The global economy is a reality. The educational systems need to prepare our children for the global economy, for a life where international relations, professional as well as private are more a rule rather then an exception. Graduates from VET educations are no exceptions. They need to be prepared for an international labour market as well as for own business activities yet with partners abroad. VET providers in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) supply graduates predominantly for local or at maximum, national market. The demand and supply is balanced to varying degree, and the degree of coordination of demand-supply between the schools and the business communities differ, too. It is through on-the-job training components that the VET students get access to businesses. An on-the-job practice that is limited in scope, e.g. apprenticeship in carpentry, is an invaluable resource for making a good carpenter (good vocational effect). However, the limited scope does not allow the apprentice to acquire or train the skills that could widen his horizons and make him see new opportunities to gear up his vocation, e.g. through an own start-up or to go abroad for job. Delimiting on-the-job practice to only vocational components leads to that the student remains “local” in his mindset which makes his participation in the common market next to impossible (insufficient developmental and market effects).HansaECVET contributed to the market integration in the BSR. Through vocational and business mobility, VET students equipped with relevant knowledge and skills, accessed a much wider range of working places. This led to deeper value chain integration and people-to-people contacts.Being a source of vocational education, VET providers are becoming increasingly important in assisting the students in accessing the widening marketplace. By doing so they also strengthen connections between VET and business communities, which is an espoused aim in every country of the region.HansaECVET was the 5th in a group of projects contributing, in different ways and in different geographical areas to a new start for a closer cooperation within BSR, for both VET providers and companies. In this project ECVET has been tested in practice in a test model with 16 VET providers and 16 host-companies from the 8 EU countries in BSR. The test model was built on results from 3 INTERREG projects and 1 LdV TOI project. The partnership was covering competences in both upper secondary as well as post secondary VET. Two of the partners have been involved in the other 4 projects.