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Funding Entities

QREN – Quadro De Referência Estratégico Nacional

QREN (National Strategic Reference Framework, in the Portuguese acronym) elected as the key strategic purpose the qualification of the Portuguese, enhancing knowledge, science, technology and innovation, as well as the promotion of higher, sustainable levels of economic and socio-cultural development, and territorial qualification, within a framework of appreciation of equal opportunities and the increased efficiency and quality of public institutions. Pursuing this major strategic purpose is ensured by having all operational Programmes, with the support of Structural Fuds and the Cohesion Fund, in the 2007-2013 period, implement three fundamental Thematic Operational Agendas, focusing on three key areas of intervention, the human potential, the competitiveness factors of the economy, and the appreciation of the territory:

  • Operational Agenda for the Human Potential
  • Operational Agenda for the Competitiveness Factors
  • Operational Agenda for the Appreciation of the Territory
These three Thematic Agendas are implemented, following the guiding principles assumed by QREN - concentration, selectivity, economic feasibility and financial sustainability, territorial cohesion and appreciation, and strategic management and monitoring – by the following Operational Programmes:
  • Thematic Operational Programmes - Human Potential, Competitiveness Factors and Appreciation of the Territory - co-funded, respectively, by the European Social Fund (ESF), by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and, jointly, by ERDF and the Cohesion Fund
  • Regional Operational Programmes of the Continent - North, Centre, Lisbon, Alentejo and Algarve - co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
  • Operational Programmes for the Autonomous Regions - Azores and Madeira - co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and by the European Social Fund
  • Operational Programmes for Cross-Border Territorial Cooperation (Portugal- Spain and the Mediterranean Basin), Transnational Cooperation (Atlantic Space, Southeastern Europe, Mediterranean and Madeira-Azores-the Canary Islands), Inter-regional Cooperation, and Inter-regional Cooperation Networks, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and by the European Social Fund
  • Operational Technical Assistance Programmes, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and by the European Social Fund