The corona crisis has weakened the operating conditions of companies, endangered jobs in the region and put the vitality of municipalities at stake. During the corona crisis, by lead of Regional Council of North Karelia, a survival plan for North Karelia has been drawn up in extensive cooperation with municipalities, entrepreneurs and business organizations. The plan aims to find solutions and ways to restore the vitality of the region as soon as possible.
The crisis is also a great opportunity and now there is a place to show the power of cooperation between municipalities, companies, business and educational organisations. The main measures to be launched this year to tackle the crisis - and create new growth are:
1. Reviving demand for local services and products
- using services of local entrepreneurs and self-sufficiency: increasing use of services, encouraging also private households to use services
- public and private procurements as tools of growth: implementing procurements earlier than initially planned and splitting them into suitably formed procurement packages
- speeding up and encouraging investments: public and private investments, e.g. basic infrastructure and construction projects
2. Accelerating new growth: revising company strategies, business activities and practices
- continuing and intensifying development efforts to improve companies’ competitiveness and adaptation to the post-corona period (e.g. management and strategy skills, customer skills, automation, robotics, digitalisation, targeting international markets, sales and marketing skills, new products, services as part of products etc.
3. New business opportunities through value networks
- bringing jobs back to the region: bringing jobs back to Finland, changing to domestic subcontracting chains as far as possible (e.g. through projects)
- building new value networks and increasing business opportunities
- adjusting sales and marketing, productisation and service business, management, improving procurement and purchasing skills in the entire value network
4. Growth-enhancing operating environment
- strengthening factors that pull and retain businesses and employees in the region (during the new normal)
- business services to support business growth
- solving seasonal workforce issues and increasing self-sufficiency in primary production
- rapid restoration of flight connections
- boosting investments: business investments, transport, tourism and bioeconomy, research and development, environment and climate (incl. wind power)
- joint, determined efforts to remove barriers to growth and to tap into changes in the market and new growth opportunities in the region’s companies
5. Communication that builds trust for the future
- marketing: use of local services
- improving the atmosphere, building hope for the future
- working together, ”cooperation will help us get through this”
Joint measures are planned and implemented for the themes presented above. In addition, various organisations offer services which help in achieving the goals.
For more information, visit the full pubblication (Finnish language).
PASSPARTOOL project will have the occasion to investigate the soft innovation processes resulting from the measures adopted in North Karelia.
