In the funding period 2014-2020, the European Commission considers the programme results as very important, even more than before. This also includes a logical link of the objectives and the results of the individuals projects within the programme. This so called “intervention logic” should ensure that the programme achieves its objectives and that the results should be measurable and quantifiable. For this purpose the programme objectives, performance indicators and output indicators are defined in the operational programme.

What are the programme objectives?

The objectives in priority axis 1 of the INTERREG programme are:

• More product and process innovations in the key sectors that are relevant for the programme regio
• More product and process innovations in the area of carbon dioxide reducing technologies.

The objective in priority axis 2 of the INTERREG programme is:

• Reducing the barrier created by the border, for citizens and institutions.

How will the achieved objectives be measured?

The achieved programme objectives will be measured with help from “result indicators”. These indicators relate to the persuaded changes in the whole programme region  (and not only on the projects that are being supported by the programme). The indicators should measure which changes the programme in the programme region trigger off. For the INTERREG programme Germany- The Netherlands the following result indicators are documented:

• Priority 1: the percentage of SMEs that introduces product and/or process innovations. This indicator measures the share of SMEs in the programme region, that introduces product and/or process innovations. The data that is required for this, is coming from European statistics that are published by the European Commission on regularly basis.
• Priority 2: perception of the German-Dutch border as a barrier. This indicator measures to what degree the border is noticed as a barrier. The programme itself has done a research about this topic.

At the start of the programme INTERREG V, the programme needed to give basic values and an objective that should be reached at the end of the programme INTERREG V. The result indicators will be monitored by programme partners, for example with help from evaluations taken during the validity of the programme. With these evaluation, it must be clear, which part the INTERREG-programme has in the changes in the values of the result indicators and to what degree other factors play a part in these changes.

More information on this topic is not available in English. Consult either the Dutch or the German page.