When synergies turn into concrete action
Creating synergies is not only a strategic objective of the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme, but a concrete process that takes shape through opportunities for meeting, dialogue, and shared work. Over time, the Programme has chosen to go beyond simply promoting cooperation, taking on an active role in bringing project representatives around the same table, facilitating dialogue, and highlighting existing or potential connections.
Year after year, the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels has provided the ideal context to initiate this process: a European space for visibility, but above all a living laboratory of ideas, relationships, and cooperation. It was here that three emblematic experiences were born, illustrating how synergies can evolve over time: from collaboration among strategic projects within the same Programme, to openness toward other Interreg Programmes, and finally to integration into a broader macro-programmatic framework such as the Multi-Programme Mediterranean Mechanism (MMM).
The stories that follow recount this path of growth: three different yet interconnected stages that demonstrate how the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme can transform meetings and networking into structured cooperation, tangible results, and shared visions for the future.
#movingITA-SLOwly (2023)
The first collaboration among Strategic Importance Operations in Europe
#movingITA-SLOwly represents a pioneering experience at the European level: the first structured collaboration among three Operations of Strategic Importance (OSIs) funded by an Interreg Programme, created with the aim of developing a shared cross-border tourism product. The initiative took shape in 2023 during the 21st European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels, where the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme decided to create a dedicated space for dialogue among the ADRIONCYCLETOUR, KRAS-CARSO II, and POSEIDONE projects.
The workshop was not merely a presentation moment, but a true operational meeting point. The three projects—active in the fields of sustainable mobility, natural and cultural heritage, and biodiversity protection—identified common ground in the capitalization of results and their integration into a slow, sustainable tourism offer aligned with the objectives of the European Green Deal and macro-regional strategies.
From this exchange, a shared vision emerged, enabling the projects to move beyond a sector-based approach and embark on a path of concrete collaboration. The innovative value of #movingITA-SLOwly lies precisely in its cross-cutting nature: tourism and transport, governance and environmental protection, infrastructure and territorial enhancement are viewed as parts of a single system. This experience laid the groundwork for further development of synergies, demonstrating how the Programme can act as an active catalyst among strategic projects.
#CROssingITA-SLOwly (2024)
Beyond the Italy–Slovenia border: synergy between two Interreg Programmes
In 2024, the #movingITA-SLOwly experience evolved and expanded into #CROssingITA-SLOwly, an initiative marking a decisive step: from collaboration among projects to integration between Interreg Programmes. Once again, the setting was the European Week of Regions and Cities, which in its 22nd edition offered the opportunity for structured dialogue between the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme and the Interreg Italy–Croatia Programme.
For the first time, the two Programmes jointly organized a participatory lab at the Permanent Representation of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in Brussels. The starting point was the success of the 2023 experience, which had demonstrated the value of cooperation among projects active in sustainable mobility, cultural heritage, and natural resources. #CROssingITA-SLOwly expanded this model by involving new projects and extending collaboration along the Adriatic corridor with Interreg Italy–Croatia projects.
The participatory laboratory, structured around thematic tables, fostered direct exchange of experiences and the emergence of new project ideas. The presence of institutional representatives, Managing Authorities, and the European Commission reinforced the innovative character of the initiative, recognized as a unique example within the Interreg cooperation landscape. #CROssingITA-SLOwly demonstrated how synergies can overcome geographical and programmatic boundaries, creating territorial continuity and shared visions of sustainable development.
Stronger Together (2025)
Synergies within the Multi-Programme Mediterranean Mechanism
With Stronger Together in 2025, the process of creating synergies takes a further step forward. The initiative builds on experience gained in previous years and on the entry of the Interreg Italy–Slovenia Programme into the Multi-Programme Mediterranean Mechanism (MMM), a cooperation platform bringing together several Interreg Programmes from the Mediterranean area.
The starting point was the meeting of projects encountered during the MMM event “Path that last” in Split, where the Programme identified new potential connections among initiatives addressing common challenges while operating in different territorial contexts. Once again, the European Week of Regions and Cities became the privileged venue for turning networking into concrete cooperation.
The event “Stronger Together: Turning Cross-Border Synergies into Future Growth” focuses on real stories of cooperation among Interreg projects and other cohesion policy instruments, with the aim of moving from mapping synergies to activating them. Thematic tables, facilitation, and feedback sessions enable the development of shared proposals and pilot actions, already looking ahead to future programming.
Stronger Together thus represents the maturity of a journey: the Programme no longer merely facilitates meetings, but actively orchestrates synergies, embedding them in a broader Mediterranean vision oriented toward growth, resilience, and long-lasting cooperation.
