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Ourense is a province in northwestern Spain, located in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It borders the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora to the east, and with Portugal.
It has an area of 7,273 km² and is the only Galician province without access to the sea. The population of the province is 304,563 inhabitants.
The Provincial Council of Ourense is a public institution that provides direct services to citizens and provides technical, economic and technological support to the town councils of the 92 municipalities of the province of Ourense.
Its main objectives and powers are the following:
-Promoter of the socioeconomic development of the province’s municipalities.
-Provide town councils with different services within the framework of their competencies
-Manage and promote provincial interests
-Provide technical support to all municipalities in the province,especially those with fewer resources
-Promote supramunicipal public services based on cooperation and collaboration efficiency
The Ourense Institute of Economic Development – INORDE, is a local autonomous body of an administrative nature, dependent on the Provincial Council of Ourense, created in 1987. Its objective is the economic growth of the province of Ourense and promoting its tourism development, taking into account Environmental and social aspects that contribute to the sustainable development of the entire province.
Eixo Atlantico is an Association of 41 local Authorities in Galicia and North of Portugal.
Eixo Atlántico is a supramunicipal entity responsible for defining common strategies for its members, working towards coordinated development in the Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion. Since its creation in 1992, the members of Eixo Atlántico have collaborated in various fields.
Eixo Atlántico focuses on territorial cohesion and a coherent organization of the urban system in the Euroregion, promoting the modernization of its members through cooperation, knowledge exchange, and joint strategic planning. Additionally, Eixo Atlántico acts as a lobby to advance its members’ objectives by facilitating dialogue with regional and national governments to promote territorial investments and seek funding to implement politically agreed strategies.
Currently, Eixo Atlántico operates under the priorities established in its Cross-border Urban Agenda, the first in Europe, which includes:
– Sustainable Urban Development
– Economy and Innovation
– Territorial and Social Cohesion
In the field of tourism, Eixo Atlántico strengthens the sector through three axes: (1) the marketer (with Expocidades, the local tourism fair) and (2) the identification of new lines ( signature tourism, polycentric tourism, and promoting accessible tourism). These are new concepts funded by the POST-Atlantic Space project that promote the Eixo Atlántico’s tourism model based on excellence rather than mass tourism that disrupts city life and turns citizens against tourists. The third axis is tourism promotion, through which numerous paper tourist guides have been published. Currently, Eixo Atlántico has released a digital and interactive tourist guide titled «What to Do in Eixo Atlántico,» (www.vive.eixoatlantico.com) where each member continuously updates its content.
Regional Tourism Authority of Porto and North of Portugal
With a regional scope and extensive territorial coverage, comprising the 86 municipalities that makeup NUT II – North, the Regional Tourism Authority of Porto and North of Portugal, adopting the name of Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal, E.R. is responsible for the enhancement and development of the tourism potential of the respective regional tourism area, the internal and wider market promotion of regional tourist destinations, as well as the integrated management of destinations within the framework of regional tourism development, the activities of Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal, E.R. are based on a diverse and vast range of natural and heritage resources, unique products and high-quality brands, which make up the tourism offer of a unique territory, spread across its four sub-destinations – Porto, Douro, Minho and Trás-os-Montes.
Its mission is to enhance and develop the tourist potential of the respective regional tourism area, the internal promotion and wider market of regional tourist destinations, as well as the integrated management of destinations within the framework of regional tourist development, in accordance with the guidelines and guidelines of the tourism policy defined by the Government and the pluriannual plans of the central administration and of the municipalities that integrate it.
Considered to be one of the youngest European cities, Braga combines perfectly its two-thousand-year old History with an invigorating youth and vitality.
Braga has always taken a strategic and central regional role: From Bracara Augusta to the present day, both for its privileged geographical location and its dynamism, Braga plays a leading role in the economy, culture, knowledge and technology of the region.
Its centrality and relevance provides its inhabitants an excellent quality of life in various sectors: Health, Employment, Education, Security, Culture, …
Furthermore, the Municipality of Braga has tried to foster these and other fundamental criteria to meet the needs and expectations of its inhabitants; developing policies for cohesion and social equality, family support as the primary core of the community, as well as policies for raising awareness of sustainable growth, promoting innovation and creativity as development engines.
Economically, the Municipality considers that Economic Promotion, Investment Attraction and Internationalization are the key vectors of the strategic measures adopted by the Municipality in order to foster Dynamism, Innovation, Knowledge and Creativity in Business Sector, towards a new local and regional economic cycle.
And this municipal commitment to promote development based on the transfer of knowledge, technology and eco sustainability has been advertising the city of Braga as a «cluster» of technological industries and an increasingly attractive pole for Investment.
Braga has also been generating interest as a Destination in new Tourism segments: Religious and Cultural Tourism (one of the main interests of those visiting us), Business Tourism, City Breaks, and Gastronomy and Wines are now new key products to promote tourism in the Jewel of Minho.
IPVC is a public higher education institution made up of six higher education colleges spread across the municipalities of Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima, Valença and Melgaço. Internally, it has a set of regulations that guide its many Organisational Units, Functional Units and Management Bodies. It also has three Functional Units – Social Action Services (SAS); Library; Project Management Unit (UGP). The Institute’s Central Services are responsible for the institutional coordination of personnel, asset, administrative and financial management, global planning and technical support activities.
IPVC is part of several national and international R&D consortia in different areas of knowledge; it coordinates and participates in several projects in highly competitive areas; it also participates in intercontinental projects with partners from various parts of the world. It co-operates with several higher education institutions outside Europe, such as in Brazil and Central America, allowing students to carry out studies and internships on an exchange mobility basis.
As well as being a centre for higher education, the institutions value relations with their surroundings, especially at an economic and social level, interacting with the community. They also share their potential with the activities that the community develops and that are of interest to the school, thus participating in their development.
Atlantic Technological University (ATU) is one of the largest multi-campus universities on the island, serving a diverse group of learners, staff, communities and organisations from our region and further afield.
We offer a rich combination of academic and research excellence, quality of life and opportunity – all of which can be experienced in the most beautiful part of Ireland.
Atlantic TU will have the critical mass and academic depth to attract, educate, nurture and retain talent in the west, north-west and cross-border region.
Our collaborative approach ensures that we deliver practice-orientated study, and research that seeks to address the major challenges facing society and the world.
As a northern and western multi-campus technological university, we are dedicated to enabling sustainable economic, social and cultural development; connected to our region and with a mindset that reaches far beyond it.
As a TU of scale, quality and impact, the University will have greater capacity for collaboration with international partners and ATU graduates will have excellent employment potential nationally and internationally.
Atlantic Cities, established in 2000 through the Rennes Declaration, is a non-profit organisation seeking to foster cooperation among cities within the Atlantic arc. Since July 2024, it is chaired by Ms. Inés Rey, Lady Mayor of A Coruña (Spain). Atlantic Cities represents the voices of 17 member cities and a population of over 3 million residents . Connected by a common coastline, the Atlantic Arc cities are attractive, innovative territories which guarantee high living standards on the basis of a large number of economically appealing areas. Located on the periphery of Europe, they have created sturdy diverse cultural identities thanks to the influence of the ocean, a blending of cultures, trade, and migratory movements that have emerged down through the centuries.
They possess a natural and historical heritage which is remarkable, but also fragile and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The peripheral location of these cities, more so since the advent of Brexit, represents a major social and economic challenge. As these issues are not limited by administrative borders, the Atlantic Arc cities call for transnational territorial cooperation to come up with collective answers.
This cooperation takes the form of thematic working groups (with topics ranging from the promotion of the Atlantic Culture(s), Railway Transport and Connectivity, to Sustainable Tourism and Atlantic governance), as well as cooperation though European projects and collaboration with key Atlantic stakeholders. The Atlantic Cities network also strives to represent the interests of the Atlantic local level vis-à-vis the European union and Atlantic governance bodies. ACA is an observer member on the Interreg Atlantic Area program and the Atlantic Maritime Strategy of the European Commission.
The Pôle d’Equilibre Territorial et Rural Ouest Charente – Pays du Cognac (PETR) aims to bring out, build and contribute to the implementation of sustainable development strategies in the economic, social, environmental, digital, cultural and tourist fields contributing to the dynamics of the territory. It is a public structure with a President, 3 vice-presidents and 40 elected representatives of the territory. Its main missions are: European LEADER subsidies, the Territorial Coherence Schemes (urban planning), the regional development and transition contract (regional aid to the territory), digital technology applied to tourism (virtual reality application) and partnership in European projects (INTERREG, etc.).
West Charente – Pays du Cognac is located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, to the west of the Charente department and benefits from a strategic position favorable to interdepartmental cooperation. It is close to major and medium-sized cities such as Bordeaux, Poitiers, Angoulême, Saintes, Royan and La Rochelle. It is made up of 2 intercommunalities: The Grand Cognac urban community and the Rouillacais community of communes for a total of 67 communes and 78,793 inhabitants. The main cities are Cognac, Châteaubernard, Jarnac, Rouillac, Châteauneuf-sur-Charente and Segonzac. West Charente is a rural area crossed by three major axes: a national road to reach the Atlantic coast, a railway line and the Charente river.
A major agricultural and industrial sector around Cognac has been established in West Charente around spirits well beyond the borders of the city of Cognac alone. The weight of the productive economy is preponderant in the economy and employment of West Charente, mainly due to the specialization of the territory in viticulture, the production of cognac and spirits and related activities (printing, glassmaking, cardboard making, etc.). In 2017, Charente brandy alone represented the majority of the French trade surplus of spirits, i.e. 3.2 billion euros.
