MIN-NOVATION aims to create a trans-national network with regional networks as building blocks of effective multi-lateral cooperation. The activities carried out on the regional and transnational level will secure better access to knowledge, state-of-the-art technologies and good practice to SMEs active in the mineral waste management & prevention sector. The project will address all the waste management challenges and opportunities which face the BSR mining industry, which should be understood as extending to all forms of extraction of natural non-renewable resources. The partnership consists of 12 core partners, who represent 5 EU-27 countries, and who include both local/regional authorities and innovation sources. The countries represented are PL, DE, FI, EE, SE, NO. The project activities will be facilitated by the commitment to participate by an additional 8 associated organizations representing mining industry stakeholder associations and/or national government bodies.The main project activities will be:(in WP3) the organization of regional networks in 5 BS regions, the organization of a transnational (Baltic) network which wil provide transnational feedback to nat'l/regional issues and which will also secure the participation of regional, national and internat'l stakeholder organisations at key moments throughout the project;(in WP4) the development of guidelines for action, including on the transnat'l level and the working groups which will help implement them;(in WP5) the completion of transnat'l pilot investments, including follow-up activities, and follow up on the gudielines. The main transnational ouputs will be:(in WP3) SME database, a series of reports on the status of mine waste management in the BS region;(in WP4) compendium of technologies for waste management/prevention, Baltic guidelines and Declaration on Waste Management & Prevention;(in WP5) 4 pilot investments with follow-up activities.The main expected results are a sustainable multi-sector network for supporting transfer of knowledge and innovation in the BSR to SMEs as well as sustainable regional networks carrying out activities meant to strengthen the SME sector in given countries of the BSR and influence policy related to mining and mineral processing waste management. A related expected result is a common, BSR-wide approach to select mining sector growth issues and effective action by the MINNOVATION transnational network on knowledge transfer issues found in EU-level policies on waste management/prevention and mining. MINNOVATION is the response to a clear need to tackle waste management/prevention issues for the entire life cycle of the mine and from a legal, financial and economic perspective, which requires multi-sector involvement. The relevance of addressing this topic is obvious if one notes that 29% of the total waste generated in the EU each year is from some type of mining activity. Achievements: One of the main and enduring results of the projects is the knowledge base that has been created about good practices, the status of mining waste management and mining in general in each of the BSR countries represented in the consortium. The Compendium, the Final Publication, the Baltic Business Database and the Case Study Database, which are available for download online free of charge, and which have been disseminated among critical institutional stakeholders across the BSR and in Europe, are a very important starting point for policymakers and industrial stakeholders as well as the business community at large. They give a multi-layered picture of the state of the waste management sector, without which it would be difficult to talk about the job-creating potential of this market segment, and the role of waste management in the broader context of EU policy on mineral recycling and re-use. The activities in the regions have made it possible to identify priority issues and realistic steps which can be taken, sometimes in cooperation with other regions (i.e. on a Baltic or even European level) to set the stage for more dynamic growth in the waste-to-resource market. After establishing that much of the problems were related to laws and regulations which placed too many restrictions on waste management activity and/or placed the burden of action to handle waste strictly on the landowner, the Polish and Swedish partners have each delivered memoranda/letters to respective authorities identifying where improvements could be made. The same can be said for the Finnish partnership which through its topical seminars has identified what actions can go a long way toward improving innovation in the mining sector (in the particular segment of the market that is waste management). All 4 pilot installations have gone through the demonstration phase and by the end of the project period were used to test a selection of waste samples, including from abroad (follow-up samples). The pilot installations are accessible for R&D activities, whether initiated by R&D organizations or representatives of industry. Some of them are limited to a particular kind of waste (PL and EE - coal and oil shale; SE - metallic waste), while the Finnish installation is a lab which is open for testing a broad variety of mining and mineral processing waste.