Advanced technologies offer a way to guarantee future growth and success in todays international marketplace. For smaller, rural centres this is more challenging because of a strong bias towards greater concentration in bigger cities, resulting in fewer opportunities for the small, rural centres in the Northern Periphery. Technology centres in the fields of advanced technologies need to be better prepared to face these new challenges, and to find new innovative solutions to guarantee competitiveness and future growth in sparsely populated areas. New innovative solutions and tools are therefore needed. The REN project aims to create new, innovative management practices in the field of advanced technologies and to develop new tools suitable for small communities in the Northern Periphery. The project will combine the know-how and expertise gained through technology development projects in the Northern Periphery Programme region and will allow the participating regions to develop new and innovative instruments in order to keep advanced technology expertise in the regions. The key to success in this area is the development of a knowledge based economy, which is based on an innovation system that links the various nodes in a chain involving business, financial, academic, infrastructure and human networks. Expected Results: · New, innovative and concrete instruments that can be introduced and tested in each region. Such instruments could include new methodologies for linking rural SMEs with corporate research labs, guidelines for regional agencies on networking and linking innovation and incubation centres in rural areas, innovative financial instruments aimed at encouraging increased R&D activity in rural SMEs etc.· Updated knowledge and expertise on the present status and challenges of the participating actors in the field of advanced technology· Analysis of the critical success factors for advanced technology centres in the rural areas of Northern Europe· Enhanced cooperation network between the key actors in the field of advanced technology in the participating regions· Action plan for concrete future cooperation between the participating REN actors