Resilience unlocked at North Sea Conference 2025

In line with recent North Sea Conferences, the event began with a welcoming reception.  Carsten Westerholt opened the reception at the informal venue CORE, which provided perfect ambience for networking. 

The evening featured several prominent speakers: Mayor of Oldenburg Jürgen Krogmann, Head of Office for Regional Development Weser-Ems Nikolaus Jansen, and Antje Grotheer, President of Bremen Parliament & German Representative at the North Sea Commission’s Executive Committee. Melanie Walter, Lower Saxony Minister for Europe and Regional Development, joined via a video link. 

The next day's plenary offered a powerful speech by keynote speaker Filip Reinhag, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime  Regions (CPMR). He stressed the need for real action on the ground and for cities and regions to take an active role. Walking the audience through major crises of the past decades - from 9/11 to the Covid-19 pandemic - he made a strong case for transboundary European cooperation as a necessity, not an option.  

What we need is action, not perfection.

In her speech, expert Irene McMaster from the European Policies Research Centre summed up the current state of play with regard to Cohesion Policy and the rapidly changing outlook of Europe. Highlighting the discrepancy between needs and funds - with Interreg currently consuming a mere 2.8% of the total Cohesion Policy budget - she stressed the many unknowns about the future. 

On the positive side, competitiveness is in focus for the future and this is seen as strongly linked cohesion. The Interreg North Sea project portfolio is very relevant in that regard, with its strong focus on industry innovation.

Next, Elisabet Babic, President of the CPMR North Sea Commission, joined Irene McMaster and Christian Byrith, Head of Secretariat at the Interreg North Sea Programme, for an interesting discussion sparking questions and comments from the audience.

Four projects - ACE, COOL CITIES, DIOL, and LIHYP - offered short and inspiring talks centring on how they build resilience. 

Throughout the day, we took the opportunity to ask several of our projects how they contributed towards resilience in the North Sea Region. See some of the answers captured in the video below!

Three projects - Biodiverse Cities, Clancy, and SHARE-North Squared - received a North Sea Video Award, while TREASURE, Clancy and DISCO received top prizes for their photos in the North Sea Photo Awards. Clancy thus took home prizes in both contests!

We were thrilled at this year's strong participation, with 17 videos and 135 photos submitted. 

The afternoon study visits demonstrated an impressive range of initiatives to build a better future locally in Oldenburg and surroundings, partly through Interreg North Sea projects. 

From water-wise and climate-adaptive innovation in Oldenburg and Bremen to circular resources in the Wadden Sea, each visit offered proof that cities and regions in Lower Saxony are taking charge of their own future, in cooperation with partners in other countries and supported by both EU, national and regional funding. 

During the evening, the room was buzzing with conversations, as participants explored the project displays and networked among each other. The images below capture the vibe: 

As a surprise act, Head of Secretariat Christian Byrith handed out a Starfish Award to three very special people: 

• Renske Stumpel, EU Project Manager at the Municipality of Groningen, the Netherlands;
• Deirdre Buist-Murphy, EU Project Communications Manager at the Municipality of Drenthe, the Netherlands; 
• Jörg Wilks, Northern Institute of Thinking in Bremen, Germany.

They have all been actively engaged with the programme for at least a decade; and they have consistently shown a high level of commitment and made extraordinary contributions to the quality of results of the Interreg North Sea Programme. All three are well known for their enthusiasm and positive spirit which has bought young people and newcomers together with established members of the Interreg project community. 

When all is said and done about working together, there is one aspect that beats all the rest: The North Sea crowd truly enjoy each others' company. This was clear from the buzzing talks that broke out at every opportunity.  

This year's conference was once again accompanied by lovely local music. During the evening reception at the informal venue CORE, musician Thomas Krizsan played the accordion, providing a perfect ambience. 

And on 25 June, the eminent brass band AltBrass Oldeburg entertained with merry tunes. The music accompanied the lively crowd perfectly, underlining the social side of the gathering.

Thank you so much to the musicians and everyone who were part of the great vibe of this year's North Sea Conference! 

And a big thank you to our co-organisers, we thoroughly enjoyed planning and delivering the conference hand in hand with you.

Top image: Femke Boersma / Interreg North Sea Programme