The cooperation area comprises the Alpine core area in the geographical sense, the surrounding foothills and lowlands of the "peri-Alpine belt", a small part of the Mediterranean coastal area including the Adriatic and parts of the great river valleys of Danube, Po, Adige, Rhône and Rhine.

The Alpine Space is one of the most manifold regions in the heart of the European Community. As such it is an attractive area for working and living for 70 million inhabitants, settling a surface of 450.000 km and comprising some of the most important European metropolitan areas. It represents as well a major contact zone, where different European cultures and languages (German, Latin and Slavic) meet.

Considered in its entirety and reflecting to actual European and global development challenges, the Alpine Space is more than the "heart" and the Alps more than the "roof" of Europe. In fact, the territory emerges as a strategic area situated in the geographic centre of Europe, able to take on, for many aspects, the hinging role between the territories of urban and industrial development of Northern and Southern Europe, between Latin Europe in the West and Balkan Europe in the East, capable of assuming a series of specific and irreplaceable functions towards them.

The participating countries and the eligible regions, on the basis of the NUTS II classification are:

Austria
(whole country)

France:
Alsace, Franche-Comté, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes

Germany:
districts of Oberbayern and Schwaben (in Bayern), Tübingen and Freiburg (in Baden-Württemberg)

Italy:
Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardia, Piemonte, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto

Liechtenstein
(whole country)

Slovenia
(whole country)

Switzerland
(whole country)