Nivala Industrial Park (NTK) is a development company owned by the City of Nivala. NTK manages and supports research and innovation activities with its own activities via Elme Studio. Elme Studio is a community dedicated to research, training and commerce in new production technologies.

NTK is located in Elme Studio as a leaseholder of facilities and machines, and it offers basic services in development environment for its customers. The development environment has two permanent employees. The key partners are KSI Kerttu Saalasti Institute and the Federation of Education in Jokilaaksot and Vocational Education Centre JEDU, as well as several metal industry enterprises in the region. NTK’s personnel are responsible for the coordination of the facilities, development of cooperation between various users, and corporate contacts.

The basic idea of NTK is to ensure high-standard research and innovation work by operating as the main implementor, financer or part implementor in projects. Elme Studio is a forerunner in the 3D printing and induction heating of metals. A full-scale construction of a 3D laboratory in Nivala was implemented in the Me3Lab project. Correspondingly, a diverse induction heating laboratory was implemented in the RPST, NorFaST-HT and InTeMP projects.   These projects have enabled various pilot and prototype trials in the corporate interface while secured up-to-date high-standard materials technology. The vision of Elme Studio is to be the most significant international expert in the future production technology in Finland. NTK is currently studying (1-2020) the possibility of building completely new and up-to-date facilities for the use of Elme Studio.

One of the strategic targets of the activities of Elme Studio is to increase the net sales of partner companies by 10 per cent each year. In addition to the services of Elme Studio, NTK offers the facilities for the needs of growing enterprises at a rapid pace. Efforts are made to implement the business and internationalisation services required for the growth of enterprises with the cooperation network. Many of the SMIs operating in the Nivala Industrial Park have development into market leader of their own field through cooperation in training, research and business services. The current corporate field forms a strong cluster where enterprises support each other, enabling sustainable and profitable growth.

NTK enables research and development in micro entrepreneurship in cooperation with KSI, e.g. by taking part in the projects. The Elme Studio environment offers low-threshold facilities for starting up and developing entrepreneurship.   The 3D printing environment (metal and plastic) enables cooperation with the lower grade educational establishments of the region, e.g. in attitude education (primary schools) or practical teaching/training (high school/vocational). NTK has donated plastic 3D printer for the teaching use of the high school, and various student groups visit Elme Studio on a regular basis.