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Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societies 

Interreg makes
a difference!

Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting
from our projects.

#MadeWithInterreg solutions for

Cleaner waters

Cleaner waters thanks to viable monitoring system, new methods for removing micropollutants from wastewater and sharing knowledge

What are we doing?

Coordinated actions are the key to cleaning Baltic Sea waters efficiently. Interreg projects that bring people together across sectors and countries stand behind many of them. Not only do they introduce new systemic methods to clean wastewater, but also ensure the spread of knowledge of those methods in the region. Trust in project recommendations directly translates into new policies and investments. In a long run, cooperation in projects exceeds original partnerships and builds grounds for new initiatives and actions to respond to arising challenges.

Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
  • a platform collecting best practices in smart water operations
  • a risk assessment system to monitor concentrations of micropollutants
  • novel methods to clean wastewater from micropollutants, e.g. pharmaceuticals
  • new technologies to reduce phosphorus losses
  • enhanced water treatment to improve water quality in lakes

 

What we’ve achieved so far? 

The Baltic Sea is one of the most heavily eutrophicated seas in the world. Interreg projects helped improve wastewater treatment, which is one of the factors influencing eutrophication. At the beginning of the 2000s, more than 20 cities collected best practices in water management and shared them with other city administrations around the Baltic Sea region. In 2009-2013, projects showcased that it was possible to reduce discharges of nutrients from wastewater treatment facilities to the level set in the Baltic Sea Action Plan of HELCOM. The HELCOM Action Plan targets were stricter than the EU requirement.

In 2016-2021, projects in cities and villages focused on improving the treatment of wastewater from residents and industries. Partners in projects tested new technologies that increased nutrient removal and reduced energy consumption in cities such as Daugavpils, Gdańsk, Tartu, Jūrmala, Kaunas, and Grevesmühlen. Rural municipalities benefitted from solutions like septic tanks and soil infiltration in Kolgaküla, Gennarby, Ainaži, and Leitgiriai. In other projects, partners tested the pre-treatment of wastewater at poultry, meat, and dairy factories in Leszno, Doruchów, Põltsamaa, and Jelgava. Following this joint work, the partners synthesised more than a hundred examples of smart water operations. Using this knowledge, they helped develop the new Baltic Sea Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy of HELCOM, and revise the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. These two strategic documents help achieve a healthy state of the Baltic Sea.

 

Ongoing projects

The ongoing projects explore new methods to clean wastewater more efficiently and better monitor concentrations of harmful substances and micropollutants in water environments. They address various stages of water management, starting from pollution prevention at its source, extending to robust monitoring and risk assessment practices, and culminating in the adoption of advanced wastewater treatment technologies. The projects aim to influence policy-making processes and implement practical measures for long-term improvements.

 

Supporting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 

Our projects play a vital role in achieving the ambitious goals of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) to save the Baltic Sea. In collaboration with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Nutri, Bioeconomy, Hazards, and Tourism, our projects make water and wastewater management more efficient and less resource-intensive in cities, rural areas, and tourist destinations. Together, our projects and the EUSBSR coordinators drive changes in water-related policies in our region, ensuring that the outcomes of our projects are integrated into legislation and continue to contribute to clearer, cleaner waters in the region.

 

Explore project solutions in more detail:

EMPEREST

Eliminating Micro-Pollutants from Effluents for REuse STrategies
The project EMPEREST tests advanced treatment technology that helps water utilities and companies better remove organic micropollutants such as PFAS or pharmaceuticals from wastewater.
Read more about the project

APRIORA

Improved risk assessment for strategic water management to reduce micro-pollutant emissions in the Baltic Sea Region
In the project APRIORA, environmental protection agencies and wastewater treatment plants get equipped with a GIS-based risk assessment system to monitor and model concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in order to improve water management and reduce emissions.
Read more about the project

BEACON

Application of biological effects methods in monitoring and assessment of contaminants in the Baltic Sea
In the project BEACON, public authorities and governmental organisations develop harmonised methods to assess contamination in the Baltic Sea waters, sediment and biota.
Read more about the project

AdvIQwater

Improving quality of BSR waters by advanced treatment processes
The project AdvIQwater tests photocatalysis, fungal treatment and biofilms methods to efficiently clean wastewaters from pharmaceuticals.
Read more about the project

NonHazCity 3

Reducing hazardous substances in construction to safeguard the aquatic environment, protect human health and achieve more sustainable buildings
The project NonHazCity 3 helps municipalities, entrepreneurs and individuals construct and renovate buildings with tox-free materials in order to protect health and the environment.
Read more about the project

TRUST ALUM

Building trust in target groups for ALUM treatment - an effective, yet misunderstood method for water quality improvement
The project TRUST ALUM helps public authorities in the Baltic countries make better use of ALUM water treatment and improve water quality in lakes.
Read more about the project

MUNIMAP

Baltic Sea Munitions Remediation Roadmap
The project MUNIMAP develops a legal and administrative framework for public authorities to initiate joint remediation of dumped munitions from the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak, which pose threats to the marine ecosystem and hinder the maritime economy.
Read more about the project

TforFLM

Transformers for the future labour market
The employment landscape changes constantly and new occupations or specialties become much desirable whilst other disappear. The ability to anticipate and prepare for future skills requirements, job content and the aggregate effect on employment turns out to be critical for businesses. In order to develop the intellectual and social capital needed for the future, the project focuses on supporting the structure of “transformers”: a new occupation dedicated to helping young people develop necessary skills for the future labour market.
Read more about the project

Circular FoodShift

Circular FoodShift in the Baltic countries
The project Circular FoodShift helps authorities in rural and peri-urban municipalities transform food models with less food waste at schools and gastronomy and new businesses upcycling food and food waste.
Read more about the project

SOAR

Smart homes and intelligent agents for improved physical and mental well-being
Artificial intelligence technology holds great potential for improving the lives of many people. It can bring us closer to ambient intelligence use in daily environments through concepts of e.g. smart homes or personalised medicine. The SOAR project works on developing and evaluating a structure for smart homes to increase safety and well-being in home environment, with an emphasis on the elderly or handicapped people.
Read more about the project

REVITALISE HERITAGE

Architectural & Landscape Heritage as a Driver for Economic, Cultural and Community Development in Peripheral Regions
Architectural and landscape heritage is an expression of history, and it helps us to understand the relevance of the past to contemporary life and cultural identities. Despite their potential, many heritage places remain underused – in particular in peripheral regions. REVITALISE HERITAGE aims at empowering peripheral communities across the Baltic Sea region to transform underused heritage sites into interventions for economic, cultural and community development – and promote these approaches to potential adopters and decision-makers through media, film and gaming.
Read more about the project

Scandria®2Act

Sustainable and Multimodal Transport Actions in the Scandinavian-Adriatic Corridor
The project Scandria2Act successfully established a formal cooperation of regions at the Baltic Sea for modern transport along one of the nine European transport corridors, which will help those regions to contribute to shaping the corridor and to benefit from it economically in the long run.
Read more about the project

DESIRE

Development of Sustainable wetland management by Restoration and biomass utilisation of peatlands in the Neman river catchment to improve water quality of the Baltic Sea
Essential ecosystem services provided by the Baltic Sea, e.g. biodiversity, fisheries and tourism, are threatened by eutrophication caused by excess loads of nutrients to the sea. Discharge from rivers is one of the main pathways how nutrients get to the sea. One idea how to tackle the issue is to decrease the amount of nutrients leaking to the rivers by e.g. reactivation of already drained wetlands. The DESIRE project focuses on the numerous disturbed peatlands in the Neman river catchment and ways to restore some of them to act as wetland buffer zones.
Read more about the project

CoCoBLog

Competent and Competitive Baltic Logistics
The project addresses a gap between the needed and existing logistics skills/competences and, consequently, strengthens the institutional capacities of different companies executing logistics duties within the Baltic Sea region. The project works towards upgrading logistics skills and competences of people involved in logistics and, in this way, improving an overall logistics performance in the Baltic Sea region and reducing differences between the different countries.
Read more about the project

VETMED

Veterinary medication and its impact on antimicrobial resistance in the environment
Antimicrobial resistance is a global challenge. Both the World Health Organisation and the European Union state that increasing knowledge is key to facing this challenge. Antibiotics in animal husbandry are a known source of antimicrobial resistance, but the fate of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and the generation and spread of antimicrobial resistance from wider veterinary sources is unclear. VETMED aims to quantify the environmental occurrence of veterinary active pharmaceutical ingredients, improving the understanding of the significance of these medications as a source of active pharmaceutical ingredients and antimicrobial resistance.
Read more about the project

R-Mode Baltic 2

Ranging Mode Baltic Sea test bed evaluation
R-Mode Baltic 2 improved the earlier introduced alternative to satellite navigation systems and helped shippers navigate safer in the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

BALTFLOODS

Baltic Flood Resilience and Digital Solutions
The project BALTFLOODS helps public authorities better monitor and respond to floods, reduce polluted stormwater discharges, and encourage community engagement in addressing environmental threats.
Read more about the project

BalticRIM

Baltic Sea Region Integrated Maritime Cultural Heritage Management
The Interreg project BalticRIM contributed to integration of coastal and underwater cultural heritage such as ship wrecks and archaeological sites into maritime spatial planning by bringing heritage managers together with spatial planners and designating maritime cultural heritage.
Read more about the project

Capacity4MSP

Strengthening the capacity of MSP stakeholders and decision makers
Knowledge collected by Interreg, Horizon and other EU-funded projects helped maritime spatial planners review the implementation of national maritime spatial plans and set baselines for a coherent MSP across the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

cities.multimodal

Cities.multimodal – urban transport system in transition towards low carbon mobility
The Interreg project cities.multimodal presented environmentally friendly alternatives to driving, enhanced sustainable urban mobility planning for multimodal transport in ten cities and introduced six mobility points and smartphone-based travel planning.
Read more about the project

EcoDesign Circle 4.0

EcoDesign Circle 4.0
EcoDesign Circle 4.0 helped design centers, industrial designers and companies to integrate services and digital tools in development of solutions.
Read more about the project

BSN

Baltic Science Network
The project Baltic Science Network strengthened the political ownership of a joint, macro-regional approach towards science policy by setting up a network of ministries and other public bodies responsible for higher education, science and research policies in seven countries around the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

BSR Access

Access to clean, efficient and multimodal transport corridors in the Baltic Sea Region
The platform BSR Access connected traditional infrastructure nodes and smart transport solutions to further develop the TEN-T Core Network Corridors, and contribute to sustainable growth in the region.
Read more about the project

InnoFruit

Advancement of non-technological innovation performance and innovation capacity in fruit growing and processing sector in selected Baltic Sea Region countries
The project InnoFruit created a sustainable network of fruit-growing companies to make them more successful and competitive across the Baltic Sea region markets thanks to the exchange of innovative solutions.
Read more about the project

CAIDX

Clinical Artificial Intelligence-based Diagnostics
The project CAIDX establishes cooperation between artificial intelligence (AI) providers and healthcare institutions to help healthcare professionals integrate AI, and thus improve diagnostics and treatment.
Read more about the project

WaterMan Seed

Climate resilient wastewater and groundwater management by circular approaches that reduce outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances
WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reducing outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea. Its centre of attention is measures and techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants and the retention of water before flowing to the sea. The project focuses on measures at the local level and on areas in the Baltic Sea region, where the water supply may be affected by climate change. It explicitly addresses this by developing circular approaches for municipalities & water companies.
Read more about the project

BEST ACE

Biogas - Established Sustainable Technology in A Circular Economy
The project BEST ACE helps develop natural gas grid infrastructure and use biomethane efficiently in long-haul transport and maritime industry.
Read more about the project

AREA 21 + action

Baltic Smart City Actions for the 21st century
AREA21 + action practically demonstrated how CO2 emissions on a city level can be reduced through addressing the energy efficiency of the building stock.
Read more about the project

Green PE

Power Electronics for Green Energy Efficiency
The Interreg project Green PE demonstrated that advanced power electronics are technically feasible, reliable and cost efficient in test applications of electric car engines, wind energy production, as well as smart buildings and compiled a roadmap to accelerate their market uptake.
Read more about the project

ALLIANCE

Baltic Blue Biotechnology Alliance
The Interreg project Baltic Blue Biotechnology ALLIANCE built a network of Research-Technology-Innovation mentors who match services, facilities and experts from different countries around the Baltic Sea and turned smart ideas for biotechnology from the sea into a dozen market-ready products.
Read more about the project

TRAC 4 SERIAL

TRAnsnational Cooperation for Serial Energy Refurbishment in BSR
The current pace of refurbishment of buildings is not enough to reach the EU goals of a climate neutral building stock by 2050. TRAC4SERIAL initiates the energy efficient refurbishment of multi-family residential buildings using prefabricated retrofits. This is not only more energy efficient but can also save time and costs. Costs can be reduced only by applying large quantities. Therefore, the TRAC4SERIAL aims to involve the necessary stakeholders to accelerate the process of serial refurbishment.
Read more about the project

HAZGONE

Connecting up- and downstream measures for better hazardous substances governance and policy in the Baltic Sea Region
HAZGONE equips public authorities, NGOs, and businesses in the Baltic Sea region with knowledge, best practices, and training to tackle hazardous substances and micropollutants through the first holistic strategy, combining prevention at the source and advanced clean-up at the end of the pipe. HAZGONE consolidates outcomes from 14 EU projects.
Read more about the project

BOWE2H

Baltic Offshore Wind Energy to Hydrogen
The project BOWE2H connects authorities, policy-makers, researchers, manufacturers and other experts to co-create a roadmap for a joint offshore wind and hydrogen energy system in the region.
Read more about the project

CAMS Platform

Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Synergies in Energy Efficiency Projects
Local authorities and energy auditors learned how to provide higher quality, quicker, and more holistic energy audits harmonised across the Baltic Sea region based on the knowledge synthesised from a dozen of EU funded projects.
Read more about the project

RDI2CluB

Rural RDI milieus in transition towards smart Bioeconomy Clusters and Innovation Ecosystems
RDI2Club facilitated business development in rural areas and boosted bioeconomy growth in five countries across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

StratKIT+

Innovative Strategies for Public Catering: the Expansion of the Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit
The project StratKIT+ guides public authorities, catering providers and others on sustainable procurement for schools, daycare, hospitals and other public institutions.
Read more about the project

BSR Go-abroad

BSR Go-abroad - building market and supply chain opportunities for micro SMEs within the Baltic Sea Region
The project BSR Go-abroad develops a blueprint for micro SMEs to help them expand business offers and enter new markets across the Baltic Sea region in order to keep their businesses thriving regardless of any disruptions to come.
Read more about the project

City Blues

Bluegreen nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and citizen wellbeing
In the project City Blues, cities develop plans for their urban waters and green areas to better respond to the negative effects of climate change, like floods and pollution, and create liveable areas for people at the same time.
Read more about the project

Baltic Game Industry

Baltic Game Industry - Empowering a Booster for Regional Development
The Interreg project Baltic Game Industry aligned business support with concrete needs of game start-ups and succeeded in turning the Baltic Sea region into a highly recognised game hotspot.
Read more about the project

BSUIN

Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network
The Interreg project BSUIN tackled underutilisation of the underground laboratories serving as a business development and innovation platform for representatives of business, academia and regional development agencies across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

Solutions stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© UBC SCC/Mariia Andreeva

Thanks to Interreg (...), we created momentum for essential aspects of sustainable water management connected to climate change, for example improving the wastewater and storm water management, reducing water pollution, and increasing the application of circular economy principles. [IWAMA; BSR Water]

 

 

 

Agnieszka Ilola 

Head of Secretariat, Union of the Baltic Cities, Sustainable Cities Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

I can name a large number of examples of project outputs directly integrated into the regional policy framework. The first one is the recommendation on sludge handling. It was largely based on the PURE project. What’s more, the technologies tested in the project PURE to treat wastewater are in regular use now.

 

 

 

Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky

 Special Advisor to HELCOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© City of Turku

Thanks to Interreg projects, we have improved our public services for our citizens. Our water treatment facility has been involved in benchmarking water management processes and our water management processes have continuously been improving. Now, we have even better water quality and managed to keep the price of our water services at a moderate level.

Minna Arve

Mayor of Turku, Finland

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