The Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 Programme, in addition to funding, managing and supporting individual projects, actively promotes the creation of synergies as a key tool to strengthen the impact of funded actions, foster the capitalisation of results and generate added value at cross‑border and macro‑regional level.
This approach is fully aligned with the orientation of the European Commission, which encourages closer collaboration between projects and Interreg programmes in order to improve the effectiveness of cohesion policies and maximise the benefits for the territories.
The Interreg Italy-Slovenia Programme began to address the topic of synergies in a structured way in 2023, inviting the three strategic projects (hereinafter referred to as OSIs) ADRIONCYCLETOUR, Kras‑Carso II and POSEIDONE to collaborate through joint actions and a shared operational method, promoting mutual involvement in project activities.
The synergies between the three OSIs were presented at the 2023 European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels and on other occasions at European level (see the Success stories section).
The experience of cooperation among the three OSIs, together with the monitoring of project and communication activities, revealed the existence of synergies spontaneously developed by the projects. It was therefore decided to systematically monitor the synergies arising spontaneously between projects. Based on a questionnaire sent to the Lead Partners, a database was created to collect all existing synergies: those between projects funded by the Programme, those linked to other European programmes and those funded through different sources (see the Synergy map section).
The Programme has also launched interactive laboratories involving projects from various European programmes at the 2024 and 2025 editions of the European Week of Regions and Cities, engaging projects from multiple Programmes and offering its own projects new opportunities for collaboration and funding (see the Success Stories section).
In 2025, the Programme joined broader cooperation instruments, such as the Mediterranean Multi‑Programme Mechanism (MMM), which reinforces the contribution of the Interreg Italy-Slovenia Programme to European strategies for sustainable, cohesive and competitive development (see the MMM section).
Through dialogue among projects, Programmes and territories, synergies make it possible to share knowledge, develop joint initiatives and create more effective and long‑lasting solutions to address shared challenges.
This section therefore presents the main cooperation experiences promoted by the Programme: from synergies between funded projects and European Programmes to participation in broader cooperation mechanisms such as the MMM.
To know more about single synergy actions, browse the items in the side menu.