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The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia is applying for funding from the Finnish Structural Funds programme Sustainable Growth and Jobs 2014-2020. ERDF applications are accepted for priority axis 1 ‘Competitiveness of SMEs’ and priority axis 2 ‘Production and exploitation of the latest knowledge and know-how’ and priority axis 8 ‘React-EU ERDF measures’. Specific objective 1.2 is not open in the application round, while the other specific objectives of the priority axes are open. The application period is from 23 May to 30 June 2022. ERDF applications must be submitted to the authority via the EURA2014 system (www.eura2014.fi). Projects can run until 31 December 2023 at the latest. The maximum amount of funding requested (ERDF and State) is 70% the total cost of the project. Some EUR 2.516.000 million is planned to be used to finance projects under Axis 1 and Axis 2 and EUR 228.000 to finance React-EU projects under Axis 8. Now …

On Tuesday 17 May, the European Commission announced 63 regions, 7 cities and 4 Member States that have been selected to participate in the Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI) pilot project. One of the selected regions is Eastern and Northern Finland. The participants in the pilot project will openly share their experiences of good practice and jointly develop and test tools to mobilise a wide range of funding sources and policies. These actions link regional and national programmes to EU initiatives to promote the green and digital transitions. These partnerships will feed into the new European Innovation Agenda, where innovation contributes to the transformation of sustainable development and integrates local strategies with initiatives at EU level. PRI is a continuation of the experience gained from Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) and is linked to …

The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, in cooperation with the City of Oulu, has launched an ERDF project application for the implementation of the ecosystem agreement signed between the State and the City of Oulu. The content of the Oulu ecosystem agreement consists of the strategic focus areas and spearhead programmes of the Oulu Innovation Alliance for 2021-2027. The projects under the ecosystem agreement support the formation of business clusters and ecosystems in selected target sectors, identify the needs and services of the companies belonging to them, promote longer-term concrete goals and broad entities in line with the target sectors and spearhead programmes of the Oulu Innovation Alliance strategy, and provide added value from digital to the everyday services and built environment of residents. The application round is open from 16 May 2022 to 10 June 2022. ERDF applications must be submitted to the authority via the EURA2021 system. The projects to be funded must be the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 programme, the Smart Specialisation Strategy for Northern Ostrobothnia (for projects under Specific Objective 1.1.) and the City of Oulu and the State …

The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia is seeking funding from the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 EU Regional and Structural Policy Programme. The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia finances European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) measures. The application round is open from 16 May 2022 to 31 August 2022. Before preparing your application, you should read more about the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 programme document. An amount of EUR 8.513.000 million is planned to be used to finance the projects received in the call for applications. The maximum amount of funding requested (ERDF and State) is 70.% the total cost of the project, excluding infrastructure investment projects carried out by municipalities or joint municipal authorities under specific objective 3.1, for which the maximum amount of support (ERDF and State) is 50;% the total cost of the project. For more information on the application round, click here.

The EU Office for Eastern and Northern Finland (East & North Finland) in Brussels moves temporarily, but only to a neighbour. The new address of the office is: Avenue Palmerston 26. 2nd floor.  The EU Office for Eastern and Northern Finland will return to its former premises in approximately six months' time. The postal address remains the same as before. It is therefore still: Avenue Palmerston 24, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. The EU Office for Eastern and Northern Finland in Brussels oversees the interests of actors in South Savo, Kainuu, Central Ostrobothnia, Lapland, North Karelia, North Ostrobothnia and North Savo. Through advocacy in cooperation with the Regional Councils, the EU Office improves the competitiveness and operating conditions of the business sector in Eastern and Northern Finland.

The Northern Ostrobothnia EU Info Point celebrated Europe Day, focusing on the solidarity of Europe and the European Union with Ukraine. The main event of Europe Day in Northern Ostrobothnia was held in the shopping centre Valkea Oulu, where Hanna Honkamäkilä, Head of International Affairs at the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, and Ville Koivuniemi, spokesman for the EU Information Point of Northern Ostrobothnia, answered questions about the European Union. The theme of the discussion was Finland's new position as part of Europe and especially as part of the Arctic region. In addition to Honkamäkilä and Koivuniemi, who hosted the event, Mari-Leena Talvitie, Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Council of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia and member of the Finnish delegation to the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, and Markku Heikkilä, Head of Science Communications at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, participated in the discussion. In the discussion, it was first and foremost pointed out that the policy of the Arctic region is currently …

  The Northern Ostrobothnia EU Info Point celebrates Europe Day in the Valkea shopping centre in Oulu on 9 May from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Those interested can then come and talk about the European Union with experts from the Northern Ostrobothnia Information Centre and the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. There are also European-themed distributive items available. At 1.30 p.m., the White Stage will discuss European values and unity. Markku Heikkilä, Head of Science Communications at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, Mari-Leena Talvitie, Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, and Hanna Honkamäkilä, Head of International Affairs at the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, will speak as experts. The event will be hosted by Ville Koivuniemi, spokesperson for the North Ostrobothnia EU Information Point and the Regional Council of North Ostrobothnia. Honkamäkilä and Koivuniemi can also be found on Valkea pedestrian street from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The European Day of Peace and Unity is celebrated every year on 9 May. Europe Day is the celebration of peace and unity in Europe…

The results of the Interreg North EU programme have been compiled into a portfolio of projects, which can be found here. The EU programme Interreg North supports cross-border cooperation and aims to strengthen economic and social development in the 2014-2020 period. The overall objective of the Northern programme is to strengthen the competitiveness and attractiveness of the programme area. The programme covers northern Sweden, northern Finland, northern Norway and the Sámi regions.

"By working together, we can achieve more and achieve more impactful results", summarises Esa Aunola, who was elected chairman of the North Ostrobothnia NGO Advisory Board. Aunola is an experienced association operator.  He represents the Villages of Northern Ostrobothnia in the Advisory Board of Organisations. Heli Hietala from the Finnish 4H Association was elected as Vice Chairman. At its first meeting, the Advisory Board discussed the basic principles of its activities. The field of organisations is diverse and the activities are broadly oriented towards different sectors of society, but there are also connecting factors. Promoting the well-being of people in Northern Ostrobothnia is at the heart of the activities of all organisations involved in the Advisory Board, and one of the basic objectives of the Advisory Board is also to promote the well-being of people in Northern Ostrobothnia. Concretely, this will be promoted, for example, by participating in the steering group work of the POPSOTE project, for which the Advisory Board appointed Arja Sutela from the Young Friends Association as its representative and Tanja Tanhua from the Oulu Deaconess Institute Foundation as her deputy. The Advisory Board aims to bring organizational work…

AKKE - Supporting the sustainable growth and vitality of regions and AIKOO - Regional Innovations and Experiments funding from the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia is now open. The application round for the AKKE grant is the fifth in its order and the application has become a continuous application. It is also open to launch regional innovations and experiments, i.e. to apply for the AIKOO grant. The AIKOO appropriation is intended to be used for strengthening the resilience of regions in a changing operating environment, for measures of anticipated structural change, for the renewal of livelihoods and for smart adaptation to measures of anticipated structural change. AIKOO funding is applied for on the same application basis as AKKE funding. For the time being, both apply continuously until funding ends or a separate theme search is launched. Applications for both allocations received by 8 June 2022 will be processed as of 9 June 2022. More information about the search here