The European Commission announced, on Thursday 7 January, the winners of a new EU-funded initiative for interregional partnerships in the fields of coronavirus-related innovative solutions, circular economy in health, sustainable and digital tourism, and hydrogen technologies in carbon–intensive regions.
The Spanish Basque Country has been selected along with three other regions, which will focus on supporting an emerging industrial sector aimed at predicting and preventing coronavirus pandemics.
In the field of Circular Economy in Health, the RegioTex partnership on textile innovation involving 16 regions led by the northern region of Portugal was selected. For Sustainable and Digital tourism, the partnership coordinated by Time Machine Organisation, an international cooperation network involving five regions and Cyprus, under the leadership of the German region of Thuringia, was selected. For the development of innovative solutions based on Hydrogen technologies in carbon-intensive regions, two partnerships will merge: the European Hydrogen Valley Partnership, bringing together 12 regions led by the regions of Aragon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Normandy and the northern Netherlands, and the partnership led by the Slovak region of Košice with four other regions. The four laureates will benefit from external advice for an amount of €100,000. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)