27 May 2021

Finnish delegation from Kokkola/Karleby visit Northern Sweden virtually

Recently Kokkola Industrial Park, KIP participated in a virtual visit to learn more about the industrial initiatives and city developments going on in Skellefteå, Umeå and Örnsköldsvik.

- Kokkola Industrial Park, KIP, the largest inorganic chemical industry ecosystem in Northern Europe, has a unique way to do cooperation both inside and outside the park. KIP has developed different practices to enable large-scale industrial companies and their specialists to actively participate in area development. There are currently five active networking groups operating in the area: ICT, Environment & Energy, HR, Marketing and Security. These networking groups were the main target group for this virtual visit to Northern Sweden, tells Johanna Hylkilä, Marketing Manager of KIP and warmly thanks for an interesting visit.

The first stop was a visit to Umeå and Marielle Boman at Umeå Energi who also represented the project Sustainable Industrial Environments of the Future, a three-year EU project in the Umeå region. The idea behind the project is that there are a lot of challenges around sustainability that the industrial companies share and by addressing these challenges together it’s possible to get much further and find concrete solutions. Marielle then continued to present some of the interesting cases and activities going on, for example, the sustainable industrial area Klockarbäcken.

The next visit was in Skellefteå where Malin Burlin Lundmark at Skellefteå Science City let the participants know more about what is happening in Skellefteå – the most expansive growth region in Europe and the hub for the development of the future sustainable industry. The transformation can be seen in the establishment of Northvolt, the world’s greenest battery factory, and the initiative to build one of the world’s highest wooden building, Sara Culture house.

The visit continued to Urban Walter at Boliden Rönnskär, one off the world's most efficient copper smelters and a world leader in electronics recycling. Urban told us more about two major investments at Boliden Rönnskär - a deep repository and a new leaching plant outside Skellefteå. The investment is fully in line with the strategy to extract as much metal as technically possible and economical feasible from existing raw materials. This significant improvement in Rönnskär’s resource efficiency will both enhance the smelter’s competitiveness and reduce the volumes of materials for disposal.

The last visit was to Örnsköldsvik and Jon Moreus at Örnsköldsvik Municipality. Jon introduced a new innovative employer owned and member-driven platform called Jobba & lev (Work & live). Jobba & lev is a platform for attracting expertise to Örnsköldsvik and create awareness of Örnsköldsvik’s labour market.

Finally, we got a short glimpse of a 3D virtual tour at RISE Processum’s biorefinery pilot hall in Örnsköldsvik.

- I´m thankful that around 50 persons from different companies and organisations in Kokkola showed a great interest in knowing more about Northern Sweden. There was a curiosity how we meet the challenges of climate, how we are facing the expansive industrial investments and how we cope with the need of talent attraction, says Nina Rismalm, international business developer at North Sweden Cleantech and Smart City Sweden.

Learn more about Sustainable Industrial Environments of the Future in Umeå.

Learn more about the most expansive growth region in Europe and the hub for the development of the future sustainable industry in Skellefteå.

Learn more about Boliden Rönnskär in Skellefteå.

Learn more about Jobba och lev (Work & live) in Örnsköldsvik.

Please contact Helena Näsström if you are interesting to make a 3D virtual tour to RISE Processum.

Learn more about Kokkola Industrial Park (KIP) - the largest inorganic chemical industry ecosystem in Northern Europe.

The virtual visit in northern Sweden was made possible through the project Future Cleantech Solutions and Smart City Sweden.

The project Future Cleantech Solutions (FCS) is a part of the North Sweden Cleantech platform and is working with cleantech companies in the Kvarken region. Future Cleantech Solutions is funded by Interreg Botnia-Atlantica, Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, Region Västerbotten, Region Västernorrland, Municipality of Umeå, Municipality of Skellefteå, Municipality of Örnsköldsvik, City of Vaasa, City of Kokkola, Kokkola Region Development Company KOSEK, Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK, Technology Center Merinova, Umeå Energi and Skellefteå Kraft.

Smart City Sweden is a state-funded initiative and export platform for smart & sustainable city solutions. Smart City Sweden showcases and demonstrates smart and sustainable Swedish city solutions for an international audience. The assignment spans seven Swedish authorities, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Housing Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Land Survey, the Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, as well as including Vinnova and Business Sweden. The platform is operated on behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency by IVL Swedish Environmental Institute and six regional nodes.

Explore smart & sustainable solutions from Northern Sweden! We welcome international decision-makers to book online visits at:

North Sweden Cleantech
Smart City Sweden