27 Partners institutions from 15 European regions have joined forces in collaboration to strengthen their regional economies. Political representatives from the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions are meeting today in Brussels at the first Political Advisory Group Meeting of the inter-regional projects Baltic Supply and North Sea Supply Connect. The objective of these European projects is to increase the competitive ability of small and medium-sized businesses in the Northeastern European Corridor.

The article "Open Linked Data to Inform Policy and Improve Services", written by Mike Thacker from Porism & esd Toolkit has been published in the European Journal of ePractice nr 12. The European Journal of ePractice is a peer-reviewed online publication on eTransformation.

The Sixth Call for Applications is now closed. A total of twelve full applications, one application for extension and five cluster applications have been submitted to the Secretariat.

Registration for the Joint Annual Conference and General Assembly 2011 of the North Sea Region Programme and the North Sea Commission is now open.

DC NOISE was promoted at the Alpine Space Forum: Coping with Demographic Change in the Alps - Shaping Policies and contributed to make it a fertile platform.

First impressions about the event are presented in a press release that you can find here.

The North Sea Region Programme 2007-2013 is inviting interested agents to submit a quotation for a short term contract regarding the production of a video / news reel for the Programme at the Annual Conference on 22-23 June 2011.

A selection of short videos on DiPol's activities at the case studies is available for online access from the projects website.

Commissioner Hahn will be available on Monday 21 March from 3-4pm to chat on-line about future EU cohesion policy.

Danish director Susanne Bier's 'In A Better World', supported by North Sea Screen Partners member FilmFyn, has won Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards!

It is now possible to make early bird hotel bookings for the Joint Annual Conference 2011. The event will take place 21-23 June in Bruges, Belgium.

The Programme has received a number of questions concerning the ongoing tendering. Two additional information documents are reflecting on these questions to clarify the issues raised.

On behalf of the Steering Group of the Joint Conference of Transnational Programmes the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013 is inviting interested parties to submit an offer for a short term contract regarding the design, production and implementation of a website.

The rising price of fuel could prove a major advantage to ports in the EU North Sea Region as they seek to develop and promote much more cruise activity. This was one of the key conclusions to emerge from the opening conference of the new Cruise Gateway North Sea Project.
Summing up the discussions, Chris Hayman, chairman of Seatrade and moderator for the conference discussions, said: “Cruise lines are very conscious of maximising their fuel economy and are tending to favour itineraries which enable them to steam more slowly in order. That means they are looking for ports which are quite close together – offering a short hop to the next destination.”

The 6th Call for Applications is now open - both for full project applications and for cluster applications. Applications can be submitted until and including Monday 14 March 2011.

The 13 transnational European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes will organise a joint conference on 15 and 16 September 2011. The event aims to highlight the added value of transnational cooperation for the future.

The Programme is inviting interested parties to submit a quotation for a short term contract regarding the production of a number of videos for the Joint ETC Conference of Transnational Programmes 2011.

Based on the last meetings and proposals, the Secretariat has prepared a note summarising the main points to consider when preparing a cluster application.