Infrastructure and Cross-Border Cooperation
20 – 22 November 2025
Andrassy University Budapest, Hungary
In recent years, infrastructure and infrastructure policy have increasingly become the focus of political and academic interest in various disciplines – so much so that there is sometimes even talk of an ‘infrastructural turn’.
The Covid 19 pandemic and the war against Ukraine have clearly demonstrated the important role that public infrastructure plays for a functioning community in areas as diverse as health, energy supply and security, especially from a cross-border perspective. This concerns the necessary maintenance investments in existing infrastructure, but also innovative infrastructures. For example, climate protection and digitalisation not only require modernisation in the traditional areas of transport, energy and telecommunications, but also ‘data as infrastructure’. There is a consensus that a modern and efficient infrastructure is a prerequisite for innovation and competitiveness at European, national, regional and local level. In addition to education, science and research, institutional infrastructures such as a functioning legal system are increasingly coming into focus. The political will to strengthen infrastructures in the long term has grown significantly both at national level (Germany!) and in the EU.
The workshop deals with the specific challenges of cross-border infrastructures. The focus is on their requirements for and effects on cross-border cooperation (CBC). The two central terms infrastructure and CBC are deliberately defined broadly. Infrastructure is understood very broadly as the material, digital or institutional basis on which social life unfolds. In line with the scope of different infrastructures, CBC therefore refers to the European, international or regional level of cross-border interactions.
We invite you to share experiences from different infrastructural policies’ sectors of cross-border
cooperation, such as energy, transport, health, education, security, digital or legal infrastructure etc.
to learn about:
- What are challenges for cross border infrastructure projects?
- What are the major obstacles identified? Do they differ in regard to infrastructure from other forms of CBC?
- Are there best practices from other CB policies that could be used to enhance CBC on infrastructure?
- Are there differences regarding the challenges in rural areas border compared to more industrial or urban border areas?
- What are potential spill-over effects between different policy fields?
- Do macroregional policies like the Danube strategy play an enabling role in CB infrastructure policies?
- What are lessons to be learnt from failures (what not to do)?
With this call, we invite scholars as well as practitioners to submit papers for a Workshop on
Infrastructure and Cross-Border Cooperation held on 20 – 22 November 2025.
To answer these questions, we want to bring together scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines such as, for example, public administration and management, legal sciences, regional studies, economic geography, innovation studies, evolutionary economics, urban studies, economics, public policy, etc.
We invite papers that address one or several of the above-mentioned issues and have either theoretical or practical relevance.
Contributions will be considered by the Scientific Committee against the criteria of originality, subject balance and geographical spread. The extended abstract should have between 1,000 and 2,500 words,
single spaced, excluding references, consisting of the following:
- The title of the paper and 5 keywords
- The names of the author(s) and their affiliation
- Relevance of the paper to the topic
- Significance of the research – why it is distinctive and its contribution to the field
- Policy implications and recommendations for practitioners
The workshop is planned as an on-site event at Andrassy University in Budapest.
Scientific Committee of the Workshop
Martina Eckardt, Andrassy University Budapest, Hungary
Michael Frey, University of Applied Sciences Kehl, Germany
Stefan Okruch, Andrassy University Budapest, Hungary
Deadlines
Submission of extended abstract: June 30, 2025 (1,000-2,500 words per paper)
Notification of acceptance by July 15, 2025
Registration until September 30, 2025
Please submit your paper through: CBC2025@andrassyuni.hu
Publication of submitted papers in an edited volume is possible. Further information will be given at
the conference. The fee for conference attendance is 50 Euro. Participants of the workshop are expected to cover their travel and accommodation costs. The conference language will be English. Presentations should be approx. 20 min.
Detailed information on the preliminary program as well as on accommodation and travel will be
provided on the conference website https://www.andrassyuni.eu/veranstaltungen/infrastructure-
and-cross-border-cooperation.html
Local Organizing Team
Martina Eckardt, Stefan Okruch and Simon Anda
For more information, please contact CBC2025@andrassyuni.hu
Location
Andrassy University Budapest
Pollack Mihály tér 3, 1088 Budapest, Hungary