Network building with the help of INTERREG projects

Regions have been increasingly engaging at European level. A developing element of the activity of regions has been the use of networks. The paper looks into how the use of European funds available for interregional projects can promote cooperation among regions that would result in establishing networks. Starting with the European Chemical Regions Network, the paper looks into further projects resulting from this initiated network. The analysis focuses on the way these projects foster cooperation among administrative actors from different levels of the European multi-level governance system and interest groups such as enterprises and service providers in order to deal with challenges such as strengthening the competitiveness of the chemical industry. Moreover, it concentrates on the use of knowledge and acknowledged challenges of the involved actors and the way they could develop a strategy in order to improve the framework of the chemical industry in Central and Eastern Europe.