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BSI Stakeholder Conference, 18-19 November, Timmendorfer Stand

Representatives from business, public administrations, research and regional organisations from 10 countries in the Baltic Sea region met on 18-19 November in Timmendorfer Strand with the purpose of discussing objectives, strategies and actions for increasing the competitiveness and innovation of the Baltic Sea region towards 2010.

The Baltic Sea Initiative is an initiative started by Baltic Development Forum in cooperation with VINNOVA with the aim of creating a neutral platform for developing a bottom-up, stakeholder driven action agenda for regional cooperation on competitiveness, innovation and job creation in the Baltic Sea area. The analytical platform for the Baltic Sea Initiative was formed by the State of the Region Report 2004 and the report on Innovation in the Nordic-Baltic Sea Region, analysing the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the Baltic Sea region. 

This initiative is in a concrete and inclusive way supposed to boost the EU Lisbon process on competitiveness while at the same time stimulating regional growth and prosperity through the development of a competitive, world-class innovation area of 10 countries and 80 million inhabitants.

The Baltic Sea Initiative will run over the course of several years. The annual Baltic Development Forum summit will be the milestone every year to analyse and to discuss the progress done within the initiative. In between the summits regional meetings will take place where actors on national and sub-regional levels will engage broader stakeholder groups in the initiative. In addition, an annual State of the Region Report will serve as a common research platform for the process. 

This year, a State of the Region Report 2005 will be developed, reflecting the Baltic Sea Initiative and thus providing the factual background for developing an action agenda for the region. It is the intention to present the outcomes of the Baltic Sea Initiative, along with the State of the Region Report 2005, at the next Baltic Development Forum summit in Stockholm 16-18 October 2005.

Timmendorfer Strand was the first regional stakeholder meeting, intended to kick off the initiative. Participants took part in target-oriented workshops, agreeing on the most important objectives for the region and on the initial steps towards attaining these objectives. In order to increase the competitiveness and innovation in the Baltic Sea region, participants agreed that it was necessary to act in the following areas:  

  • Facilitating Networks of Networks/Networks of Clusters
  • Creating an Entrepreneurial Environment
  • Integrating Research and Education in the Region
  • Marketing the Baltic Sea region
  • Creating a Common Baltic Information Space

Within the above areas, stakeholders outlined concrete action steps to be taken as follow-up and in preparation for the Baltic Development Forum summit in Stockholm:

  • In order to identify a relevant strategy for facilitating networks of networks and clusters, participants agreed on a mapping exercise and on arranging a cluster conference in June with the aim of sharing best practices, raising awareness, doing a needs assessment and defining how regional organisations can best assist in the facilitation of cluster development.
  • Within the groups on Entrepreneurial Environment and Integrating Research and Education, a number of steps were agreed upon: Creating a network of incubator financing organisations, preparing a statement to lobby Ministers of Education on “Education for Entrepreneurship, identifying possibilities of cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers on a Baltic Seed Capital Forum and paving the way for an identification of barriers to entrepreneurship in the region.
  • Marketing the Region requires an overview of how the region is already portrayed. Furthermore, a conference on branding will be arranged in spring, leading up to a session at the Stockholm summit where a branding strategy can be discussed.
  • To create a Common Baltic Information Space, a mapping of existing initiatives is needed, along with an identification of key stakeholders, users etc. Participants suggested establishing a Task Force with the aim of gathering expert input and defining a strategy for structuring a common information space. tic Information Space

For further information on the Baltic Sea Initiative, please contact the Baltic Development Forum secretariat on bdf@bdforum.org or +45 70 20 93 95