This is the experience of the Euregio Rijn-Waal partnership, which has been promoting and facilitating German-Dutch cooperation for 52 years. Anyone who looks beyond our eastern border will discover that there are often fantastic opportunities to be found in collaborating with German companies and institutions.
The Euregio Rijn-Waal is a Dutch-German public body, comprising some 55 municipalities and regional authorities. The organisation’s primary aim is to improve and intensify cross-border cooperation in the fields of the economy and society.
The Euregio Rhine-Waal brings together partners from businesses, institutions, local authorities, associations and organisations to launch joint initiatives and thus capitalise on synergies.
Rhine-Waal
On the Dutch side, the working area of the Euregio Rhine-Waal includes a large part of the province of Gelderland with the areas Arnhem-Nijmegen, West-Veluwe, South-West Gelderland, parts of North-East Brabant and the northern part of the province of Limburg, thus encompassing the working area of the Lifeport innovation network. On the German side, the working area includes Kreis Kleve, Kreis Wesel and the cities of Duisburg and Düsseldorf. The Euregio Rhine-Waal has 4.2 million inhabitants.
Scala of projects
Many projects have already been successfully completed within the region. Some examples include: research into zero-emission container logistics between Nijmegen and Duisburg; the development of effective interventions to tackle school absenteeism; monitoring fluid balance in older people through automated urine analysis; and the development of innovative products for the decentralised generation and storage of renewable energy.
A more comprehensive overview of the diversity of topics and participating organisations can be found in the list of projects on the Euregio Rijn-Waal website.
Your first step: visit the Borderland Conference in Nijmegen
If you are open to collaborating with German partners and would like to find out more, the fifth Border Region Conference is the ideal opportunity. The conference brings together people who are working hard to remove barriers across the border in areas such as security, the labour market, mobility and sustainability. In recent years, a network has been established that extends not only across borders but also across all political and administrative levels. The Border Region Conference is the perfect opportunity to look back together, take steps forward in our cooperation and set out our ambitions for the future. The programme will also include workshops and excursions, as well as plenty of opportunities for networking, including in the themed pavilions.
The conference will take place on Wednesday 6 December at De Vereeniging in Nijmegen.
The full programme will be announced on the conference website after the summer.
Celebrating successes: Borderland Prize
The Grensland Prize is also awarded at the annual Grensland Conference. Projects that are, or have been, particularly committed to cross-border cooperation between the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia are eligible for the prize. These projects demonstrate that parties have been brought closer together by bridging their differences.
Are you involved in such a project yourself, or do you know of one?
If so, please nominate it for the 2023 Grensland Prize. The deadline for nominations is 7 August 2023.
You can find the eligibility criteria and the application procedure on the Grenslandprijs 2023 website.
