In order to support the exchange of experience amongst innovation practitioners in Europe's regions and cities detailed case studies of 122 different projects co-financed under the Cohesion Policy of the European Union are now available. These case studies concern the 26 RegioStars 2008 finalists and 58 further case studies from the Objective 1 and Objective 2 programmes 2000-2006. The new project descriptions complement the 38 cases from the regional programmes of innovative actions 2000-2006 published already in 2007.

The case studies present the objectives and activities of the projects, the strategic context, the innovative aspects, partnership, obstacles in terms of design or implementation, problem-solving practices, results and lessons learned.

Regional Innovation Projects: Case Studies
In order to encourage the exchange of experience in the area of innovation, practitioners from Europe's regions and cities can find here case studies of relevant projects co-financed under the Cohesion Policy of the European Union. These case studies, in English or in French, present the objectives and activities of the projects, the strategic context, the innovative aspects, partnership, obstacles in terms of design or implementation, results and impacts.

To date the sources of these case studies are the Objective 1 and 2 programmes and projects from the regional programmes of innovative actions, from the period 2000-2006. It also includes case studies of the 26 finalists short listed for the Regio Stars awards 2008.

ACTNOW: transforming Cornish business through broadband communications

Actnow is a non-profit making partnership promoting economic development in the Cornwall region (south-west England) through the use of broadband information technology.

The project will dispose of a budget of £20m (€30m), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was the first broadband partnership set up in the UK between the public and private sectors back in 2002. It heralded a step change in business models used to support broadband roll out in the UK. The initiative has been used as a model for other UK regions and has gone on to provide a test bed for a number of other innovative sub-projects supporting information and communication technologies (ICT) take up in Cornwall.

Objectives:

• To bring broadband and its benefits to the sub-region of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles.
• To improve the competitiveness of Cornish businesses on a national and world-wide stage.
• To stimulate growth in new SMEs within the sub-region.
• To attract and enable external businesses to do business in Cornwall.
• To improve understanding of the benefits that ICT offers to SMEs.