Building Knowledge Networks Through Social Learning ESA JAUHOLA The BRIDGE project (Barents Region Initiative for Developing Growth and Employability) which started in spring 2019, is an example of how young students from five Arctic universities and 21 different nationalities, learn about the networking and business life in Finland, Norway and Russia, and how it is to work in transnational teams (Kolarctic BRIDGE 2021). Networking can take place on personal level between the students and coaches but the project also deepened the collaboration between the participating universities, and between universities and local companies. This article aims at discussing the social networking but also, how these kind of projects could improve the innovativeness and partnerships between the companies locally and cross-border. During the six semesters, we have seen that many participating companies are interested in internationalization. They not only would like to find foreign customers but also find active and committed partners abroad targeting at building the so-called knowledge networks. In addition, a suggestion for a new training programme is made based on the three focus areas of Finnish chairmanship of Barents Euro-Arctic Council in 2021-2023.
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