The overall purpose of this Working paper is to clarify and determine the definition of Welfare Institutes in Sparsely Populated Areas (WIiSPA) and identify WIiSPA actors in sparsely populated areas (SPAs) in the Nordic Region and beyond. This working paper aims to shed light on the following project objectives: 1) what components, stakeholders, and visions could constitute a WIiSPA; what elements are necessary for creating a WIiSPA? (Definition of WIiSPA), 2) identifying existing and potential WIiSPA clusters in the Nordic countries and beyond; their prerequisites, strengths, and eventual lack of components for creating a WIiSPA (Mapping of WIiSPA), 3) how could a network of identified WIiSPA clusters best be developed? (WIiSPA network).