Report from the BIO-DISTRICT APP D3.3 Cross-border Workshop

The BIO-DISTRICT APP project was represented by both of its communication leads, as nearly 40 professionals from Greece and Italy gathered for a working session on plain language, storytelling and project visibility.

On 30 July 2026, InnoPolis – Centre for Innovation & Culture took part in the second online meeting of the Communication Officers’ Network of the Interreg VI-A Greece–Italy Programme 2021–2027, which brought together almost 40 communication officers and consultants from projects across the cooperation area.

InnoPolis was represented personally by its President, Katerina Sotiropoulou, in her capacity as leader of Work Package 2 — Communication & Dissemination of the BIO-DISTRICT APP project. Her participation reflects the importance InnoPolis attaches to communication not as an administrative obligation, but as a core instrument for making European projects visible, understandable and genuinely useful to the communities they serve.

BIO-DISTRICT APP represented by its full communication team

A notable feature of the meeting was that the BIO-DISTRICT APP project was represented by both of the professionals responsible for its communication — on the Greek and on the Italian side alike:

Having the project’s entire communication team present in the same virtual room — one partner in Greece, the other in Italy — is more than a scheduling coincidence. It means that the guidance shared during the meeting was received simultaneously by both sides of the partnership, and can now be applied consistently across all BIO-DISTRICT APP communication outputs, in both countries and in every language the project works in.

It is also, in miniature, a demonstration of what cross-border cooperation is meant to look like in daily practice: not two separate communication strategies running in parallel, but one shared approach, built together.

A working session, not a webinar

After a round of introductions from the network’s newest members, the meeting moved directly into practical territory.

Maristella Mantuano, Communication Officer of the Joint Secretariat, led a focused session on plain language — which words work, which ones to avoid, and how to build concise sentences that readers actually finish. For organisations producing press releases, newsletters and news items across several languages, this is not a stylistic detail: it is the difference between a text that informs and a text that is skipped.

The theory was immediately put to the test. Participants were divided into groups for an interactive exercise, working together to draft and finalise a real example of a project news item — an approach that turned a communication guideline into a shared, hands-on practice.

The programme then turned to Interreg Cooperation Day 2026, presented by Miriam Semeraro (Joint Secretariat Reporter, Interreg Volunteer Youth), who outlined the opportunities open to projects wishing to organise activities around this European celebration and to boost their visibility and public engagement.

Closing the session, Vasia Kougia of the Achaia Chamber of Commerce offered a valuable preview of the communication approach of the PR.O.GR.E.S.S. project — from promotional activities through to post-event storytelling — giving participants a concrete overview of the timelines and strategies to apply before and after an event.

Why this matters for BIO-DISTRICT APP

For InnoPolis, the timing could hardly have been better. As WP2 lead of BIO-DISTRICT APP, the organisation is currently preparing a full communication package around the project’s recent D3.3 cross-border workshop, held at the CIHEAM Bari Campus on 26 June 2026 — including a press release, a newsletter and a news item for the programme website.

Every topic on the agenda — plain language, news writing, post-event storytelling, event timelines — maps directly onto that work. Networks of this kind are valuable precisely because they are not abstract: what is shared in the morning can be applied the same afternoon.

Looking ahead

Asked which topics she would like to see explored in future meetings, Katerina Sotiropoulou pointed to the production of storytelling videos — the methodology, workflow and technical aspects behind their development — an area of growing importance for projects seeking to reach audiences beyond the usual institutional channels.

Her suggestion to the network was equally clear: to continue these meetings on a regular basis, introducing new topics while preserving the same well-structured format and collaborative spirit that have made them so valuable.

The network will reconvene in autumn 2026 for its third meeting. InnoPolis — and BIO-DISTRICT APP — will be there.