Baltic Development Forum has now got the task to build a news exchage platform “newsWave” for the 10 countries around the Baltic Sea. A pilot project will be launched this autumn and run for two years. At the same time the European Commission, Baltic Sea Programme, has endorsed BDF to go on enhancing cooperation between investment promotion agencies in the area by by having the leading role in round table meetings.
Both BDF projects are part of ONE BSR that shall function as an umbrella project, for branding the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), with which various stakeholders can get attached. It aims to produce elements for the Baltic Sea Region image and identity. Baltic Sea Programme granted funding for the ONE BSR project 12 June.
One of the objectives of ONE BSR is to market the whole region and its different parts by developing joint promotional services in triple-helix partnerships and to test them in practice. The other objective is to make positive publicity of the BSR lifestyles and to encourage the “we-feeling” of the BSR.
Joint marketing efforts provide a win-win scenario for us all
BaltMet Mayors have stated: “Joint marketing efforts between the major cities provide a win-win scenario for us all. Baltic metropolises are reinforcing their strengths and potential, and thereby generating new momentum for the entire economic area.” The benefits from pooling resources shall grow: there will be more global outreach and attention, economies of scale and resources for transnational product development.
BSR does not have a shared identity and a recognized image, nor has the marketing of the region developed in a structured and systematic way. The “making of the BSR” has been for decades a top-down project. The EU co-funded BaltMet Promo Project was the first attempt to approach the issue differently: In the bottom-up approach, the common identity building of the BSR was addressed by doing concrete collaborative promotion in the global markets.
In addition, BaltMet Promo facilitated policy dialogue, Baltic Metropoles Network and Baltic Deelopment Forum being the co-ordinators of activities related to “regional identity building” in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. BaltMet Promo ended in 2011.
From the start, the joint promotional experiment was planned to be executed in two phases. The BaltMet Promo project produced tested transnational working methods and a policy action plan, to be more widely and more deeply implemented in co-operation with private partners during the Extension phase, that has now been granted funding in ONE BSR project.
Partners form a comprehensive geographical coverage of the Baltic Sea Region
Partners and Associated Organizations together form a comprehensive geographical coverage of the BSR. Project enables know-how to be transferred between countries, regions and different sectors, to be implemented for the benefit of the whole BSR.
Partner cities are Helsinki, Hamburg, Riga, Stockholm and Warsaw. St. Petersburg will participate with own funding. Baltic Development Forum, ARS BALTICA and ScanBalt from Baltic Sea Region networks are among partners. Swedish Institute, Business Support and Credit Management Foundation / Creative Cluster, Culminatum Innovation Ltd, Forum Virium Helsinki, Gdansk Investment and Development Agency, Greater Helsinki Promotion and Praxis are partners from national and regional development companies. Helsinki University, Helsinki Education and Development Area /HERA and Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences represent the universities.
Project duration 30.9.2012 – 30.9.2014
Links
Baltic Sea Programme news: Three new projects approved by the Monitoring Committee