•     The initiative was awarded €613,666 in European funding through the Working Community of the Pyrenees. 
   

The cross-border HEALCIER Project, which aims to improve the competitiveness of the healthcare industry by applying circular economy criteria, with the participation of the Association of Industry of Navarra (AIN), the Hospital Complex of Navarre and Navarrabiomed–Miguel Servet Foundation, was recently selected to receive funding through the Working Community of the Pyrenees (CTP) in the most recent call for projects. The project seeks to generate opportunities for companies and encourage the emergence of new economic activities that make more efficient and effective use of resources.

This project was submitted to the third call for projects of POCTEFA (Program for Regional Cooperation Spain-France-Andorra) and approved by its Programming Committee in October 2019. The Government of Navarre participated through the Directorate-General for Foreign Affairs. Nineteen projects were approved and the projects that had received lower scores were placed on a reserve list, as no funds were available for them at that time.

The cross-border POCTEFA 2014-2020 Program, which is managed by the CTP, announced that other projectson the list would be approved every six months, if possible, when funds were made available by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). On April 15, the decision was made to approve two more projects on the list, one of which was the HEALCIER Project. 

Participating entities

Navarre will be represented in the project by the AIN and the CHN. Specifically, the CHN’s Economic Management Division will lead the hospital’s participation in the different project actions, and management will be handled by Navarrabiomed-Miguel Servet Foundation. Other public and private entities will also participate in the project, such as the Azaro Foundation, leader of the proposal, and the Biocruces Health Research Institute, both of which are located in Bizkaia. Another participating entity, ESTIA Institute of Technology, is located across the border in Bidart, New Aquitaine.

The meeting of the Programming Committee was one of the last chances for projects to be approved that were on the reserve list of the third call, given that the POCTEFA 2014-2020 Program is about to end. 

The Directorate-General for Foreign Affairs is actively participating in the preparation of the upcoming POCTEFA 2021-2027 Program for Regional Cooperation, which is expected to be drawn up and approved by the European Commission by the end of the year. The first call for projects of the POCTEFA 2021-2027 Program could be launched in 2022.

The project is co-funded (65%) by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Program V-A Spain-France-Andorra (POCTEFA 2014-2020). The goal of the POCTEFA Program is to strengthen the economic and social integration of the Spain-France-Andorra cross-border area. Its help is focused on developing cross-border economic, social and environmental projects through joint strategies in favor of sustainable regional development.