Found at: http://www.competitiveness.org/article/articleprint/384/-1/9
The Baltic Sea Initiative scrutinized by 25 cluster practitioners in our conference in Ottawa! One of our breakoutsessions discussed this initiative in depth guided by Ifor Ffowcs Williams and Kevin Muphy as facilitators and the speakers Lars Eklund, Christian Ketels and Sylvia Schwaag-Serger.
Increasing competitiveness and innovation through regional cooperation between the 11 countries making up the Baltic Sea area is what the Baltic Sea Initiative is about. Seeking to build on the strenghts - and diversities - in the region, the Baltic Sea Initiative is an open invitation to stakeholders from business, research, public administrations, innovation and competitiveness agencies, regional institutions and networks, to join in a discussion on goals, priorities and actions for a region with enormous potential.
The Baltic Development Forum in cooperation with VINNOVA and other partners is taking the initiative to gather key competitiveness and innovation stakeholders from the 11 countries in the Baltic Sea region with the aim of identifying joint goals and priorities for the region, ensuring better coordination between regional institutions, networks and initiatives and ultimately defining a regional action agenda for increasing competitiveness and innovation. The efforts are underpinned by two reports on "The State of the Region 2004" and "Innovation in the Nordic-Baltic Sea Region" which provide crucial data and structure to the debate. Download the reports and read more about Baltic Development Forum and the recent summit in Hamburg, where the reports and initiative were launched, on www.bdforum.org.