Central Baltic Project Database - clustering and economic cooperation

Final report Go to market

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Game market overview

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Project website

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At a glance text:

the aim to strengthen the game industry in the Central Baltic area
the cluster community, Be BIG community, was created

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Exploring New Markets for Central Baltic Games Industry

4Smart Growth increased export of Central Baltic region SME's to China and Chile

marika.bogel-leino — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 11:59:04 +0000

The overall objective of the project was to jointly use the existing business intelligence and connections that partners had with 2 regions in China and Chile for increasing the export of the CB region SMEs. Project main planned result was to reach 3-4 sales agreements in 3 markets during or shortly after the project, and to organise export missions for 30 SMEs from CB clusters to new markets.

Due to the COVID-19, the project had to adapt and implement a turnaround from the traditional physical traveling to external markets with a digital matchmaking program. This taught the consortium that it is possible to arrange successful export activities online. 35 companies attended digital matchmaking activities in 3 markets. By the end of the project 3 sales agreements (one in Chile and 2 in China) and 2 commercial representation agreements were signed. There are still 41 pilots under discussions that hopefully will turn in to agreements in near future.

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New products and services

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At a glance text:

COVID-19 changed the physical travelling to external markets to a digital matchmaking program
successful export activities can also be organised online
3 sales agreements (one in Chile and two in China) and two commercial representation agreements were signed

Project link:

Smart Clusters for Smart Growth through Joint Business Intelligence

Exports of clusters of CB economic strengths shipbuilding, maritime, renewable energy, automation and ICT to Namibia as a stable point of entry to the Southern African markets resulted in six sales and two joint ventures in Namibia and Zambia

marika.bogel-leino — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 11:41:33 +0000

The goal of the project SME Aisle was to support the exports of Estonian, Finnish, Latvian and Swedish companies on the fields of shipbuilding, maritime, logistics, renewable energy, automation and information communication technology to Southern African markets, especially having a focus on Namibian, South African and Zambian markets.

The project introduced Southern African markets for hundreds of organisations, especially to SMEs. Altogether 45 SMEs participated in business missions to target markets which resulted in six sales and two joint ventures in Namibia and Zambia.

All achievement of the project are collected to freely available browser-based SME Aisle ePlatform tool https://smeaisle.samk.fi/en/smeaisle The ePlatform introduces the project results and promotes business co-operation between the Central Baltic region and Southern African markets.

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External link:

SME Aisle ePlatform tool

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At a glance text:

The project introduced Southern African markets for hundreds of organisations.
45 SMEs participated in business missions to target markets
The missions resulted in six sales and two joint ventures in Namibia and Zambia.

Project link:

Exports of clusters of CB economic strengths shipbuilding, maritime, renewable energy, automation and ICT to Namibia as a stable point of entry to the Southern African markets

NNFA increased exports of film productions

Ari Brozinski — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 08:35:50 +0000

The project targeted to increase exports within the film production sector in Estonia, Latvia and Finland. Production in the context of this project was defined as for filming movies, TV series and advertisements in the Central Baltic region. Within film production sector the export occurs through servicing international productions that take place in the home country.

For reaching the set objective it is crucial to address the current need of developing and introducing the region worldwide as an acknowledged film area providing an excellent and wide array of high standards services. Combining the advantages and strengths that the three partner countries have will result in a much bigger regional impact.

Project developed and executed a large-scale international marketing strategy to provide the target markets with info that the regions co-operate to provide sufficient number of crew members, different needed technology and also expertise for specific tasks needed for large scale productions. The project received positive feedback from foreign producers, especially from the North American market, who considered the region more attractive when getting to know three countries’ strengths combined as homogeneous region and providing a wide array of services with high standards for their large international productions. The high interest rate towards B2B meetings and region FAM tours when possible confirmed that volumes that can be reached in 3 countries cooperation are far greater than what each partner separately could ever achieve.

NSFA countries participated at different international film festivals and markets in Europe, Asia, and North America, created two public online presentations for the North American and Japanese market, the latter one with simultaneous translation. These events had both highly valuable attendance. Due to COVID restrictions 30 B2B companies’ meetings were arranged by the project agent in Tokyo and 24 B2B online company meetings were arranged in North American market for key players like Paramount, Warner Bros and Amazon Studios.

More than 80 SMEs participated in project activities as participating in project festival booth, agent meetings, B2B meetings or servicing the production. Since the tailormade roadshows of the project could not be executed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, showcases and B-to-B meetings partly replaced the content of roadshows and face-to-face meetings with industry professionals, which resulted with high interest in FAM tours when the travel restrictions allow. Project received several production inquiries, and one bigger scale production took place in partner country (Latvia).

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At a glance text:

Joint marketing efferts gained wide recognition
Over 50 B2B meetings
More than 80 participating SMEs

Project link:

North Star Film Alliance After careful consideration the project has changed its name from "New Nordic Film Alliance" to "North Star Film Alliance" to avoid confusion with one film festival. Nevertheless the project acronym will stay the same - NNFA.

ASIA-CLEAN expedided cleantech export

Ari Brozinski — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 08:12:45 +0000

The goal of the ASIA-CLEAN project was to increase the export of Finnish and Estonian cleantech, healthtech, smart city, environmental and energy technology companies to the project's target areas in China (Jinan and Shangdong regions and Tianjin) and Malaysia.

Project implementation started almost the same time than all borders were closed due to the COVID19 pandemic. This created challenges to project implementation when travelling to target market was impossible. Project, however, found new ways and solutions to implement the project as well as ways to create and have a frequent contact with the representatives from the target markets. One of the most useful and valuable solution was to have active business experts at local market who were able to act as a node between the target market clients and project partners as well as ASIA-CLEAN project companies. There was a bit over 200 companies who received support and knowledge about entering to Chinese and Malaysian markets through the project activities.

The most valuable and interesting achievements of the ASIA-CLEAN were the realized deals and tailored export benefitting achievements. Altogether 12 deals were obtained. Eight of them focusing on China and four on Malaysia.

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Analysis of cross-border value chains

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Market watch report

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At a glance text:

12 business deals obtained
Over 200 companies involved
Active business experts in local markets helped mitigate effects of COVID-19

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Access & Success in Northeastern Asia cleantech markets

BreedExpo helped agricultural producers enter new markets

Ari Brozinski — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:38:48 +0000

The main objective of BreedExpo project was to support agricultural producers from CB area, who are interested in exporting breeding animals, to enter into new markets: Kazahstan, Georgia and Ukraine.

Cooperation between farmers’ organisations and joint actions enabled to get more attention and higher interest in new target markets, and to optimize the costs of marketing activities. As CB markets and individual farms are quite small compared to selected target markets, it is quite difficult for individual farmers to make deals and get sales. Working together and making joint sales contracts allows to meet needs of big farms in Kazakhstan, Georgia or Ukraine.

As a result of the project a strong cluster cooperation was established involving ca 600 farmers and 8 breeding and export companies and associations from project area. 36 farmers participated actively in export activities (contact visits to target markets, participation in agricultural exhibitions). Ca 100 farmers sold their cattle through local intermediary organisations to 3 selected target markets during project implementation period: 27 deliveries were organised to Georgia, 20 to Kazakhstan and 3 to Ukraine. The amount of the sales was ca 2,7 million euros. In total ca 1300 beef cattle and ca 870 dairy cattle were sold to target markets.

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Agriculture and fisheries and forestry

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At a glance text:

Strong cluster operation
600 farmers and 8 companies involved
Total amount of sales value ca 2,7 million euros
Over 2000 cattles sold

Project link:

Meta cluster for exporting breeding animals to new markets

IHMEC accelerated sales in the Middle-East for companies developing indoor hygiene products

Ari Brozinski — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:30:18 +0000

IHMEC project aimed at creating business opportunities for Estonian, Finnish and Swedish companies at Saudi Arabian markets. The project supported number of companies from the Central Baltic region from several sectors to being able to achieve sales, raise investments and to prepare collaboration agreements.

upported companies came to the project from various business segments – water control and solutions, timber building, surface materials, cleaning chemicals, hospital equipment, furniture solutions etc. – where the common nominator for all of these was indoor hygiene solutions. Altogether 28 companies participated in the project activities.

Besides direct export market entry support, the project supported companies indirectly in entering process. The project tested several surface materials from the viewpoint of hygiene. Partners also created an indoor hygiene databank (indoorhygine.fi) to illustrate and distribute information about the indoor hygiene, its importance, and possibilities. Knowledge of companies’ products from the perspective of indoor hygiene can be a selling point when entering to the market.

COVID19 pandemic shook the world when the project was in halfway of the implementation. This unfortunate situation brought plenty of new opportunities for the companies in the field of indoor hygiene. The importance of the project increased, new contacts were created and media attention was received.
The project resulted in indoor hygiene solutions which can be exported in Saudi Arabian markets. By the end of the project, IHMEC actors have reached altogether two (2) sales, two (2) distributor agreements, one (1) non-disclosure agreement (NDA), and two (2) memorandums of understanding (MoU) in the field of indoor hygiene.

The project produced 3D animation “indoor hygiene model space” (IHMEC Indoor Hygiene Solutions) which can be used for marketing purposes by the involved indoor hygiene cluster projects. Future export possibilities are also supported through an indoor hygiene model in room which will be created in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Indoor hygiene solutions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCdmQDSj6HM

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New products and services

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At a glance text:

Help companies enter the Saudi-Arabian market in the field of indoor hygiene
28 participating companies
New hygiene products that can be exported

Project link:

Opening indoor hygiene SME’s exports to Middle East construction markets

LEF Network to China created an export support network for wood products

Ari Brozinski — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:45:07 +0000

The project targeted the entry to the China’s market by CB region wood interior design industry companies. For that purpose, cluster uniting 5 partners was created. Cluster organisations from Latvia, Estonia and Finland participated.

COVID-19 pandemic had strong impact to project implementation as physical access to China was limited.

The project implemented following activities:

Established LEF network of 5 partners for sustainable export development to China.
Expo visit and contact matchmaking in China were 19 companies participated.
Trainings were organised in 3 countries to raise competence about exporting opportunities to China.
Web platform was created with all project materials from training and market research-handbook.
Participating companies had the opportunity to send their products to China, where they were placed and represented in showroom in Changzhou city for a year. It was the alternative solution in the COVID-19 obstacles.
The number of events was organized, such as Study Tour; development of showroom in Changzhou; participation with joint booth in China International Fair; participation in 10th China Global Wood Trade Conference; organization of B2B; presentation of the project during Beijing EXPO, organization of forum with B2B event.

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LEF catalogue - English Version

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LEF catalogue - Chinese version

Market research

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At a glance text:

5 partners for sustainable export development
Trainings in 3 countries
Participating companies could send their products to China to be on display

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Creation of export support co-operation network to China in Latvia-Estonia-Finland cross-border region

eMesai supported SME's entering the Sub-Saharan, Indian and UAE markets

Ari Brozinski — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 12:39:31 +0000

The project supported SMEs' efforts to enter the Sub-Saharan, India and UAE markets to reach the main objective of increasing the Central Baltic SMEs' export to these regions/countries. This was done by 3 strong CB ICT clusters from Sweden, Estonia and Latvia through joint export competence building and jointly applying export support tools.

During the project 1 sale and 1 MoU was signed. In addition, more than 10 sales and potential sales after the end of the project were recorded.

The project supported altogether more than 200 SMEs’ export efforts.

As main activities of the project following were implemented:

2 joint export seminars (Tallinn & Riga) and 1 export webinar;
2 joint study trips on joint marketing (Tallinn & Riga)
2 joint webinars on: how to participate in World Bank tenders and how to participate in UN tenders in African countries/India
3 joint trade missions to regional events/world congresses (Transform Africa Summit and ITS World Congresses), 1 joint trade mission to the UAE and 3 webinars to prepare for these missions
Raising awareness seminars about digitalization benefits of the local stakeholders/potential clients at e-Governance conferences in Tallinn in 2019, 2020 and 2021 online, EEN Sweden online matchmaking event and at a webinar on how to do business in India digitally
Local market expert service in India and in the UAE for altogether 16 SMEs from 3 countries, updates of business profiles and solution descriptions for Estonian SMEs for fitting better for the target markets and participation in the Business Support to EU-India Policy dialogue project events for specific Swedish SMEs with personal invitations.

The significant part of the project implementation fell to the Covid pandemic, and the project had to adopt with new circumstances. The partnership was successful in that.

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ict and digital society

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At a glance text:

More than 200 supported SME's
Joint export seminars
Joint trade missions

Project link:

Competitive Economy Through Cross Border Export Support to Sub-Saharan Africa, India and UAE Countries

CAITO attracted Japanese tourists to the Central Baltic region

Ari Brozinski — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 10:37:46 +0000

The project targeted the increase in Japanese tourists visits to Central Baltic region by joint efforts of Estonian, Finnish and Latvian rural tourism clusters.

The project was led by Estonian University of Life Sciences and included relevant partner organisations working with rural tourism from Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

The project implemented wide range of activities relevant for attracting Japanese tourists to the Central Baltic region. Those activities included awareness raising and product development among tourist service providers, trainings, hosting media and tour operators visits, creating press articles, participations in JATA travel market, market analysis, new marketing materials, the landing page, itineraries and packages for individual tourists.

During the prorject 252 unique rural tourism secto companies actively participated in project activities. The participating companies represented fields as accommodation, restaurants, catering, leisure, culture and others.

The project emphasised the high value added related to the product development (packaging the rural tourism services into joint journeys and offers), following the Japanese tourists logic to visit more than 1 Central Baltic country while visiting the region and joining forces for active new market entry activities (joint FAM trips, participations in fairs, marketing materials,…).

The project resulted continuing cooperation by rural tourism organisations after the end of project, the use of landing page - https://balticsea.countryholidays.info/ and has led to new cross-border cooperation projects.

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Tourism