The improvement of mobility offers in rural areas is a key topic all across Europe. Especially in remote areas, being mobile is the precondition for participating in public life. The County of Northeim (Lower Saxony, Germany) is working intensively on this topic by developing solutions and concepts for sustainable and interconnected mobility offers. This is achieved e.g. within the framework of European cooperation in the MATCH-UP project.
In early November 2018, the national kick-off event of the project took place in Einbeck. District administrator Astrid Klinkert-Kittel invited representatives of counties and municipalities, associations and initiatives, as well as enterprises from the field of mobility. Jointly, they examined in expert lectures and discussion rounds, what needs to be done in the region of south Lower Saxony to make public transport more attractive and how to motivate people to switch from car to environmentally friendly mobility solutions. In her welcoming speech Astrid Klinkert-Kittel emphasised that an affordable and well connected public transport is one of her focal topics and therefore, the County of Northeim wants to improve its strategic approaches and elaborate actions in European cooperation. The regional representative for regional development, Matthias Wunderling-Weilbier, congratulated the County of Northeim on its participation in an Interreg project. This makes the region a pioneer in Lower Saxony.
The MATCH-UP project and its integration in the EU-funding programme Interreg Europe was presented jointly by Stefanie Thomuscheit, project officer at the department “Business Development and Mobility” in the County of Northeim, and Britta Schmigotzki, project manager at aconium. They both emphasised the important role of all participants as so-called national stakeholders of the MATCH-UP project. Besides the European exchange of experience, a regional network will be established. Together with important actors and initiatives the County of Northeim will strengthen regional and European cooperation and by this, reach the target of a sustainable, multi- and intermodal mobility in the region.
Photo top: Britta Schmigotzki, aconium, during her presentation on the project MATCH-UP.
Photo bottom: Matthias Wunderling-Weilbier, office for regional development Braunschweig, during his welcome speech. Kick-off event for MATCH-UP in Einbeck (Lower Saxony, Germany), 1 November 2018.
Photo credit: aconium GmbH