Erhvervshus Sjælland is at the head of the new project ‘Fehmarn Belt Innovation’, FBI for short. A collaborative project that receives a grant of 1,5 million euros from the EU program Interreg Deutschland-Danmark. The FBI will strengthen the Fehmarn area’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through innovation processes, where they must already learn to exploit the potential and opportunities that exist across the border in the Fehmarn area.
Must be sharp
– The Fehmarn Belt tunnel creates increased awareness of the Fehmarn area and the business potential that lies here. We must be keen to exploit the growth and development potential of the fixed connection. A very central element of the FBI project is the collaboration between students from higher education and SMEs, this can be in the form of internships, student projects or semester assignments. Here the students can directly contribute to a company’s innovation process. It is a very special combination and a valuable opportunity for everyone, says Kathrine Monsrud Ekelund, member of the regional council in Region Zealand and Danish chairman of the Interreg committee.
Focus on small and medium-sized companies
Focusing on the themes of food, maritime industry and industry, the project offers small and medium-sized companies in the Fehmarn area, among other things, advice, matchmaking and study tours across the border.
– It is a unique opportunity to increase innovation, business development and technology transfer across the border. The FBI project helps to support the attraction of qualified labour as well as the building of a joint Danish-German labour market and more closely integrated border geography. It is a huge advantage that with Interreg we can support such a promising Danish-German project as the FBI, says Stefan Leyk, district president of Kreis Plön and German chairman of the Interreg committee.
Partnership for business needs
Student collaborations and cross-border activities are not new initiatives, but at FBI they are adapted so that they exactly match the current situation and needs of the individual company, rather than a standard innovation process where all participating companies have to go through the same process.
Collaboration between many
The FBI project is a partnership between, among others, Business Lolland-Falster, Knowledge Hub Zealand, Roskilde University and Zealand Business Academy Zealand on the Danish side and Kieler Wirtschaftsförderung and Technische Hochschule Lübeck on the German side.
14 new Danish-German projects approved
The EU support program Interreg Deutschland-Danmark has received DKK 94 million euros from the EU to promote growth and development until 2027. The money will be used to implement a large number of cooperation projects between German and Danish actors, organizations and companies in Region Zealand, Region Southern Denmark and the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Interreg committee has just approved 33 million euros for 14 new collaboration projects across the border in the areas of innovation, green transition, culture and education.
Citizens’ Fund
Among the approved projects is a Borgerprojektfond. Within the framework of the fund, smaller projects are to be supported that focus on the involvement of Danish and German citizens. Civic Danish-German projects within e.g. culture, children, language, education, sports, etc. must enable meetings between citizens and contribute to a greater understanding of the neighbouring country’s culture, language, traditions and society. The fund’s first application deadline is planned for the first quarter of 2023.
