Jobs        Find partners        Bamos+        Subscribe       Log in       

Find partners      Log in       

interreg-baltic-sea-region-is-a-source-of-eu-funding
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

EmPaci

Empowering Participatory Budgeting in the Baltic Sea Region
EmPaci allowed citizens to take part in the public budget planning and bring the most needed projects to reality.
Read more about the project

COMPLETE

Completing management options in the Baltic Sea Region to reduce risk of invasive species introduction by shipping
The Interreg project COMPLETE contributed to the reduction of the uncontrolled introduction of invasive species in the region by introducing a unified approach to monitoring and operational risk assessment on a national level.
Read more about the project

RegenT

Integrating Regenerative Practices in Nature and Cultural Tourism​
RegenT project platform develops a regenerative tourism hub, offering training and policy recommendations for public authorities, destination management organisations (DMOs), NGOs, and business support organisations to make revitalisation and sustainable tourism a guiding strategy across the region. RegenT consolidates outcomes from 7 EU projects.
Read more about the project

DEAHL BALTIC

Digital Empowerment for Active Healthy Living in the Baltic Region
The project DEAHL BALTIC equips healthcare professionals and organisations with digital health literacy skills to ensure equal access to e-health services and improve healthcare delivery for people.
Read more about the project

Creative Ports

Creative Ports - Internationalisation of the Cultural and Creative Industries in the Baltic Sea Region
Creative ports facilitated internationalisation, joint value creation and peer learning in cultural and creative industries.
Read more about the project

ClimateAligned

Climate-Aligned budgeting at municipalities
The idea of ClimateAligned focuses on the matter that today many municipalities in Europe address the problem of climate change by implementing certain climate mitigation and adaptation policies and goals, but a concept which takes the whole municipal policy and the available budget into account is lacking. The main project wants to deliver a concept for guidelines for municipalities where budget decisions can be examined in terms of climate relevance over a longer time horizon. This would mean to develop a decision support methodology how to assess planning decisions and budget proposals in terms of their climate mitigation and adaptation relevance and their potential to contribute to mitigation and adaptation efforts in a systematic fashion.
Read more about the project

HUPMOBILE

Holistic Urban and Peri-urban Mobility
The HUPMOBILE project provided city authorities, infrastructure operators and transport providers with tools for holistic sustainable urban mobility planning.
Read more about the project

BEST

Better Efficiency for Industrial Sewage Treatment
The project BEST enhanced collaboration among local water utilities, wastewater treatment plants, industrial companies, and local environmental authorities to ensure more efficient management of industrial sewage in the Baltic Sea region and ultimately protect the environment.
Read more about the project

SmartUp Accelerator

SmartUp Accelerator - Innovation Ecosystem to foster consumer cleantech markets in the Baltic Sea Region
The Interreg project SmartUp Accelerator improved conditions for business ideas in consumer cleantech sector and supported start-ups, intermediaries and investors across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

SEAMEASURES

SEAMEASURES
There are two interlinked developments that accelerate the transition to clean shipping in Northern Europe: the environmental and the economic development. The aim of this project is to contribute to thriving and sustainable shipping through the analysis of different options for decarbonisation and minimizing the harmful impacts to air quality and the marine environment. We will target all aspects of decarbonisation of the maritime cluster, especially the short sea shipping, including a roadmap for emerging technologies.
Read more about the project

CliNeDest

Climate Neutral Destinations - Developing climate smart tourism business for sustainability and resilience
In the project CliNeDest, eight Baltic Sea region tourist destinations empower tourism companies to develop low-carbon offerings that meet the growing demand for sustainability, and anchor the region as a climate-neutral travel hub.
Read more about the project

Light in the Dark

Light in the Dark – Increasing resilience in rural and coastal tourism in the northern Baltic Sea Region by developing off-season experiences
The project Light in the Dark helps small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector create an off-season nature-based offer to attract tourists to rural and coastal areas of the northern Baltic Sea region all year long.
Read more about the project

WaterMan

Promoting water reuse in the Baltic Sea Region through capacity building at local level
In the project WaterMan, public authorities and water companies model strategies to reuse water and recirculate retained water, e.g. for industry and agriculture.
Read more about the project

KidsLikeUs

Empowering NGOs & public institutions in helping children overcome migration traumas using creativity and favors of nature
In the project KidsLikeUs, educators, public authorities and NGOs explore how contact with nature and appeal to all senses can improve mental well-being of children with traumatic experiences.
Read more about the project

Energy Circle

Promoting circular approaches for energy independency in business and communities.
The project EnergyCircle helps public authorities and business support organisations develop long-term plans and transition towards circular energy independence, ensuring energy security in the region.
Read more about the project

SUMPs for BSR

Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning for climate resilient BSR cities
The transition of cities from a focus on cars to "mobility for people" is at the core of sustainable urban mobility plans. Such plans are currently being implemented in Europe and world-wide to facilitate a paradigm shift from transport to mobility planning. It requires a harmonized approach to strategic urban planning: climate, energy, urban development and mobility plans need to be in line, striving towards the same vision. To make this concept accessible, especially for small and mid-sized cities in the Baltic Sea region and to support them on the way to implementation - this is the challenge the seed money project addresses.
Read more about the project

Baltic LINes

Coherent Linear Infrastructures in Baltic Maritime Spatial Plans
In the Interreg project Baltic LINes, maritime spatial planners in countries around the Baltic Sea found an efficient way to exchange their national plans for developing energy corridors and shipping routes, and in this way to improve the connectivity across the Baltic Sea.
Read more about the project

NURSECOAST

NURSECOAST
NURSECOAST is a novel project that focuses on small-scale wastewater treatment (<2000 PE) as well as other measures and technologies that aim to recirculate or reduce nutrients, particularly in the touristic regions. It takes lessons from other projects and builds up an added value towards sustainable solutions dedicated to near-coast tourism. A tool about 2000 PE waste water treatment plant distribution, technology reviews, pilot selection criteria and risk assessment will be developed.
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

PV 4 All

Photovoltaics for All
The project PV4All develops models and advisory services for companies, organisations and individuals to overcome challenges and barriers in the uptake of small-scale photovoltaic systems across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

Smart Blue Regions

Smart Blue Regions: Smart Specialisation and Blue Growth in the BSR
The Interreg project Smart Blue Regions helped public authorities of coastal regions at the Baltic Sea review and improve their research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation to trigger sustainable blue growth in the marine and maritime sectors.
Read more about the project

POWER UP

Towards a more efficient organisation of the prosumer construct in energy communities
Citizens, or rather groups of private individuals, have a high potential to contribute to decentralising the production of energy - but their joint role as energy consumers and producers, or ‘prosumers’, is complex. The prosumer construct is under-researched and inefficient. This limits its full potential and requires additional support mechanisms and guidance. POWER UP attempts to offer an inclusive option for all consumers to have a direct stake in producing, consuming or sharing energy through efficient organization at a local level.
Read more about the project

DNA

Digihealth Nordic Acceleration
Europe’s health and medtech industries are investing in its modernization, including new digital technologies. Digital health and care refers to tools and services that use information and communication technologies to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and management of health and lifestyle and have the potential to innovate and improve the health sector. Digital health involves several stakeholders from doctors and hospitals to insurance organizations, governmental structures as well as research and development institutions, science parks, clusters, SMEs and startups. These stakeholders require support and exchange of best practices. The DNA project will prepare to strengthen EU SMEs by supporting their full value chains.
Read more about the project

ERREC 2.0 prep

Environmental Responsibility and Resource Efficiency - Preparing ERREC 2.0 project
The project strives to strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions and industrial companies to better implement the circular economy approach in the industrial sector. By bringing together students, companies and university faculty members for research & development of topics relevant to the industry, the possibilities will be examined to improve the companies’ management of resources and environmental efficiency.
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

BSR-DocTrainHealth

Baltic Sea Region Network in Doctoral Training in Nursing/Health Sciences
Personalised health care relies on a patient’s autonomy, trustworthy staff-patient relationship and a shared responsibility. Although it is an essential element of high quality healthcare, it requires streamlined training for health professionals. The project actively supports doctoral student exchange and establishes a closer cooperation and a mentoring programme among universities in the Baltic Sea region to leverage doctoral training and to build on the multidisciplinary research training.
Read more about the project

Co2mmunity

Co-producing and co-financing renewable community energy projects
The Interreg project Co2mmunity helped municipalities, regional energy planning agencies and citizens’ associations across the Baltic Sea region to implement community energy projects and ultimately move towards renewable energy sources.
Read more about the project

UROSCO

Update and Recalculation of national oil spill contingency plans in the Baltic Sea
Read more about the project

CITYAM

CITYAM - Preparing cities for sustainable Urban Air Mobility
The project CITYAM equips cities with tools to improve airspace management in dealing with emerging urban air mobility and scaling drone operations.
Read more about the project

StartSun

Start-ups for Solar Energy Communities
To advance local energy transition, the StartSun project establishes five energy communities of different types, and compiles start-up packages for authorities, enterprises and other actors, with step-by-step guidance to follow in creating their own energy communities.
Read more about the project

BREC

Bridging the gap between research and education for the circular bioeconomy
The project BREC connects agricultural schools, authorities and researchers to spread circular agricultural practices among practitioners and test technologies driving circular bioeconomy.
Read more about the project

ENT-MIND

Entrepreneurial mindset development within youth sector
Promoting an entrepreneurial culture, mindset and attitudes among Europeans is of paramount importance in fostering youth entrepreneurship. ENT-MIND aims at improving the entrepreneurial education of young people by integrating new and innovative education approaches and methodologies into existing education offers.
Read more about the project

LowTEMP 2.0

LowTEMP 2.0
LowTemp 2.0 trained district heating stakeholders to improve their skills in reducing energy waste.
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

#MadeWithInterreg solutions by topic

Agriculture

Explore

Attractive cities for people

Explore

Cleaner waters

Explore

Digitalisation

Explore

Energy efficiency

Explore

Fewer hazards

Explore

Health &
well-being

Explore

Healthy & sustainable
food

Explore

Inclusive 
communities

Explore

Renewable energy

Explore

Safety at sea

Explore

Strong & competitive
companies

Explore
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.