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The City of Oulu and the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia have commented on Parliament's letter to the European Commission. According to the comments, Oulu airport and port should be included in the TEN-T core network. On 14 December 2021, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new TEN-T Regulation, which includes the definition of the TEN-T network and the requirements to be met by the TEN-T network. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is currently preparing a U-Letter to Parliament on the proposal. According to the views of the City of Oulu and the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia, the proposal for the TEN-T Regulation and the draft U-letter prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Communications do not take Oulu and Northern Finland into account in accordance with the position of the Government and the decision of the Grand Committee and the Transport and Communications Committee. On 5 May 2021, Parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee emphasised that ‘Finland should present Oulu airport on the TEN-T core network and thus as part of the core network corridor. This would also support opportunities to name …

The Government of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia appointed the Advisory Board for Organisations for 2022-2025 at its meeting on 20 December 2021. The tasks of the Advisory Board are to participate in the regional development work of the county, to make the organisation's activities visible and known, to promote the opportunities for citizens and organisations to participate, both between organisations and between organisations and the public sector. The Advisory Board for Organisations acts as a working group, ensuring that organisations are widely involved in the implementation of their tasks. Organisations are asked to nominate their candidates for membership of the Advisory Board by 15 February 2022. The nomination is made through this link The nominee nominated by the Organization undertakes to work for the benefit of the entire organizational field of the Province. The Regional Government of Northern Ostrobothnia will appoint an Organisational Advisory Board on 14 March 2022. Criteria for the selection of the members of the NAC: The advisory board is formed from organisations in different fields in such a way that it is as multidisciplinary and comprehensive as possible. Organisations operate in the whole of Northern Ostrobothnia or beyond, or …

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, we are not organizing a traditional reception for Women's Day on 8 March.    

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) call for projects under Axis 2 ended on 31 December 2021 in the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. By the deadline, 13 applications were received by the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. The majority of the applications were related to the development of research, skills and innovation activities under Specific Objective 4.1. In addition, funding was sought for the development of companies' innovation activities, renewable energy and energy-efficient solutions. The applications applied for funding from the Regional Council of North Ostrobothnia for a total of EUR 2.399.310. The funding available for the projects is approximately EUR 1,400,000 million.

The preparatory studies for the TUULI project (green structure and ecosystem service report, update report on the main migration route of birds, wolf territory report and electricity transmission report) were discussed at the meeting of the Provincial Government on 20 December 2021. Check out the reports on the TUULI project's website.

The Regional Council approved the Regional Programme for Northern Ostrobothnia for 2022-2025 at its meeting on 13 December. The regional programme seeks new thinking for regional and national regional development. The programme focuses on phenomena and themes that are important for the development of Northern Ostrobothnia. This aims to be flexible, proactive and quick to react to changes around us. The new provincial programme for Northern Ostrobothnia is a human-driven and time-of-change programme that makes change and its implementation visible through phenomena. The preparation aimed at a more goal-oriented and effective programme and highlighted the role of municipalities more strongly.  The programme emphasises the importance of the region's international and national traction and traction power more strongly than before. Climate issues and the energy transition, accessibility, as well as the green and digital transitions will be at the core of the programme. Through extensive joint preparation, various …

The AKKE application process is currently underway, applications can be submitted until the end of January 2022.   More information here and here

This was stated by Heli Hietala, Regional Director of the 4H organisation, when he told the North Ostrobothnia Regional Council about 4H's experiences of participating in organizing clubs and coordinating activities in connection with the school. Hietala stated that through the activities, the association can reach out comprehensively to schoolchildren in the locality, familiarize itself with its own basic activities and possibly find new enthusiastic members for longer-term activities as well. According to 4H's experience, the model has intensified cooperation in localities, and the association has been able to implement important practices through clubs, such as the entrepreneurship education model in the case of 4H. "Partnership in the Finnish model of hobby therefore offers the association opportunities for development and growth", says Hietala. The implementation of clubs also places demands on associations. They must have the know-how and experience to work with children and young people, as well as the ability to work with them…

In the AGRO SE-VI-Link project, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia organised a small-scale two-day workshop in Oulu on 17-18 November 2021. This involved the Regional Authority of West Greece, the main project implementer, and the administration of the Province of Burgos, the second co-implementer of the project. The workshop focused on developing a virtual incubation plan that would serve the start-up and development of social enterprises in the food sector. This draft incubation plan has been created on the basis of the good practices collected in the project and the applicability assessments carried out. In Finland, social entrepreneurship is not a well-known form of entrepreneurship. There are many different definitions of terminology, but in general, in a social enterprise, profits are used to promote some socially meaningful goal. This goal can be the same as in the company's operating model, e.g. reducing food waste, promoting people's well-being, improving employment, etc. In each country, social entrepreneurship works…

Mirja Vehkaperä, Tytti Tuppurainen, Adalmiina Irvankoski, Armiida Hämäläinen, Daria Zaikovskaia and Maksim Marchenkov are looking for solutions for the future of the EU in a panel after working in small groups. -- Concerns and worries, especially about the situation at the borders of the European Union, but also a lot of positive faith in the future. This could sum up the discussion in the working groups, when around fifty young people from the Barents region, i.e. Sweden, Norway, Russia and Finland, gathered to discuss the future of the European Union in Oulu on Tuesday 30 November. Discussions first took place in small groups on issues such as EU values, the rule of law, democracy, security, environmental issues and climate change. Economic issues, social justice, education, youth, digital development and Arctic issues were also raised. Based on the small group discussions, the ideas of each group were presented at a demolition event that anyone could …