Joensuu-Petrozavodsk - Highway for Growth (KA4017)

Project "Joensuu-Petrozavodsk - Highway for Growth" aims to develop mutually benefiting cross-border ways of working in cross-border trade (1), twin city marketing (2) and student cooperation (3).

1) An innovative and sustainable cross-border way of working is developed, which ties the target areas to a mutually beneficial cooperation in regional cross-border business development.

2) Invest in cooperation started and developed to increase joint efforts mainly to attract more businesses to the regions. Better image of target areas, increased visibility, less emigration and attraction of new investments to the target regions.

3) A new innovative training and educational study course for young students in business programmes which involve businesses interested in cross-border trade is created and tested.

First year work:

WP1 Two seminars out of four were held in the first year of the implementation period. Many companies started working in the project that resulted in 8 companies actually started cross-border trade activities, 10 is the over-all objective. 

WP2 New investments were begun in the target regions (3/10 required for the whole project) and new instruments to attract investments have been developed. Invest in video finished.

WP3 Project creates a cross-border co-operative study model for the needs of globalizing business environment between Joensuu Region and Petrozavodsk's state academy. First out of two study courses was implemented successfully.

Second year work:

WP1 Two more business seminars were held. Over ten companies started trans-border trade. Two feasibility studies were conducted.

WP2 Seven companies invested in target regions out of ten. Corona times halted investments.

WP3 Second student course was succesfully held. Mostly distantly due to corona times. New distant cooperation methods were developed between project's student educational organizations.

Project news

Business Joensuu Oy

Grow innovative ideas, business activities and capital in the Joensuu region! Business Joensuu offers services for businesses, entrepreneurs and investors. We provide you with solid expertise and knowledge about networks, local conditions and opportunities.

We help our customers with investments, and to relocate to the Joensuu region. We also provide assistance in setting up a business, growth and internationalisation. In addition, the office space and event services offered by the Science Park can be accessed through us. These services are used daily by 130 organisations and 2000 people. We also produce operating environment development services which provide businesses with the best operating conditions.

The business environment continuously develops and offers new opportunities. Cooperation, courage and professionalism are required in using these opportunities. The most agile and most competent ones will succeed – knowledge and competence grow by sharing.

Karelia University of Applied Science

Karelia University of Applied Sciences offers education leading to a polytechnic degree for young and adult learners and takes actively part in regional development work and research and development activities. Down-to-earth cooperation extends from the region’s business life up to the active networks of international institutions of higher education and different organisations.

Karelia UAS has broad international network and international aspects are seen in everyday life of the students, teachers and other staff members. Karelia UAS has an official agreement for versatile and long-term cooperation in education, R&D and mobility (“key partnership”) with 28 organisations in 4 continents, and totally over 100 partner institutions in 25 countries.


Karelia UAS develops and offers R&D services of high quality in order to enhance regional development and support the industry and other areas of working life in North Karelia and Eastern Finland. It has strong experience during its two-decade lifetime in acting both national and international projects as lead partner or partner organization. The areas of focus in R&D activities include sustainable energy and materials and modern welfare services. They are selected with the goal of obtaining nationally and internationally recognised expertise and competence. The selected areas are based on regional, national and international development challenges. We search for solutions to these challenges by meeting the needs of working life through education, multidisciplinary RDI activities and actively operating in competence and development networks. The traverse themes of Karelia UAS are digitalization, internationality and entrepreneurship. These are the central targets of development and will be promoted in all activities.


Karelia UAS has with six study fields and 22 Degree Programs, of which five are on master level. The total amount of students is approximately 3600 and 300 staff. The University is situated in two main campuses in the close proximity of the city centre of Joensuu, easternmost Finland, and it is the only HEI in the region in addition to the University of Eastern Finland.

The Union «Chamber of commerce and industry of the Republic of Karelia»

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Karelia was founded in 1992. It belongs to the system of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
Karelian CCI is a non-governmental non-profit organization with a wide range of members. Its foundation was inspired by both profit-making and non-profit organizations which united in the Chamber in order to achieve the goals and aims declared in the Russian law “About Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Russian Federation” and the Charter of Karelian CCI.
The work of Karelian CCI is based upon Russian law "About Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Russian Federation" and Charter of Karelian CCI.
CCI of Karelia was established in order to promote development of various business structures; formation of favorable industrial, financial, trade and scientific policy; adjustment of relations between entrepreneurs and their social partners; creation of favorable conditions for business activity; development of trade, economic, scientific and technical links between businessmen of Karelia, other regions of Russia and foreign countries; besides Karelian CCI coordinates and represents interests of all CCI members, entrepreneurs and enterprises wherever they are located. In order to fulfill these purposes Karelian CCI organizes cooperation between business structures and public authorities.

Petrozavodsk City Administration

Petrozavodsk City Administration is the executive body of Petrozavodsk local self-governance system. It works in the different fields of local life.  

The Karelian Branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) was founded by Presidential Decree on September 20, 2010. This foundation involved the merger of two previously existing academies: the Academy of National Economy (ANE), which was established in 1977, and the Russian Academy of Public Administration (RAPA), established in 1991. RANEPA constitutes a multi-tier educational, research, and training system that reflects a philosophy of life-long learning. RANEPA offers educational and training programs to serve the learning needs of civil servants, entrepreneurs, managers, financiers, and lawyers.

Finnish partners

Pauliina Pikkujämsä

Director, Invest in

Joensuun Region Development Agency JOSEK Ltd

Länsikatu 15 80110 Joensuu

+358 40 743 4362

pauliina.pikkujamsa@businessjoensuu.fi

www.businessjoensuu.fi

 

Sanna Jeskanen

Project Manager

Karelia University of Applied Sciences

Tikkarinne 9, 80200 Joensuu, Finland

+358 50 4622478

Sanna.jeskanen@karelia.fi

www.karelia.fi

 

Russian partners

Aleksandr Pankratov

Project Manager, President

The Union «Chamber of commerce and industry of the Republic of Karelia»

http://chamber.karelia.ru/

+7 814 278-30-40

 

Natalya Lavrushina

Project Manager, International Relations

Petrozavodsk City Administration

Lenin Ave, 2, Petrozavodsk 185910 RUSSIA

natalya.lavrushina@petrozavodsk-mo.ru  

phone +7 8142 71 33 75

fax +7 8142 71 36 44

 

Ekaterina Vasilyeva

Project Expert

The Karelian Branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

info@krl.ranepa.ru

http://krl.ranepa.ru/en/