The first project period got started with the contracting and beginning activities in each organization. The project got its proper start in the Kick off –meeting in Kokkola and Pietarsaari, Finland. The kick off included preparations for each group of activities and practical info of the project.

Project's steering group was formed and it includes a variety of members from public authorities, government actors, private entities and associations. We have held steering group meetings throughout the project. The steering group is considered a valuable asset for the project.

The associated partners are engaged through associated partner letters, which highlight the activities, invite them to join events and sharing their experiences and views on the pilot preparation. We have participated in many European-wide events presenting the project and value of remote business development in the BSR area (eg EuroDIG2024 and European Regions and Cities -event, Technical Regional Forum | Green transition in uncertain times – Attracting and training workers among others). During the second year of the project we also recognized the value of collaboration beyond sectors, and decided to organize a BSR-thinktank in spring 2025. This event called together four ongoing BSR-projects to share their challenges and realization and seek to find new perspectives from other project’s teams in Centria. We also invited PA coordinators and Interreg professionals to discuss about the future and strategies of the area. The event was a great success and Centria will continue to organize such events in the future.

All GoA groups meet regularly to discuss activities, target group engagement and pilot synergies regarding service sets. Partners not only work on their own pilot but also reach out to local target groups to utilize other pilots. The GoA groups work together with the target group, such as interviews and small-scale workshops and meetings both online and face-to-face. All pilots took great actions on preparing their tools together with the target groups, and were able to publish initial versions of all tools to project website by the end of 2023. During 1-6/2024 the initial versions of all pilots have been tested in local and cross-border target groups. The feedback has been positive. Main concern has been to find the right balance of ease and speed of use in contrast to providing deep expert knowledge. At the moment, pilot services have focused on high-expert knowledge provision for the target groups but due to feedback, we aim to simplify the user experience. During 7-12/24 cross-border testing and target group engagement kicked into full gear and all full-scale pilots reached at least 3 countries external involvement. In addition, the cyber security pilot reached 3 countries. The second half of the year 2024 focused on the synergies of the pilots, creating service sets and reviewing the produced materials for final service launch in online hub in 2025.

Project has taken many dissemination and networking actions. Project has been presented in multiple local and international events and in meetings. Project organized a hybrid webinar to engage target groups in November 2023. The event had a positive outcome and we decided to organize a similar event called Test&Talk in March 2024. Test&Talk was an online event where each pilot got to highlight their benefits and available tools. The event reached wide audience of 175 people online. Event was important to both target groups and the consortium to gain deep understanding of each other’s services. This collaboration was continued in the consortium meeting in Riga in May 2024. The meeting included discussions on pilots, dissemination and steering group meeting. Second day was focused on the continuation of the project results through Living Labs, which is developed by each partner during 2024-2025. In 2025 we met again in Stockholm where we visited local living labs, planned upcoming activities and held the Hub and International Living Lab Network Launch event, which gathered about 50 participants. This marked the publication in the project hub site www.distancelab.eu where all project outcomes are up and ready for the future.
The final conference is organized in the end of the project in Finland.The living lab development process is described in this article: