Summary of the Nordic-Scottish conference on regional policy matters in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, 6-9 September 2003

(As memorised by Eva-Maria Forsberg and Hans-Olof Sällvin)

Social activities

The conference had about 50 participants. Most of them arrived in Örnsköldsvik on Saturday evening. On the way from the airport they were able get a glimpse of one of the worlds largest pulp and paper mills in Husum. Arriving to the hotel, except from many of the Scottish participants, who then were so hungry that they rushed to the closest McDonalds restaurant, a buffet dinner, at which those present could make their first acquaintance, were served.

On Sunday morning, in a beautiful late summer weather, a boat trip through the archipelago was made to the old fisheries island of Ulvön in the world heritage "High Coast Area". There, in a too short time, the old chapel was visited, the gourmet speciality "surströmming" (fermented herring) was served and some vikings took a swim in the a little chilly water.

The conference dinner, hosted by the Municipality, was held on Monday evening at the restaurant Varvsberget, from which there was a wonderful view of the city and its surroundings. Hans-Olof Sällvin took the opportunity to thank all persons from the municipality who had contributed to the organisation of the conference. Diane McLafferty from the Scottish Executive thanked the chairman for his extensive work with the preparations. Musical entertainment was provided by an accomplished local group, playing whatever favourites, old or new, the audience asked for. For many participants it was a great disappointment that after the dinner no bar could be find open at midnight Monday evening in the town.

Tuesday lunch, just before leaving Örnsköldsvik, was served at the newly inaugurated Veckefjärden Golf Course, also known as the course of Peter Forsberg, the worlds´best icehockey-player.

Opening of the conference

The meeting was opened on Sunday afternoon by Hans-Olof Sällvin, Sweden, chairman of the Nordic-Scottish Co-operation Liaison Group. He welcomed the participants, expressed his satisfaction that so many countries and organisations were present and gave a short intro-duction to the conference programme.

A welcoming speech was then given by the Mayor of Örnsköldsvik, Elvy Söderström. She gave an interesting description of the Örnsköldsvik area and its many natural potentials, both at land and sea: forests, the sea and lakes, islands, silence, culture, sports and large recreation areas with diversified supply and choice of activities. Örnsköldsvik plays an important role in Swedish industrial life and is nowadays also well-known as the birthplace of many professional icehockey players. The area is part of the High Coast, which has been designated as a World Heritage Area.

Fredrik Holmgren from the Municipality presented "Vision 2008" a local programme with the aim to develop Örnsköldsvik and to turn a negative population trend into a positive one. It is a collaborative project between business and industry, the municipality and its residents

Present and future regional development

Hallgeir Aalbu from Nordregio gave an overview of the spatial development in the Nordic countries and Scotland from a European perspective. His presentation was based on prelimi-nary results from different projects that Nordregio is involved in concerning population development, economic performance, urban structure and accessibility and mountain areas. From an European perspective, the Nordic Countries and Scotland form a distinct group of coun-tries, which in many ways differ from the rest of Europe. They have generally low population density and low accessibility according to different parameters. They have different urban structures with many small and medium sized towns and cities and less dense urban systems (except Denmark) and are predominantly monocentric (strongly directed towards their capitals, opposite polycentric). At the same time many regions in the Northern periphery have been economically successful (with regard to GDP per capita) despite their peripheral location. Many of the regions also represent success stories of regional governance. His conclusion was that even if there is a general picture of northern countries in an European perspective, there are differences between the countries (e.g. regarding economic performance and population development) and within each individual country. A general problem is that most documents lack an international outlook. It is also against this background that it is essential to define if there is there a common strategic interest in the Nordic-Scottish co-operation.

Changes in policies and regional development trends in the Nordic Countries and Scotland were then presented by national representatives. Regional policies are currently the subject of debate and change in all Nordic countries and new policy decisions have been taken. Although differences among the Nordic countries are at hand, there exist several common trends: regional policy extending to all regions of the country - not only the less favoured regions, focus on the individual potentials the regions can offer to enhance growth and prosperity, decentralisation, more focus on functional (or flexible) regions, stronger sector co-ordination, focus on clusters and regional innovation systems. The importance of cities and urban regions as driving forces for regional development were stressed by many speakers. In Norway, for instance, a white paper on urban development has been presented and in Finland a program for development of "centres of excellence" exists. There are at the same time great concern for growing regional differences and depopulation of peripherical areas. Promoting growing cities and regions and supporting towns and regions lagging behind has to be carried out at the same time. In Scotland the Higlands and Islands have seen significant depopulation, in certain areas population is down near critical mass, increasing unemployment and problems of maintaining a sustainable local economy. To maintain a competitive economy with an active labour market is a significant challenge for the future.

Experiences of Nordic-Scottish Co-operation

The second day focused on experiences of Nordic-Scottish Co-operation. As an introduction Harry Ekestam presented the Action Plan in force and the Northern Periphery and the North Sea programs. The Interreg programs are the most important instruments for the practical implementation of Nordic-Scottish co-operation. Partners from local and regional authorities, the business sector and others, have gained successful experiences from different projects.

Three successful projects were presented: Teleremcare/Remedy by Anita Helgesson and Curt Hörnqvist, Sweden, The Northern Maritime Corridor by Olav Hauge, Norway, and Small Towns Network, by Bob Shannon, Scotland.

The aim of Teleremcare was to establish IT-based communication networks between different providers of healthcare. The follow up project Remedy aims at developing remote telematic solutions for patient diagnoses, at training of healthcare professionals in sparsely populated areas and at establishing an European standard for education and skills training of nursing staff that also offers the possibility for certification at different levels. Both projects give examples of solutions compensating for remote location and contribute to maintenance of a high level of medical service in areas characterised by declining population and long distances. The solutions have resulted in regular activities.

The Northern Maritime Corridor project deals with transports as means for development by connecting coastal areas and enhancing regional development in the North Sea and the Northern Periphery Regions. The project involves key actors as planners, sector representatives and county councils.

The third presentation delivered concrete solutions and proposals with regard to transnational experiences from different projects, e.g. the Small Towns Network project. The last project grew out of a study, initiated because of concerns about the future of a number of small towns in the shadow of Inverness, the rapidly growing capital of the Highlands. Some of the lessons learnt are to involve key actors from the start, that lots depends on the engagement of people with necessary skills and enthusiasm and that heavy involvement is needed from the national Government in key projects.

These three project presentations gave concrete descriptions of what can be achieved through transnational co-operation. Additional knowledge hereof was given by Kai Böhme, Nordregio and Francois Josserand, European Policies Research Centre, who presented an analysis of Nordic-Scottish co-operation during the Interreg IIC North Sea and the Article 10 Northern Periphery programmes: Transnational Nordic Scottish Cooperation: Lessons for policy and practice. Examples of important conclusions from the analysis are firstly that to work with transnational co-operation is not a quick fix but need a long-term preparation, a sufficient integration in "home-organisations" and involvement of policy makers at early stages. Furthermore, the topic addressed in the projects need to be of strategic interest for the actors concerned and to be concrete and not just an issue of common concern.

The findings from the project presentations and the analyses were discussed in workshops.

Furthermore new programming strategies for the present period of the North Sea and the Northern Periphery programmes were presented by their administration: Lorraine George and Niclas Forsling respectively.

The results from the workshops and the new programming strategies formed bases for a discussion. Questions of systematic learning and transformation of knowledge, dissemination/ marketing of programmes and integration and involvement of key actors dominated the discussion.

Development of the Nordic-Scottish Co-operation

Diane McLafferty, Scottish Executive, and Mårten Johansson, Finnish Ministry of the Interior, gave their views on experiences and future challenges for the co-operation. Both gave a favourable assessment of the achievements of the co-operation. For the future, Ms McLafferty suggested more efforts on publicity, stronger focusing of activities and more effective follow-up. In addition, Mr Johansson wanted to see more involvement from national level in co-operation projects. Future priority areas could be e.g. natural heritage/tourism and ICT. He also pointed to the common interest on sparsely populated areas and suggested co-operation on the future of the Northern Periphery programme.

Thereafter a thorough discussion of the future of the co-operation took place. Important challenges for the co-operation were highlighted. The paradigm shift in many European countries, that regional policy covers the whole of the countries and not only the less favoured parts as before, was noted. The growing focus on sustainability and the links to the Lisbon and the Gothenburg growth strategies were highlighted. The consequences of these changes must be further discussed and a question was raised how to reconcile this new broader agenda. The enlargement of the European union will have effects on the size and composition of different flows, especially over the new internal and external borders. Much focus will be on the Eastern Europe and the Baltic States in the forthcoming years.

At the same time the need for maintaining and developing co-operation "westwards" was underlined. And, operating in a zone between east and west, it is important that the Nordic-Scottish co-operation continues, not least as a tool to tackle the very specific conditions of e.g. de-population, sparse population and low accessibility in certain regions. As important areas for further co-operation were also mentioned accessibility to education and services, more involvment of the business sector and developing of links between this sector and universities.

In order to ensure that these important issues are taken on board, it is vital that the role of the Liaison Group is strengthened and that the Group becomes more pro-active and strategic in its work. Bridge-building between different Interreg programmes to get more consistency was also mentioned as an important task.

Mr. Moray Gilland, European Commission, spoke highly of the current Nordic-Scottish co-operation. He found this co-operation rather unique in Europe and he could identify many positive results of the co-operation. He also underlined how important it is that the information about the results are widely spread and that the results will come to use in practice.

Thereafter a first discussion of the draft conclusions took place. Some changes were proposed and the discussion continued on the next day.

Regional Policy in an enlarged European Union

In his speech at the last day of the conference, Mr. Gilland from DG Regional Policy, gave an overview of the processes of creating the future EU structural and regional policy that are going on at present. He anticipated a substantial shift in funding from west to east and a need for a coherent approach to the new neighbours of the new EU. The cohesion element is still crucial. There is a broad consensus among the present 15 member states that the enlargement requires solidarity with the new member states and that the main part of the resources under Objective 1 should be designated to these countries. When it comes to community actions outside Objective 1 the menu approach is still valid (new Objective 2), targeting especially the Lisbon agenda.

He further emphasised that a strong focus on Interreg-programs is still required even if the format has not been set yet and there is still time to influence the design. The experiences from the present Interreg-programs have to be taken into account. The results have to be made more tangible - there is a lack of awareness of what transnational co-operation can achieve. He also stressed the need of overcoming barriers rather than focus on networking. Interreg III C has created a workable framework that has been met with great interest, especially from the regions. Furthermore, the new Neighbourhood concept is also of great interest.

John Bachtler, European Policies Research Centre, continued the presentation by highlighting some essential items for future debate on European structural policy reform work. Some key issues are how to combine cohesion with growth and competitiveness and how to ensure that the EU policy objectives and the budgetary responsibility are met.

One issue, which is under discussion, is the concept of territorial cohesion. The concept has been proposed to be included in the new treaty but the definition is still very unclear and ambiguous. Mr Gilland pointed out that it is linked to the spatial dimension on cohesion policy, when operating with Europe as a territory Interreg is a key factor.

Summary and conclusions

Brita Saxton, Swedish Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, started the final session of the conference by giving her personal views on what had been discussed and achieved during the two working days. Among other reflections she highlighted that the meeting with the man who guided us on Ulvön had confirmed the importance of enthusiasm and mobility of entrepreneurs and that the contacts with the representatives from Örnsköldsvik pointed out the significance of political leadership and cooperation for the development of a municipality. She also mentioned, apropos of the description given by Hallgeir Aalbu, the need to have clear pictures of the demographic and regional developments in Europe, as they are rather negative in many respects.

Concerning the future of the Nordic-Scottish cooperation she reflected on the need to put more emphasize on dissemination and marketing of the concrete results of the cooperation, to build bridges between different programmes, of an increased thematic approach, to go from "common" to "joint" projects, of more focusing on good examples from the different countries and the possibility of better involvement from policy makers.

A further discussion about the conclusions from the conference also took place. Some more proposals for changes were made. As these conclusions will form an important base for the future co-operation they will be finally discussed at the next meeting of the Liaison Group in October.

Herewith the conference was closed.