Interreg Central Europe: 4th Call

Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE launches a strategic capitalization call: Focus on cross-border impact and synergies

This fourth call from Interreg Central Europe offers an opportunity to expand the impact of your projects. The aim is to reduce the impact of borders on operations and functional connections between regions, thereby creating a more competitive and resilient Central Europe.

Selected projects will be considered “Operations of Strategic Importance” and will be funded with an indicative ERDF budget of 23 million Euros and up to 1 million Euros per project. They can have a duration of 18 to max. 24 months. Project proposals must explicitly integrate results from at least two Interreg Central Europe projects (2021-2027) and at least two cross-border Interreg cooperation projects (2014-2020 or 2021-2027) addressing internal borders.
The core idea is to adopt proven results, both from Interreg CE projects and cross-border projects, and modify them in such a way that a greater territorial or political impact can be achieved (“upstreaming”), or the results can be transferred to other territories and areas (“downstreaming”). It is therefore about creating synergies, improving solutions, and opening up new areas or sectors through strategic projects.

The thematic scope of the projects is broad and covers all specific objectives; proposals in areas that address significant Central European territorial challenges and show high potential for capitalizing on existing Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE and cross-border successes are of particular interest. These include, among others:

• Priority 1 – A smarter Central Europe: Innovation management in SMEs, healthcare (innovation) and silver economy, entrepreneurship, adaptation of skills to the labor market.
• Priority 2 – A greener Central Europe: Energy transition, climate resilience (forest fires, floods, landslides), circular economy, protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, environmentally friendly urban mobility.
• Priority 3 – A better connected Central Europe: Improving transport connectivity in rural and peripheral regions, including digital transport solutions.
• Priority 4 – Improving governance for cooperation: Integrated territorial development, access to public services of general interest and tourism.

All organizations and institutions listed in the program manual can submit applications. The partnership should include organizations that participated in previous Interreg CE projects and/or cross-border cooperation projects whose results are to be capitalized, as well as organizations involved in the implementation of upstreaming or downstreaming.
The call is open from September 29, 2025, to November 27, 2025. The evaluation of proposals will take place in the first half of 2026, and project selection is planned for summer 2026.

Further information
To fully inform you about the opportunities and requirements of this call and to give you the opportunity to exchange ideas, the Italian Contact Point of the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE program invites you to a national info day, which will also be attended by the Managing Authority of the Interreg Italy-Austria program. It will take place on October 21, 2025, from 10:00 to 12:30 in Venice. You are cordially invited!

Furthermore, Interreg Central Europe is organizing a Kick-Off Webinar on September 29 and a Q&A Webinar on October 16, 2025, to support applicants: Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Applicant Community | Events.

Individual consultations for lead applicants: will be available after the call is published. Further information can be found at https://www.interreg-central.eu.

To facilitate contact with potential partners, the platform https://community.interreg-central.eu/ is also available.