WELL-BEING for People, Companies and the Environment Vieremä
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EU-funding createses WELL-BEING for people, companies and the environment Vieremä Kiuruvesi Sonkajärvi SAVON TÄHDET SAVO STARS Iisalmi Rautavaara IN ENGLISH Lapinlahti Pielavesi Nilsiä Keitele Maaninka Siilinjärvi Juankoski Kaavi Tervo KUOPIO Vesanto Tuusniemi Dear reader, Suonenjoki Rautalampi this magazine is for you! It presents various EU-funded star projects in North Savo. Leppävirta EU-programs may seem fairly distant but their effects are shown in multiple ways in the Varkaus daily lives of almost all inhabitants of North Savo. They promote the well-being of people,e, companies and the environment. North Savo uses three funds of the EU: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland. The province has received 379 million Euros through these funds between 2007 and 2013. Funding also offers significant benefits: the state, municipalities, companies, educational and research institutes and societies canalize co-funding to the projects. Project activities have created several new jobs and companies in North Savo. In addition, thousands of employees have received up-to-date education, various companies and organizations have received new research and education equipment and municipalities have been supported through building municipal infrastructure that helps industry and trade. All this promotes employment, competitiveness, innovation and production activities. Financial support from the European Structural Funds in North Savo are granted by the Regional Council of Pohjois-Savo, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of North Savo and Finnvera. These organizations work in close cooperation with each other. Funding is aligned with provincial development programs. Most of the funding is directed towards the development of entrepreneurship. ERDF development funding is especially directed towards developing businesses in the following themes: energy technology, new planning and production methods of the technology industry, measuring and sensor technology, and companies in the wellness industry. The funding of the ESF program is especially directed towards reducing structural unemployment, promoting entrepreneurship, developing innovation and new learning methods similar to the working life. We hope that this magazine spreads widely in North Savo, but also elsewhere in Finland and abroad. This is how we live - under the lucky stars. Additional information of EU funding can be found at: www.rakennerahastot.fi and www.maaseutu.fi EU FUNDING IN NORTH SAVO 2007-2013 (EU + NATIONAL CO-FUNDING) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): EUR 229 million European Social Fund (ESF): EUR 108 million European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): EUR 42 million POHJOIS-SAVON LIITTO Total: EUR 379 million Regional Council of Pohjois-Savo Publishers: The Regional Council of Pohjois-Savo and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of North Savo Editorial board: Soile Juuti, Jari Sihvonen, Janna Merenniemi, Juha Minkkinen, Merja Hilpinen, Jaana Tuhkalainen and Merja Sihvola Texts: Ilpo Lommi, Jari Sihvonen, Minna Akiola, Jarmo Seppälä, Janiika Vilkuna-Räsänen, Anna-Liisa Pekkarinen and Sari Toikkanen Photographs: Marko Koivistoinen/Tmi Kuvakeikka and writers. Cover page: Nina Mikkonen (left), Mikko Härkönen and Emmi Ryhänen Layout: Jani Siitarinen/Mainostoimisto Luode Oy, Varkaus Press: Offsetpaino L. Tuovinen Ky, Kuopio Circulation: 4000 SAVON TÄHDET SAVO STARS Regional Council Director Jussi Huttunen and Director General Kari Virranta: EU funding has sped up the development of North Savo - The EU Structural Funds have had an indisputable positive effect the changing needs of the work life. A special target has been young on the development of North Savo and the rest of Eastern Finland. people in the risk of being excluded. We still need new sustainable No one knows the exact effect the funding has had, nor do we know solutions for their employment. where we would be without the hundreds of millions of funding. Our - All these actions increase the national and international future sights are, however, now much better, says Jussi Huttunen, competitiveness of our province and the whole Eastern Finland. the Region Mayor of the North Savo. However, we still have challenges in reaching nationwide and EU- average readings. Renewing our business structure must still continue, Kari Virranta, the Director General of the Centre for Economic focusing on the strengths and developing new growth areas. Virranta Development, Transport and the Environment of North Savo, adds that points out that the limited resources must not be diffused too widely; EU funding has an effect larger than the received sum as the state, instead, they should be focused on areas of priority commonly agreed municipalities and companies add co-funding to the projects. - Regional upon. support has helped create new jobs and secure old ones, establish companies and educate thousands of people, which improves the well- International cooperation should be increased being of people. Jussi Huttunen is pleased with the increased cooperation between the Both Huttunen and Virranta wish that the EU’s development funds economic life, educational institutions and research communities. continue on the new structural fund period starting in 2014 without - There is still a lot to be done, especially in international networking. any significant drop. Projects started during the on-going period can Joint projects have already given concrete benefits to the business continue until the end of 2014. life and the whole community. I wish that the cooperation between - We need EU funding and we also have strong grounds for it. The companies and the public sector would also be strengthened further. sparse population and large distances from the metropolises of EU My special wish is to increase and diversify Russian connections. are still there. Also, the ageing residents add difficulty to the task of Kari Virranta confirms that the projects do not, in themselves, renewing the business structure, says Jussi Huttunen. represent the absolute value. - Their benefits are measured in permanent positive effects, such as new competitive products and New ways of development must still be found services and even better operation modes and innovations. These Regional development funds have, according to Kari Virranta, supported achievements improve the regional economy and employment of the many projects that have a structural effect on renewing the business province, even after the project is completed. structure and on strengthening the existing strong points of cities and - People involved in projects and their partners shall not be the rural areas. only ones benefiting from the results. The good “fruits” must be openly - Social problems of the society have been mitigated and resolved divided for common benefit. This is a prerequisite of public funding, for example by renewing professional skills so that it corresponds with they both point out. SAVONSSAAVVOON TÄHDETTÄTÄHDHDETET SAVOSAVAVO STARSSSTTAARRS A miniature medicine manufacturing process is found in Kuopio PROMIS Centre is hardly known by regular citizens, but it is substantially A genuine and fast testing environment for pharmaceutical companies beneficial for medicine manufacturers and users. Jarkko Ketolainen, - Our central idea was to create a genuine and conclusively supervised miniature pharmacy technology professor of the University of Eastern Finland, testing environment for medicine development and the production process. We says that the PROMIS Centre project can speed up medicine testing and gather a lot of information from each step of the production process in real time. We introduction. will instantly receive information of quality irregularities at any process. This improves medicine safety and saves money and the environment, when large, erroneous batches are not manufactured. - It saves in the enormous development costs and gives new hope for ill persons. The Central activators are the Departments of Pharmacy and Applied Physics of internationally unique Centre is also utilized by the University of Eastern Finland and the the University of Eastern Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre and the Savonia Savonia University of Applied Sciences in training physicists, pharmacists and engineers. University of Applied Sciences. There are also several international partners involved, The operations of PROMIS Centre are, according to Ketolainen, focused on solid because the concept has awaken a lot of interest e.g. in Austria and England. medicine batch manufacturing and continuous processing, as well as on the continuation - VTT has transferred its optical measuring knowledge from the paper industry to processing and formulation of biotechnological medicines. Medicine manufacturing the pharmaceutical industry, developing, at the same time, a new company application consists of several process parts, such as mixing active ingredients with accessory agents, surface for PROMIS Centre. Some twenty local and foreign pharmaceutical industry granulation, pressing and covering the tablets. processing and measuring device companies are involved. Jarkko Ketolainen says that - Medicine manufacturing processes are extremely exact, well supervised and quality documented. Jarkko Ketolainen points out that the present quality assurance method of the EU-funding has been directed towards equipment purchases and personnel.