ABSTRACT
Regarding the peripheral economies of the EU (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain), the physical distance from the highly productive centres in the prominent industrialised countries is regarded as an important obstacle to socio-economic catch-up processes. However, the countries of the EU’s northern periphery with their advanced industrial structures integrated in the 1995 extension round show that it is less the spatial proximity and more the socio-economic compatibility that enable a fast connection to the development dynamism of the prosperous centres of the EU, propelled by sequential technological and scientific innovations. Given their competitive strength in industry and services, as well as in education and research infrastructure, Sweden and Finland can fit themselves into current trends in innovation, research and technology policies within the EU despite their geographically peripheral location.
