Hanseatic Parliament

The Hanseatic Parliament (Hanse Parlament) is an association of more than 50 business chambers (chambers of crafts, chambers of commerce and other similar bodies) around the Baltic Sea region with the common goal of promoting the small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), in particular in the fields of qualification, research and innovation. There is strong cooperation with the public sectors in the countries involved, but the Parliament is a non-governmental and non-profit organization.

The Hanseatic Parliament was established in 2004. Originally its headquarters was located in Copenhagen, but moved to Hamburg. Its role model is the Hanseatic League of the late Middle Ages, but its focus is on the Baltic Sea region, whereas the original League had a much larger field of operations. The Parliament seeks to foster a common identity in the Baltic Sea region, for example through the annual Hanseatic Conference, at which it academics, politicians and businesspeople discuss culturally related topics.

The organisation is implementing several EU-funded projects, also flagship projects within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, that was initiated in 2009.^[1] In 2010 the Hanseatic Parliament established the Baltic Sea Academy, a non-profit network of 15 academic institutions with the common goal to bridge the gap between R&D institutions and SMEs.