The purpose of the project was to design and develop the research of the eastern border and eastern regions of the European Union and to improve the application of the research results in practical border cooperation and development of new models for cross-border cooperation. Th e main goal of the project was to strengthen the status of Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as centres of European border research and know-how. In order to reach its goal, the project aimed to tighten the mutual cooperation of the border-research units in Petrozavodsk and to start joint research projects on the Interreg-area and the border between the EU and Russia. Th e project would also compare the European models of Euregio-type areas and the possibilities for cross-border cooperation brought about by the changes in the regional structure of Russia. Th e primary purpose of the project was, however, to make the results of the research and specialist cooperation on borders and border areas fully available for the use of the cooperation in the Interreg Karelia area, particularly Euregio Karelia.