Interreg IVA Northern Ireland, Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland, pilot case study : ex post evaluation of Cohesion Policy programmes 2007-2013, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund (CF)

The present case study provides an assessment of the Northern Ireland, Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland programmes' main achievements, cooperation mechanisms put in place and their effects in terms of reducing barriers to co-operation. It also aims to identify the added value of such programme in comparison with regional programmes at play in the same area. The Northern Ireland, Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland programme is one of the cross-border cooperation programmes that places highest priority on "R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship": the case study focuses on this theme. The area covered by the programme includes parts of three regions in two countries: most of the region of Northern Ireland and the Western part of Scotland in the UK, and the border area in the Republic of Ireland. This is mostly a rural and peripheral area, with a population of 2.2 million inhabitants. The cross-border Operational Programme is financially large: it has a total budget of EUR 256 million, to which the European Union contributes with an ERDF amount of EUR 192 million.