Cross-border e-Government Servicesin the Baltic Sea Region – Statusand Barriers

The aim of this paper is to study the status of cross-border e-Government business services within the Baltic Sea Region, and to identify the most important barriers towards further development in this area. Empirical data for the study are collected through 60 interviews with international companies with operations within the area. The research is made as a part of the EU funded Interreg project DIGINNO. The findings point to language and identification/authentication as major obstacles in development of cross-border G2B services, however when these obstacles are overcome the service design issue and adaptation of local e-government services to the needs of users from other countries will become a major challenge.