Enhancing ICT-Based multidisciplinary collaboration in cross-border context: FRUCTFacilitated karelia ENPI project success stories

The paper summarizes success stories of Finnish and Russian research organizations that joined forces towards development of leading-edge ICT competences and their use in multidisciplinary applications. The partner organizations from both countries have developed close collaboration framework, which enabled them to implement three crossborder cooperation projects co-funded by the Karelia ENPI CBC Programme. The paper describes this framework as a complex combination of various activities, including educational events, practical R&D, as well as infrastructure development and dissemination activities. Following the development of regional cooperation ecosystem and enhancement of ICT competences (KA179 project), rest of the activities were focused on practical and multidisciplinary applications. In these projects, novel approaches and latest information and Internet technologies were used to increase regional tourism attractiveness (KA322 project) and to improve quality of life for people with disabilities by addressing issues related to social exclusion, accessibility and mobility (KA432 project). The aim of the paper is to share practical experiences, gained during implementation of these cross-border cooperation projects, and to present developed ICT applications in a multidisciplinary context.