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Cross-border
economic
development
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Vienna - Bratislavaand neighboring regions
Economic fabric
With a history of heavy industry (coal and steel), the majority of the
regions which make up this cross-border territory have succeeded in
their transition to high-value-added and knowledge-based industries
and services and are among Europe’s “leaders of innovation”.
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This
territory is marked by the presence of major multinationals in cutting-
edge technologies such as Philips, and research centres such as the
IMEC (Inter-University Microelectronics Centre) in Leuven. The dominant
sectors are: the chemical industry and new materials, electronics and
pharmaceuticals.
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65 “The Case of the Top Technology Region/ Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle (TTR-ELAt) –
Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders”, OECD (Claire Nauwelaers, Karen
Maguire, Guilia Ajmone Marsan), 2013.
Sectors of economic cooperation
Cross-border economic exchanges are highly developed. Moreover,
the public and semi-public authorities encourage and support these
initiatives through numerous projects.
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The Top Technology Cluster (TTC) project
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was developed to
create cross-border consortia of SMEs in the region’s three leading
fields. This initiative introduced many tools such as: networking
events, assistance from ‘business development support’ advisors
and vouchers for innovation, which the consortia could use to
benefit from initial advice on how to structure their partnership.
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As a continuation of the TTC came
the Cross-Border Cluster
Stimulation (GCS) project
.
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This project offered grants of
between €100,000 and €250,000 to cross-border SME consortia
for industrial research and to initiate the development of new
products.
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Project implemented between 2011 and 2013 and co-financed by the Euregio Meuse-Rhine
programme. For more information:
www.ttc-innovation.eu.85
Project implemented between 2011 and 2014 and co-financed by the Euregio Meuse-Rhine
programme. For more information, see the Project Factsheet.
Maastricht