ESPON Programme

09/09/2026

TerritoriALL Issue 19 is out!

In this issue: Sovereignty starts in the regions: through the energy systems they build, the technologies they govern and the choices they make.

- Claragh Mulhern sets out the Irish Presidency’s vision for competitiveness and cohesion through Project Ireland 2040.
- Professor Frances Fahy explains why a just energy transition requires capacity, trust and meaningful community participation.
- David Sventek shows how Czechia’s Moravian-Silesian Region is turning the coal transition into industrial renewal.
- Professor Andrés Rodríguez-Pose argues that AI’s real opportunity lies in adoption by local firms, public services and communities.
- Alberto Cirio presents Piedmont’s approach to building an AI ecosystem around regional strengths.
- Anke Schuster and Marek Bobis, from the European Committee of the Regions, explain why digital sovereignty will be delivered locally.

Also in this issue: smarter land use, stronger transport-corridor governance, cooperation across Europe’s sea basins, and what territorial-development practitioners think about AI.

Read it here 👇

https://loom.ly/UzxwTwM

31/08/2026

How many Europeans commute cross-border for work?

The numbers expose major contrasts, highlighting massive commuter outflows toward Luxembourg and Switzerland alongside borders where movement remains minimal.

While the data relies on estimates, commuting remains one of the most reliable flows for identifying functional linkages between regions.

Interested to know more? Check out our ESPON CROSSGOV Atlas, a comprehensive collection of territorial indicators (gathering 21 indicators and potential cross-border functional areas) for users who would like to explore the data and tailor observations to their own requirements.

Find out more about the Atlas and the CROSSGOV project on our website
https://loom.ly/5Rzjfho

24/08/2026

Will the green energy transition balance or break our regional economies?

Join us in Cork to discuss how the shift to renewable energy is fundamentally transforming European territories. The benefits, however, risk bypassing the regions that need them most without careful land-use planning.

Our ESPON seminar, in cooperation with the Irish EU Presidency, examines how national and regional planning systems must adapt to ensure climate targets strengthen, rather than weaken, territorial cohesion.

Territorial Cohesion and Competitiveness: The Role of the Green Energy Transition in Driving Balanced Regional Development - Cork, Ireland, 11-12 November 2026

The full agenda is available on our website. Check it and register today!

https://loom.ly/swg6LKs

10/08/2026

Is territorial cohesion a liability for European competitiveness—or its hidden driver?

Join us at 2026 as ESPON and the Cypriot EU Presidency present fresh evidence on how lagging regions contribute to Europe's long-term economic edge.

Using semantic analysis of global research trends, the workshop demonstrates how local public authorities act as gateways, connecting regional firms directly to the innovation frontier and emerging global domains.

Explore the agenda and register today:
https://loom.ly/MFSIpv4

In cooperation with the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the workshop draws on advanced semantic analysis of glo

22/07/2026

How do you get a community to embrace renewable energy?

Make sure the green transition pays off locally.
The ESPON MAK-RES project reveals that social acceptance of wind and solar parks relies heavily on fair compensation and tangible benefits for the host regions

The rural commune of Casimcea in Romania, a community of just 2,500 residents, hosts a major wind park with around 135 turbines - securing approximately €750,000 annually in local revenues for the municipality.

The wind park has transformed the local economy. The municipality and developers have used these funds to renovate public schools and churches, construct a new kindergarten and a park, and upgrade local road infrastructure

Additionally, a partnership with a developer has significantly reduced the energy costs for public lighting and municipal buildings

The main takeaway for policymakers is clear: renewable energy projects succeed when they are treated as shared community resources that deliver visible socio-economic improvements, rather than just national infrastructure

Find out more case studies and recommendations from our MAKRES project

https://loom.ly/GvbqYzg

13/07/2026

🏖️ Sun, sea, and... €30 billion in cross-border funding?

Europe might be vacationing in the Mediterranean right now, but keeping this basin resilient, sustainable, and competitive takes a lot more than a summer economy.

Behind the holiday scenery, the a massive, year-round network of cooperation.

MedCoopNet final report mapped the data:

🌍 44,685 joint projects linked at least two Mediterranean countries since 2014.

💡 €21.1 billion went straight into research and innovation via Horizon.

⚠️ 91% of all funding stayed inside the EU—highlighting a major gap with our Southern and Eastern neighbours.

Is your current vacation spot a cooperation hub? 🗺️ Take a look at the map and read the full report 👇

https://loom.ly/38as5ic

06/07/2026

🚀Faster broadband network won't automatically create jobs for your region. Digital capabilities like human skills, institutional capacity, and purposeful online practices are a much stronger lever for job creation and economic productivity than infrastructure alone.

This is one of the findings of our ESPON DIGIREG project, mapping the digital transition at a highly granular sub-regional level (NUTS 3).

🔎DIGIREG discovered that the socio-economic benefits of digitalisation are alarmingly uneven, naturally concentrating in already advantaged territories. Without strategic, place-based policies, the digital transition risks accelerating territorial divergence rather than driving cohesion.

🛠️To equip policymakers with the evidence to turn the digital transition into a driver of regional equality, the project delivered a comprehensive suite of resources:

👉DIGIREG Trends & Territorial Typologies: A deep-dive mapping and clustering of regions based on their unique digital pathways, proving that regions follow highly diverse trajectories rather than a one-size-fits-all model.

👉Socio-Economic Impact Analysis: Robust evidence demonstrating exactly how digital capital impacts regional competitiveness, social progress, and enterprise dynamics.

💯100 Best Policy Practices & 21 Showcases: A massive database and detailed catalogue of successful, scalable policy interventions implemented by local and regional authorities across 32 countries.
Guidelines for Policymakers: Actionable guidance documents designed to help public authorities achieve the EU Digital Decade targets, reduce territorial digital divides, and build internal digital capacity.

🔎Discover how we can ensure that the digital transition leaves no region behind.

https://loom.ly/4RqSevY

18/06/2026

The North Sea–Rhine–Mediterranean (NSRM) Corridor is one of Europe's most strategic transport axes:
🚊 ~12,000 km of railways
🚌 5,000 km of roads
⛴️ 5,000 km of inland waterways
crossing 8 countries from Ireland to Italy.

But since the merger of the former Rhine-Alpine and North Sea–Mediterranean corridors in 2024, governance remains uneven. Decision‑making is steered by Member States and infrastructure managers, and representation gaps have widened for some sections of the corridor.

Our new ESPON policy brief shows that corridor decision-making is dominated by national authorities, with local and regional actors having limited influence. Working groups lack clear mandates. Regional bottlenecks are harder to address. Urban nodes are underrepresented.

📊 What does this cost in practice?
We modelled a 2050 scenario showing that, under the current governance model, modal shift to rail remains limited.
☝️ But with stronger local and regional representation and better cross-border coordination, the modal shift potential to rail doubles, CO₂ emissions drop by -2.2%, and energy consumption falls by -1.6%.

In absolute terms, this means an extra 18 billion passenger-km per year on rail — equivalent to 75,000 passengers travelling monthly from Amsterdam to Berlin.

The message is clear: better governance is not a soft add-on but a prerequisite for infrastructure to deliver.

📥 Read the full policy brief on the ESPON website https://loom.ly/vkrdjnU

16/06/2026

How does digital transition reshape territorial cohesion in Europe’s regions?
ESPON has just published the final report of DIGIREG – Territorial perspectives of digital transition in European regions, offering fresh territorial evidence to support smarter, more inclusive digital policies.

🔍 What the study finds
👉Digital divides are no longer only about networks and coverage; skills, capabilities, institutional capacity and everyday digital uses now play a crucial role in turning digital capital into social and economic benefits.
👉Digital transition can foster cohesion, but it can also deepen existing gaps where advanced infrastructures and investments concentrate in already competitive regions.
👉Geography still matters: mountains, borders and some low-density regions face specific barriers, while metropolitan areas act as digital innovation hubs – and territorial patterns often cut across national borders.

🧭 Key messages for policy
☝️Treat digitalisation as a territorial process and move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches, with context-sensitive, multi-level governance.
☝️Strengthen regional and local monitoring systems to uncover intra-regional digital divides otherwise hidden behind national averages.
☝️Combine infrastructure investment with long-term support for skills, institutional capacity and inclusive digital public services to convert connectivity into tangible social and economic benefits.

👉 Read the final report https://loom.ly/FifJOz8

09/06/2026

Cohesion Policy's motto is that all places matter and no place should be left behind. However, places can only be part of the progress if citizens are actively involved in planning their future. This engagement requires information and a clear understanding of the context.

ESPON Brand Manager Nikos Lampropoulos argues that communication gaps are a major reason even well-designed territorial policies fail. Communication is not a nice-to-have; it is a non-negotiable governance tool.

His analysis delivers three main conclusions:

👉Strategic communication must be embedded into the policymaking cycle from day one to ensure genuine citizen participation and policy accountability.

📢Communication campaigns must be designed and led by professionals, yet every official involved in a territorial policy process should be trained to effectively communicate their work.

🗞️Including the media is not optional. Journalists do something that institutional communication cannot: they question, contextualise, and hold those in power to account.

Read the full article here:
https://loom.ly/Q0dWwIs