BDF together with Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs organised a workshop on transnational digital collaboration as part of a conference on Smart Specialisation Strategies in Sandviken, Sweden, 27th May 2016. The conference was organised by CPMR Baltic Sea Commission, PA Innovation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and Region Gävleborg.
Smart Specialisation Strategies are tools for regional authorities to identify opportunities in innovation, realising their own potential. They are also instruments to seek transnational cooperation for stakeholders, creating tangible collaborations and new types of partnerships.
The workshop, “Digital Agenda of the Baltic Sea Region – linking up to Smart Specialisation challenges” attracted participants from several Baltic Sea Region countries, representing local and regional authorities, ICT clusters, business development agencies, and digital experts. The session was moderated by Torben Aaberg, Head of Public & Digital Affairs, BDF.
Inspired by an analysis from the think tank “Top of Digital Europe”, the discussion explored the potential for transnational collaboration within digitalisation in the Baltic Sea Region based on topics like digital start-ups, Industry 4.0 and SME’s, cross border digital solutions and open data. A new potential flagship project within digitization in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region – the so-called “DIGINNO” – was introduced and discussed as a potential platform that could gather the different stakeholders in development of business cases for transnational testing and policy discussions.