The 2nd Call for Proposals officially closed on 30 June 2025 at 13:00 CEST, after being open since 15 April 2025. It attracted a wide range of applicants from both EU Member States and IPA countries in the Adriatic-Ionian region, reflecting strong regional engagement and alignment with the programme’s strategic goals. A total of 286 project applications were submitted by 30th June, demonstrating how regional stakeholders are actively mobilizing around shared challenges and opportunities.
Focus Areas and Objectives
Applications were distributed across the four Specific Objectives covered by the Call:
- SO 1.1 – Strengthening innovation capacities: 121 proposals
- SO 2.1 – Enhancing resilience to climate change, natural and man-made disasters: 63 proposals
- SO 2.3 – Supporting environment preservation and protection: 80 proposals
- SO 3.1 – Strengthening a carbon neutral smart mobility: 22 proposals
The strong emphasis on innovation and nature conservation reflects growing urgency around digital transformation, sustainability, and biodiversity. Moreover, the indicative actions related to sustainable tourism—a cross-cutting theme of the Call—successfully attracted numerous organisations from across the region.
Figures show that lead applicants come from all programme participating countries, with Italy (showing a cluster of interest in innovation and biodiversity), Greece (showing strong interest in innovation), and Croatia (showing balanced interest in innovation, climate resilience, and biodiversity) leading the way.
The total number of organisations involved in project proposals was nearly 2,000, most of them based in Italy, Greece, and Croatia, followed by Albania and Serbia.
Public entities account for 50% of participants, while 42% are private, primarily NGOs and, to a lesser extent, SMEs. This balanced mix suggests that governments, grassroot organisations and businesses alike are stepping up to co-create and co-design solutions.
Furthermore, the initial outcomes of the Call have revealed a substantial number of associated partners—757 in total—based in several EU countries outside the IPA ADRION cooperation area.
Funding Demand vs. Availability
The call offered €21.86 million in Interreg funds, but demand far exceeded funding allocations — applicants requested over €295.38 million, nearly 13,5 time more than the available budget.
Next Steps
The assessment of project proposals will be carried out by the Programme’s bodies and a pool of external experts. Following the eligibility checks, the evaluation will focus on the quality assessment. Overall, the Programme is expected to approve the selected projects for funding mid-2026.
