References of MDI (updated 13th June 2016) Future regional tasks in Kymenlaakso Client: Regional Council of Kymenlaakso Finland is in the middle of most profound regional reform in decades. All regional councils are urged to start preparation for their future tasks in June 2016. MDI is sparring Kymenlaakso Region in their work. A project group has been set up, where Regional Council, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Rescue Department, Social and Health Care Services, Rural services and labour organisa- tions are represented. The regional group is defining the organisation of regional services except social and health care tasks. Group works for formulating future vision, through which new services and functions as well as new operation models are to be designed. The work will be carried out through three workshops and will be due in October 2016. Future Paths for Helsinki Region North Client: Public Utility for Helsinki Region North Ten municipalities in the Helsinki Region North (a.k.a. Central Uusimaa Region) have organised their re- gional co-operation in key development themes through KUUMA co-operation concept. MDI and Laurea University of Applied Sciences will conduct an evaluation for current council period of 2013–2016. Laurea collects the underlying data. During the summer 2016, MDI facilitates discussions with key stakeholders, as well as collects relevant background material. The interpretations will be made in the autumn. MDI’s main task is to define the vision for future and possible development paths for future development. Study on Gold Plating among EU programmes Client: DG Regio MDI analyses together with Sweco the provisions on simplification of management of the European Struc- tural and Investment Funds. The aim is to observe gold plating, national implementation of legislation that exceeds the demands of EU legislation. In other words the programme becomes unnecessarily more com- plicated and expensive. The study compares the situation in Member States, illustrates in which parts of the programming process gold plating is most frequent and why, and clarifies the administrative costs by Member States. In Finland the study consists of analysing the structural fund programme and rural devel- opment programme. The data will be gathered through interviewing the managing or payment authorities and sending a survey to the beneficiaries. Impact, Customer Orientation and Cost-effectiveness in Regional Administration Reform – the Future of Regional Development System and the Services of ELY Centres and TE Offices Client: Prime Minister’s Office MDI, Tempo Economics Ltd and Melkior Ltd will conduct a study that generates new knowledge of ex- pected outcomes and impact of regional administration reform. By focusing on the future of regional de- velopment system and the services and tasks of ELY Centres and TE Offices, the project has two objectives and research questions. The first objective is to recognise the critical success factors in ELY centres and TE Offices and analyse how these success factors can be guaranteed in the reform. The second objective is to scrutinise how the regional administration reform affects the organisation of regional development system and map options for renewal of the system. The project is part of the implementation of the Government Plan for Analysis, Assessment and Research for 2016 and is coordinated by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Project’s phases and results will be reported on site www.mdi.fi/vaaka. Functional regions and groWth zones Client: Prime Minister’s Office MDI and Finnish Environment Institute will analyse Finland´s functional areas and growth corridors in To- KaSu project, which has begun in April. The project is one of the joint government research projects, which generate information that support decision-making. The goals of the projects are to identify functional are- as and growth corridors and to analyse the current state and development of these regions, find out what kind of factors affect the location decisions of business and people´s decisions on where to live. In addition, the study will include recommendations for supporting the development of functional areas and growth corridors. In spring, the research team will concentrate on the general description of development, identifi- cation of the functional areas and growth corridors and international case studies. The ToKaSu project lasts until February 2017 but the intermediate findings will be communicated and discussed already during the project. Building of the vision 2030 for the Baltic Sea Region Client: Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional GroWth MDI will conduct, as a subcontractor to Spatial Foresight GmbH, a foresight study on the Vision 2030 for the Baltic Sea Region that analyses the challenges and opportunities for the region in a global perspective. Ma- jor themes to be covered are economy, technology, society, environment and geopolitics. The results will be presented at the Strategy Forum for the EUSBSR on 8-9 November 2016 in Stockholm. The Strategy Fo- rum is high-level meeting focusing on a vision for the Baltic Sea Region 2030. Study on regional development for the city of Pieksämäki Client: City of Pieksämäki MDI gathers data for a study on regional development for the city of Pieksämäki. The study is based on sta- tistical data visualised with maps. The analysis focuses on data of population, work and business structure. The inner development in Pieksämäki is analysed with a zip code based data. The study includes a devel- opment comparison to a set of chosen municipalities. The study is due in May 2016. Municipality of the Future Client: Ministry of Finance The changes that municipalities face deal with service and governance structure. The tasks, functioning and financing, position and role in the public sector system will change radically. The study consists of a survey sent to all Finnish municipalities and their elected officials, civil servants and stakeholders. The data is deepened in focus group discussions held in six municipalities during the summer 2016. The work is due in August 2016 and will contribute to the Municipality of the Future Reform process. Smart Countryside – better services in rural areas by using digitalisation and experiments Client: Prime Minister’s Office Digitalisation and urbanisation have drawn a great wave of attention and numerous projects and studies on Smart City. However, there hasn’t been a similar wave of attention in the countryside, even though digitali- sation might have a greater impact there where the distances are longer, volumes smaller and the pace of service structural change quicker. MDI, Spatia, Finnish Environment Institute and University of Vaa- sa conduct a study on the current state, opportunities, international practices and service user views on digital services in rural areas. The results will be used in preparing of the experiments beginning in 2017. The project is part of the implementation of the Government Plan for Analysis, Assessment and Research for 2016 and is steered by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Project’s Smart Countryside – Developing and diversification of rural areas’ services by using digital- isation and experiments phases and results will be reported on site www.mdi.fi/smartcountryside. 1 Study on migration in Kanta-Häme region Client: Regional Council of Häme MDI analysed Häme’s regional development and migration during April and May 2016. The report delved into the departure and arrival of local and regional motives and formed recommendations to further pro- mote the region’s attraction factors. The work consisted of three parts: regional profile, structure of the migration and a survey, in which 600 persons will be interviewed. MDI’s partners in the work were Innolink Ltd and Dr. Timo Aro as an adviser. The results of the analysis were published in Vitality and municipality day of Häme on May 11, 2016. Camp: Attracting investments to Eastern Finland? Client: Finpro In May 2016 the most central investment attractors from cities, municipalities, regional development com- panies and regions of the Eastern Finland (Southern Savo, Northern Karelia and Northern Savo) gathered together to work on functioning models for attracting investments. The camp scanned and enlightens the regional investment objects and development platforms and offered a chance to exchange experiences of the functioning aftercare services of the established companies. The aim was to strengthen the idea of Eastern Finland being an interesting investment target and to find out about best practices in other regions. Innovation camp “Komia Camp” 2016 Client: Into Seinäjoki Oy Into Seinäjoki decided to organize an innovation camp ”Komia Camp” 2016 for the food business. The aim of the camp was to build new product, service and application ideas for food distribution and even get the best concepts introduced in the upcoming “supersummer” in Seinäjoki with 400 000 visitors. MDI stood for the overall planning and implementation of the camp taking care of recruiting, organizing the camp in April, further working on the camp results in May in a workshop and prize-giving in the Food Business Summit in Seinäjoki in June. Regional profiles Client: Study by MDI The aim of the regional profiles is to gather and analyse the current data and study the development of Finnish regions since 1995. Apart from the statistical data, the work consists of a strategy analysis and qual- itative data gathered with a survey. The study is carried out in Spring 2016. Developing of the city centre of Seinäjoki Client: Into Seinäjoki Ltd Into Seinäjoki has started a project called Operation Our Seinäjoki – Have your say on the development of the city centre of Seinäjoki. The project aims at user-oriented mapping citizens and others actors’ visions about how should the city centre of Seinäjoki look like and what functions and facilities should the city cen- tre (restricted area) have.