A new search engine combines almost 50 innovation platforms in East and North Finland

Regions of East and North Finland (ENF) collaborate to develop new approaches based on smart specialisation. One of the goals is to develop new practices that support companies in utilising the expertise and versatile network of innovation platforms in the ENF area.

The innovation platforms in East and North Finland have been collected to the East and North Finland Industrial Transition website. The website contains almost 50 service providers, or the so-called innovation platforms. The purpose of the site is to provide information of the different services offered to companies across the seven regions of East and North Finland, and to encourage interregional and international collaboration.

“Our aim is to make the services of innovation platforms more accessible for companies. We believe that through the website also the service providers can find each other and benefit from mutual interaction”, says Paula Heikkilä, the project manager of The East and North Finland Industrial Transition – From Strategy to Practise (ELMO) –project.

The innovation platforms listed in the website are services that support the development of companies’ products and services. They also provide environments for conducting various experiments and tests, as well as for developing prototypes. For example, laboratories, learning environments, studios, simulation environments, expert services, and combinations of these are included. Most platforms are physically located in educational institutions or research institutes.

The services published on the website were selected based on the joint Smart Specialisation Strategy of East and North Finland, which is focusing on the regions’ shared excellences. The innovation platforms in the East and North Finland have been systematically financed with the regional development funds for more than ten years. The platforms and development environments are established to support business creation and innovation among SMEs.

Increasing awareness of the innovation platforms and supporting networking between them are one of the key ways for East and North Finland to succeed in the global competition. Innovation platforms enable the development of new types of innovation partnerships and links, for example between public and private actors or different industries as well as European partners.

For more information

Paula Heikkilä
Project manager
paula.heikkila(at)lapinliitto.fi

East and North Finland Industrial Transition (ELMO) collaboration has been funded from the European Regional Development Fund. For more information on the project, see HERE.