Confindustria Lombardia is actively engaged, alongside other Lombardy stakeholders, in promoting the Eusalp Alpine Macroregion, which must become a major functional area capable of attracting expertise and innovation through the excellence of its manufacturing sector. This is the EU's fourth macro-regional strategy and involves 7 countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland, with their 48 regions.

The strategy is based on three general pillars aimed at:

• Improving the competitiveness, prosperity and cohesion of the Alpine region;
• Ensuring accessibility and connectivity for all inhabitants of the Alpine region;
• Making the region environmentally sustainable and attractive.

The one of greatest interest to businesses is undoubtedly the first pillar, which relates to economic development, innovation and research.

During the workshop held on 12 November at the Lombardy Region Delegation in Brussels, co-organised by Confindustria Lombardia, President Ribolla reiterated that the success of the macroregion will depend on the synergy between businesses and the territory, and on the ability to activate multi-level governance that ensures effective territorial coordination and efficient management of financial and regulatory instruments, involving both public and private actors.

The strategy does not, in fact, provide for the allocation of new resources; instead, projects will be funded through the Horizon 2020, Cosme, Life, Connecting Europe Facility and Alpine Space programmes, as well as through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The first calls for proposals are expected to be released in early 2016.

For further information on Eusalp, click here