The Interface Between Higher Educational Institutions and Companies in Northwest Russia
Funded by Euregio Karelia Neighbourhood Programme 2001-2006

Objective of the project

The target group of the project was higher education institutions in Oulu and companies in the environmental industry in Northern Finland. The goal of the project was to create preconditions for the increase and development of business cooperation in the Barents region and to create a foundation for more extensive education and research cooperation between higher education institutions in Oulu, Petrozavodsk State University and the State Technical Universities in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.

Main activities

• Arrangement of continuing education events, • Conducting a market research, • Arrangement of Business Workshops • Identifying previous cooperation and current areas of interest between the higher education institutions, producing an extensive report of the potential cooperation areas.

Achievements

Continuing training events increased the ability of actors to operate in international projects. Through practical experience, expertise was increased in the higher education institutions participating in the project: The capacity of units to operate at the interface of universities and companies was strengthened. In order to support cooperation between SME companies of the environmental industry in North Finland and the companies and universities in Northwest Russia, the project conducted a market research. The results were utilized to assess the capabilities of companies to direct their operations to the market in Northwest Russia. Actors were brought together by arranging Business Workshops to present Finnish and Western expertise in the environmental industry and as an opportunity to create new contacts. These events were used as groundwork to create a continuing education model, which can also be used in other Finnish-Russian continuing education seminars, and other similar events. The extensive report of the potential cooperation areas between the higher education institutions will be used as a foundation for the implementation of cooperation in the future. One new project received external funding and was started during the implementation period of the project. Another was launched using internal funding by the actors, and several other projects underwent further discussions between the associated parties.