Slovenia's involvement in interregional cooperation

For the second time, Slovenia is in charge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. From 1 July 2021 until the end of the year, Slovenia will strive to:

• facilitate the EU's recovery and reinforce its resilience,
• reflect on the future of Europe,
• strengthen the rule of law and European values, and
• increase security and stability in the European neighbourhood

The Presidency's motto is Together. Resilient. Europe.

Let’s have a look at how project partners from Slovenia work together with others in Interreg Europe.

Slovenia involved

Slovenia is one of the smallest countries in the European Union with its population of 2 million. Yet it is the second country most intensely involved in our interregional cooperation projects per capita.

• 63 project partners bring to Slovenia new ideas from other corners of Europe and share with others the good practices tried and tested in their regions.
• 58 of the 258 running Interreg Europe projects have partner organisations from Slovenia.
• 5 of the projects have a Slovenian lead partner.

Slovenian partners are improving policies in all topics

The cooperation interest of Slovenian partners is well balanced across the four programme topics. They are all represented in the 58 projects.

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Thanks to interregional cooperation and policy learning, 22 policy changes and improvements have already taken place in Slovenia. 14 changes are linked to the Structural Funds programmes. Over MEUR 31 of funding for implementation of the changes come from the Structural Funds.

Click on the project acronym and find out about selected projects and some of the policy changes. Check how:

• ERUDITE strove to unlock the potential of digital innovation in urban and rural areas - read about the
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  Fab Lab network in Slovenia
  ;
• TRINNO worked on improving the support for SMEs especially by applying digital innovation in local economy - find out about a digital innovation voucher scheme for Slovenian SMEs in traditional sectors;
• BUILD2LC looked for new ways to boost low carbon innovative building rehabilitation - have a look at the action plan preparing
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  new projects for energy rehabilitation of buildings
  , many being implemented now.
• CD-ETA worked on improving the digitalisation of natural and cultural heritage - find out about the latest list of digitalisation achievements in Gorenjska region.
• WINPOL looks for better policies and intelligent systems for waste management - have a look at the changes in Maribor.

Good practices from Slovenia

Anyone can tap into the source of inspiration from Slovenia, which is available in our good practice database. The Policy Learning Platform experts have validated 95 good practices from Slovenia so far. See a few recent examples:

• Slovenian Digital Innovation Hub is a one-stop shop in Slovenia for getting information and support regarding the digital transformation of companies. 
• Web platform “Less is More” is an all-Slovenian project that promotes and encourages the re-use, repair, exchange or rental of objects for the purposes of lower consumption
• Forest of experiments: Education of youth in forests is represented by a group of passionate young researchers working on progress on Forest Pedagogy at Slovenian Forestry Institute (SFI), who provide innovative environmental education, transfer of knowledge and promotion of science to all interested parties
• Support for micro and SMEs in tourism to increase material and energy efficiency is a public tender aimed at improving the competitiveness of SMEs in the field of tourism by promoting measures for the use of renewable energy sources and implementing energy efficiency

Whether you are looking for ideas or new solutions in the field of research and innovation, SME competitiveness, low-carbon economy, or environment and resource efficiency, there are plenty from Slovenia in the database.

Discover more about Slovenia's participation in Interreg Europe

• Explore Slovenia's country page with an overview of the country’s involvement in the programme
• Browse through all projects with Slovenian partners and learn about further examples of fruitful interregional cooperation
• Get inspired by good practices from Slovenia

Cover image © European Commission