Interdependence, knowledge and cooperation in cross-border cooperation in the North

Abstract

European Union's Interreg programmes are tools for regional development. This chapter examines the cross-border cooperation programme Interreg Nord, related to projectification and open innovation from a regional development perspective in the northern regions of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The chapter analyses how open innovation emerged in the programme during the period 2014–2020 and what regional development themes local actors preferred to build the development of the region on within the framework of the programme. The data consist of Interreg Nord unfunded project applications, and the abstracts of the applications form an entity of data, where the project planners determine what is central to regional development. The analysis indicates that rejected projects aimed to develop the region mostly through the organizational, but also the wider societal, dimension of projectification. The funding instrument limits applicants’ autonomous intervention in regional development, and on the other hand, improves open innovation in the application process.