Glossary

A target group is a collection of individuals and/or organisations directly and positively affected by the project outputs. Not necessarily receiving a financial grant and even not directly involved in the project, the target groups may exploit project outputs for their own benefit.

Territorial Cohesion is all about ensuring that people are able to make the most of the inherent features of the areas in which they live. No European citizen should be disadvantaged in terms of access to public services, housing, or employment opportunities simply by living in one region rather than another. Territorial cohesion aims for more balanced and sustainable development. Strengthening economic and social cohesion by reducing disparities between regions in the EU is a clear objective of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007 and currently in the process of ratification, introduces a third dimension: Territorial cohesion. To achieve this objective, an integrated approach is needed. This implies better coordination between sectoral policies at each level, from local to European. It also entails closer cooperation and improved connections. Many issues - climate change, migration - do not respect standard boundaries and could be better addressed through a more tailored response from several regions or countries.

Thematic objectives are investment priorities funded by the ESIFs. In the 2014-2020 programming period, the European Structural and Investment Funds, in particular the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund, will support 11 investment priorities, also known as thematic objectives: 1. Strengthening research, technological development and innovation 2. Enhancing access to, and use and quality of information and communication technologies (ICT) 3. Enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) 4. Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors 5. Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management 6. Preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency 7. Promoting sustainable transport and removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructures 8. Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility 9. Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination 10. Investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning 11. Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration At the same time, the first four of these thematic objectives constitute key priorities for the ERDF, and a significant part of the investment will focus on these areas (between 50% and 80%, depending on the region’s level of development). The goal of these objectives is to focus regional policy funding on areas that deliver the highest benefits to citizens, creating synergies between the funded projects and avoiding an excessive fragmentation of funding.

The total budget of a project is the budget established based on the costs planned by all project partners in the Application Form.

Total eligible expenditure referes to all expenditure that is compliant with EU, programme and national rules, and thus is eligible for co-financing from the programme. In the Progress Report, the total eligible expenditure is calculated based on the total expenditure, excluding net revenue generated by the project.

Transferability refers to the degree to which the project main outputs can be generalized or transferred to other contexts or settings. The project partners can enhance transferability by doing a thorough job of describing the outputs and the assumptions that were central to its development. The organisation wishing to transfer the outputs to a different context is then responsible for making the judgment of how sensible the transfer is.

Transparency implies that information is available in the public domain, and is accessible both in terms of its location and presentation – in a format and language that can be widely understood.