The Case of the Bothnian Arc (Finland-Sweden) – Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders

Claire Nauwelaers, Karen Maguire and Giulia Ajmone Marsan
Additional contact information
Karen Maguire: OECD
Giulia Ajmone Marsan: OECD

No 2013/17, OECD Regional Development Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: The Bothnian Arc is a cross-border area on the border of Finland and Sweden that covers the most populated areas along the upper Bothnian Bay, spanning 800 kilometres. It has a population of around 710 000, across 55 000 km² with an economic output of USD 31 billion. The Bothnian Arc collaboration was initiated by local authorities, with strong commitment of the mayors of the cities of Oulu and Luleå (300 kilometres apart). Despite a peripheral location in all respects, some parts of the Bothnian Arc have shown a remarkable vitality, notably Oulu (Finland), driven by an innovation ecosystem that builds on the heritage of Nokia and the contribution of Oulu University. Luleå (Sweden) has recently attracted the European Facebook data centre. The area is looking to go beyond ad hoc projects for a more strategic approach to innovation-driven collaboration to be the dynamic hub of the north. This case study is part of the project Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders. A summary of this working paper appears in a report of the same name.

Keywords: Bothnian Arc; cross-border; Finland; innovation; Luleä; Oulu; regional development; regional growth; regional innovation; regional innovation strategies; science and technology; Sweden (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L52 L53 O14 O18 O38 R11 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-11-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-geo, nep-ino and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1787/5k3xv0r6v26b-en (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/17-en

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in OECD Regional Development Working Papers from OECD Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().