SNOWPOLIS: Technology Park in Kainuu Itä-Suomi, Finland

SNOWPOLIS: Technology Park in Kainuu

Itä-Suomi, Finland

SYNTHESIS

Snowpolis Technology Park1 is an European Regional Development Fund co-financed project located in the town of Sotkamo in the Kainuu region of eastern Finland. The overall objective of the Snowpolis project was to establish the basic infrastructure and operations for an international technology park specialised in three areas: wellness and sports technology, nutrition technology and technologies related to snow and winter conditions. At the end of 2006 there were a total of 19 companies located in Snowpolis ranging from sports technology, nutrition technology, to winter technologies and various other fields. It is estimated that about 60 jobs have been created as a result of the project.

The direct outcome of the project was the successful launch of the development organisation, Snowpolis Ltd and the establishment of co-ordination activities for the technology park development. The Snowpolis project team directly carried out core activities, such as managing the construction of physical infrastructure (constructed as a separate project with local and national funding) and the establishment of the development company and its services. They also coordinated other development activities and projects related to Snowpolis, such as the creation of research and development facilities (R&D) and units; marketing Snowpolis in order to attract companies; and offering technology services to the enterprises operating in the Snowpolis Technology Park. As a result, the indirect impact of the project has been the attraction of new educational and R&D activities to Snowpolis Technology Park and the creation of a number of other development projects that have supported the overall technology park activities.

The novelty in the Snowpolis approach has been the ability to mobilise and co-ordinate a cluster of interrelated activities of various public and private sector organisations. This has enabled the development of new knowledge intensive activities in a region where there has traditionally been very little high technology activities. Snowpolis has significantly increased linkages between actors in the local innovation system. It has also set the clustering of R&D and business activities in motion in the field of sport and winter technologies. By mid-2007, although this process is still at an early stage, nine key development and educational organisations were closely networked with Snowpolis.

A specific innovative element of the Snowpolis concept has been the adoption of the “Vuokatti-lifestyle”2, based on high quality of living, versatile leisure-time possibilities, safe living environment and beautiful surrounding nature. The lifestyle and living environment has been used as a tool to attract much needed human resources for the new technology park. This approach is most visible in the measures to offer educational and business opportunities to the students, who have come to Sotkamo to be able to combine their studies and sport and encourage them to stay. So far this approach has proven to be successful in terms of attracting young, well educated people from outside of the region to live in Sotkamo. Some of this influx comes for a fixed period of time while others are

1 http://www.snowpolis.com/ 2 http://www.vuokatti.fi/lang/toiminto.php?mid=7&la=uk

interested in relocating to the region permanently as long as appropriate job opportunities are available.

The main success factors for the project were the decision to target three different areas of activity to create critical mass and to spread risks inherent in focusing on only one key technology; the ability to mobilise a broad network of actors; and to encourage these actors to invest and establish new activities in the region.

Background information

Country: Finland Region: Itä-Suomi (East Finland) Project title: Snowpolis teknologiakylä (Snowpolis technology park)

Key words: clusters and business networks; technological and market innovation; employment and labour market

Duration of project: 1 June 2004 – 30 November 2006

Funding: total budget €870,018 ERDF contribution €435,009 national budget €217,505 regional budget €217,504

ERDF Objective: Objective 1

1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Snowpolis is a rather new technology park located in the village of Vuokatti near the town of Sotkamo in the Kainuu region of Finland. Vuokatti has a long tradition as a recreation and holiday centre especially in winter tourism and sports. The initiative to establish a new technology park with an aim to utilise this tradition and an environment favourable for studying winter conditions was launched in 2001. The ERDF co-financed Snowpolis technology park project was a key element in a series of projects, which facilitated the setting up of the park infrastructure and the development concept and the growth of R&D activities and businesses in the selected technology areas.

The purpose of the Snowpolis Technology Park initiative, to which the project contributed, was to build a centre of expertise in the fields of sport and wellness technology, nutrition technology and winter technology; and in this way to support the creation of new knowledge intensive business areas to support the local economy. The specific task of the Snowpolis Technology Park project was to coordinate the construction of the technology park infrastructure, to support business creation and development; to plan research activities and allocate resources to the area; to ensure quality and expertise of the implementation of companies’ development projects; and to strengthen the educational environment. This was carried out by establishing a dedicated development company and by delivering management and coordination activities to the public-private partnership behind the park.

From 2001 to the end of 2006 the development of Snowpolis consisted of a feasibility study project and three linked development projects, of which the ERDF funded “Snowpolis Technology Park” was the third stage and concentrated in launching the activities and services of Snowpolis. In addition, from 2004 to 2005, a separate construction project with a budget of €5.15m was carried out to build facilities for the technology park. This project was financed by local and national sources. The building covers a total of 3,700 square metres. A second phase was under construction in 2007 and has been constructed purely with private funding.

The Snowpolis project aims to extend the development of a Snowpolis business environment by strengthening the R&D activities in wellness technology, exercise, sport travel, nutrition technology and technology related to winter conditions. More specific objectives were to launch several new R&D projects; to establish the role of Snowpolis technology park in the Finnish science and technology park network; to increase the visibility of Snowpolis technology park internationally; and to support the establishment of new enterprises in the selected areas.

The Snowpolis Technology Park has become a meeting place for companies, scientific research, and training and development organisations. As a result of successful management and launch of the project (and a separate follow-up project), the technology park today provides business incubator services for new companies, testing opportunities for products and technologies related to snow and cold conditions, as well as the research and development services of educational institutes.

Besides launching the management activities for the new technology park, the idea of the Snowpolis project was to support the establishment of activities in the three selected fields of activity and to support their development in Vuokatti area. In order to achieve this main

task, the Snowpolis project has been managing a network of independent operators in private, education and public sector to initiate and support various activities in this network. These activities include the new R&D laboratories, various development projects and collaboration with educational institutes to establish new activities related to education and research, such as PhD education programme in sports technology, international sports oriented high school studies and a new check-up station for testing physical condition.

The main beneficiaries of the project are SMEs in three focus areas (sport, nutrition and winter technologies) that receive dedicated services, facilities, a testing environment and (indirectly) a highly skilled workforce for their business. Also university research and educational units now have an environment where they can work in close interaction with businesses. The town of Sotkamo has benefited in the form of a development organisation that provides business and innovation services and generates high skill private sector jobs in the region. Educational organisations have now at their disposal a specialised operational environment that supports their educational activities.

The main results of the project have been the creation of a new business environment for enterprises working in the focussed areas. Indirectly the Snowpolis project has supported the establishment of new educational and R&D activities, such as new study programmes, R&D laboratories and the creation of various other development projects by assisting with negotiations, providing facilities and by creating a credible operational environment and development concept for investors to become convinced. In terms of educational development projects, a sports technology unit of the University of Jyväskylä has been started as well as a doctoral studies programme in sports sciences with the support of Snowpolis and both are located in the technology park facilities. Moreover, the development unit for measurement systems in sports and wellness technologies and the Centre for Wireless Communication (CWC) development unit, both from Oulu University, have started activities in Snowpolis facilities.

Moreover the project has been establishing business support operations and development activities for the Snowpolis-Vuokatti Technology Park. The establishment of the development company, Snowpolis Ltd, owned by the town of Sotkamo, has been one of the main results of the project. At the end of 2006 there were a total of 19 companies located in the Snowpolis facilities focused on different fields, most notably sports technology (four) and winter technologies (two). Most of the companies have relocated from elsewhere or opened new branch offices of existing companies; however, a few local start-ups have also been founded. An estimated 60 jobs have been created as a result of the project.

The expected impact of the project is to establish a centre of expertise in selected key technology fields, which will create more new jobs and attract new businesses to the region also in the future.

ERDF funding provided a much needed addition to the local and national funding and brought the project more credibility in the eyes of other financiers. The ERDF funded project was the third stage in the process that aimed at establishing Snowpolis activities in practice. Prior to the ERDF funded project two other development projects had already been carried out developing the activities such as building up university collaboration, planning the technology centre, and building up domestic and international networks.

However, ERDF funding was needed to bring the development process to the next level – to the actual implementation of management activities and services.

It is difficult to assess whether or not the project would have gone ahead without EU support but it seems unlikely as many of the related projects, as well as investments, have also received support from the Structural Funds. All in all, the most important source of funds for the whole Snowpolis entity has been the town of Sotkamo. However, without national and ERDF support the municipality would not have been able to set up the technology park.

2. POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT

The Kainuu region has suffered from decline over the last decade, although, relative to other parts of the region, the town of Sotkamo has fared relatively well. However, during the early 2000s, the local economy faced many challenges. The tourism sector was at a standstill and one of the biggest employers, the local dairy, closed in 2002. There was a need to find new growth sectors that would compensate the job losses and new business opportunities that would fit the local economy, town image and lifestyle. As a result the local politicians and stakeholders were keen to look for new opportunities. At the time there was also not much competition between various key development ideas so a rather innovative idea like Snowpolis was able to get attention.

Initial discussions between the sport institute and the municipality started in 2000. They explored possibilities to build some new expertise around winter sports, which contributed to tourism in the area. In 2001 a feasibility study was carried out concerning a “Skipolis” concept but the idea was perceived to be too narrow. Instead a broader base was sought and as a result three historical strengths that could potentially have some synergy were selected. These were sport technology, nutrition technology and winter technologies.

From the outset, there were several existing activities that were seen as a foundation for Snowpolis. These included a sports oriented college, the Vuokatti Sport Institute, a laboratory for biotechnology and a very good winter sport infrastructure, such as a ski tunnel operating all year-round and measurement technology in the nearby town of Kajaani3. However, there was very little in terms of business activities or education and R&D activity in this area. Hence, there was a need to support the establishment and development of educational and R&D infrastructure in the selected fields; to provide a credible business environment for new start-up activity; and to attract enterprises from elsewhere.

A specific innovative idea and one of the core starting points for the whole Snowpolis activity has been to target students who have come to Sotkamo to be able to combine their studies and sport. This has been so far the most successful way of attracting young motivated people from outside the region to Sotkamo for a fixed period of time. In a similar way, the nature and leisure oriented living environment in Sotkamo suits the lifestyle of many people and can be used to attract human resources for the business and R&D activities supported by Snowpolis. A specific lifestyle combined with fields related

3 http://www.kajaani.fi/index~id~5D8A2B83484949108E4A4EBA63022C06.asp

to sport, nutrition and winter (in case of winter sport athletes) were seen as a perfect match for a region that otherwise suffers from outmigration and brain drain.

Today Snowpolis is one of the three focus fields in the local economic development strategy alongside tourism and manufacturing. It is also one of the key activities related to the development of the regional innovation environment in the regional development programme of the Kainuu region 2006-2010.

3. IMPLEMENTATION

3.1. Project design and planning The original idea for a dedicated business environment around winter sports came from elsewhere. In 2000, the regional Multipolis network4 was launched in northern Finland to connect specialised spatial clusters (polis) of technology enterprises and expertise. It was also planned to establish a new “polis” in the Sotkamo area, however initially it was considered that the idea did not have enough potential to succeed. In 2001, a new discussion was started for evaluating the possibilities to establish Skipolis around winter sport activities. A dedicated feasibility study was carried out with funding from the regional council, Vuokatti sports institute and the town of Sotkamo. As a result of the feasibility study (and discussions with external actors) it was concluded that the concept to build expertise around ski and skiing was too narrow to be feasible. As a result, a broader concept was built to include both snow technology and sports more broadly and to add another R&D area, nutrition, to the package. The risks of this approach were seen to be much lower and sustainability much better as a failure or slow progress in one field would not be critical to the operations as a whole.

As a result of the feasibility study and subsequent discussions, an application for a new project to develop this broader “Snowpolis” concept was prepared and from 2002 to early 2003 a feasibility study for developing an operational environment for Snowpolis was carried out. During this phase, co-operative agreements with three universities from Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Oulu and with the Town of Kajaani (the capital of Kainuu region) were signed.

The planning of the infrastructure was also started and a specific study about the attractiveness of the region for the sport oriented students was made. As a result of the study it was concluded that the region is very popular among students with an athletic lifestyle and many of these people would be willing to move permanently to Sotkamo if a proper job or business opportunities were available. Snowpolis decided to build the concept for getting human resources around this result and to combine sport and nature centred lifestyle with high technology jobs in sport, snow and nutrition.

Another survey was undertaken covering approximately 800 companies about their interest in the Snowpolis concept. Around 70 enterprises were interested in the technology park as a potential location for business or R&D operations. This also helped to give greater focus to the project.

4 http://www.multipolis.org/index.php?id=189&lang_id=1

From the beginning, certain milestones were set and the whole operation was carried out in several consecutive smaller sub-projects. In part this approach was due to financial restrictions (it was more difficult to finance one large operation) but also to reduce risks and to be able to monitor operations more constantly and in a more reliable way. This approach would make it easier to close down activities after each sub-project in the event that Snowpolis did not succeed.

3.2. Management, monitoring and evaluation system The project manager was selected based on personal knowledge of potential candidates by the local stakeholders. The project manager was known as having a good knowledge of sport and health sciences and a long experience in winter sport, especially skiing. He also had wide international networks particularly in winter sport technology. The same person was originally asked by the mayor to start managing the more narrowly focused Skipolis project but agreed to join later when a broader focus was adopted. This project manager continued to work as the managing director of Snowpolis Ltd, a dedicated development company that manages the development activities around the Snowpolis technology park concept.

In the beginning the project manager reported twice a year to the decision makers of the town of Sotkamo and to the regional administration responsible for national and ERDF funding. At a later stage (when Snowpolis Ltd was created), a dedicated board was responsible for monitoring the project. The mayor of Sotkamo and a few key political leaders are members of the board.

The project has had well-defined quantitative targets for new jobs and new enterprises set from the beginning. Also various milestone indicators have been used to monitor the progress of certain activities and investments. The monitoring process is ensured on an on- going basis by the board of directors at Snowpolis Ltd.

From 2004 to 2006 a total of 30 person-months were allocated to the activities of project management. However, with several connected projects, the personnel in Snowpolis has increased and over time the number of people working at the centre has varied between six and 11 employees. In 2007, Snowpolis Ltd had a total of ten employees.

3.3. Governance: partnership and leadership The main partner in the project was the town of Sotkamo, which financed most of the infrastructure and was also the local co-funder of the ERDF Snowpolis technology park project. The main interest for the town of Sotkamo was to build up a new R&D and business environment in order to attract new business activities. The other main partner was the Kainuu region Employment and Economic Development Centre (TE-Centre), whose main interest was the promotion of the business environment in the Kainuu region.

At operational level, academic partners were the Laboratory of Biotechnology and the Measurement and Sensor Laboratory of the University of Oulu5; as well as the Unit of Sports Technology and the Centre for Wireless Communication of the University of Jyväskylä6. Their involvement took the form of collaboration on for example the development of sport technology activities with the University of Jyväskylä, and

5 http://www.oulu.fi/english/ 6 http://www.jyu.fi/en/

development of sport related measuring R&D activities with the University of Oulu. Other education and research collaborations included: co-operation with the Laboratory of Biotechnics of the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences7 and with the International Baccalaureate (IB) upper secondary school that combines sports and IB-education.

Other network partners have been Vuokatti Sports institute, a regional development company, Kainuun Etu Ltd, Kajaani Technology Centre8 and the Joint Authority of Kainuu Region. These partners have not been involved in financing the Snowpolis project but have been collaborating closely with Snowpolis and have also been involved in building up the Snowpolis concept through their own activities and projects. The establishment of the unit of sports technology of the University of Jyväskylä in Snowpolis Park, for example, has been a major contribution to the Snowpolis project. Snowpolis has acted as an umbrella project with links to many specific projects related to education and R&D environment. The main interest for these partners has been the additional support that the Snowpolis services and support activities bring to their own development plans.

3.4. Innovative elements and novel approaches to implementation The novelty in the project approach has been the ability to launch and co-ordinate the ensemble of interrelated activities with various public and private sector organisations. Some of the local organisations had already established a small-scale interaction but a shared development concept substantially increased collaboration and brought in new actors, such as the three universities located outside of the region. By working together with these partners, Snowpolis has been able to achieve many more results than by only working alone.

In terms of funding, the whole Snowpolis project was divided into several sub-projects of which the project funded by ERDF was only one in a series of development stages of the Snowpolis operations. The innovative aspect to this approach was that it was possible to gather and combine resources for long term development while reducing risks. The ability to fund the project in a staged way was also better for the local and regional stakeholders as it was easier to allocate money to smaller projects.

3.5. Key implementation obstacles and problem-solving practices Probably the biggest problem for the project was the delay in the decisions related to funding for the infrastructure project (that was a key perquisite to the project). One of the key factors for the success of Snowpolis was making available facilities for the activities, the construction of the Snowpolis building. Without physical infrastructure, the enterprises were not willing to invest in Snowpolis related activities or move to Vuokatti. Also, some university units did not have suitable facilities in which to operate. Due to the delay in the decision about the construction and the development of Snowpolis, the concept came almost to a standstill. In 2004, the delays seemed likely to continue, as one of the proposed key funders, the regional TE-Centre (a government organisation responsible for employment policy and business support in regions) was unable to allocate support to the project. At that point, the town of Sotkamo took responsibility for constructing the building for the technology centre. The key officials in the municipality saw that many related projects and stakeholders were waiting for someone to take an initiative. The municipality,

7 http://www.kajak.fi/in_english.iw3 8 http://www.measurepolis.fi/teknologiakeskus/english.htm

as a key stakeholder and financier, was able to do so. The town of Sotkamo also decided that they would be able to find use for infrastructure in any case so the risk was low and worth taking. As a result the decisions for the construction project were made and the first building was finally opened in November 2005.

This was one of the decisive steps in the development of Snowpolis and it had an influence on other related projects as well. As the first building started to fill up with tenants, other investors followed. A Finnish retail group, the S-Group, decided to build another building next to the first building that will include a hotel and space for SMEs.

The delays in the construction project also necessitated a longer period for the Snowpolis development project than was originally planned. As a result, an extension of three months to the duration of the project was obtained.

Another key obstacle has been the dependency of the project on other organisations such as the decisions and strategies of universities and the location choices of enterprises. As the role of Snowpolis has been the mobilisation and facilitation of activities in the network of several organisations, it has not been possible to directly influence these decisions, which have sometimes taken several years to materialise. There has been a need for Snowpolis to gain credibility and to fight against the resistance to change by the existing organisations, which, according to some key people, took nearly two years to accomplish. One main approach to tackle this was the determination and patience of the main stakeholders (the town of Sotkamo and the regional TE-Centre). Snowpolis has been a 'spearhead' project for both the town and the region and has therefore gained a lot of support and generated confidence even while the project was suffering from delays and setbacks.

The other important aspect has been the strategic decision to operate in several fields in parallel. As typically one sector developed faster at each stage than the others, there have always been tangible results to show. At the same time there has been less risk for the whole project as a failure or a delay in one development activity did not put the whole initiative in danger.

4. INNOVATION RESULTS

In terms of direct support for innovation, the main innovative results have been the ability to facilitate the creation of a new organisational innovation, in the form of Snowpolis technology park itself. Despite being ‘just’ a technology centre, Snowpolis is a new approach to managing and developing the local knowledge assets and to supporting emerging knowledge intensive sectors in a rural area based on specific local assets and strengths.

Most of the support for innovation provided by the Snowpolis project has been indirect and addressed the possibilities of developing the local innovation system. The key innovative input of the Snowpolis project was its “enabling role”, it acted as a catalyst for many interrelated activities and projects that means that Snowpolis is a broader innovation pole, which brings together all strong emerging technology areas in Sotkamo region. This is somewhat in contrast to the typical way of supporting specific activities and innovation poles in relatively narrow technology areas. As a result there have been several innovative dimensions in the Snowpolis project.

First, Snowpolis has had an important role in renewing the local strategy and policy- making processes by successfully introducing new technologies to the region to support other more traditional economic development objectives. During the project (and the preceding projects related to Snowpolis) the local policymakers have gradually accepted a new innovation oriented mindset.

Second, and more importantly, Snowpolis has significantly increased relations between various actors in the local innovation system and has been able to attract new educational, R&D and business actors to the region. It has set a clustering of R&D and business activities in sport and winter technologies in motion, even if the process remains at a very early stage. The whole idea has been that in addition to providing development services, Snowpolis has initiated, coordinated and facilitated other initiatives, such as the development projects of the various educational institutes. Snowpolis has, for example, had a decisive role in establishing the unit of sports technology of the University of Jyväskylä and the related doctoral studies in measurement systems in the sports and wellness technologies of the sports sciences and development unit of Oulu University. Snowpolis has also been actively collaborating with the local high school in starting an International Baccalaureate high school education. In addition, Snowpolis has established international networks with various public and private sector organisations.

Third, Snowpolis has provided support for attracting and developing human resources for innovation. Snowpolis has been actively co-ordinating and facilitating the creation of several educational programmes and R&D activities (including facilities) related to the selected focus areas. Snowpolis has also co-ordinated the creation of complete paths in education (e.g. sport related education from upper secondary school to university doctoral studies) and in business (all the way from entrepreneurship training for young people to support for start-ups to commercialisation and internationalisation services).

In short, to support the strategy of attracting and retaining talented people based on a “Snowpolis-lifestyle”, a complete education path has been created for students from sport oriented high school education to secondary and tertiary level studies specifically in the field sports studies, sport technology but also in technical and business studies.

Moreover, a dedicated development path for companies from early start-up to an established business has been created in business support services. This path consists of: - a local support organisation called “Intotalo”9 to support entrepreneurship training and business creation among students; - a product development laboratory; - several specific R&D facilities and laboratories provided by the educational institutions; - an incubator and business accelerator (still under development); and - various support services (consulting, networking) for entrepreneurship, product development and internationalisation provided by Snowpolis Ltd.

More specifically, several testing environments for sport technology have been created in the fields of sport electronics, the development of winter sport gear and wellness concepts. Another field is “intelligent coaching” supported by the services and facilities of the Centre

9 http://www.intotalo.com/eng/

for Wireless Computing, the Measurement and Sensor Laboratory and external partners such as the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)10. In winter technology, testing environments have been developed for ice sport, snow sport, winter tourism and winter related issues with civil engineering. In nutrition technology, a testing environment for clinical nutrition is in the planning stage. Many of these services and facilities are still small-scale and at the development stage.

Other activities related to Snowpolis have provided innovative results as well. As a result of different projects related to or initiated by Snowpolis there has been an increase in R&D activities in specific fields like sport technology and the combination of sport and winter technologies with the existing strengths of measurement technologies in the region.

The future impact of Snowpolis is a sustainable operation of the technology park that provides innovation and business development support for new and emerging high technology industries in the region. In this way, an innovation dimension is brought to local economic development along with more traditional industry sectors such as mining and tourism. Another key impact is that Snowpolis facilitates the creation of critical mass and industrial clustering in three technology fields (sport, nutrition, winter) and therefore helps the region to renew its industrial structure in the long-term.

5. SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSFERABILITY

5.1. Sustainability The project is sustainable in the sense that a dedicated development company, Snowpolis Ltd, was established to maintain and further develop the operations that were launched. Many linked activities, such as the new educational programmes and R&D units, are now working on a permanent basis, though some are still financed on a project basis. It is always possible that some of the activities may not be sustainable in the long term but, in the opinion of key stakeholders, most of the R&D activities and new business activities will continue to operate in the region. This is also indicated by the confidence of a major private investor, S-Group (a major Finnish retailing cooperative organisation) to invest in a new hotel and office space in the Snowpolis technology park.

5.2. Transferability The basic implementation practices, as well as the operational principles of the project, are transferable. The basic principles are quite straightforward: there is a need for strong long term support by the local and regional financiers. Secondly, there should be enough time and resources invested in networking, consensus building and on the analysis of the focus areas with the most potential. Also a shared vision needs to be formed during the consensus building to help manage and coordinate the network of various actors with different backgrounds. The ability to link several development projects for a complete activity also requires the financiers to agree with this kind of approach. Lastly, a competent project manager is needed to follow through the process.

10 http://www.vtt.fi/

In generic terms, the project results are transferable: it is possible to develop similar activities and services elsewhere, including planning, facilitating and marketing of a new technology park concept and various network management activities related to it.

However, the more specific project results are not very easy to transfer as the concept is strongly built on the regional strengths of specific infrastructure and climate. Each of these qualities can be found in many other locations, but not with the same combination. Brought together these areas are able to provide the critical mass which individually they could not. Another strong factor in the region is the relatively low level of competition from other projects or initiatives. This gives Snowpolis an advantage in Sotkamo and Kainuu in comparison to other places with several competing priority areas.

6. CONCLUSIONS: MAIN SUCCESS FACTORS

Broad scope of activity One of the definitive success factors of the project has been the choice of several focus areas of technology and several types of activities from education and R&D to business development. This approach was crucial for several reasons. First, it made sure that there would potentially be enough critical mass for the technology park to succeed. Second, it reduced the risk of failure, as setbacks in one focus area do not necessarily bring down the whole project. Third, there is greater probability of continual progress and concrete results to show the stakeholders in situations if some of the activities suffer from delays or setbacks. This approach convinced some key stakeholders about the feasibility of the project, as it would be able to bring together enough activities to be viable so that a failure in one field would not drag down the whole development concept.

Capitalising on regional strengths A focus on well defined local and regional strengths and assets combined with an innovative and networked approach been a definite success factor for the project. A regional development approach based on the clustering of activities, technology parks with a strategic focus on particular sectors is typical for almost every region in Europe. In this kind of environment, regions often compete with approaches of a similar nature, and it is difficult to find a strategy or a focus area that can truly be distinguished from the activities in other regions. There are also very few possibilities for knowledge intensive industries to grow and prosper in a rural and peripheral region and therefore a skilful and innovative approach to develop those few assets that exist is very crucial for the regional economy. In Snowpolis, the very narrow focus areas could be identified in successful ways, a clear vision could be developed around these fields and limited resources could be concentrated on realising this vision.

Networking capacity The ability of the Snowpolis Technology Park to network with various other organisations has been of utmost importance to its success. The Snowpolis concept was built on a much larger base of objectives and activities than would have been possible to carry out by the project itself. Successful networking has been especially important with the various educational institutions that have provided the education and R&D infrastructure related to Snowpolis. Also networking with national development programmes like the Centre of Expertise programme and Regional Centre programme has been significant. The networks

have not only been local or regional, but global connections to various actors have also been important.

Forward-looking attitude of the local politicians This has enabled a rather new and unfamiliar development concept that targets high technology and highly educated jobs to proceed in a rural environment with very little previous experience on projects of this kind. During its early stages, Snowpolis was just an ambitious idea with very few concrete activities and structures to support it and the whole project started practically from scratch. The collaboration with financiers has also worked well, which has enabled a long term development of the Snowpolis operational environment. A sustainable vision combined with the support by local stakeholders has also helped in this.

Choosing a right timing At the time of planning the project there was a desperate need in the region to find new moves to develop the regional economy and there were no serious competing options discussed at the time. This allowed a more future oriented, riskier and less well-known concept like Snowpolis to gain support it would otherwise not have been able to gain. A few years later tourism started to grow quickly and a plan to open a new important nickel mine was introduced in Talvivaara, close to Sotkamo. Both of these have recently become important focus areas in the regional development strategies together with Snowpolis but would probably have impeded the development of Snowpolis a few years earlier.

Qualified project manager and staff Lastly, a good project manager has been very important for the success of the project. Snowpolis has required both strong commitment and great skills. Also, networks in the specific focus areas have been essential in order to succeed. There are not very many people who possess these resources.

The main lessons found to be of key importance for the project were the importance of credibility of the initiative both inside the project and in the eyes of external actors. In practice this meant that the trust of both local decision makers and other partners had to be earned at the outset. At the beginning of the project, the whole development plan was “in one computer” and there was nothing concrete with which to convince the partners. Investing time and resources for good planning and trust building was important. Second, one lead partner was needed to make the first move of investing in the project and taking responsibility for the progress of the project in order to convince other partners of its feasibility. In this case the role of the local municipality, the town of Sotkamo, was decisive. Third, for a long-lasting initiative such as Snowpolis, consisting of several consecutive phases and numerous projects, there is a need to have specific milestones in order to monitor progress and to keep objectives clear and concrete for both the project management and the partners.

PROJECT CONTACT DETAILS

Contact person Name: Mr Antti Leppävuori Position: Managing Director Organisation: Snowpolis Ltd

Address: Kidekuja 2, 88610 Vuokatti, Finland

Telephone: +358 8 6178 682 Fax: +358 8 6178 681

Email: [email protected]

Project’s website: http://www.snowpolis.com/

The information contained in this case study is up to date as of: October 2007

This case study has been prepared by Kimmo Viljamaa in the framework of a study carried out by Technopolis Group on behalf of the European Commission. The contents and views expressed in this case study are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the European Commission.