Nordregio was established as a Nordic institute by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1997 with the core focus of spatial development within the Nordic region. The institute's research covers the Nordic countries geographically as well as thematically, and a lot of the work is also based on requests from Nordic stakeholders.
The Nordic region covers the five countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the three autonomous areas the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Within the Nordic countries, substantial differences can be found. Most of the larger cities are located in southern areas, while some of Europe's most peripheral and sparsely populated areas are to be found in the north. Nordregio research gives attention to specific Nordic places, makes comparisons between them and also positions the Nordic region within a wider European and global framework.
Nordic assignments
Some of the work at Nordregio is connected to Nordic cooperation under Norden.org. For example, the institute acts as secretary in the four Nordic working groups on Urban development, Rural development, Cross-border cooperation and Third generation regional policy, appointed by the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. Another example is a project on the potentials of higher education institutions within regional development, (HEI) funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
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National assignments
Nordregio also carries out projects funded and initiated by national, regional and local actors in the different Nordic countries and autonomous areas. National actors such as the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KRD) and Statistics Greenland have been main stakeholders in some projects for example.
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Regional and local assignments
Other projects are carried out based on the needs of regional and local actors such as the Swedish regions Skåne and Västra Götaland. Nordregio also cooperates with other research institutes, universities and organizations. Examples here include the network for the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) and Statistics and Research Åland (ÅSUB).
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Bringing our knowledge together
To make further use of the knowledge about the Nordic region gathered in various projects, Nordregio produces a periodic report presenting an overview of regional development in the Nordic countries: Regional Developments in the Nordic countries, 2010. One of the core tasks of the institute is also to maintain and develop Nordregio's database, which holds the most comprehensive overview of population, demography, the economy, labour, migration, regional, rural and urban structures, plus the environment and energy, in the Nordic countries.
Read more:
Addressing climate change adaptation at the Nordic level, by Stefanie Lange and Asli Tepecik Dis. Published in: Circumpolar Perspectives in Global Dialogue: Social Sciences beyond the International Polar Year. Nordregio Contributions to ICASS VII. Insert to Journal of Nordregio 2011:2