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The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia will organise a webinar on the regional and employment impacts of wind power on Friday 27 January 2023 from 12 am to 3 pm. The event is the final seminar of the Northern Ostrobothnia Wind Power Competence Development project, where the results of the project will be published. The event will only be held online. Link to webinar. Programme 12.00 Opening of the event, Director of Planning Markus Erkkilä, Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia 12.10 Development of wind power expertise in Northern Ostrobothnia survey, results Antti Majava, Turning Point R&A;k Oy Mikko Laitinen and Oona Aaltonen, Spring Advisor Oy 13.00 Preparatory comments Mayor Esa Jussila, Mayor of Kärsämäki Mayor Matti Soronen, Mayor of Pyhäjoki Professor Marko Huttula, University of Oulu Joint Municipal Authority Director-Rector Jarmo Paloniemi, OSAO Managing Director Pauli Sarpola, Port of Raahe 14.00 Tauko 14.10 Reviewing questions and comments (messageseina.fi/pohjoispohjanmaa) 15.00 Closing of the event, Strategy Manager Ilpo Tapaninen, Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia…

Today, the Baltic Sea is one of the focal points of world policy and can make the region more attractive to tourists. In the summer, the cooler conditions in the Baltic Sea region also start to appear quite attractive, writes Anna-Maija Toivonen, who works as the coordinator of the tourism policy area of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia.

In December 2021, the Regional Council of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia adopted the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia’s Economic and Operational Plan for 2022-2024. One of the objectives of the strategic approach "Conditions for profitable business and competitiveness" was to draw up a report on the ability to change in Northern Ostrobothnia, which supports and strengthens the region's research and innovation activities and competitiveness. The goal has now been realised and the flexibility of change has been studied by Norrum Oy and TK-Eval Ay. Due to the changed geopolitical situation in the world, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland and Europe as a whole, as well as changes in the European economy, the study reached the stage where it is really needed. Positioning yourself, understanding the causes and consequences, setting scenarios, helps both the public and private sectors to seek new solutions for their operations. North Ostrobothnia Change Capability Study

The change in the international operating environment that took place in spring 2022 also affects the starting points for regional development in the regions of Eastern and Northern Finland. The change in the operating environment refers to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The regions need background information and an assessment of the potential impacts of the change in order to be able to react to them in regional development policies. In spring 2022, IP counties decided to prepare a joint external study. The report mainly describes the situation at the end of June 2022, but contains statistics and other information until the end of November 2022. The Regional Council of North Karelia commissioned the study. The survey was carried out by TK-Eval Ay. The regions participating in the survey were South Savo, Kainuu, Central Ostrobothnia, Lapland, North Karelia, North Ostrobothnia and North Savo. Read more: Report

According to a notification from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the EURA 2021 system update will be carried out on Monday, 9 January 23, in which changes will be made to project application notices, selection criteria and frameworks, among other things. Therefore, the start of normal operations will be postponed by the day to Tuesday, January 10, 23. New calls for project applications can be launched on Tuesday, 10 January 2023. Unfinished or published calls for applications for 2023 will be removed from the system by the administrator.

The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia organised a Epiphany Reception after a three-year break. Approximately 400 guests were invited to the reception in the Madetoja Hall, representing the political decision-makers of the region and actors from different fields. The reception will be hosted by Mari-Leena Talvitie, President of the Regional Council, and Jussi Ylitalo, President of the Regional Government, and Pauli Harju, Regional Director, who will be on leave at the end of March. In her ceremonial speech, Mari-Leena Talvitie thanked Pauli Harju, who had piloted the region for 15 years. Duo Edit Rautio and Eemeli Nevalainen performed at the Epiphany Reception. Jazztrio Elias Niskanen, Jesse Perttu and Samuli Sillanpää were responsible for the evening's entertainment music. The reception ended with a joint singing of the North Ostrobothnia provincial song The Land of the Ten Rivers. The Northern Ostrobothnia Prize for Ruka Nordic was also awarded to Ruka Nordic at the Epiphany Reception.  The prize is awarded for life's work for the benefit of Northern Ostrobothnia or…

Dear ministers and provincial councillors, representatives of municipalities and partners Young people, women and men of Arvo I am pleased to welcome you all here on behalf of myself and the Provincial Council to the Provincial Council's reception in Loppias. The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia was founded in Oulu on 6 January 1931, 92 years ago. It's nice to be together after a few years.  Together with the Summer University of Northern Ostrobothnia, the Regional Council celebrated its 90th anniversary by highlighting civilisation and its importance to our region. The jubilee year included, among other things, a series of remote lectures and other presentations of science or art, rewards.   For more than 90 years, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia has acted as a guardian of the interests of our region, as a regional developer and financier, as a regional planner and as a builder of cooperation with many partners.  In those 90 years there has been a great change, in the society…

The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia opens an application round for ERDF projects from the EU's Regional and Structural Policy Programme for a Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027. The application round is open from 9 January 2023 to 28 February 2023. The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia finances European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) measures. Only projects under Specific Objectives 1.3, 2.2 and 3.1 will be funded under this call. Before preparing your application, you should read more about the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 programme document and the content of the above-mentioned specific objectives. An amount of EUR 3,610,000 is planned to be used to finance the projects received in the application round. The maximum amount of funding requested (ERDF and State) is 80% development project and up to 70% the total cost of the investment project, excluding infrastructure investment projects carried out by municipalities or joint municipal authorities under specific objective 3.1, for which the support funding (ERDF and State) may not exceed 50;%…

The European Commission has approved the actions of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) as part of the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 EU Regional and Structural Policy Programme. At the same time, the Just Transition Plan for Northern Ostrobothnia was adopted, which defines the actions to be financed in the region. The funding for Northern Ostrobothnia amounts to up to EUR 119 million, which is 20% of Finland's total JTF funding for the 2021-2027 programming period. Funding is provided by the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Northern Ostrobothnia. The call for applications will open in the EURA2021 information system in February-March 2023. The JTF compensates for the negative socio-economic and environmental impacts of reducing the energy use of peat. The territorially just transition of phasing out peat will be supported by developing the region's livelihoods and SMEs, providing coaching for the industry's workforce and restoring safe production areas, among other things. In Northern Ostrobothnia, JTF funding is allocated to four main areas: Development of RDI activities, SME development, competence development…

On 15 December 2022, the Government granted a total of EUR 950,000 to strengthen the vitality and ability to change of Eastern Finland. In addition, the Government granted EUR 416 000 for the creation of an action plan for clean and stable energy production in the Pyhäjoki economic area.