ACCESS – Aurora Cross-border Coalition for Eastern Strategy and Solutions
In response to the geopolitical changes resulting from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, the ACCESS project strengthens the vitality and cooperation of Lapland, North-East Finland, and Norway’s Eastern Finnmark. The project supports regional and local authorities as well as key stakeholders in managing the geoeconomic transition: through cross-border cooperation, challenges are turned into opportunities. The project improves the operating conditions and capabilities of local communities and businesses. Its aims also include increasing investment and linking the area to broader value and supply chains.
The project is implemented as three complementary components. The first component builds the capacities of authorities and stakeholders through a phased programme that brings together needs-based training, peer learning, and the CBC-exchange of experience. The project enhances the ability to respond swiftly to changing conditions, develops resource management and participation, and establishes enduring practices for sustainable development.
The second component produces joint cross-border strategies and action plans. This work is underpinned by a feasibility analysis of regional ecosystems, identifying key industrial and innovation value chains and associated sustainable growth opportunities — from clean energy and the processing of natural resources to tourism and security of supply. The project launches pilots that bring together education, RDI activities, and businesses to build CBC value chains.
The third component, coordinated the Development Company of North-East Finland Naturpolis, ensures open communication and visibility. The project applies a methodology that emphasises peer-learning practice. ACCESS culminates in a congress in Kuusamo, tentatively titled the “Northern Frontier Declaration”, where a declaration giving voice to the border regions will be signed and the results presented for a sustainable and prosperous future for the eastern frontier.
Trough the project the Arctic border regions will demonstrate what President Ursula von der Leyen’s 2025 statement means in practice: that not a single square centimetre of the European Union will be abandoned. More broadly, the project showcases the leadership of the northern border regions to the whole of Europe (the EU plus Norway and other European allies), for whom the development of the eastern frontier is practical work towards building Europe’s strategic sovereignty. The northern border regions will set an example not only for the West, but also for civil society beyond the western boundary of “the good life”.
Contact: Project leader, The Local Federation of East Lapland, Vilma Ohrankämmen, vilma.ohrankammen@italappi.fi.
