How Interreg NWE follows up on project long-term effects

Photo by JP Peluffo on Unsplash

22 October 2026 by

Helene Schabasser

Securing lasting project effects beyond the funding period is a strong objective for the European Commission and the NWE Programme. In the 2014-2020 programming period, the NWE Programme operationalised this strategic focus in a new way and integrated long-term effects into project design by introducing a work package explicitly dedicated to long-term objectives, activities, and deliverables.

To follow-up on these long-term effects, the Programme systematically organised follow-up meetings with project lead partners 18 months after project closure.

These meetings had three main objectives:

Check to what extent projects reached long-term effects based on their LTE work packages
Keep in touch with projects after closure and create links between programming periods
Identify success stories and use them for capitalisation and communication purposes

Process
NWE Contact Points lead this follow-up process and got in touch with the respective lead partners in their countries with an open-ended questionnaire.
Considering the 102 projects funded between 2014-2020, those projects were prioritised that showed strong results and good potential for further uptake and roll-out, or whose topics remain relevant in the 2021-2027 period.

Contact Points followed up on 50 projects, covering all priorities, specific objectives and lead partner countries: France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, including projects with UK lead partners. These 50 follow-up exchanges were mainly carried out in 2025 and 2026. Most of them took place more than one-and-a-half years after project closure, and in some cases up to 4 years afterwards. The findings of these interviews were summarised in the Programme's first report on project long-term effects.

Report on VB project long-term effect
The main findings of this very first NWE report on long-term effects are:

62% of lead partners reported that their project influenced local, national, or European policies, standards, and regulatory frameworks or official guidelines.

Project example

One example of this is the project NWE-REGENERATIS, dedicated to regenerating past metallurgical sites and deposits: Thanks to the project, brownfield regeneration methodologies were integrated into tender specifications of the Walloon public interest company responsible for brownfield remediation and contaminated land management; and the end-of-waste decree by the Walloon administration was reviewed. The Walloon Government adopted a new Regional Policy Statement focusing on brownfield development and public-private partnerships, directly aligning with the project's focus.

Project example

The project Regenergy, dedicated to renewable energy regions, reported that former partner Plymouth City Council is developing financial models and exploring Virtual Power Purchase Agreements to finance a new 14 MW solar farm, building on the research undertaken in the Regenergy project. Former Irish project partner and organic waste processor Ormonde secured funding under the European Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme to install another biomethane upgrader, expanding its commercial production capabilities, after having demonstrated the viability of biomethane to decarbonise heating as part of the project. These are two unrelated activities implemented within 3 years after project closure which broadly contribute to the predefined LTE of increasing the share of renewable energies in partner regions.

56% of project lead partners reported about commercial uptake or business-driven adoption of project solutions, technologies, or products.

52% of project lead partners reported about the replication, scaling, or continuation of project pilots.

Project example

The lead partner City of Dublin Energy Management (CODEMA) reported community-level impacts following their project Heatnet - Transition strategies for delivering low carbon district heat: The project helped put District Heating Communities on the national agenda and CODEMA subsequently enabled heat supply from an Amazon data centre in the south of Dublin to public buildings. This pilot served as a local model that afterwards secured €4.5 million in public funding (along with €3 million private funding) and is being extended to connect infrastructure towards the local hospital. There are further plans to extend this service to local social housing. All this within 5 years after project closure in 2020.

76% of project lead partners reported about the integration of project findings into academic curricula, professional training programmes, and research projects.

Project example

Following the project Cirmap - CIrcular economy via customisable furniture with Recycled MAterials for public Places, one of the former project partners, the University of Lille, participated in the EU Horizon project SAFARI, focusing on the valorisation of recycled sediment materials extracted from river dredging activities. Multiple other partners also successfully secured additional funding through various follow-up projects, chairs, and regional grants to continue research on 3D printing and recycled materials.

Lead partners further reported that the visibility and recognition through Interreg boosted the outreach of their project missions, often extending formal and informal ties far beyond the North-West European region.

Capturing project impact beyond the funding period reflects the commitment of Interreg NWE to ensuring that successful initiatives establish a lasting legacy, allowing their valuable outputs and benefits to thrive independently long after the initial funding period.

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