ACADEMY NORTH ABSTRACT 2001-06-04 ACADEMY NORTH – from support area towards a growth region Academy North is an organised crossboarder co-operation between 13 municipalities from 4 adjacent counties. Arjeplog, Arvidsjaur, Dorotea, Kramfors, Lycksele, Malå, Sollefteå, Sorsele, Storuman, Strömsund, Vilhelmina, Vindeln, Åsele have joined forces in order to initiate co-ordinate and implement higher education. The mission is to create an innovative learning environment for peripheral regions with specific needs. The objective is to promote access to higher education. We classify our actions as follow. 1. I Programmes to satisfy needs of basic service, that is legitimate demands for long-term survival. 2. Programmes for sustainable and innovative growth. There are a lot of combined factors that have motivated and facilitated the Academy North network. Let us exemplify with this quotation from a European essay on “Contemporary Challenges to European Spatial Planning” with ambitions to forecast “A Europe of Sustainable Regions”. “Little economic prospects remain for such regions. They may sell their remoteness for all kind of activities which are not welcome at central locations (e.g. nuclear power plants, bio- genetic experimental laboratories or industrial waste disposal facilities)”. We have also sometimes been labelled as “not yet totally depopulated areas”. This somewhat bleak view of our future prospects displayed by outsiders have “triggered” our efforts to show that even small areas have potentials. At the same time we are very much aware of that European structural funds support efforts focusing on regional development in peripheral regions. Present activities within Academy North are partly financed by objective 1. One basic assumption for the work that is done within Academy North is a strong belief in the growing importance of the local dimension. We identify strengths, not just in terms of skills and resources, but in intangibles such as inter-personal networks and a sense of community and identity that can be activated in support of development efforts. Our target is empowerment. A second assumption is that higher education is instrumental to economic growth and regional development. Modern growth theories tend to emphasise knowledge but also social capital, interaction and capacity to learn. In this respect we are working in harmony with “ Sweden’s Regional Growth Accords”. Our long-term objective is to be recognised as a “Centre of Excellence” when compared with other peripheral regions in Europe also focusing on competence development as an instrument for regional growth. .