Hello everyone! My name is Anna and I am from Italy, the country where I am currently volunteering as an Interreg project partner. It has been a month and a half since I started my experience at my host organisation, the Metropolitan City of Turin, a public administration involved in many Interreg proposals including EcoRIS3, the main project I am collaborating for.
EcoRIS3 is an interregional initiative developed in the framework of Interreg Europe, its general aim is to support innovation ecosystems within the regional strategies of smart specialization (RIS3), which leads to the implementation of several actions in peripheral areas in order to connect them to the urban core of innovation and knowledge. As an interregional project, EcoRIS3’s partnership is diverse and geographically wide. In detail, we cooperate with local partner organisations from Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland with the aim of creating a large community for a fruitful exchange of best practices.
We are now jumping into the last semester of the project, which will be unveiled by the final partner conference in Riga (Latvia). Currently, most of my tasks have been related to the preparation for this event, but I also had the opportunity to have a look at the future projects submitted in the first call of application of the new Interreg Europe programme period (2021-2027). That means being able to take an overview of the different phases of the construction and implementation of an Interreg project.
So far, my experience has been enriching and inspiring. During my Master’s studies, I had the possibility to focus on cohesion policies and territorial cooperation programmes but only from an academic point of view, while this volunteering opportunity is opening my eyes to the concrete management of an European project and to the importance of collaborating with the partner network.
Here at Metropolitan City of Turin I have found a young and supportive team that helps me everyday to get familiar with the different activities they are involved in. Recently I have also met another IVY volunteer, this organisation is involved in so many projects that there is room for more than one volunteer!
Days go by and new and challenging opportunities still await me, hope to learn and grasp as much as possible!
Anna – Interreg project partner at Metropolitan City of Turin for the Interreg Europe EcoRIS3 project.
