“EU 2020 going local – from detached Lisbon and Gothenburg Strategies to a regionalised indigenous EU 2020” is designed to contribute to the effective implementation of the current Lisbon and Gothenburg Strategies and the new EU 2020 strategy at local and regional level. In particular, this means building on the stock of tried and tested successful experiences at the local implementation of the former strategies and improving delivery with regard to the new strategy, particularly with regard to the sub-theme “Energy and Sustainable Transport”.Based on the fact that growth strategies of the EU are formulated and targeted at national level, implementation needs to be tailored to the diversity of European territories as well as to the regional/local needs and circumstances. Therefore the EU policies successful implementation cannot be realised without the active participation of all involved stakeholders: politicians, public authorities, administrative bodies, development agencies and not least the local population. Also the upcoming EU 2020, which is expected to help to overcome the current (financial) crisis and to offer new solutions to new challenges, focuses on early involvement of all relevant stakeholders. In this respect, the project ideally demonstrates the transfer of good practises within a multi level governance system.The project therefore capitalises on good practices that have proven to be very successful in one of the partner regions in order to transfer them into other partner’s mainstreaming programmes, for instance the Objective 1 or 2 Programmes. E.g. a web-based portal providing information and online-tools on energy efficiency in administrations of towns/municipalities or the process oriented broad consultation/inclusion of municipalities in a "national pact for climate and sustainable development" aiming (amongst other targets) at more efficient energy use. These will enable the different partners to further improve and modernise their regional policy.We will follow a vivid communication approach with relevant actors including politicians of the partner regions, and other stakeholders on national/EU level in accordance with the “Sörmland Strategy” which means:• strong companionship of the respective political representations in order to ensure the respective political ownership of the project• dissemination and awareness activities towards citizenship• early and intense integration of European bodies in order to place and position the regions within the upcoming EU 2020 strategy Seen as a whole, the project contributes to the reduction of disparities as the project matches regions less experienced in the specific policy field of energy (efficiency) and sustainable transport with more experienced regions which also tackle a challenge related to the realisation of the Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies. Achievements: The exchange of experience is continuing through interregional workshops. On 5-6 July 2011, the partners attended a two-day interregional workshop under the theme “Sustainable Transport and Non-Motorised Transport” in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The presentations on good practices from partner regions were followed by table discussions and sharing of thoughts and ideas. EU Structural Funds were also presented in depth to give partners an idea of which funding opportunities are available for the projects/programmes they wish to include in their action plans. Next interregional workshop took place in Gelderland on 24 November 2011. This workshop focused on Local and regional Climate Impact and contained good practice presentations as well as valuable discussions among the partners. With one year to go of the EU2020 Going Local project, the partners are getting to know each other well.The respective regional and local challenges and in which areas there is need for improvement are clear,as wellas from whom to learn, and the process to transfer Good Practices to each other are becoming more intense through the different working groups. A meeting within the first established working group on E-Mobility (e-VIPs) took place in Rotherham on 19-20 September. This was a good example to follow and several new working groups have started to take form since then. These are: Sustainable Transport of Goods, Dialog with Citizens, Smart Steering, Biogas from Waste, Cycling, Green Skills, Energy Poverty and Creation of Regional Energy. All of them are led by one partner and supported by a member of the Political Board to ensure the engagement and implementation. Based on this intense transfer of knowledge the partners respective Action Plans are being shaped. During the 3rd Steering Group meeting, and based on the results of the Mid-term evaluation, the partnership decided to reinforce the partners’ AP by means of external expertise. An expert, experienced in APs, will provide guidance to the whole partnership and individual consultations to every partner in the project. The Mid-term event on 23 November, attended by 92 people, was a great possibility of disseminating the results so far. During the day interim results of the project were presented. Additionally the cooperation with other actors such as the Committee of the Region’s EU2020 Monitoring Platform and OECD were further enriched through their contribution as speakers in the programme as well as participants. Halfway through the projects’ implementation an external expert to performed a concise mid-term evaluation in order to assess the interregional cooperation work done so far and to make recommendations for the activities in the remaining year to maximise the impact of the project. Part of the evaluation work was based on interviews with nine project partners regarding their experiences of the good practice transfer and action planning, as well as the implementation in the different regional contexts. The result of the evaluation was in line with the project’s ambitions for the remaining period. It underlined the importance of deepening the knowledge of GPEs, through a more concentrated knowledge transfer in smaller working groups, to enable drafting valuable Action Plans. The recommendations were taken seriously and transformed into actions.The project website went public in September 2011 (www.eu2020goinglocal.eu). In total 3 newsletters have been published, 2 of the current reporting period. The preparations of the Final Event to be held 9-11 October 2012 in Schaerbeek and Brussels have started. During 3 days, the project results and ideas for the future will be presented at the local, regional and EU levels. The Political Board has started the discussions on a joint message to deliver at this occasion. The partnership is currently working on a final budget change. The request for change will also include a request for extension of the project duration until the end of 2012.