FREIIA

FREIIA is a €3.3 million Interreg North Sea project (€302,000 for Bornholm) to strengthen public leadership in local communities based on the 17 SDGs.

The project falls under Interreg priority theme 4: "Better governance", and is focused on islands in the North Sea region, including Bornholm, Koster in Sweden, Hvaler in Norway and Îles du Ponant in France.

The project will work with the partners' self-selected focus areas, with Bornholm participating with a focus on circular economy. The project will revolve around working with the relevant topics under the five pillars; research/education, companies, the public institution, citizens and the environment.

The broad involvement is considered important in this project to create an independent and sustainable basis for development on the islands.

The work consists of knowledge sharing and workshops designed to rethink how new initiatives and innovation in local communities happen in interaction between these actors.

The whole idea of the project is also that, when working with sustainability, targeted change is often created from the top down, i.e. from those in power to citizens. Instead, we will work to provide the best conditions for it to happen more the other way round, i.e. that citizens and companies can influence how development can take place. Through the project, the concrete activities on Bornholm will take shape more.

FREIIA started in November 2022 and ends in December 2025.

Project partners

Partners: Provinsje Fryslân (NL), Vereniging Natuurmonumenten (NL), Hanze Hogeschool (NL), De ontwikkelfabriek (NL), University of Groningen (NL), Dr Cormac Walsh Research and Consulting (DE), Högskolan Väst (SE), AB Kosters Framtid (SE), Länsstyrelsen Västra Götaland (SE), Les îles du Ponant (FR), Aalborg Universitet (DK), Bornholms Regionskommune (DK), Østfold University College (NO), Visit Fredrikstad Hvaler (NO)

Find more information about the project here:

FREIIA, Facilitating Resilience Empowered by Island's Innovation Approaches - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (oecd-opsi.org)

FREIIA FREIIA | Interreg North Sea

Read about Interreg North Sea's priority themes here:

Better governance | Interreg North Sea