The North Sea region has a stronghold within industrial production and sustainable energy. To handle the challenges there is a need for cities, regions and clusters to cooperate across borders.
“As cities we strive to provide the best framework conditions for our enterprises to gain access to international markets and engage in innovation – to create jobs and growth” says Christina Folmand Knudsen, International Coordinator, City of Aalborg, DK.
Through Northern Connections, the city of Aalborg together with the regional cluster House of Energy gets the opportunity, to explore how to assist local enterprises in finding innovation partners and business opportunities in Living Labs across the North Sea Region and how to use Living Labs as a test ground for innovation.
“By joining forces with regions, cities and clusters in Northern Connections, we can explore the innovation potential of our SMEs and give them a possibility to show internationally what they can do,” says Christina Folmand, International Coordinator, City of Aalborg, DK.
Cities and regions in general are challenged by low coordination of innovation strategies. While our enterprises look beyond regional and national borders, our strategies tend to focus within our regional boundaries. According to Christina Folmand, cities need the same global outlook as their enterprises and through Northern Connections we hope to bridge the interests and needs of cities and clusters.