Why have we applied for the DeTo project?
The vast project area of the northern parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland represents a region with unique, similar challenges concerning better connectivity, harmonization of education and regulations and attracting skilled labour in the region.
There are several organizations and networks working on cross-border cooperation, however, there is a need to combine good practices, development needs and future initiatives and to shift from cooperation to cocreation.
Therefore, joint strategies and joint planning are needed to fill the missing links and to create synergies between organizations and networks. To achieve an accessible and attractive region, regional and national authorities from Finland, Sweden and Norway need to be involved.
What do we do in the project?
The first goal of the DeTo project is to write a comprehensive report about the networks (e.g., work life, education, public sector, cross-border entities), their development needs and future initiatives. The report is used to review what kind of cooperation can be done in the area to achieve different goals.
The second goal of the project is to build a project consortium for a regular project or projects. Project consortium defines specific points of development which could be solved in the future and partners with whom to seek the best solutions. Themes of the development are for example education (lifelong learning, developing joint degrees, raising awareness on the differences in education systems), mobility, raising businesses awareness, attracting and maintain international experts in the project area.
How do we achieve these goals?
First, we start to gather a network by organizing meetings, info sessions, workshops and events. This way organizations can map suitable Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian partners.
The project partners will gather a comprehensive report on the cross-border cooperation networks, best practices, development needs and future initiatives. Purpose of the
report is to describe current situation from the point of view of companies, public
and educational organisations, municipalities, and labour authorities.
The network will establish a project consortium or project consortiums which can apply regular projects or continue to develop cooperation together in other ways.