Monitoring Committee approves four Operations of Strategic Importance of the Interreg VI-A Hungary-Croatia Programme 2021-2027

At the 4^th meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Interreg VI-A Hungary-Croatia Programme 2021-2027, held online on 15 April 2025, co-financing of four Operations of Strategic Importance (OSI) with a total value of 10.928 004,59 EUR from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was approved.

A total of 19 Croatian and 12 Hungarian Project Partner organisations will be participating in these strategic projects which will be implemented within 42 to 48 months from the individual project starting dates.

Two approved OSI-s will have a Lead Partner organisation from Hungary, and two will be coordinated by a Lead Partner from Croatia – these organisations will play a key role in the design and coordination of the entire project, and will guide their project partnership towards achieving its objectives.

The following OSI-s have been approved:

B Light 2 – Fostering cross-border business cooperation of SME-s operating on different sides of the Hungary-Croatia border (acronym ‘B Light 2’)

Lead Partner: HAMAG-BICRO

Further Project Partners: Zala County Foundation for Enterprise Promotion – Social Ascension of Somogy Development, Communication and Education Nonprofit Ltd – Development Agency of Baranya County – Public Institution for the Development of the Međimurje County REDEA – PORA Regional development agency of Koprivnica-Križevci County – Business Incubator of Virovitica-Podravina County – Center for Entrepreneurship Osijek – SME-s and R&D institutions as ‘light partners’

The project aims at enhancing the competitiveness of SME-s in the Hungary-Croatia border region by promoting product- and service innovation through cross-border collaboration. The project seeks to empower SME-s in both countries, enabling them to effectively compete in both local and international markets. To achieve these objectives, ‘B Light 2’ will promote internationalization, encouraging SME-s to expand beyond their local markets, it will facilitate the creation of operational links between SME-s of both sides to promote mutually beneficial collaborations, and will support joint innovation efforts to develop new products, services and technologies. R&D institutions will also have a chance to collaborate with SME-s, to translate research into business innovations and foster industry-academia synergies.

The umbrella formed by non-profit business development organisations from the border region as Project Partners will have the task of selecting and supporting SME- and R&D cooperations to be funded by the Programme in the framework of the ‘B Light 2’ project.

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Fostering ground source geothermal energy based energy refurbishments in the border area – acronym ‘GeoBuilding’

Lead Partner: University of Pécs

Further Project Partners: Regional Energy Agency North - Međimurje Energy Agency Ltd - IMRO-DDKK Nonprofit Ltd – VIDRA Virovitica-Podravina County's Regional Development Agency – City of Koprivnica – Međimurje County – Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar

The main objective of the project is to strengthen the sustainable exploitation of ground source geothermal potential in the cross-border area and to foster the refurbishment of the building stock. To boost geothermal investments, the project provides practical support for local communities by delivering technical documentations for 20 buildings of the border region. These documents will prepare shallow layer ground-water or water-water heat pump systems to be installed at 8 public buildings in Hungary and 8 in Croatia. Additionally, feasibility assessment of geothermal heat utilization of existing geothermal wells or ground water will also be elaborated for 2 selected locations Hungary and 2 in Croatia, to provide predictions on the expected investment cost and savings of such complex investments.

The local municipalities will be also supported by showcasing the operation of geothermal systems at three locations of the border region: 1 in Hungary, 2 in Croatia. These investments will be demonstrated to local communities to show how such systems work, and to explain the challenges of the design, construction and maintenance phases.

Last but not least, realizing that building owners and operators on both sides of the border lack comprehensive knowledge on utilization of geothermal energy and implementation of energy renovation projects on their buildings, the project will establish a virtual one-stop-shop (vOSS) system, an AI-based online platform which will provide the basic set of information and simplified diagnosis and recommendations to interested stakeholders and citizens. Besides the vOSS, the knowledge sharing activities of the project will be supported by several dedicated workshops organised for municipalities, condominiums, youth and the wider public.

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Establishing Centre for Mosquito Control (CMC), cross-border integrated protocols and cooperation to fight climate change induced mosquito infestation in the Croatia-Hungary border area – acronym: ‘MOSQUITOLAB’

Lead Partner: Teaching Institute of Public Health for the Osijek-Baranja County

Further Project Partners: University of Pécs – BIOKOM Pécs City Management and Environmental Management Nonprofit Ltd

As a consequence of climate change, several invasive species of mosquitoes are present today in the Hungary-Croatia border area, causing diseases previously unknown in the region. The introduction of biological treatments and reduced toxin usage, instead of the adulticide treatment applied today, should present an environmentally conscious and effective alternative, greatly reducing the impact of chemicals on citizens and the environment. Thus the target groups of the activities include the municipalities of pilot sites and the population living in and around them, but also further municipalities, actors of public health systems, education institutions and the general public.

The overall objective of the project is to construct the cross-border Centre for Mosquito Control in Osijek and to upgrade the Mosquito Laboratory in Pécs; to establish a cooperation framework for research and development, control and prevention of mosquito infestation in the border area by setting up a joint mosquito expert team; to improve and integrate research capacities, allowing adaptive and focused steps against infestation; to promote a sustainable mosquito control approach, determine size, infection rate of invasive mosquito species population; and to establish and apply a Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) and develop software solutions for forecasting. There will be two pilot locations where sterile mosquitoes will be released in urban areas, one in Pécs and one in Osijek. Last but not least a prediction- and mapping tool, i.e. an innovative software solution will be developed, aimed at improving the efficiency and sustainability of existing control methods and predicting the dynamics and helping to better control the number of mosquitoes.

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Amazon of Europe Bike Trail Hungary-Croatia – Better integration of local touristic services into the transnational tourism product “Amazon of Europe Bike Trail” – acronym 'Amazon of Europe BT HU-HR'

Lead Partner: Pannon European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation

Further Project Partners: CROST Regional Development Nonprofit Ltd – Somogy County Government – Hungarian Public Roads Corporation – Zala County Self-Government – Varaždin County – Tourism Board of Međimurje County – Koprivnica-Križevci County – Municipality of Molve – Public Institution for the management of protected parts of nature and the ecological network of Virovitica-Podravina County – Association for Nature and Environment Protection ‘Green Osijek’ – Osijek Cultural Center

The lower course of the Mura and Drava rivers, with adjacent sections of the Danube River, forms one of the most beautiful and pristine European riverine landscapes which became the first five-country UNESCO Transboundary Biosphere Reserve. ‘Amazon of Europe BT HU-HR’ is the first project to connect these countries in developing a model for the sustainable economic development of the region, preserving natural and cultural heritage. The project's main activity is tourism infrastructure development, implemented in eight counties (3 Hungarian and 5 Croatian), with the general aim of improving the quality of tourism attractions and services in order to provide attractive, high-quality service for visitors, encouraging them to spend more time in the region.

The specific objectives of the project are to jointly develop tourism attractions enhancing the relevant tourism infrastructure, and to better integrate the tourism attractions and services of the Hungarian-Croatian sections of the Bike Trail into the transnational long-distance cycling tourism brand. The results expected by the broad partnership are the joint development of tourism infrastructure and services; high-quality services to be provided to international visitors; joint programmes, marketing and creative actions for raising the visibility of the Bike Trail for improving the common knowledge of the local service providers on the values and assets of the Mura-Drava-Danube biosphere reserve.