Author(s): Wim Vanhaverbeke, Jean-François Stevens, Henri Capron and André Delpont

ABSTRACT
(cross-border co-operation, economic competition and complementarity, French-Belgian metropolis of Lille)
(Ieper, Kortrijk, Lille, Mouscron, Roeselare, Tournai)

At the request of the Cross-Border Workshop, Wim Vanhaverbeke, Jean-François Stevens, Henri Capron and André Delpont analyse the challenges with regard to development and economic integration which the areas comprising the cross-border metropolis of Lille have to face.
On the basis of this analysis, the Workshop puts forward the following priorities :
• the cross-border situation regarded as an asset,
• becoming a metropolis and a centre of technology,
• observation, communication and networking.
The development of a cross-border job market is both a condition for and a surplus value of economic integration.