Presentation of the project

to

BSSSC BOARDHämeenlinna, Finland

June 14, 2003

Background

Initiative

• City of Stockholm Economic Development

Agency

• Baltic Alliance of Regional Development

Institutions

Background

Model

• The Bangemann Challenge 1994

• Six editions of the Stockholm

Challenge so far

Background

The Bangemann Report

1993 - “The Bangemann Report, Europe and the Global Information Society” is published by the European Commission.The report singles out ten areas related to IT in which Europe has to become stronger in order to catch up with the United States.

Background

Areas in the Bangemann Report1) Teleworking 2) Distance learning 3) A network for universities and research centres 4) Telematic services for SMEs 5) Road traffic management 6) Air traffic control 7) Healthcare networks 8) Electronic tendering 9) Trans-european public administration network 10) City information highways

Background

The Bangemann Challenge

1994 - The City of Stockholm initiates the Bangemann Challenge

• a challenge between cities and regions in Europe;

• ten categories (one for each area in the Bangemann report).

Background

The Stockholm Challenge

The Bangemann Challenge continues annually as the Stockholm Challenge:

• competition becomes global;• from 2001 onwards, the number of

categories is reduced to six.

Background

The Stockholm Challenge

• the 5th competition was held in 2002, gathering nearly 600 projects from 78 countries;

• total of more than 3000 projects have joined the Stockholm Challenge so far.

Fromthe Stockholm Challenge

tothe Baltic Challenge

The Spirit of the Challenge

• Bridging the digital divide• Sharing of knowledge and experiences• Openness and democratic approach• Focuses the benefits and positive changes that

IT can bring the users rather than on the sophistication of the technology itself

• Simple applications - same chances for winning

Key Values

Basic framework

Categories

• e-Government• Culture• Health• Education• e-Business• Environment• Project Ideas

Categories

e-Government• Striving for a more democratic information

society, built on empowerment and participation among citizens;

• IT provides new possibilities for governments, local and regional public services’ providers to create democratic platforms with online citizen services 24-hours a day, cyber voting, on-line discussions, and wide access to community information.

Categories

Culture• making culture more open and

accessible to all using IT tools;• preserving cultural heritage and

identity in the global society.

Categories

Health• telemedicine care lets hospitals provide

remote consultation and diagnosis and more accurate, accessible patient records, enabling improved service and treatment;

• the internet lets the disabled interact with each other and the rest of the society, supporting them by applications that diminish their disabilities;

• using the internet for preventive care and information, thus umproving general health.

Categories

e-ducation• Thanks to e-learning, education can be

brought to more people, regardless to distance, disability or other barriers;

• IT facilitates sophisticated stimulation for technical and vocational training;

• through media and interactivity, creative lifelong learning is helping to close the digital divide.

Categories

e-Business• IT opens new opportunities and

new markets for businesses;• new activities, ranging from

home shopping and mobile marketing to business-to-business transactions, create a need for modern ICT tools in day-to-day operations.

Categories

e-nvironment• IT can help improving the understanding of

issues such as climate change and biodiversity, as well as help to monitor and survey ecological conditions and respond to environmental diseasters;

• IT is an effective tool to spread information in order to preserve the environment and enhance environmental awareness.

Categories

Project Ideas

• The aim of introducing this category is to support and promote new innovative ideas and facilitate their implementing.

Evaluation criteria

• Innovation• User Need• Transferability• Accessibility• Local impact

Basic framework

Purpose

Why a Baltic Challenge?

• Enhance regional growth • Promote co-operation within the region• Facilitate the accession to the

European Union• Access to an international network of

entrepreneurs and IT expertise• Create a Source of Inspiration!

A region in transition

• Co-operation between new EU members and neighbours increases regional strenght

• Harmonisation of governments increases similarities

• A possibility to facilitate co-operation between projects from participating countries in a systematic way

Networking

UkraineProject

Manager

Networking

Network of Partners

BelarusProject

Manager

North-West Region of RussiaProject Manager

PolandProject

Manager

LithuaniaProject

Manager

LatviaProject

Manager EstoniaProject

Manager

Project managementSNK + BARDI

TASK FORCE

Jury

What do we want to achieve?

• A meeting between companies, universities and organisations in the Baltic Sea Region

• Promotion of a wider use of IT, showcasing economically sustainable models and examples of how IT can be used within all society sectors

• Numerical goal - number of competing projects

Goals

Local strategy and implementation

• Structuring local networks• Link with local companies,

organisations, government, universities, schools etc.

• Local marketing• Develop information material• Translations• Evaluation

Organisation

Project process

• Preparation and construction of web site

• Launch of the competition• Project search• Jury evaluation process• Selection and announcement of finalists• Preparation for the final events• Final Events and Prize-Giving Ceremony

7 steps

Financing

• Interreg III B• Interreg III C• Phare• Tacis• Public-private funding

Financing

Latest developments

• BSR Interreg III B Seed Money grant

• Partnership Meeting in Gdansk, April 28-29, 2003.

• Establishment of the Task Team

Latest developments

Latest developments -financing

• Application to Baltic Sea Billion has been recently submitted by SNK

• Application to Phare 2001 CBC SPF was submitted by BARDI at the end of May

Latest developments

Launch Event

On the occasion of

5th Annual Baltic

Development Forum

Riga, 5-7 October 2003

Project

Baltic Challenge

will be presented and promoted

during

Baltic Round Table Conference

(Gdansk, June 17-19, 2003)

co-organised by BARDI and BSSSC

Promotion

Creating regional opportunities!