Publications

Remove all filtering

32 News

Added Value of Cross-Border and Transnational Cooperation in Nordic Regions

Transnational and cross-border cooperation play a central role in EU Cohesion Policy. The European Territorial Objective, one of three overall objectives of EU Cohesion Policy, and the programmes initiated to reach this objective have had an important impact on cooperation and networking across borders in the Nordic countries. In the new EU programming period 2014-2020, there will be a greater demand for thematic concentration within the cross-border and transnational programmes. The European Commission calls for a closer coordination between the five different EU funds. Each of the CSF Funds shall support a limited number of thematic objectives in order to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Nordregio has been commissioned by the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Regional Policy (EK-R), to develop a method which could facilitate the selection of themes and ensure territorial added value in the coming programming areas involving the Nordic countries. The process of concentrating resources, while at the same time coordinating actions with a number of strategies and other funding programmes, makes the added value of the impact of cross-border and transnational cooperation programmes even more vital than ever. Thus through this assignment guidelines will be set up that programme areas can use to concentrate their resources and priorities within the ETC Objective.

Regional Innovations: an introduction to concepts, practices and politics

Innovations is a policy buzz word and used more or less daily within the political debate. Innovations are regarded as fundamental for achieving economic, social and ecological sustainability. This booklet is an introduction guide to the concept, practices and politics of innovations with focus on its relevance for regional development. Innovations are expected to generate new firms and employment opportunities, increased competitiveness, and contribute growth, in Sweden and elsewhere. They are also perceived as crucial for handling climate change, resource scarcity and demographical challenges such as an ageing population and increased migration in Europe. But what is an innovation? How and where are innovations created? And how can regional innovation polices be formulated and implemented in a globalizing world? These are some of the key questions of this booklet, which also highlights concepts such as eco-innovation, social innovations, and smart specialisation. An open and inclusive definition innovations are currently being emphasised as for example in the recently published Swedish Innovation Strategy. Innovations are created by people and generates new values. An innovation can be anything from new technical products or service processes to a significantly improved business models or new forms of organisational and institutional arrangements. This conceptualisation of innovations creates opportunities and challenges policy making. Amongst other things, it implies that regions need position themselves in relation to other regions nationally and internationally, and simultaneously develop context specific innovation strategies and priorities. The booklet offers an introduction to current discourse on innovation by reviewing a selection of essential policy documents from leading international and national organisations such as OECD, EU and Swedish national authorities. It does not offer a new theory on innovation or suggestions on how to innovation policies should be formulated, but it provides an conceptual overview, practical thematic and regional examples on innovations and innovation policies.

Att möta demografiska förändringar

The final version of the demographic handbook has now been published in Swedish. The handbook aims at providing a new tool for regional and local policy-makers to find inspiration when preparing strategies and projects to respond to the demographic changes in the Nordic countries. The demographic handbook is indexing more than 150 Nordic projects that are responding to the demographic changes in the Nordic countries. The handbook is divided into four parts. Each part represents one index. In Part 1, the index key is geography. Four maps provide an opportunity to create a demographic profile on municipal and regional level in all the Nordic countries. The four maps presented in Part 1 in the handbook are also developed as interactive maps. In Part 2 of the handbook, the index key is the themes in the projects. Ten themes are identified, such as health, education, and regional and local development. In Part 3, the index key is the methods in the projects. Seven methods are identified, such as cooperation, prognosis, and attractiveness. In the handbook and the interactive web maps the examples are only described shortly – a more extensive description and contact information can be found in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 contains technical notes on maps and graphs in part 1 of the handbook. This is the final edition of the demographic handbook, published in June 2012. The handbook has been discussed at four Nordic workshops gathering regional and local policymakers and revised according to comments at these workshops. The handbook is published in Swedish and Finnish.

Väestönmuutosten kohtaaminen

The final version of the demographic handbook has now been published in Finnish. The handbook aims at providing a new tool for regional and local policy-makers to find inspiration when preparing strategies and projects to respond to the demographic changes in the Nordic countries. The demographic handbook is indexing more than 150 Nordic projects that are responding to the demographic changes in the Nordic countries. The handbook is divided into four parts. Each part represents one index. In Part 1, the index key is geography. Four maps provide an opportunity to create a demographic profile on municipal and regional level in all the Nordic countries. The four maps presented in Part 1 in the handbook are also developed as interactive maps. In Part 2 of the handbook, the index key is the themes in the projects. Ten themes are identified, such as health, education, and regional and local development. In Part 3, the index key is the methods in the projects. Seven methods are identified, such as cooperation, prognosis, and attractiveness. In the handbook and the interactive web maps the examples are only described shortly – a more extensive description and contact information can be found in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 contains technical notes on maps and graphs in part 1 of the handbook. This is the final edition of the demographic handbook, published in June 2012. The handbook has been discussed at four Nordic workshops gathering regional and local policymakers and revised according to comments at these workshops. The handbook is published in Swedish and Finnish.