Strategy & Activities

Following a meeting of the BDF Board, an agreement has been reached on BDF’s role and activities in the Region during this year. Here is a short version of the BDF Strategy 2010.

Baltic Development Forum 2011 Strategy

In 2011, all the countries of the Baltic Sea Region are expected to exit the economic crisis and to present sustainable growth rates. The future competitiveness of the region will be related to smart and green growth, which generally represents the headline of BDF’s other activities throughout 2011. For BDF smart growth includes issues such as innovation, research, mobilization of talents and the digital internal market. Green growth covers issues related to energy and water in particular, and clean tech in general. The Green, Smart and Inclusive growth agenda are the headlines of the new Europe 2020 strategy of the EU, which was adopted earlier this year.

As in the previous years, BDF will still be deeply involved in the EU strategy and the discussion on the macro-regional strategy in Europe. The strategy represents and provides a unique opportunity to make new leaps forward in regional integration and in promoting the Baltic Sea Region in the EU and globally. Now the European Council has asked for a review of the EU Strategy for the BSR in 2011, and this together with the Annual Forum and BDF’s Summit, will take place during the EU Presidency of Poland, in the second half of the year.

Since the BDF Summit will take place in Poland, there will be particular attention on regional cooperation with Poland, which is an important regional partner who represents a promising and attractive market. The role as a neutral stakeholder forum for business and politics should be further strengthened in connection with the major BDF events and everyday tasks. BDF seen as a facilitator of the inclusion of the private sector widens business related networking, which could entail new possibilities and play an important role in regional growth.
Priorities for 2011

Based on a close dialogue with close members and partners of BDF during the last months, the following concrete priorities and actions have been identified and should be highlighted:

1. BDF Summit 2011 in Gdansk, Poland (24-26 October)

For the first time, Baltic Development Forum Summit will be organized together with Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The joined event will take place on the 24-26 October in Gdansk, Poland. BDF will therefore be working in close cooperation with the Polish Government, the Polish EU Presidency, regional authorities in Poland and the European Commission, DG region. This provides great meeting opportunities for BDF and all regional stakeholders since the summit will receive wide and high-level attention. Moreover, as a part of the evaluation process, the regional stakeholders will be invited to the 2nd Annual Forum of the strategy in order to voice their views on the earlier adopted strategy.

2. Regional Growth & Branding
BDF should continue evaluating its role and options within the EU strategy. BDF has already several roles in connection with competitiveness, branding, place promotion, regional identity.

3. Digital Action Plan for the Baltic Sea Region

Following a meeting of the BDF Board, an agreement has been reached on BDF’s role and activities in the Region during this year. Here is a short version of the BDF Strategy 2010.

Baltic Development Forum 2010 Strategy

Working with Regional Presidencies on Project Implementation and Economic Recovery

With the adoption of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the Heads of Government of the EU have made strong commitments. It is time to deliver. The Baltic Sea Region is a test case for new European integration initiatives and multi-level governance structures. If results are not produced, it will be difficult to argue that regions in Europe are the new platform for innovative solutions that combines regional and European integration. A lot is at stake for the EU Member States in the region and for the European Commission.

The EU strategy needs to perform on a practical level and to demonstrate to the private sector that the conditions for doing business and creating wealth are improving. There is still work to be done in convincing the business sector that the strategy is a tool for real improvements. At the same time, the business sector needs to make its voice stronger in the stakeholder process.

Economic recovery is also significant and the search for a new formula for achieving sustainable growth, jobs and international competitiveness for Europe. A new post-Lisbon strategy has to be defined. Ideally, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region can serve as a useful regional application that goes closer and deeper into local and regional characteristics, opportunities and problems. It has the potential to become a role model.

Priorities for 2010

Based on a close dialogue with close members and partners of BDF during the last months, the following concrete priorities and actions have been identified and should be highlighted:

• Implementing the EU Strategy

BDF will work together with the Commission in keeping the EU Strategy high on the regional agenda during the implementation phase. The political commitment needs to be constantly renewed in order to provide guidance and support. In times of economic crisis, the best solutions frequently lie in closer cooperation with neighbours that have the biggest influence on the national economy but often focus is on national rather than regional solutions. This issue will be on the agenda at the BDF 2010 Summit in Vilnius and at the BSSSC-conference in Tallinn during the autumn. The State of the Region report will bring articles on the process and on the situation of important flagship projects under the EU strategy.

• Summit 2010

For the first time, the BDF Summit coincides with the Baltic Sea States Summit (Two Summits – One City) – and thereby provides exceptional meeting opportunities for all high-level stakeholders in the region. BDF is proud to be working closely together with the Lithuanian Government, the Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the confederations of industries of the region.

The Summit will focus on making the Baltic Sea Region a wider European model for sustainable growth, green jobs, innovation and a global leader in competitiveness. Regions are the new platform for policy innovation in Europe and for providing inspiration on how to design sustainable growth and jobs – hence the title “European challenges – regional solutions: An agenda for sustainable Growth, Investments and Jobs”.

• State of the Region Report

The 2010 edition will focus on the economic situation in and the competitiveness of the three Baltic States and Poland. The report will give a general overview of the current economic climate and the competitiveness of the Region in general as well as an update on the Baltic Sea Region institutions that are active in regional cooperation. This year’s sponsors will be European Investment Bank and Nordic Council of Ministers.

• Regional Strategy for Jobs, Growth and Innovation

The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has the potential of developing into a regional application of the EU’s jobs and growth strategy (EU2020). BDF should take initiatives to inspire regions and governments to look at jobs and growth initiatives from a regional perspective and to take into consideration the views of the region’s private sector. BDF will work with industry and business representatives in order to produce a policy document that can be part of the decision-making of the EU and the European Council in June 2010. Roundtable discussions with leading economists, experts and universities will be part of the process.

• Energy

The report on energy scenarios for the Baltic Sea Region provided new input to the regional agenda setting. BDF will continue high-lighting the advantages of a more integrated approach to energy planning and BDF will continue its close contact with the Lithuanian BASREC-cooperation.

Work should be initiated on elaborating a future vision for energy cooperation in the BSR in parallel with the European Commission’s strategic energy reviews and roadmap for Europe in 2050. Similarly, it is a deficiency that there is no strong chapter on energy efficiency in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The BSR has very favourable opportunities to improve energy efficiency due to the technological advances and the many low-hanging fruits in Russia, the Baltic countries and Poland. Last but not least, BDF will follow up on the energy seminar in Kaliningrad in 2009 together with Nordic Council of Ministers. The regional integration of Kaliningrad is highly relevant in terms of energy planning.

• Water

The Baltic Sea Region has all the chances of establishing itself as the international hub or centre for water management and clean tech due to the many competences and the many problems related to the polluted Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is a real time laboratory for finding solutions applicable in many other areas in the world. Funds for addressing the issue of pollution need to be found to match the high-level political commitments that have been made, not least at the Baltic Sea States summit in February 2010 in Helsinki.

• Think Tank

Efforts to establish a regional think-tank will continue by applying for funding and enlarging the existing network of researchers and research institutions in the Baltic Sea Region. The proposal has been favourably received by Commission representatives and it is regarded as a positive contribution to the regional debate on regional cooperation dynamics, political/economic problems and priorities. The ambitions should be to publish a yearly Political State of the Region Report in the BDF publication Baltic Sea Agenda.

• Femern Belt

The Femern Belt construction between Germany and Denmark will for many years be the biggest infrastructure development in Europe and it will provide better transport and logistics facilities for Northern Europe, strengthening the growth potential of several metropolises in the Baltic Sea Region. Since many of BDF’s public/private members and strategic partners are placed on the Hamburg-Copenhagen-Stockholm/Oslo dimension, BDF is well placed to work as a catalyst for the project and its potential to a larger regional network.

• Northern Dimension Cooperation

The Northern Dimension is being extended with a business dimension (Northern Dimension Business Council). The BDF proposes to support this development by producing an economic report on North-West Russia focusing on trade and investment links with the other Baltic Sea and Northern Dimension countries. The BDF’s annual State of the Region Report could serve as a model for an economic analysis. The purpose is to create a solid basis for a debate on priorities and problems in economic cooperation between Russia and her EU neighbours (and Norway).

• BaltMet Net and Balt Met Promo
  For BDF it is important to work closely with the metropolises of the Region since most of the big cities are members of BDF: Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm city and Stockholm region. Also, the dynamic Øresund region is member of BDF (Malmø, Region Skåne, Region Sjælland and Region Hovedstaden). Therefore, BDF has also invited the Swedish BaltMet Presidency to meet in Vilnius 1-2 June back-to-back.
  BDF has also happily joined the EU-financed BaltMet Promo project that endeavours to establish a way to do collaborative promotion for the BSR in the global markets by establishing a transnational and multi-sector marketing community with the aim of attracting investors, tourists, and skilled professionals to the Baltic Sea Region. The starting point of this perspective is the Baltic Sea Region’s metropolises.

Baltic Development Forum, April 2010

Following a meeting of the BDF Board, an agreement has been reached on BDF’s role and activities in the Region during this year. Here is a short version of the BDF Strategy 2010.

Short Presentation of the Baltic Development Forum Strategy 2009

The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) has created a positive atmosphere towards regional cooperation and new optimism in the area. The Strategy represents presently the very best chance to realise many of the objectives that BDF has worked for throughout the last 10 years.

This despite the fact that the Region has been severely hit by the current financial and economic crisis, which has also disclosed problems related to political governance in some of the countries. The financial sector – that has almost been a symbol of recent years’ dynamic integration – is also in crisis and a phase of evaluation is taking place.

Vision and Mission

BDF’s existing vision, mission and values remain highly relevant in 2009, although the regional context and structures are changing. Our vision is to make the Baltic Sea Region the most dynamic, innovative and sustainable economic growth centre in the World. Our mission is to position the Baltic Sea Region in the EU and on the global map by advancing the growth and competitive potential through partnership between business, government and academia. We initiate and facilitate the creation of strategies, provide thematic analyses and offer a wide networking arena for high-level decision-makers to meet.

BDF’s yearly Summit remains the primary occasion to combine the mission and vision and to play an important role in region for all stakeholders. It is a strategic objective to constantly improve and develop the BDF’s Top of Europe Summit and to ensure that it remains relevant in the future and not least in context of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and relations with Russia. BDF remains a networking organisation with ambitions to develop substantial documentation (think-tank) as background documentation for the issues that are taken up.

Priority Areas:

Taking into account the political and economic context of the BSR and BDF’s traditional role in regional co-operation, the following areas will have priority during 2009:

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Besides the above mentioned activities, BDF will as hitherto participate and contribute in many different networks, seminars and conferences in order to improve the regional dialogue, strengthen cohesion, promote sustainable economic development and the region’s international competitiveness.

Following a meeting of the BDF Board, an agreement has been reached on BDF’s role and activities in the Region during this year. Here is a short version of the BDF Strategy 2009.

Summary of BDF Strategy 2008

1. EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Th e development of the European Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is the most important and concrete step forward for the Region since the EU-enlargement in 2004. BDF will play an active role in formulating and channelling the Region’s own policy contribution to the EU Strategy.
2. Energy Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region Through enhanced regional cooperation and coordination BDF will strive to give input and momentum to the creation of a regional energy policy and impetus to the establishment of an integrated energy sector in the Baltic Sea Region. A report on the elements necessary to improve regional energy co-operation will be elaborated under the auspices of BDF.
3. Labour Market Demands for Talents The Region is presently performing well economically but a vital component in further strengthening the economies is to attract, develop and retain the best and the brightest. BDF will continue to focus on these areas with selected partners and members also by analysing whether regional solutions could be found.
4. Increased geographical co-operation with Poland and Russia. In order to strengthen the geographical diff erentiation of our activities and to underline the key role played by Poland in the Baltic Sea Region co-operation, a seminar is planned by BDF in co-operation with the think tank Demos/Europa. It is also our ambition to organize a BDF event in Russia in the course of the year.

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