The second LSG meeting this year took place 15.8.2018 in the city of Nurmes in North Karelia. We travelled to Nurmes, where we got a change to get acquainted with their new bioeconomy area, Nurmes Biopark. The area is partly ready and partly under construction. We visited a wood terminal, where energy wood is stored and comminuted. The location and the premises of the terminal were excellent; the road was good, the ground was covered with asphalt, the place was sunny and windy the angle of the ground enabled the water from rain of melting snow to pour away. In addition we saw the railroad and its bioeconomy terminal construction site and visited one large harvesting company.
The new regional smart forest bioeconomy strategy, which combines the policy instruments on the background of the project (regional RIS 3 strategy and regional climate end energy programme) was presented to the local stakeholders. In addition, the draft of the action plan was presented and discussed. According to the meeting, the topics selected to the action plan seemed to be suitable for the current situation in the region.
Availability of skilled labour for practical workers was one of the problems and development needs and thus one of the actions in our upcoming action plan will deal with securing the availability of skilled labour in the region in order to keep the wheels of bioecomony rolling.
