
water resources);
 joint development of tools for identification of risks and water management measures;
 water body restoration (e.g.: re-naturalization of rivers and riverbanks, floodplain
restoration).
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Type of action 2.6 joint knowledge base - stocktaking and data exchange to enhance
biodiversity
The aim of the type of action is to enhance the cross-border knowledge and data exchange to
improve the knowhow of the biodiversity status in the region to enable suitable response
measures.
Indicative actions:
 improvement of the data situation and monitoring approaches;
 joint databases;
 joint management plans.
Type of action 2.7 joint pilot actions and joint solutions to improve and protect
biodiversity
The aim of the type of action is to implement joint projects which should improve the
biodiversity and protect natural habitats.
Indicative actions:
 development of biotope networks;
 wildlife migration corridors;
 joint landscape management;
 control of neophytes and bark beetles;
 re-settling of FFH species;
 biodiversity projects with sustainable and integrated tourism elements (no pure tourism
projects);
 joint approaches to restore blue and green infrastructures in urban areas.
Type of action 2.8 awareness raising activities and training for enhanced biodiversity
The aim of the type of action is to increase awareness and understanding in the general public
of the richness of the region and its need for better protection.
Indicative actions:
 increase the awareness of the population on biodiversity issues by environmental
awareness raising activities;
 biodiversity projects with training activities
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2.3 Priority 3 - Education, culture & tourism
Education and training
In general, there is a high level of education in the programme area. The border region is wellequipped
with educational facilities. Nevertheless, higher vocational education is concentrated
mostly in the large cities. In the Czech Republic as well as in Austria there is a mismatch
between the qualifications available and the requirements of national and regional labour
markets. The rate of adult participation in further education is still low and the figures fall further
with advancing employee age. Additionally, a lower share of working-age population
characterizes rural areas and the smallest municipalities. The rate of adult participation in
further education is still low and the figures fall further with advancing employee age.
Additionally, a lower share of working-age population characterizes rural areas and the
smallest municipalities. The countryside suffers from migration due to lack of employment
opportunities. Language barriers and low level of trust across the border remain a challenge
for cross-border cooperation.
Education is an essential tool to connect the two sides of the border region. Cooperation in
the education sector is still broadly institutionalised. More educational networks would
therefore be needed, as they are an investment in future cooperation. It is essential to develop
a common educational and training infrastructure and to invest in education, training and
vocational training for skills – actions that are already partly addressed in the current
cooperation programme.
Culture and tourism
The programme area is rich in cultural assets and tourist sites of distinctive cross-border value.
Austria and the Czech Republic share a common historical and cultural heritage, both having
for centuries been part of the former Austrian empire and Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. They
have large numbers of protected historic monuments, objects of cultural property and
UNESCO cultural heritage sites. In total, the programme region includes nearly 30,000
protected historic monuments, 51 objects of cultural property (Hague Convention 1954) and
12 UNESCO cultural heritage sites that offer potential for tourist exploitation and intangible
cultural heritage. Their cross-border added value can be supported accordingly.
Tourism based on this cultural and natural heritage is an important economic factor in the
programme region. This is shown by the number of establishments and bed-places within the
programme region.
The current economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on
the tourism and leisure industry. The uncertainties in this sector may leave long-term damage
but might also open up new opportunities for local and regional tourism and leisure offers. The
support of tourism in the border region should thus foremost support employment and help
the sector to adapt to new ways of tourism management and promotion. This can be achieved
by better interconnection and promotion of the whole cross-border area, as well as by
improving local services for tourism. The potential to put in place strategies to keep visitors in
the region for longer should be exploited.
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Thus, the cooperation programme considers SO ii) (short title “Education and training”) and
SO v) (short title “Culture and tourism”) as significant SOs with high needs and potential for
joint approaches.
Table 5: Overview of types of action under the respective priority and specific objective
Priority Specific objective Type of action
Priority 3 / PO4
(short title
“Education,
culture &
tourism”)
SO ii) (short title
“Education and
training”)
 3.1 Cross border cooperation to improve the crossborder
education offers of kinder gardens, primary,
secondary, tertiary education and vocational
schools
 3.2 Joint pilot action and investments to improve
the cross-border education offers of primary,
secondary, tertiary education and vocational
schools
SO v) (short title
“Culture and
tourism”)
 3.3 Cross border know how and data exchange to
foster resilience of the tourism and cultural sector
 3.4 Joint pilot actions and investments to foster
resilience of the tourism and cultural sector
2.3.1 Specific objective – Education and training
Expected contribution to specific objective:
The cooperation programme will contribute to the specific objective by
 increasing the quality of the education sector across borders and its interaction with
the needs of the labour market and business sector
 supporting better understanding across borders;
 ensuring that initiatives are also adopted in the structural education landscape.
Type of actions
Types of action 3.1 Cross border cooperation to improve the cross-border education
offers of kindergardens, primary, secondary, tertiary education and vocational schools
The aim of the type of action is to enhance the strategical basis for cross border education.
Indicative actions:
 development of joint/bilingual pedagogic/didactic concepts;
 joint education schemes (incl. digitalized tools and methods - learning environments,
learning room concepts, didactic measures, learning to search online etc.).
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Type of action 3.2 Joint pilot action and investments to improve the cross-border
education offers of kindergardens, primary, secondary, tertiary education and
vocational schools.
The aim of the type of action is to implement cross border initiatives based on the above
mentioned strategies and know how exchange.
Indicative actions:
 joint education actions in topics relevant for cross-border area, esp. environmental
education, health and nursing, digital skills and technical education;
 joint actions to adapt skills and knowledge to future job opportunities (e.g. development
of cross-border augmented/virtual reality and (social) entrepreneurship as future
topics);
 joint actions to support early childhood education;
 joint actions to support primary, secondary, tertiary education;
 joint actions supporting job orientation of young people;
 joint actions to enhance the harmonisation of the vocational education system for
meeting the needs of the joint labour market;
 joint actions to enhance the harmonisation of education and qualifications (esp.
secondary schools, tertiary education, vocational schools)
2.3.2 Specific objective – Culture and tourism
Expected contribution to specific objective:
The cooperation programme will contribute to boosting the resilience and adaptivity of the
cultural and natural heritage and tourism sector in the region in a long-term perspective by
 better embedding tourism in a strategic framework;
 treating tourism as an integrative issue linked to other topics;
 revitalization of cross-border tourism after the COVID-19 crisis or any other potential
crisis in the future;
 enhance the digitalisation process in the tourism sector,
 strengthening the capacity to take-up innovation and future oriented business
opportunities;
 improving the resilience and adaptivity of the hospitality sector;
 support the economic bailout from the COVID19-crisis in the hospitality sector;
 create new and innovative solutions to better communicate cultural and natural
heritage site for new potential visitors.
Type of actions
Type of action 3.3 Cross border know how and data exchange to foster resilience of the
tourism and cultural sector
The aim of the type of action is to create a solid base of information on main characteristics of
the assets and services of tourism in the border area and to develop the key themes in cultural
and natural heritage and tourism based on strategically relevant topics in the cross-border
region.
Indicative actions:
 joint development of strategically embedded key themes in intangible and tangible
cultural and natural heritage:
 joint development of key themes for tourism development;
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 combine the expertise and competencies of national actors (e.g. large national
museums) with the expertise of regional actors;
 implementation of joint procedures for systematic visitor monitoring in order to
implement joint management plans in a targeted manner.
Type of action 3.4 Joint pilot actions and investments to foster resilience of the tourism
and cultural sector
The aim of the type of actions is to prepare and implement joint solutions and pilot actions
including investments in cultural and natural heritage sites. Activities should be based on a
strategic framework and should not be stand-alone projects in the region without integrative
aspects.
Indicative actions:
 joint actions to reconstruct / strengthen the resilience of the hospitality sector in the
region to improve better preparedness to future crises and recovery from the Covid-
19-crisis;
 joint investment in key themes for tourism development and in intangible cultural
heritage and tangible cultural and natural heritage based on a sound strategic
framework;
 joint digitisation of cultural and natural heritage products for dissemination to different
target groups;
 joint expansion and adaptation (e.g. in terms of barrier-free access) or maintenance of
the tourist infrastructure with focus on quality development and promotion of joint offers
to achieve a higher level of resilience in the tourism sector;
 improve cooperation of destination managements and create joint (cross-border)
destinations under one label with active mutual promotion;
 implementation of joint training measures for tourism and culture stakeholders;
 joint promotion of joint high-quality tourism marketing which takes into account the
requirements of the digital transformation
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2.4 Priority 4 - Cross-border Governance
Governance
Cooperation between state, municipal and other public institutions in the Austrian and Czech
parts of the programme area is already taking place at all levels. However, there is still a
considerable need for a further qualitative development and deepening of institutional
cooperation, also against the background of societal developments such as more efficient
provision of administrative services, securing services of general interest in rural areas.
The greatest challenge are the different structures and responsibilities on both sides of the
border. This concerns, among other things, the relationship between federal administration
and municipalities in Austria and between ministries and districts in the Czech Republic. The
further development and strengthening of cooperation between the authorities and in the
administration despite different structures is an ongoing challenge to which the cooperation
programme can contribute, as far as the legal competence situation allows.
Institutional cooperation is a (horizontal) tool to better deliver results across all Priorities of the
cooperation programme through increased institutional capacity.
In addition, small-scale projects (people-to-people projects) are a specific tool that can help to
lower the threshold for cooperation in order to foster the involvement of the local civil societies.
Table 6: Overview of types of action under the respective priority and specific objective
Priority Specific objective Type of action
Priority 4 / ISO1
(short title “Cross-
border
Governance”
ISO ii) (short title
“Legal and
institutional
cooperation”)
 4.1 Joint strategy development and know how
exchange
 4.2 Joint pilot actions to approach the removal of
border obstacles
 4.3 Networking and cluster activities
ISO iii) (short title
“People-to-people
action for increased
trust”)
 4.4 Small projects to improve cultural, social and
economic relations in the border area
2.4.1 Specific objective – Legal and institutional cooperation
Expected contribution to specific objective:
 enhancing institutional capabilities in key thematic fields of the further development of
the programme area:
 strengthened institutional cooperation and better coordinated strategy development of
regional/local bodies for the efficient provision of services of general interest,
 remove obstacles3
for cross-border development in the longer-term (beyond the
programming period).
Capacity development of the relevant organisations is expected to stabilise and extend current
networks of cooperation, to enhance efforts on capitalising the results of previous programmes
and to open up further possibilities for a better cross-border cooperation.
3
as described in the EC study “Cross-border obstacles between EU Member States and Enlargement Countries”
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Type of actions
Type of action 4.1: joint strategy development and know how exchange
The aim of the type of action is to enhance the information and data exchange across-border
to support joint administrative and legal activities addressing for example border obstacles.
Indicative actions:
 Joint strategy development in different areas such as research & technology &
innovation (RTI), water management, transport and mobility, natural and cultural
heritage, healthy lifestyle, demographic change, health care, regional development,
business support services, rescue services (“blue light organisations”);
 Collection and processing of contextual information in the policy areas addressed by
the cooperation programme to support strategy development;
 Development of joint strategies, structures and communication platforms for the
exchange of experience and know-how in tourism.
Type of action 4.2 joint pilot actions addressing the removal of border obstacles
The aim of the type of action is to boost joint solutions across the border to reduce barriers
and obstacles caused by different legal and administrative systems.
Indicative actions:
 Joint activities and know-how exchange among public actors in relevant thematic
fields, e.g.
o civil protection and disaster control (e.g. cooperation of fire brigades, rescue
services),
o health care,
o education,
o waste and recycling management,
o environmentally friendly transport concepts.
Type of action 4.3 networking and cluster activities to reduce administrative and legal
obstacles
The aim of the type of action is to enhance cross border cooperation among administrative
bodies to better tackled joint issues in the future.
Indicative actions:
 Joint actions of SME supporting organisations (Chambers of Commerce etc.) Those
include also networking, support to cluster initiatives, coordination activities and others;
 Institutional cooperation to reduce administrative and legal obstacles;
 Cooperation between administrative bodies to optimise services to citizens and
businesses and to meet the requirements of an open and modern administration
2.4.2 Specific objective – People-to-people action for increased trust
Expected contribution to specific objective:
The types of action indicated in this section contribute to the specific objective predominantly
by supporting
 bottom-up cooperation among citizens in the border region;
 small projects with the aim to reduce mindsets and draw people across-border
together.
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Type of actions
Type of action 4.4 Small projects to improve cultural, social and economic relations in
the border area
The aim of the type of action is to improve the local interaction between citizens across-border
and to reduce negative mindsets and improve communication among people in the border
area. Only small investments are possible, if duly justified:
Indicative actions:
 people to people activities for improving cultural, social and economic relations in the
border area with a clear cross border focus, particularly for supporting building of trust
and capacity building
 jointly explore and develop solutions at local level, e.g. for overcoming obstacles in the
fields of public administration or facilitating exchange between associations, e.g. in the
fields of education or natural and cultural heritage, in the social, economic or healthcare
sector