COMPASS is a joint initiative of economic and business development agencies in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden developing hands-on knowledge and supporting IT tools for inward investment promotion. The target of the project was to increase the competitiveness of the BSR regions by attracting sustainable private sector investments. This includes among other things the identification of growth industries and industrial clustering patterns in the participating BSR regions, the evaluation of the importance of hard versus soft site selection factors in business location decisions, suggestions for improvement in the economic development plans of the participating regions, the development of an IT-supported tool to carry out benchmarking of the jurisdictions competitive situation on a frequent basis as well as the promotion of the IT-tool as an easy-to-use and time-saving device for optimising the development of soft facts in a jurisdiction.The modules developed include:COMPASS Cluster Analysis - The knowledge about the structure of the local and regional economy is of paramount interest. COMPASS has developed an easy-to-use process and a supporting IT tool to carry out cluster analysis on a regional level. Training & workshops for regional business development agencies are available.COMPASS Site Selection - Everything in inward investment promotion depends on the knowledge of the customers requirements. COMPASS has developed an industry-specific database showing which site selection factors are valued most by investors. Training & workshops for regional business development agencies are available.COMPASS Cost Comparison - Costs are a major driver for inward investments. COMPASS developed a process and IT tool to automatically create cost comparisons across various regions. Training & workshops for regional business development agencies are available.COMPASS InvestTracker - What to do with all the information? You need to identify the potential investor in order to successfully employ the information collected. COMPASS has developed a database and IT tool which enables the marketing manager to keep track of potential investors. Training & workshops for regional business development agencies are available.COMPASS FactBook - Having experienced all the different spreadsheets, PDF’s and presentation files stored “somewhere” on the server? COMPASS has developed a common database for the needs of the business development agency. All COMPASS modules source their raw data from one common database. Achievements: The project has produced several IT-tools and carried out pilot implementations: a design of an easy-to-handle process for regional cluster analysis; an implementation of an IT tool to support an efficient regional cluster analysis; regional cluster analysis for Kotka (Finland), Luebeck (Germany), Naestved (Denmark) and Skurup/SÖSK (Sweden); a design of a Site Selection Factor database; an identification of 280 site selection factor studies for Food Industry, Media Industry, Metal Industry, Logistics, Health Care, Call Center, Shared Service Centers; a design of a process for business cost comparisons between different regions; an implementation of an IT tool to support cost comparison studies; a design of a process to track potential investors; an implementation of an IT tool to support the investor tracking; a design and pilot implementation of an IT supported electronic factbook for local and regional economic development as well as an evaluation and analysis of enterprise-level investment flows in the BSR using a geo information system.