In Lapland, international activities and European cooperation are growing and diversified. At the beginning of this decade, Lapland has set up a smart specialisation programme at the forefront of European regions. Last year, the strategic priorities of Lapland’s internationalisation and smart specialisation were completed in extensive cooperation with regional actors. These priorities will guide international action towards a more organised, smarter ecosystem. European funding, both nationally managed and direct funding, has to a large extent guaranteed the framework conditions for Lappish internationalisation. The European Commission’s programming period is coming to an end (2020) and brings new challenges. In this situation, Lapland’s role in the international field as an Arctic influencer, innovative and entrepreneurial region must be guaranteed. The Association of Lapland implements its own project as an intelligent and internationalising Lapland project, which focuses on pilots that utilise international development instruments in a variety of ways. The aim is: •to engage municipalities in clustering activities and as an integral part of Lapland’s international ecosystem •Acting municipalities and companies to jointly develop competitive environments for companies •Make companies and municipalities a skilled user of EU development instruments •Producing information on the activities of international actors (especially the EU) to the needs of the entire Lapland international ecosystem to support the implementation of the priorities of the Lapland internationalisation strategy •Create the capacity of the Lapland international ecosystem to be an active player in the next wave of the Commission’s modern cluster work.The aim of the project is to support the construction of the internationalisation ecosystem of Lapland as a whole, and to build a unique regional competence strategy at EU level, and to build a regional cooperation centre. The aim is to involve municipalities and cities in cluster activities and as part of the internationalisation ecosystem, and at the same time to bring together regional actors more closely behind common objectives. The inclusion of Lapland actors in projects that are beneficial to themselves and with added value and project preparation requires greater visibility in the EU’s partnerships and networks, active development of cooperation, and participation in new initiatives. Strong participation in networks and cooperation bodies of regions, cities and municipalities in the EU is the basis for the commitment of Lappish municipalities to clustering and internationalisation.