The final VBN InnoReg Newsletter includes information about VBN InnoReg project final seminar in Kaunas, Lithuania (November 2007) and articles on innovative pilot projects implemented by the partner regions - "Innovation Promotion Session" for SMEs (Finland) and "Promotion of Innovation Spirit among Young Generation" (Latvia).  

VBN InnoReg (2006-2007) involves 10 partner regions in the Via Baltica Nordica (VBN) zone. The project has concentrated on analysing good practices, joint interests and development needs in promoting innovations in the partner regions.

Read the Newsletter.

Suomen Itämeri-instituutin organisoima ja Luova Tampere -ohjelman rahoittama Klub Tampere LIGHTS ON! -näyttely avattiin Pietarissa 14.11.2007.

Design Gallery / Bulthaupissa järjestetty näyttely kestää 1.12.2007 saakka ja se on avoinna päivittäin kello 11.00 - 22.00. Galleria löytyy osoitteesta Bolshaya Konyshennaya 2.

Lisätietoja Klub Tampere -projektin kotisivuilta.

Perjantaina 24.8. järjestettiin Ulkomaalaisten osaaminen hyödyksi Pirkanmaalla -selvityshankkeen tulosten esittely -ja keskustelutilaisuus. Tapahtuma keräsi runsaan osanottajajoukon kuuntelemaan selvitystyön tuloksia ja eri puhujien näkökulmia ulkomaalaisten osaajien rekrytoinnista.

Tilaisuudessa puheenvuoron pitivät Tampereen kaupungin elinkeinojohtaja Kari kankaalalta, työministeriön maahanmuuttopolitiikkatiimin johtajalta Mervi Virtaselta, Lionbridge Oy:n Kati Särkältä sekä Nokia Mobile Phonesilla työskentelevältä Devesh Kotharilta.

Suomen Itämeri-instituutti kiittää kaikkia tilaisuuteen osallistuneita.

Tilaisuudessa esitellyn tutkimusraportin voi ladata TÄSTÄ.

Tilaisuuden Powerpoint-esitykset voi ladata alla olevista linkeistä:

Suomen Itämeri-instituutti:Minna Säpyskä

Työministeriö:Mervi Virtanen

Nokia Mobile Phones: Devesh Kothari

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Results of the research "Recruitment of Foreign Employees in Pirkanmaa Region" were represented 24th of August in Vapriikki. There were speakers from the City of Tampere, Ministry of Labour, Lionbridge Ltd. and Nokia Mobile Phones.

The Baltic Institute of Finland thanks all the participants.

The research report can be downloaded HERE (available only in Finnish). 

The Powerpoint presentations can be downloaded links below:

The Baltic Institute of Finland: Minna Säpyskä

Ministry of Labour: Mervi Virtanen

Nokia Mobile Phones: Devesh Kothari

The first Club Tampere –concert is going to be held in St. Petersburg June 27th. The concert will present for Russian music lovers three groups from Tampere and one from St. Petersburg. In concert, which will be held at Club Revolution (Sadovaya, 28), will be playing Tigerbombs (FIN), I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper (FIN), DJ Infekto (FIN) and Scary B.O.O.M. (RUS).

Check out Club Tampere homepage for more information: http://www.klubtampere.fi/

Club Tampere is a new project for culture export. It is open-minded, ambitious and it has a clear target group. Club Tampere is a dynamic project which aims to meet the demand for high quality culture.

The first destination of Club Tampere is St. Petersburg. During the summer and fall 2007, Club Tampere will be present in St. Petersburg via different cultural events, exhibitions and concerts.

The third VBN InnoReg Newsletter includes information on VBN joint innovation strategy which will be prepared in order to give a strong basis for the future VBN cooperation. 

Newsletter also includes articles on innovation strategy process in Tampere (Finland) and Brandenburg (Germany) regions as well as articles on potentials and challenges in developing regional innovation systems in Havelland-Fläming (Germany) and Podlaskie (Poland). An introduction of a pilot project for innovative seed financing, which is piloted by Hermia Business Development Ltd. (Finland) during VBN InnoReg project, can also be found in the newsletter.

Read the Newsletter

Ulkomaalaisten osaaminen hyödyksi Pirkanmaalla –selvityshanke tuottaa tietoa työnantajista, joilla on kiinnostusta tai tarvetta rekrytoida Pirkanmaalla jo asuvia tai opiskelevia ulkomaalaisia osaajia. Tavoitteena on selvittää työnantajien näkemyksiä, tarpeita ja toiveita ulkomaalaisten rekrytoinnissa sekä työnantajien valmiutta hyödyntää rekrytoinnin tukipalveluja. Tarkoituksena on saada selville konkreettisia tukipalveluihin liittyviä kehittämisideoita, joita voidaan tulevaisuudessa viedä eteenpäin.

Lisätietoa hankkeesta
Further information about the project (in English)  

Ideasta hankkeeksi –seminaari järjestettiin 16.3.2007

Ajankohtainen "Ideasta hankkeeksi" -seminaaripäivä tarjosi tietoa ja välineitä kansainvälisten hankeideoiden työstämiseen ja esitteli EU:n erilaisia rahoitusohjelmia uudella rahoituskaudella.

Tilaisuuden järjestivät Suomen Itämeri-instituutti ja Tampereen eOppimisen klusteri yhteistyössä Pirkanmaan kv-verkoston, Teknologiakeskus Hermian ja Tampereen yliopiston tutkimuspalveluiden kanssa.

Seminaarin esitykset ja palautelomake

The Baltic Institute of Finland has published a new brochure with the theme "The diligent diplomat". You can find it in pdf format here:

BIF brochure in English (pdf)

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Suomen Itämeri-instituutti on julkaissut uuden esitteen teemalla "Arkipäivän diplomaatti". Löydät esitteen pdf-muodossa täältä:

BIF-esite suomeksi (pdf)

The Baltic Institute of Finland organized a "Finnish IT Security Show" event in the premises of General consulate of Finland in St. Petersburg on 7 February 2007. The event brought to St. Petersburg top-level Finnish IT companies specializing on security to introduce their activities to Russian companies and to find possible cooperation partners.

Presentations of Security Show in St. Petersburg are now available on our site.

Visit English page
Visit Russian page

Since 2004, the State of the Region-Report presents a comprehensive overview of the competitiveness of the Baltic Sea Region. Launched at the annual Summit of the Baltic Development Forum, the Report has become a widely used reference tool for public and private leaders that are working on improving competitiveness in the Region. The Report is available at the website of the Baltic Development Forum.

Baltic Development Forum is looking for researchers that might be interested to work with them at the State of the Region Report 2007. The conditions and job description for a researcher position available can be found here.

The Baltic Institute of Finland wishes Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007!

(Click the image to see it in the larger size...)

The second VBN InnoReg Newsletter includes information about the second joint project meeting in Tartu, November 2006 and expert articles on developing regional innovation systems by Prof. Marjatta Maula, partners from Kaunas Region, partners from South Ostrobothnia Region and German partner Innovation- and Trendcenter Bentwisch. 

VBN InnoReg involves 10 partner regions in the Via Baltica Nordica (VBN) zone. The key element of the project is analysing good practices, joint interests and development needs in promoting innovations in the partner regions. VBN InnoReg promotes regional collaboration and international networking between regional authorities, universities, technology centres and enterprises to foster competitiveness and economic performance of the Baltic Sea region. 

Read the Newsletter

BIF Director Esa Kokkonen presented Baltic Sea cooperation as a benchmark for European Regional cooperation in the seminar "European Regionalism: Perspectives from Northern Europe and the Black Sea" in Athens on 20 November 2006. The seminar was organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Finland in Athens in cooperation with International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS).

Initiatives and experiences on European regional cooperation at the  two edges of Europe - Northern Europe and the Black Sea - were presented and discussed in the seminar. In spite of different scopes of regional initiatives in these two European macro regions, various joint challenges and cooperation opportunities were identified. EU policies for regional cooperation, EU enlargement, the role of Russia and challenges of protection of maritime environment all are among the key elements of regional cooperation at the two "BSRs" - the Black Sea and Baltic Sea regions.

Seminar report (ICBSS)

The second VBN InnoReg joint project meeting gathered about 40 representatives from 17 partner organisations to Tartu, Estonia on 8-9 November. The aim of the meeting was to exchange experiences between all partners concerning their activities in the VBN InnoReg project.

More information on the project web site.

First IPR network meeting under the project “Promoting Intellectual Property Protection and Related Awareness Raising in St. Petersburg”, was held in Smolny, Saint Petersburg 31st October 2006. Main aim of the seminar was to discuss about creating and putting in to practice a sustainable model for IPR network in Saint Petersburg. Materials from the meeting are available on project’s webpages.

Find more information on the project website.

VBN InnoReg study tour to Finland provided practical and comparable outlook on Finnish practises and organizations related to innovation promotion in the cities of Tampere, Seinäjoki and Espoo.

The study tour was organised as part of VBN InnoReg project that aims at developing transnational cooperation on innovation promotion between the regions in the Via Baltica Nordica zone. Project partners from Finland, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania including high-level authorities from Kaunas region participated in this study tour.  

More information on the project web site

Three workshops were organized under the general theme “Promoting Intellectual Property Protection and Related Awareness Raising in St. Petersburg ” in St. Petersburg 11 September 2006.  The aim of the workshops was to bring together IPR actors from St. Petersburg to discuss the current challenges in the IPR system in St. Petersburg and to make concrete plans to answer these challenges. Trainers in the workshops were top-level IPR experts from Finland, who brought their own long experience to the workshops and presented Finnish cases related to the themes.

Read more information and find workshop materials from the project website.

Ms. Katja Kaunismaa, M.Soc.Sc. (Master of Social Sciences), has been appointed Project Director. Previously she has worked in The Baltic Institute of Finland as a Project Manager.

Mr. Taneli Dobrowolski has been appointed Project Coordinator. He started working at The Baltic Institute of Finland on September 1st.

BIF in collaboration with Tampere Polytechnic, University of Tampere and Institute of Regional Innovation Systems will organize a high-level forum on Finnish-Russian innovation cooperation in Tampere on 14-15 September 2006.

The forum will provide a topical overview on recent trends and developments in innovation policies and innovation performance in Russia, and especially in St. Petersburg. Good practices on Finnish innovation system, as well as cases and opportunities for Finnish-Russian innovation cooperation will be also introduced and discussed.

The forum will include presentations from leading Finnish and Russian innovation policy makers and practitioners. More than 90 participants have registered for the forum.

Programme

The first VBN InnoReg Newsletter includes information about the project kick-off in March 2006 and articles from following partners: Council of Tampere Region, Latvian Technological Center, Tartu City Government and the Regional Council of Häme.

VBN InnoReg involves 10 partner regions in the Via Baltica Nordica (VBN) zone. The key element of the project is analysing the dynamics of innovation systems in VBN partner regions to identify good practices, joint interests and development needs in innovation promotion. VBN InnoReg promotes regional collaboration and international networking between regional authorities, universities, technology centres and enterprises to foster competitiveness and economic performance of the Baltic Sea region, focusing on VBN macro-region. 

Read the Newsletter

BIF, in cooperation with the City Administration of St. Petersburg and the Baltic Research Center, organized a high-level seminar in St. Petersburg on 6 April 2006. The seminar, "Protecting and Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Russia Today - Case St. Petersburg", presented the first results of an analysis on the current situation in protecting and enforcing IPR in St. Petersburg.

The seminar was organized as part of the activities in the project "Promoting Intellectual Property Protection and Related Awareness Raising in St. Petersburg - A Joint Cooperation Project between Finland, Denmark and the City of St. Petersburg, Russia". 

More information from the project website.

The Baltic Institute of Finland organized a three-day kick-off meeting of the project VBN InnoReg -Strengthening Via Baltica Nordica Macro-Region through Transnational Cooperation for Regional Innovation Promotion on 28-30 March 2006 in Tampere. The meeting gathered over 40 representatives of the partner organizations from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany.

The main goal of the kick-off meeting was to bring together representatives of 10 partner regions from the Via Baltica Nordica zone in order to present features of their existing innovation systems and regional innovation activities as well as to discuss the core topics of the project with other partners. Also training sessions on project coordination and reporting were organized.

More information from the project web site.

BIF is actively involved in Tampere’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2011. In the application by the City of Tampere, submitted to the Finnish Ministry of Education on 28 February 2006, the Foundation for the Baltic Institute is presented as an option for the administrative organization of the Tampere 2011 - European Capital of Culture project.  For this purpose, BIF has commissioned an extensive feasibility study to survey the opportunities for utilizing the Foundation for the Baltic Institute as the Tampere 2011 administrative organization, and to benchmark it against administrative structures of various former European Capitals of Culture.

The study - carried out by Ideatoimisto Ltd and Life Works Consulting Ltd in January-February 2006 - strongly supports the BIF involvement in the Tampere 2011 project. With its comprehensive international and national networks, extensive project management expertise and organizational flexibility, BIF would provide an effective administrative framework for the Tampere 2011 project. The fact that another European Capital of Culture in 2011 will be an Estonian city, emphasizes the BIF involvement. BIF has long and successful experience in Estonian-Finnish cooperation, currently especially in the framework of the VBN InnoReg and eCitizen Interreg projects.

Further information:

http://www.tampere2011.fi/

Mr. Esa Kokkonen, tel. +358 50 516 9111

VBN InnoReg – Strengthening Via Baltica Nordica Macro-Region through Transnational Cooperation for Regional Innovation Promotion

New project "VBN InnoReg" with 17 partners from seven BSR countries was approved in the 8th application round of the EU Interreg III B Programme. Total budget of this two-year project (2006-2007) is about EUR 1,2 million, out of which almost EUR 700 000 will be co-financed by the EU. 

VBN InnoReg is an outcome of cooperation between regions in the Via Baltica Nordica (VBN) zone sharing similar challenges in developing their regional innovation systems (RIS). Key element of the project is analysing the dynamics of RIS in VBN partner regions to identify best practices in innovation promotion and development needs at regional and macro-regional level. The project activities are divided into 3 work-packages and implemented in parallel regional and transnational operations.

VBN InnoReg focuses on effective collaboration between regional authorities, universities, technology centres and enterprises as well as strong international networking to promote competitiveness and economic performance of the VBN zone as a whole. The project partners are from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. The Baltic Institute of Finland acts as the Lead Partner and coordinator of the project.

Press release 17 January 2006 (in Finnish)

Information about the BSR Interreg III B Programme

Dear partners,

The Baltic Institute of Finland wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2006!

Season's greetings

Strengthening the EU Agenda for Baltic Sea Cooperation
European Parliament, Brussels, 29 November 2005

A new momentum for Baltic Sea Cooperation is actively being generated in Europe today. Europe's Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region prepared by the "Baltic Europe intergroup" of the European Parliament was published in Strasbourg on 15 November, and the Northern Dimension Ministerial meeting was held in Brussels on 21 November. Following these events, the Baltic Institute of Finland organized a seminar on "Strengthening the EU Agenda for Baltic Sea Cooperation" in the European Parliament, Brussels on 29 November. More than 40 MEPs and experts on the Baltic Sea region participated in the seminar.  

Presentations and summary of the seminar

Seminar on Finnish-Latvian Business Cooperation
Tampere Hall, 14 November 2005

Latvia is at the moment the fastest growing economy in Europe. The strategic location of Latvia at the Baltic Sea Region together with rapidly developing transport connections form the basis for Latvia’s economic success and attractiveness. Latvia is an increasingly attractive destination also for the Finnish businesses and tourists. This seminar provides an outlook on the recent development of Latvian economy and business environment, future prospects as well as possibilities for Finnish-Latvian business cooperation in the enlarged European Union.

The Baltic Institute of Finland organizes the seminar in cooperation with Friends of Latvia Association as part of the Latvian week in Finland.

Programme and registration 

The Baltic Institute of Finland coordinates a cooperation project "Promoting Intellectual Property Protection and Related Awareness Raising in St. Petersburg". The project enhances joint efforts to protect and enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) and raise public awareness of intellectual property issues in the framework of collaboration between St. Petersburg, Denmark and Finland.

Project activities will be launched in October 2005. They include a thorough analysis of the Russian IPR system, training seminars and implementation of a network model for IPR enforcement in St. Petersburg. Furthermore, awareness raising campaigns against violations of IPR, piracy and counterfeit in the city of St. Petersburg will be designed and implemented.

The project is co-financed by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Danish Ministry for Economic and Business Affairs and the City of St. Petersburg.

Further information: Katja Kaunismaa, katja.kaunismaa@tampere.fi

To the project web site

The Baltic Institute of Finland together with NGO "Chudskoye Project" (Pskov, Russia) organise a summer school for environmental NGOs: "Northern Dimension NGOs: Promoting Transboundary Cooperation between Russian, Estonian and Finnish environmental NGOs" that will take place on 25–29 August 2005 in Pskov region.

The overall goal of the event is to exchange experiences and initiate new concrete cooperation projects between Finnish, Northwest Russian and Estonian environmental NGOs. Project web site

IT Poland and IT Sweden 2 are the latest additions to the Export Groups managed by the Baltic Institute of Finland. At the moment, BIF is running five export groups in the fields of IT, environmental technology and construction in Russia, Poland and Sweden. There is a growing interest among Finnish SMEs in the Baltic Sea Region market and respective export promotion activities.

Further information

The city of Tampere together with the Baltic Institute as an executing agency is coordinating a cooperation project between Finnish cities and the St. Petersburg City Committee on Environment on developing air monitoring management system and distribution of related information. This project is financed by the Finnish Ministry of Environment. The project activities will be launched in November 2004 by a study tour to Finland.

Further information

TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE UNION OF THE BALTIC CITIES

Meeting of the UBC Commission on Information Society in Tampere, Finland on 20-21 October 2004

The meeting will be held in connection with the seminar "Baltic Sea Cooperation in the Changing Europe" - the 10th Anniversary Seminar of the Baltic Institute of Finland.

The Commission meeting will consist of a general session and three workshops under the main theme "Promoting eGovernment in the Baltic Cities". The main aim of the workshops is to discuss and elaborate new eGovernment related project initiatives between the Baltic Cities.

Further information

A Russian-Finnish seminar -
Protection of Intellectual Property: Practices in Russia

6-7 October 2004
St. Petersburg, Smolny (Hall 242, 2nd floor)

Organizers:

• Joint Project of Federal Service on Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (ROSPATENT) and UNDP to create an Intellectual property information and legal center
• City of St. Petersburg
• The Baltic Institute of Finland

Seminar topics include e.g.:

• Legal regulation for protection of industrial property in the Russian Federation
• State and public control in the sphere of intellectual property
• Globalization of the problem of counterfeiting
• Criminal proceedings and public prosecution control in the sphere of intellectual property protection
• Activities of law enforcement agencies for intellectual property protection

Further information and registration

Rakennerahastot 2007-2013: Miten valmistautua tulevaan kauteen?

Ajankohtaisseminaari 21.9.2004 klo 9.30-12.00
Tampereen kaupunginvaltuuston istuntosali, Aleksis Kiven katu 14 -16 C Tampere

Seminaarissa käsitellään useita EU-hanketoimijoiden kannalta keskeisiä kysymyksiä, mm. :

• miten Suomen asema muuttuu? Tyrehtyvätkö rahahanat?
• säilyykö ESR? Entä miten käy EAKR:n?
• mihin asioihin EU:ssa panostetaan jatkossa?
• miten tulevaisuuteen voidaan valmistautua?

In the framework of close collaboration between the city of Tampere in Finland and the city of St. Petersburg in Russia a new pilot project "Promotion of Knowledge Society in St. Petersburg through a Regional Partnership" is launched. The Baltic Institute of Finland coordinates this two-year development project financed by the Finnish Government. The goal is to enhance information society development through city collaboration in utilizing modern technology into local public services. 

Further information

The project's aim is to facilitate the development of Information Society in Kaunas and Tampere regions within the framework of eEurope initiatives. In this process, Tampere will transfer its know-how to Kaunas regarding Information Society development in the region. Planning and programming skills of the Finnish partners will be transferred to Kaunas partners via training seminars and study visits.

Further information

The overall aim of the project is to promote and support innovative entrepreneurship in the cities of Klaipeda and Panevezys by improving the services of existing regional support structures. New business development services will be developed for research-based and technology-oriented small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-up entrepreneurs.

Further information

BIF is reponsible for the management of StroiFinex export group. Five Finnish construction material companies participate in the group.

Further information

BIF is reponsible for the management of EkoFinnex export group. Four Finnish environmental technology companies participate in the group.

Further information

Ministeri Paula Lehtomäki puhui Itämeri-yhteistyön tulevaisuudesta Itämeri-instituutissa 8.1.2004. Itämeren alue on poliittisesti ja taloudellisesti mielenkiintoisessa kehitysvaiheessa. Euroopan unionin laajentumisen ja EU–Venäjä -suhteiden uudistumisen myötä alueesta on muodostumassa yhä tärkeämpi kaupankäyntiä ja eri alojen yhteistyötä tukeva suuralue, jossa Suomella on avainrooli. Alueen maiden välistä yhteistyötä tuetaan myös Suomen aloitteesta vuonna 1997 käynnistyneellä EU:n Pohjoisen ulottuvuuden politiikalla, jota koskeva uusi toimintasuunnitelma vuosille 2004–2006 valmistui äskettäin.

Itämeri-instituutin järjestämä keskustelutilaisuus Itämeren alueen yhteistyö 2004 kokosi yli 30 suomalaista Itämeren alueen asiantuntijaa keskustelemaan Itämeren alueen yhteistyön näkymistä Suomen lähialueyhteistyön ja vienninedistämisen näkökulmista.

Further information (only in Finnish)

The main objective of the project is to promote environmental cooperation between the Tampere Region, Finland, and Pomeranian and Western Pomeranian regions by surveying project opportunities and environmental development needs in Polish coastal regions, by preparing interregional environmental pilot projects and by creating contacts between Finnish and Polish environmental actors. The project focuses on development of regional water and waste management in Pomerania and Western Pomerania, both on municipal and industrial sectors.

The core of the project is a survey on environmental development needs in Northern Poland based on interviews with Polish local authorities carried out by Finnish students during spring 2003.

Further information

Finnish-Polish environmental contact forum in Gdansk was a part of project "Development of Environmental Co-operation Between the Tampere Region and Polish Coastal Regions", which the Baltic Institute of Finland is co-ordinating. Contact forum was based on interviews and comprehensive survey of project opportunities carried out in Polish coastal regions - Pomeranian and Western Pomeranian provinces.

Several Finnish companies and other environmental specialists, like representatives from Regional Environment Centre, Technical University of Tampere and Tampere Polytechnic participated to the Gdansk forum in order to listen to the Polish proposals on co-operation opportunities mainly in the fields of water-, wastewater- and waste management. The mini fairs on the second day of the forum provided opportunity to discuss the projects further during organized bilateral meetings between the Polish and Finnish partners.

Further information

The Baltic Institute of Finland and the Pan-European Institute of Turku School of Economics and Business Administration have been assigned to carry out an evaluation on Becoming Visible-Project.

Further information

Tampere Polytechnic, in co-operation with Tallinn Technical University, organises an Executive MBA-Programme in International Business and Marketing. The Programme is designed for experts and managerial personnel in business and public administration.

Further information

The cities of Tampere and St. Petersburg have recently concluded a protocol on ICT cooperation. St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and Mayor of Tampere, Mr. Jarmo Rantanen signed the protocol in St. Petersburg on 25 April 2002. The overall aim of the protocol is to facilitate the development of knowledge society in both cities in the framework of eEurope, eRussia and Northern eDimension (NeDAP) initiativies in general, and e-St.Petersburg and eTampere programs in particular. The purpose of the protocol is to promote and facilitate direct contacts and joint project activities between local enterprises, academic institutions and other relevant organizations.

In the autumn 2002, a project group from Tampere - including key public and private organizations responsible for knowledge society development - together with ICT sector representatives from St. Petersburg have prepared an action plan for St. Petersburg - Tampere Knowledge Society Partnership contributing to the implementation of the cooperation protocol.

Further information