A 500 kilometre-long coast, a population of 5 million and an aggregated gross domestic product (GDP) of USD 200 billion may only have a limited impact if no effective governance is in place to help local partners identify a common goal: leverage their combined spending power and implement their action plans together. Conversely, governance alone can do little to empower a territory where there is no compelling economic, social and institutional rationale for collaboration - a political construct on its own is bound to hit its limits soon enough. To accomplish its objective of becoming a strong and attractive megaregion in the global arena, Western Scandinavia needs to work on achieving a clear agreement about its own vision and collectively define the concrete steps to take. First, it maps the institutional landscape in Western Scandinavia.