In the beginning of this year, Interreg South Baltic Programme promoted their Flagships in a Facebook campaign. The campaign is a great compilation of the work carried out within the EUSBSR but also good inspiration to all those thinking of running a social media campaign.

Let’s take a look at the Flagships and their results!

The period of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) promotion campaign (marked with #EUSBSRBetterTogether) has been an exciting time for Baltic TRAM, a project which is part of the Baltic Science Link flagship of the Policy Area Innovation.

Despite the progressing age of communities in the Baltic Sea region, needs of the elderly are not being sufficiently addressed by producers of furniture and home equipment. In the project BaltSe@nior, co-financed by Interreg Baltic Sea Region, by developing prototypes of intelligent furniture and upgrading design trends, companies are offered thriving opportunities to develop more suitable products for the elderly. Transnational cooperation that increases the comfort of life of seniors and at the same time fosters a more competitive Europe drew the attention of EU Commissioner Corina Crețu, who recently paid a visit to the project.

SMART BLUE REGIONS project seeks to enhance blue growth opportunities based on increased capacity of Baltic Sea Regions to implement Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). 

A new Flagship project was approved by the National Coordinators under Horizontal Action Climate. The actions of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region are implemented by means of Flagships. Flagships demonstrate the progress of the Strategy, and may serve as pilot examples for desired action in a given field. What does the Flagship status mean for the newly approved project?

In November 2017, five new EUSBSR Flagships were adopted by the National Coordinators of the Strategy. The actions of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region are implemented by means of Flagships. Flagships demonstrate the progress of the Strategy, and may serve as pilot examples for desired action in a given field.

We asked the newly approved Flagships what the status means to them.

A digital Flagship of Policy Area Innovation, project DIGINNO (Digital Innovation Network), was launched on 5 September in Tallinn. DIGINNO’s objective is to advance the digital economy and to speed up the process of moving towards the Baltic Sea region single digital market. The project aims to increase the capacity of policymakers, industry associations and industrial SMEs to enable faster and more efficient uptake of digital solutions both in public and private sector.

Innovation - the process of finding new smart solutions to address our common challenges - has its own dedicated policy area in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Policy area (PA) Innovation, as one out of 13 policy areas, demonstrates the commitment and importance that the countries in this region assign to strengthening their innovative position on the global stage. As such, PA-innovation contributes to the EU strategy’s goal of economic growth and increased prosperity in the Baltic Sea Region.