The UniGR-Center for Border Studies Border Textures working group was set up in 2015 to pursue and further develop the cultural orientation of Border Studies in the Greater Region. This research orientation focuses on the symbolic-social dimension of borders, which it addresses from both high and popular cultural angles and everyday cultural angles. To do this the working group has developed the Border Textures approach, which, as a methodology and heuristic, addresses the practises and discourses around borders with their actors, media, materialisations, effects, places and the complex interactions between them. The approach forms an instrument for analysis and refection that helps to understand the social and cultural workings and mechanisms of border (de)stabilisation.
The aim of the TEIN network, led by the Euro-Institut in Strasbourg, is to contribute to the process of European integration by training the actors involved in cross-border projects. Its members are different research and training organisations from more than 10 European Union countries. Its activities focus on the sharing of good practices and knowledge of cross-border issues and well as producing and disseminating educational tools for cross-border practitioners.
The QuattroPole is a network of Cities in the Greater Region, spread across 3 countries and with a total population of 530,000 inhabitants. The name of this network reveals the partnership's metropolitan ambitions. The objective is, first of all, to position this relatively dispersed urban agglomeration on the chessboard of the main European metropolitan centres and, secondly, to raise the awareness of stakeholders and citizens of the joint future of these geographically so-close cities.
The Border Culture/Border Poetics group is an international research group led by members of the Arctic University of Norway (UIT). They propose a new border aesthetics serving to better grasp the representations of borders in the artistic and academic domains. They focus their activities on the scientific and educational fields.
The Central European Service for Cross-border Initiatives was founded in 2009 according to the model of the French association Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière. The centre would like to make implementation of cross-border projects possible. It is supported on a national level and summarises the actors of the border areas. This way, it can promote a structured dialogue between the (national and European) authorities and between the local and regional actors.
The main goals of this work group are:
• Highlighting issues, options, areas of responsibility, and specific activities of these regions;
• Representation of their shared interest with the parliaments, legal entities, authorities and institutions on national and international levels;
• Initiation, support and coordination of cooperation between the regions through Europe;
• Encouragement to exchange experience and information to identify and coordinate the shared interests at the diverse issues and options, as well as to suggest potential solutions.
The work group of European border regions also does lobby work through the representation of the voice of the cross-border regions in the European institutes.
The Interregional Labour Market Observatory (IBA) is a network of specialized labor market institutes, all of which operate in the Greater Region. On behalf of the Summit of the Greater Region, the IBA collects data on labor markets in the Greater Region. This data is used to write reports on the labor market situation in the Greater Region. In addition to structural reporting based on comparable statistical data from the sub-regions of the Greater Region, the publication contains qualitative information on thematic focus areas.
