According to Sitra's definition, the circular economy is an economic model that does not continuously produce more goods, but instead uses services instead of owning them: sharing, renting and recycling. The idea behind the circular economy is that materials taken from nature - which have already been refined to meet the needs of humanity - will remain in use and in the economic system for as long as possible. Economic growth therefore does not depend on the consumption of natural resources. As a concept, the circular economy is not new. The idea originated in the 1960s and was first mentioned as a word in 1966. The concept was made famous by Lady Ellen MacArthur, a world record-holder solo sailor who woke up to the finiteness of natural resources when she lived on her boat's limited cargo for 71 days while sailing around the world in 2005. He founded the foundation bearing his name in 2010 and, together in cooperation with experts, developed the now-known circular economy model, which became, among other things, the cornerstone of the EU Green Deal. The circular economy model developed by the Foundation introduced ideas such as industrial ecology, the cradle-to-cradle thinking model and the service economy. The idea of industrial ecology is that the waste of one is the raw material of the other. Finland and our region can be proud to be a forerunner in the recovery of waste and by-products from the technology industry. The result is even better processed products than natural products, such as the record-breaking eco-concrete developed at the University of Oulu. Utilising industrial by-products is also a climate action, and there is a lot of potential in Northern Ostrobothnia when there are large companies and larger waste streams and research supporting it. One possibility would be, for example, the development of the Laanila industrial area into an eco-industrial park. The idea behind the cradle-to-cradle thinking model is that after use the product becomes easily reusable or can be completely recycled. This can be supported by planning in which biological nutrients (sataorontically decomposing) and so-called technological nutrients (100% recyclable) are not mixed. For my pleasure, I noticed that Wikipedia offers life cycle thinking, utopia and entropy as a similar idea. Lots of truth in everyone, but entropy or ‘disorder’ is a very good observation. The laws of thermodynamics do not support 100% recycling. However, the main idea is that products must be designed for recycling or reuse. A good example of this in Finland is the recycling of deposit bottles, which combines design that supports recycling, a deposit that motivates consumers and an advanced infrastructure. The role of consumers in promoting recycling…

Immobility costs money. At the Finnish level, the price of inactivity is estimated from 3.2 billion euros to as much as 7.5 billion euros per year in a study conducted by the Director of the UKK Institute Tommi Vasankari. A comparison can be made, for example, in cooperation with the acquisition of fighter jets by the Finnish Defence Forces, which is the most expensive acquisition in the history of the Finnish state. The price is estimated to be between $7 and $10 billion. The fighters are renewed approximately every 30 years, but the cost of immobility is annual. The majority of the costs of inactivity are currently borne by the adult population, the working age population. However, various studies show that the movement of children and adolescents has also decreased and overweight has increased. According to the same study, lack of mobility costs nearly 400 million euros per year in Northern Ostrobothnia. Measured by a different morbidity index, Northern Ostrobothnia is one of the most ill regions in Finland. Who is responsible for promoting the well-being and health of people? Will the issue be solved by the new health and social services centres? Let's not solve it. The well-being and health of people belong to everyone. First and foremost, of course, it belongs to each person themselves. No outsider can force or command a person to live a healthy life. Ultimately, everyone decides for themselves. A society that includes the state, counties and municipalities can contribute to the well-being of people. The aim must be to increase the well-being, health and functional capacity of residents, prevent diseases and social exclusion, and strengthen Participation and Inclusion. Increasing physical activity and mobility is a key solution for well-being work: The positive effects on mental and physical well-being, the prevention of health problems, learning outcomes, work ability and the prevention of exclusion and integration are undeniable. Future solutions for physical activity will also contribute to the achievement of the climate goals of society as a whole. In its Government Programme, the Finnish Government has taken into account the development of people's physical activity more strongly than ever before. The programme continues the Finland on the Move programme launched by the previous government, which aims to increase mobility in all age groups from the point of view of human health. Now this activity must be involved in a cross-administrative way in the regional programme for Northern Ostrobothnia and in the strategies of the municipalities in the region. In the upcoming new Regional Assembly term, the role of physical activity in the well-being work of municipalities must be strengthened. Promoting physical activity should be a priority for well-being work and the municipal strategy. Physical activity should be seen as a cross-administrative and wide-ranging strategic entity. It has significant impacts on the well-being, attractiveness, comfort, tourism and the vitality of companies. Improving your physical fitness doesn't have to be yourself…

The situation in North America is interesting. In many places, the area is strongly growing, while in other places it is strongly shrinking. We are far from other growth centres and the capital, where accessibility is a particular issue for the development of our region. As values change and in the face of Finland's emission reductions, we need environmentally sustainable ways to travel to both the rest of Finland and Europe. The Helsinki-Oulu route is the most popular domestic flight in Finland. By speeding up the main line, you could get to Helsinki by train in as little as three and a half hours in cooperation with the current train fleet and thus get a smooth alternative to flying. For a train of less than four hours, we need the green light from the government and financial assistance from the EU. Train traffic in this period was on the rise before the coronavirus. The figures, together in cooperation with the freight tonnage, speak clear language in favour of additional tracks. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency recently published its report on the need for changes to the main railway line. Developing the track north of Tampere would serve both passenger and freight traffic. In conclusion, the study suggests that the construction of the double track could be carried out in parts. Even in short intervals, adding a double track could make the use of the track more efficient. The train connection to Europe via Tornio and Haparanda will take a step forward this week as a regular commuter train starts on the Swedish side of the rush Thursday. The Finnish Government has agreed that the track on the Finnish side will also be put in order. A passenger train connection to Sweden and Europe would bring new opportunities for tourism in Northern Finland and enable us Northern people to move to Europe in a climate-resilient way. By far the largest emissions from mobility come from road transport and, in the case of passenger transport, from private cars. To replace these, we need a genuinely functional commuter train service for the Oulu region and more fast and convenient bus services to the city area. Alternative propulsion, especially electric cars, is constantly increasing. The technology of electric cars is constantly evolving, and the prices of cars in cooperation with larger ranges are falling. At the same time, the network of charging points is developing, making an electric car a more attractive option everywhere. The potential of cycling should not be underestimated. By developing good cycling paths, the opportunities for cycling can be significantly improved, including outside city centres. Especially in the flat countryside of Northern Ostrobothnia, electric cycling can offer a lot of new opportunities. Even outside the Oulu region, there is potential to increase public transport, for example through easily accessible digital services. Large employers could also play a crucial role in this, if public transport were increasingly offered as an employment benefit and suitable shifts were negotiated in cooperation with the transport operator. The potential for transport development will increase further if we are able to make more use of …

The mission of universities is to promote free research and scientific and artistic education, to provide research-based supreme education and to educate students to serve their country and society. In carrying out their duties, universities must offer opportunities for continuous learning, interact in cooperation with the rest of society and promote the societal impact of research results and artistic activities. Basic scientific research produces new information on the subject to be studied. This work is fuelled by the curiosity and interest of researchers to better understand the subject of their research. The significance of new knowledge is universal in nature and brought to the attention of the world's scientific community through scientific publications and presentations. Applied research, on the other hand, aims at utilising already existing information, for example, to implement the desired type of product. It is worth noting that many, perhaps most, of the inventions that have changed the world are based on ground-breaking research at the forefront of their field, such as antibiotics, laser technology or, for example, the thin film method used in almost all computers and smartphones, based on the research of Tuomo Suuntola, the recipient of the Finnish Millennium Technology Prize 2018. I would like to emphasise the close link between high-quality basic research and applied work. Application development may require more basic research and, on the other hand, basic research is often aimed at the practical use of new information. Scientific research, which is at the forefront of its field in the world, is precisely the research that interests the users. The range of disciplines at the University of Oulu is exceptionally wide and offers plenty of potential for exploitation. We have strong regional cooperation between researchers, companies, cities and other stakeholders in society. The University has been well involved in the planning of the regional strategy for Northern Ostrobothnia, for example, and through the Oulu Innovation Alliance it is possible to concentrate activities and build innovation ecosystems on a broad basis. Our researchers are involved in many international projects and mainly collaborate in cooperation with the international community. One of the ways in which cooperation can be developed and made more effective could be to seek to implement and make more active and better use of cutting-edge research and know-how in these international projects and, more broadly, in the international community. This would increase our effectiveness. This would take place in the context of regional cooperation in cooperation with universities and businesses in the region. High-quality research cannot be carried out in cooperation without up-to-date equipment, datasets and expert staff. Another issue that enhances cooperation and effectiveness is the joint use and acquisition of research infrastructures by universities and industry…

  We were asked to comment on the soft success factors of our region, the culture and its transformation. Perhaps with the number of characters allowed, we can start a discussion on the subject - I have to get a little accentuated. Soft success factors are hard in many ways. When comparing products or services, we tend to compare technical characteristics or clinical quality factors that can be easily measured in the services. We call them hard workers. We assume that competitiveness, and therefore success, automatically follows the most advanced technology or the largest number of new features. We know how to invest in this: North Ostrobothnia's R&D rankings are among the top in the world. Our talented and well-trained scientists and engineers develop advanced technologies. These technologies (i.e. by definition tools or working methods) are then typically sold as such. The role of a subcontractor has its advantages, but it is not the most valuable place in the value chain - nor the safest. Sometimes, based on their own development work, a finished product or service is built, and even at best they have become products that their customers love. But you can still see that, in your own opinion, a bit of cuteness or a style that fits the imaginary market segment is frosted with an excellent solution. When you don't trade, you whip yourself as a bad salesman or an advertiser. And this is how our expertise appears soft on the market and at best disappears into the interior of the world's brands as part of the application. The product was great but the customers were stupid, the market was immature or the operating environment was unfair. According to classical economics, success in the market is based on the consumer's ability to maximize its benefits. That is, the product or service with which the customer, with its limited resources, gains the greatest benefit, thrives. What is this benefit? Professor Raoul Brummert summed this up with tremendous clarity for me, an immature student, in the autumn of 1980: The benefit is pleasure. From the very beginning, therefore, the hard foundations of economics have defined that the satisfaction of the customer, the satisfaction of the consumer's need, the understanding of the problem of man or the community is at the heart of all success. Next - or first - should we invest in a deep understanding of this? In product development, innovation environments, and the development of livelihoods, we need to invest significantly more in the themes of increasing customer understanding, developing customer experience and human interaction. They are missing from our programs. Therefore, when we invest in the development of future 7 or 9G technologies in our following innovation strategies, we must at the same time direct a concrete and clearly defined contribution to building the toughest competitive factors: what …

From an outsider's point of view, North Ostrobothnia is a mystery. The area resembles soap, which is not easy to get hold of. The image of Northern Ostrobothnia from the outside does not convey either a positive or a negative point of view. When you hear the word North Ostrobothnia, most people think of Oulu, Kärpät, Lestadianism, the North, technology, engineers and Nokia. Northern Ostrobothnia is often overshadowed by the great and powerful Oulu. It comes as a surprise to most that Northern Ostrobothnia is the fourth largest concentration of residents, jobs and businesses in the country. Or that the region's level of education is the third highest after Uusimaa and Pirkanmaa. In the area, it is also possible to throw one trump card over others, i.e. future capital in the form of children and young people. The region is the number one in research, development and innovation spending, especially thanks to the continuous ability of Oulu universities and companies to renew themselves. More investment has been made in wind power than anywhere else in Finland. The quality of life, happiness and satisfaction with one's own life are among the highest in experiential surveys. When you bring up places such as Kuusamo, Kalajoki, Ylivieska, Raahe, Rokua, Iso-Syöte, Hailuoto or even Raahe in the discussion, you make the listener wake up and get interested in the whole area in a different way. The first comment is often an open question about whether all those places are really in North Ostrobothnia. Few counties have urban pulses, swamps, seas, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, wilderness and fells. The happiness of Northern Ostrobothnia is strong in Oulu and its higher education institutions, but the rest of the area is also colourful and multifaceted. Northern Ostrobothnia is among the top six regions in terms of vitality or growth, well above the average. However, not everything is at the forefront of interregional competition, and there is a lot to develop. The main pain points in the region are related to relatively modest regional economic and employment dynamics, high morbidity and internal segregation. In my opinion, the biggest challenges of the 20s and 30s in Northern Ostrobothnia are related to traction and grip power. For decades, the Oulu urban area has absorbed the flows of young people and experts from a wide range of influences. In the future, flows from traditional regions of origin will become thinner. Oulu is also not attractive and attractive in terms of migration flows across the country, unlike other large growth centres. The employment of recent graduates in their own area is at most reasonable. The brain drain of trained people to the Helsinki metropolitan area and Tampere region has accelerated in recent years. The region needs to find sustainable solutions for three traction …

In early 2020, tourism attracted both domestic and foreign visitors. Many forums had noted that tourism is a significant part of our economy, both at the national level and at the level of many municipalities. In the spring, tourism had to take a sudden stop, from full speed to zero in the middle of the heaviest season. Since spring 2020, we have been a virtually closed tourist area for international tourists. We anticipated the all-time domestic tourism summer, which it also was for many regions. The development between the provinces was surprisingly different. Overnight stays registered in Northern Ostrobothnia in June-September 2020 were up (+2.9 %), e.g. in Lapland (-20,4 %) and Central Finland (-27.3 %) was not as successful. There were great differences within our region. Kalajoki (+8.1 %) and Kuusamo (+27.4 %They showed their attraction. Objects known for nature and activities in nature pulled the longest straw. We searched for places where the space was well above the minimum safety distances. The summer was a real summer cottage, which is not reflected in Statistics Finland's figures, because the cottages are not included in their statistics. For many, last summer was the first time we went on holiday from the south further away from Central Finland. We got a large number of first-timers excited about our destinations. The guests were delighted and surprised that there are such wonderful places and nice things to do in Finland! How will this interest lead to holiday trips to our county in the future, when competition with palm boulevards, Berlin cafés and Tallinn's Old Town opens? Many trends, such as nature and local travel, as well as traveling by land, are on our side. But without strong provincial measures to increase our attractiveness, we will not be able to cope with domestic customers choosing their destination. The same goes for international customers. Nature, space to move around and great experiences are our assets, but too few international tourists or tour operators know Northern Ostrobothnia. Without considering whether we are still living in the midst of a serious health crisis or a ‘new normal’, many things have changed in our daily lives. The digital leap that we prepared for as individuals and as a livelihood with trembling steps suddenly turned into a real leap. Remote working became the new normal. New tools and forums had to be adopted immediately. Digitalization can be utilized, for example, by means of virtual tourism, which has been a topic of much interest lately. Virtual tourism supports our tourism industry when we use it in marketing or guidance. If a significant part of the tourism experience were to become digital, we would quickly remain underdogs in relation to the gaming industry…

There are no things in the village on the doorstep North Ostrobothnia pampers us with magnificent nature. It serves us seaside areas, coastal areas crossed by rivers, marshlands and highlands. The area of the province is about 25,500 km² of forest, and the area includes the national parks of Oulanka, Rokua and Syöte, as well as part of the Hossa National Park. The positive image is also confirmed by the 2017 Environmental Awareness Award, which was awarded to forests and peatlands in Northern Ostrobothnia, and the Rokua Geopark, Finland's first UNESCO Global Geopark. We are beginning to understand how important nature is to the quality and even continuity of life. Proven well-being effects include: recovery, lowering stress levels, slowing down the pulse, lowering blood pressure, increasing the body's multifaceted microbiota, and various pleasure experiences. The good state of the environment thus creates a basis for the comfort of the living environment and the well-being of people. The natural environment also seems to have an impact on inequality. It seems to be of greater benefit to the most vulnerable. For example, people with financial or work worries or crises seem to benefit most emotionally from mind-set visits. There are even indications that the differences in mortality rates between different socio-economic groups are smaller in the regions with the most nature. Even in Northern Ostrobothnia, people's health is threatened by various diseases and disorders. Challenges related to mental well-being and economic inequalities experienced by families with children are of particular concern. It is noteworthy that the longer the child has lived surrounded by green spaces before reaching the age of 10, the lower the risk of mental health problems. Another study found that the green environment appears to have positive effects on children's intelligence and behavior.  Green areas and the natural environment also have a positive impact on people's social wellbeing: They make it possible to meet other people and increase social ties and sense of community. When children's living environment can be influenced by increasing nature in such a way that they experience less anxiety or depression and more confidence and social inclusion, it is good to take it into account in the design of the living environment. Also important from the point of view of safety is what came up in one study: the greener the residential environment, the lower the incidence of both property and violent crime. It is important to look at people's well-being as a whole that interacts with the environment. The whole is influenced by many…

North Ostrobothnia boasts a young population base, universities, basic industry and successful growth companies. The region has world-leading research knowledge and technology in many of the growing fields of the future. The challenge is how to integrate our know-how and innovations into value chains and into global markets. Past success is not a guarantee of future success. Telecommunications technology is a local example, combining high-level expertise, active research and development, and successful international business. Over the years, Nokia has created a critical mass in the region that is credible and capable of operating globally in an extremely competitive industry. We have the full potential to continue to thrive with products based on radio expertise, but this requires continuous research and development. Companies in the sector must take care of active product development and continuous R&D cooperation with other companies, universities and research institutes. The product development culture must not be eroded, but the enthusiasm and development must be visible. Printed electronics, on the other hand, is an example of what long-term research can achieve. The sector has been developed in Finland and at VTT for more than 20 years – largely with EU funding. We have gained a good foothold as a forerunner in printed intelligence and are developing the industry in the PrintoCent industrial cluster with around 40 operators. Our success is now weighed in how we incorporate our research results into the final products of a large business. Development work should generate business, products and production, as well as jobs in an area where most of the development work has also been carried out. In addition to research, we need private investment to drive ideas forward. Unleashing the potential of future technologies requires educated young people who believe in their cause. Educational institutions must present technology study paths for high school students, for example in electronics, optics, embedded systems and telecommunications technology. Young people could be offered company visits to technology companies that would tell about the company's activities, products and their development, as well as jobs. When young people then apply for high-tech studies, they must be attached to companies and networks by offering internships and supervising theses at the end of their studies. There are many good career opportunities in technology fields, but young people need to see them and can also be directed towards technology studies. Technological breakthroughs have brought tremendous potential to the region and its business life. North Ostrobothnia should aim to create new technology-based growth companies. They use innovations from research institutes to create competitive export products and …

  Research, development and training activities aimed at micro-enterprises and their operating conditions are a necessary investment from the perspective of sustainable growth and development in Northern Ostrobothnia. There are 22.8 million micro-enterprises in the EU, representing 93.1% of the EU-28 business base and 29.4% of EU-28 jobs. Over the past ten years, micro-enterprises have produced almost one third of the net positive job change in the EU-28 (Eurostat 2021). In particular, by expanding two narrow areas, it is possible to strengthen the conditions for sustainable growth in micro-enterprises. Micro-enterprises have export potential In relation to neighbouring countries, there is room for growth especially in exports of micro-enterprises. According to Eurostat, micro-enterprises in Finland produce only 3.9% of the total value of exports, compared to 14.6% in Sweden. By this measure, Finland is among the last in Europe. Information and effective measures are needed to catch up. Success in these measures is a prerequisite for strengthening and diversifying the economic structure of Northern Ostrobothnia and Finland as a whole. Entrepreneurial culture is a prerequisite for sustainable growth Business start-up activity is low. Young people's entrepreneurial intensities, which have grown in recent years, are not yet realised in business start-up figures. According to the World Bank, only 4.3 new companies per 1,000 people of working age are established in Finland every year, which is significantly low compared to the Nordic countries and Estonia. Entrepreneurial culture can be strengthened, for example, by investing in entrepreneurship education at all levels of education. Which countries should you learn from in order to widen the narrow areas described above? Europe's small developed economies are in many ways a particularly interesting point of reference. They are innovation-driven and export-dependent. There are no economies of scale such as Germany, France, China or the United States. They face many similar challenges as Finland. Among the developed countries classified by the IMF, these economies include those with a population of between half a million and 20 million. Factors, processes and best practices that increase the export activity of micro-enterprises can be sought in countries where exports of micro-enterprises are high relative to population. These include Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Slovenia and Estonia. Factors, processes and best practices that increase start-up activity can be found in countries with high start-up activity. These are Estonia (23.6 enterprises per 1000 working age population), Luxembourg (17.2), Denmark (10.1), Norway (8.6), Latvia (8.0) Sweden (7.2). Concrete examples can be used to bridge the gap between young people's entrepreneurial intentions and start-up activity. Export Dynamics and New …