CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION ON INNOVATION

– A JOINT TASKFORCE

REPORT OF THE PREPARATORY WORK

9.4.2019

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 3

2 GLOBAL MEGATRENDS AND THEIR POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON THE

ARCTIC REGIONS. .......................................................................................... 7

3 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND THE

ACTORS OF THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS .................................... 12

3.1 Region of Luleå ......................................................................................... 12

3.2 Region of Oulu .......................................................................................... 15

3.3 Region of Rovaniemi-Kemi ..................................................................... 19

3.4 Region of Tromso ..................................................................................... 22

3.5 Region of Umeå ........................................................................................ 27

4 ONGOING CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION PROJECTS ................... 31

4.1 Cross-border A5 research cooperation in the form of co-authored

research papers ........................................................................................ 31

4.2 Interreg Nord, Northern periphery and Arctic Programme, and

Horizon 2020 projects ............................................................................. 34

5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE AREAS OF COOPERATION .. 38

5.1 Smart specialisation strategy as a tool for regional development........ 38

5.2 Proposal for the areas of cooperation..................................................... 46

6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 54

References

Appendix

3

1 INTRODUCTION

In the Arctic Spirit Conference in Rovaniemi, November 2017, the Arctic 5 universities, i.e.,

the five main universities of Northern Finland, Sweden and Norway (University of Oulu,

University of Lapland, University of Umeå, Luleå University of Technology, and UiT-The

Arctic University of Norway), Tromso and the representatives of the respective cities (Oulu,

Rovaniemi, Luleå, Umeå, Tromso) decided to set up a joint taskforce to develop a cross-border

collaboration in the field of innovation and business ecosystems. 1

The aim of this preparatory work has been to identify the main characteristics, the competence

areas and the actors for the innovation ecosystems in the Artic 5 regions and to provide

information regarding the ongoing cross-border cooperation projects related to the knowledge–

based economy between these regions in various levels and fields, e.g., sustainable energy

solutions, mining, circular economy, and health. Furthermore, the goal was to investigate

through the lenses of smart specialisation2 whether in these urban regions, especially in city-

regions, there are such kind of competence areas, which might provide new possibilities for

intensified cross-border cooperation involving representatives of both industry and academia.

The objective is to find new ways to improve networking between academia, local and regional

authorities, business development organisations and firms across city-regions in the arctic

regions of Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The overall objective of the preparatory work is to launch a larger development process. The

aim of this report is to provide well-defined and justified recommendations on how to reinforce

both national as well as international cooperation between the Arctic 5 cities, creating a basis

for broad and systematic cross-border cooperation in various fields of business and innovation

involving representatives of both industry and academia. In the long term, the cross-border

1 The Arctic Five (Arctic5) is a forum for collaboration of the five universities in northern Finland, Sweden and

Norway—The University of Oulu, The University of Lapland, Luleå University of Technology, UiT-The Arctic

University of Norway, and Umeå University. For more information, see.

https://www.oulu.fi/thuleinstitute/node/50198. 2 “Smart specialisation is an innovative approach that aims to boost growth and jobs in Europe by enabling each

region to identify and develop its own competitive advantages. Through its partnership and bottom-up approach,

smart specialisation brings together local authorities, academia, business spheres and the civil society, working for

the implementation of long-term growth strategies supported by EU funds”

(https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/guides/smart_spec/strength_innov_regions_en.pdf ,

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/what-is-smart-specialisation- ).

4

project will hopefully provide companies new opportunities to expand their operations to

international markets.

The second chapter of this report will briefly review some global megatrends and their possible

effects on the Arctic regions. Chapter three focuses on the existing innovation ecosystems and

the competence areas of the Arctic 5 regions. We have identified the main characteristics and

actors of the innovation ecosystems in these regions. Chapter four discusses the ongoing cross-

border cooperation projects in various levels and fields, e.g., in biotechnology, environmental

and industrial innovations and in the mining industry. In chapter five, we first briefly introduce

the concept of smart specialisation. After that, we investigate through the lenses of smart

specialisation whether there are specific competence areas in these urban regions, which might

provide possibilities for intensified cross-border cooperation involving representatives of both

industry and academia. We also present some recommendations for future cooperation in

various forms and fields. Chapter six provides a brief discussion and some conclusions.

Professor (acting) Jaakko Simonen from the Oulu Business School has been working as a chair

of the joint taskforce. Professor Lars Westin (the University of Umeå), professor Vinit Parida

(Luleå University of Technology), associate professor Mikko Moilanen, (The Arctic University

of Norway, Troms) and senior expert Harri Malinen, (the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi)

have been the contact persons of the Arctic 5 universities and have provided a valuable

contribution to this project. The members of the steering group of the preparatory work have

been Päivi Keisänen/Heikki Ojala (the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia), Janne Uusivirta

(East and North Finland EU Office), Petri Karinen (BusinessOulu), Rauli Svento (Oulu

Business School, the University of Oulu) and Harri Malinen (the University of Lapland). This

preliminary study has been funded by the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, the City of Oulu

and the Oulu Business School, the University of Oulu. We want to thank all the people we have

interviewed during this project for their contribution to this report. The members of the joint

taskforce and the people interviewed are listed on the following pages.

5

The members of the joint taskforce

Jaakko Simonen, Chair, Professor (acting), Department of Economics, Oulu Business

School, the University of Oulu

Mikko Moilanen, Associate Professor, The University of Tromso

Vinit Parida, Professor, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Luleå University of

Technology

Lars Westin, Professor, Director, the University of Umeå, Centre for Regional Science

Harri Malinen, Senior Expert, the University of Lapland

Anne Rännäli-Kontturi, International Affairs Manager, City of Oulu

Karinen Petri, Service Director of International Affairs, Business Oulu

Maja Terning, Coordinator, International Affairs, Business Oulu

Kristiina Jokelainen, Senior adviser, the Regional Council of Lapland

Jan Unga, Community strategy EU funds, City of Luleå

Mr. Magnus Skjelmo Kristiansen, Adviser on Business Development, Municipality of

Tromsø

Bente Knudsen Helland, Head of International Relations Section, Troms County

Council

The following persons have been interviewed during the project.

Tromso:

Torbjørn Eltoft, Professor, Centre Leader, CIRFA - Centre for Integrated Remote

Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations

Thomas Kræmer, Head Engineer, CIRFA - Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and

Forecasting for Arctic Operations

Lise Nordgård, Administrative Coordinator, CIRFA - Centre for Integrated Remote

Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations

Tom Rune Lauknes, Senior Research Scientist, NORUT-Northern Research Institute

Corine Davids, Research Scientist, NORUT-Northern Research Institute

Sølvi Brendeford Anderssen, Senior Advisor, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

Asbjørn Lilletun, Administrative Director, Norinnova Technology Transfer

Ernst Kloosterman, Cluster Manager, Biotech North

Willy Ørnebakk, Chair of Troms County Government, Troms County Council

Zølvi Pedersen, Senior Advisor, Troms County Council

Bente Knudsen Helland, Head of International Relations, Troms County Council

6

Luleå:

Par Johansson, Chief Strategy Officer, LTU Business AB

Emil Svanberg, Director, LTU Business AB

Michael Nilsson, Project Manager, Digital Services and Systems, Distance- Spanning

Technology, Luleå University of Technology LTU

David Sundström, Business Manager, Region Norrbotten

Ossi Pesämaa, Associate Professor, Luleå University of Technology LTU

Anders Hersinger, Chaired Professor, Luleå University of Technology LTU

Anna Ståhlbröst, Professor, Luleå University of Technology LTU

Umeå:

Anders Kjellander, CEO, Science Park Umeå

Maria Olofsson, Operation Manager and Business Developer, Uminova innovation

Kenneth Bodin, CEO, Algoryx Simulation

Carolina Hawranek, Head of PR & Communications, Umeå Biotech Incubator (UBI)

Anna Olofsson, Head of City Marketing, Umeå municipality

Tommy Eriksson, Business Developer, Umeå Municipality Business Office

Peter Hedman, Director, North Sweden Cleantech

Peter Sköld, Professor, Arctic Research Centre, Umeå University

Rovaniemi/Kemi:

Satu Luiro, Senior Advisor in Tourism, Regional Council of Lapland

Seppo Saari, Head of R&D Industry and natural resources, Lapland University of

Applied Sciences

Raimo Pyyny, Cluster Manager, Arctic Development Environments, Lapland

University of Applied Sciences

Oulu:

Pekka Pirinen, Docent (Adjunct Professor), Centre for Wireless Communications,

Arctic Mobile Communications Architectures, University of Oulu

Pekka Tervonen, Research Professor, Centre for Environment and Energy (CEE)

University of Oulu

Arja Rautio, Professor, UArctic Vice-president Research, Thule Institute, University of

Oulu

Kalevi Virta, Coordinator, International research and innovation networks, Centre for

Health and Technology (CHT), University of Oulu

Ilkka Kaisto, Director of PrintoCent, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, Oulu

Bryssel:

Kari Aalto, Director, East and North Finland EU Office

Sointu Räisänen, East and North Finland EU Office

Niklas Johansson, Senior Adviser in European Affairs and Communications Manager,

North Sweden European Office

Mikael Janson, Managing Director, North Sweden European Office

7

2 GLOBAL MEGATRENDS AND THEIR POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON THE ARCTIC

REGIONS.

The Arctic regions are facing substantial challenges and opportunities. One of the most

important factors for regional competitiveness is the regions’ ability to adapt to the changes in

their economic and technological environment. The modern economy’s megatrends, such as

globalisation, digitalisation, the growing role of the service sector (especially in the Western

world), urbanisation and the agglomeration of economic activities, and the ageing of the

population affect the development of the Arctic regions. These megatrends cause challenges

and threats but also opportunities for these regions. Currently, the Arctic regions receive special

attention in many arenas because of climate change and the increasing economic interest

towards natural resources. However, there are also a number of other type of environmental,

economic and technological issues, which will modify the development of the Arctic regions.

The Northern Sea Route and the Arctic Connect data cables are good examples of this.

Environment, Energy and Digitalisation

The melting of the Arctic ice and an increasing amount of plastic waste in the oceans are global

challenges. Global warming will have a significant effect on the environment, especially in the

Arctic regions where warming is greater than it is anywhere else. Our natural environment

(including plants and animals) will change, and extreme weather events will become more

frequent, extracting heavy costs on society and the economy. Sectors such as agriculture,

forestry, energy and tourism are particularly vulnerable for these changes. Nevertheless, what

kind of opportunities can global warming provide for the Arctic regions (e.g., through

increasing forest productivity and facilitating a longer growing season)? In the context of global

warming, are we in the Arctic regions the winners or losers? It is clear that there is at least an

increasing need for the monitoring of the climate and environmental changes at the local,

national and global levels. 3

Global warming has increased people’s awareness of the environmental questions and the need

for the protection of the environment. People are increasingly interested in reducing their own

3 See e.g. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/consequences_en

8

carbon footprint, for instance, through using alternative, renewable energy sources and eco-

friendly food. The use of recycling and the awareness of environmentally friendly house heating

systems or transportation solutions are increasing. This has provided huge business

opportunities for firms and especially for universities and other research institutions through

increased research funding (both public and private). Therefore, it is not a surprise that interest

towards a circular economy and cleantech technologies has increased. The circular economy

provides solutions to maximise the use of materials. Cleantech technologies are tackling global

challenges, such as clean air, food, water and a number of other problems caused by increasing

urbanisation.

The world is becoming more and more digitalised. We are experiencing a fourth industrial

revolution, which is characterised by technological breakthroughs in a number of areas, such

as robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Digital transformation will have a

huge impact on our work, business and society as a whole. The increasing digitalisation, e.g.,

the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and cloud computing, will play an important role in economic

growth and will significantly change our life. The integration of digital technology into all areas

of a business leads to profound changes in how businesses operate and how they deliver value

to customers. 4 For instance, the digitalisation contributes to a rapidly growing demand for data

processing. One consequence will be that due to the increased data transfer more data centres

will be built in the forthcoming years. At the same time as the number of cloud services and

data transmission has increased, and new data centres have been built, there has also been

greater concern about the increased energy consumption of this sector.

The increasing digitalisation in this sector means that the need for green energy solutions and

efficiency improvements are constantly increasing. Today, data centres consume a large amount

of energy due to both computing and cooling, and it is easy to predict that their energy

consumption will be much higher in the future. It is clear that the supply of energy for

consumption will not be sustainable without more energy-efficient methods of operation.

Therefore, it is not surprising that green energy networks and the use of renewable energy

sources in digital solutions are highly studied issues. Today, especially in Sweden, the data

centre industry has had an important impact on economic development, and it is clear that in

4 See e.g. https://enterprisersproject.com/what-is-digital-transformation.

9

other digital frontrunner countries, such as Finland and Norway, the industry will have a similar

potential impact in the future. A safe and stable operating environment together with a cold

climate and the availability of green energy is an important competitive advantage for these

countries. (Boston Consulting Group. 2016)

Digitalisation and labour markets

Migration and labour mobility are also closely linked to the global megatrends, such as

digitalisation and the growing role of the service sector. Partly because of robotics in

manufacturing and the automation of services, the labour market polarization is increasing.

High-skill, high-paying jobs and low-skill, low-paying jobs are increasing, and the middle class

is diminishing. Hard and arduous tasks, especially in the manufacturing field, have largely

disappeared in the OECD countries. However, there are many jobs where the skill requirements

have increased (robots, automation, and different software programming skills). The

consequence of the increasing knowledge intensity is that the need for high levels of education

is increasing.

Another megatrend, especially in the Western world, is the increasing role of the service sector

as an employer. According to the Annual Report 2018 of Business Index North, consistent with

the global trend, in the regions of Northern Finland, Sweden and Norway, the service business

has become a main driver of economic development. Employment has increased, especially in

the social services and health care. Tourism has become one of the most important sectors

worldwide. Employment in tourism has increased in the Artic 5 regions as well. For instance,

the nights spent at hotels have increased, especially in Troms and Lapland. At the same time,

employment is decreasing in many industries in the manufacturing sector as well as in

agriculture, forestry and fishing. (Business Index North annual report 2018).5 Global

megatrends, such as digitalisation and climate change, will also have an effect on the

development of tourism.

5 See Business Index North: https://businessindexnorth.com/reports and

https://businessindexnorth.com/?id=786991329

10

The fear is that due to the increasing use of emerging information technologies, many jobs in

the service sector may also disappear in the future. However, at the same time, actors in the

private and public sectors need increasingly more digital solutions. The increasing

digitalisation, the use of smart technologies and solutions of artificial intelligence (e.g., machine

learning and computing) offer new opportunities and challenges in many sectors, including the

energy sector, shipping/maritime, health technology, environmental technology,

pedagogy/education and the tourism sector. The development of smart cities is a platform for

developing and testing digital solutions. In many countries, artificial intelligence is one of the

key elements in their national competitive strategy, or a specific national artificial intelligence

strategy has been developed (as in Finland).6 Through cross-border interdisciplinary

cooperation of private and public partners and by using the arctic environment as a testbed, the

Arctic 5 regions have a chance to be a large part of this development in Northern Scandinavia.

Ageing and urbanisation

Global trends related to urbanisation, the agglomeration of economic activities and the ageing

of the population are present in the Arctic region. The share of people 65+ years old is

increasing rapidly, especially in Finland, where ageing is occurring at the fastest rate in the

whole of Europe. Ageing will significantly weaken the dependency ratio of all counties. Due

to higher immigration in Sweden and Norway, the development will not be so dramatic.

Although the Arctic 5 cities are located in sparsely populated areas (SPA), the concept of ”spiky

world “(Florida 2005) holds true also in the Arctic regions with respect to the location of the

population, firms and the innovation activities. The geographical concentration of people and

various economic activities, including innovation, is increasing. Factors such as high wages and

a good match between jobs and workers demonstrate that agglomerations are attractive for both

firms and highly skilled employees. Due to the agglomeration economies, firms want to locate

close to each other and employees are increasingly moving more towards and within the

agglomeration centers where the role of these factors is obvious (e.g., De La Roca and Puga,

6 Leading the way into the era of artificial intelligence, Final report of Finland's Artificial Intelligence Programme,

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Helsinki, Finland 2019 (The report is available in Finnish

https://tem.fi/julkaisu?pubid=URN:ISBN:978-952-327-411-2 ).

11

2016). On the other hand, we may well ask, “Do jobs follow people or do people follow jobs?”

(Ostbye et al. 2018).

University cities/regions are in many ways the main drivers of the economic growth in the

Arctic regions. Good evidence of this is that the population in the Arctic regions of Finland,

Sweden and Norway is growing, especially in the university cities and their urban areas, due to

their good education facilities, job opportunities, cultural amenities, etc. In sparsely populated

areas, high-quality health services also attract people to urban areas, increasing the urban - rural

division. In 2016, a total of 35 % of all people (in the BIN area) lived in six major cities: Tromsø,

Bodø, Luleå, Umeå, Oulu and Rovaniemi. This area experienced a growth rate of 2 % during

the period 2007-2016. However, the total population growth (2.6 %) is much less than the

average in Finland, Sweden and Norway (7 %). One reason for this is the national migration to

the southern parts of these countries. (BIN annual report 2018)

The next chapter will focus on the existing innovation ecosystems and the competence areas of

the Arctic 5 regions. The aim has been to identify the main characteristics and actors of the

innovation ecosystems in all Arctic 5 regions.

12

3 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND THE ACTORS

OF THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS

3.1 Region of Luleå

The central feature of the innovation ecosystem of Luleå is that it is quite diversified, i.e., there

are number of specialised innovation sectors. The research conducted at the Luleå University

of Technology (LTU) covers various fields, especially the technology sector, but there is strong

expertise also in other research fields such as learning and pedagogy, health, smart cities and

the arts and sciences. For instance, LTU has strong expertise in the fields of energy and

environmental technology and in the mining, metallurgy and material sectors. LTU is one

of the world’s leading universities in the development of sustainable, energy-efficient and

environmentally friendly systems and processes. For instance, LTU Green Fuels is one of the

world's most advanced pilot plants for the gasification of various bio products to syngas and

green fuels. LTU is also Sweden’s centre for research and education focusing on mining and

metallurgy. Swerim, the Swedish Research Institute for Mining, Metallurgy and Materials, is

13

a leading industrial research institute for mining engineering, process metallurgy, materials,

manufacturing engineering and related applications. The research in that sector covers not only

mining and processing but also issues related to the environment, occupational health and

safety, the commodity economy and the societal aspects of extraction and processing.

Another strong field of research in LTU is Enabling ICT, which has a broad base in LTU's

research resources within the information and communications field. Research in this field is

linked to other topics, e.g., to the areas of data centers and cloud services. RISE SICS, founded

in 1985, is an independent, state-owned research institute for applied information and

communications technology in Sweden. RISE SICS operates SICS ICE—data centre in Luleå,

which is an open, full-scale research data centre and test environment. This test environment is

also available to the operators outside the region. The data centre industry is one of the most

rapidly growing and expanding industry sectors in Sweden.

Data centers, cloud computing and big data issues form one of the key areas of distance-

spanning technology. The Centre for Distance-spanning Technology (CDT) is one of the many

centers of excellence in LTU. The Cloudberry project is an excellent example of

interdisciplinary research projects in this field. The goal of the project is to provide new

knowledge about the energy and resource-efficient solutions in data centers. As a full-size

testing environment, the Cloudberry data centre provides excellent opportunities for the

cooperation of researcher and firms. The Internet of things, complex cognitive systems and

communication networks are other key areas of the CDT. In addition to the engineering sectors,

the Enabling ICT research area has close links to other areas, e.g., eHealth, the Internet of

Things, machine learning and various issues related to smart regions and living lab type of

research. In addition to these sectors, space technology, intelligent industrial processes and

attractive built environments are also important research areas in LTU. The Botnia Living

Lab is a world-leading environment for user-centric research, development and innovation, and

it provides excellent opportunities for cooperation with end-users and stakeholders as well as

researchers.

Sweden´s northernmost incubator, Arctic Business Incubator (ABI) is a private limited

company owned by LTU Holding AB, Norrlandsfonden, Region of Norrbotten, Luleå and

Skellefteå municipality (Skellefteå industrihus AB), and is one of Sweden's leading business

incubators. It helps all types of firms in their early stages. It coordinates projects from the space

14

and cleantech industries to the games industry. Another incubator, LTU Business AB, is a

nonprofit organisation owned by the Luleå University of Technology. This organisation has

over 30 years of experience in innovation management, project management and competence

development as well as in strategy and business development mainly for university spin-offs.

IUC Norr in turn is a regional development centre for small and medium-sized enterprises,

especially those in the engineering and manufacturing, wood and the electronics/IT industries.

All these incubators have offices in different cities of Northern Sweden.

Regarding funding, in addition to the European Union, the Swedish innovation agency

Vinnova, the Regional Council of Norbotten and the Swedish Research Council are the most

important organisations. Formas is a government research council for sustainable

development. The Ragnar Söderberg Foundation (Ragnar Söderberg Stiftelse) is a private

research funding organisation that supports research in medicine and other scientific fields.

Forte, a research council and a government agency under the Swedish Ministry of Health and

Social Affairs, provides research funding, especially in the areas of health, working life and

welfare.

Links:

https://www.ltu.se/research/areas-of-excellence?l=en

https://www.ltu.se/centres?l=en

https://www.swerim.se/en

https://www.sics.se/

https://www.ri.se/en/infrastructure-and-cloud-datacenter-test-environment

https://www.cloudberry-datacenters.com/

https://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/information-systems/Botnia-Living-Lab?l=en

https://www.sics.se/projects/sics-ice-data-center-in-lulea

https://www.ltu.se/org/tvm/Avdelningar/LTU-Green-Fuels?l=en

https://www.ltu.se/org/LTU-Holding/LTU-Business/2.85783?l=en

https://www.abi.se/en/offer/

http://www.iucnorr.se/om-iuc-norr/ (https://vimeo.com/user16277962/about)

http://www.formas.se/en/About-Sustainability-Formas-Research-Council/

http://ragnarsoderbergsstiftelse.se/

https://forte.se/en

15

3.2 Region of Oulu

Oulu Innovation Alliance (OIA) and its key partners, namely, City of Oulu, the University

of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Oulu University Hospital, the Natural

Resources Institute Finland, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, and the

Oulu Region Joint Authority for Education and Technopolis Plc., have an important role in the

innovation ecosystem of Oulu. The OIA, which is the alliance of these public organisations,

has two main goals—to create an innovation ecosystem that will enhance the creation, growth

and internalisation of firms and to help them to utilise the opportunities of the arctic regions.

The five ecosystems of the OIA are the following: Industry 2026, OuluHealth, Northern City

with Attractive Opportunities, Agile Commercialization, and ICT & Digitalization. The

research conducted by the University of Oulu research units provides an excellent starting point

for innovation in the Oulu region. Worldwide-known research in the field of wireless

technology (e.g., 5G, 6G networks) and in ICT in general form the basis of the innovation

ecosystems. By combining expertise in wireless technology with health and life science

technologies, Oulu has become known as an innovative city within health technology.

16

OuluHealth is one of the leading digital health innovation ecosystems in Europe. Members of

the OuluHealth ecosystem represent the whole spectrum of health and social care, including

specialised medical care, primary health and social care, the health and well-being industry,

commerce, health technology research and education, and the citizens’ social and health-related

issues. On the EU level, OuluHealth is a member of the European Connected Health Alliance

and the European Network for the Joint Evaluation of Connected Health Technologies. The

Oulu regions provide an excellent testing/development environment for this sector (the

University hospital, OuluHealth labs, worldwide-known firms, etc.).

Environmental technology, especially Cleantech, is another fast growing industry in Oulu. The

areas of expertise, such as diversified energy production (including renewable energy

production), smart energy solutions (smart and sustainable energy network), resource efficiency

and emissions control (waste and resources management, the circulation economy in general)

utilise the strong ICT expertise of the area. Major investments in the industrial sector in Oulu

and the neighbouring regions provide excellent opportunities for this sector. The wireless

technology expertise is also connected to the printed intelligence sector. Although printed

intelligence is a relatively new field of technology, it is currently one of the key clusters in the

Oulu regions. This particular technology offers interesting new possibilities for many sectors,

such as health technology, cleantech, the automotive industry and the design industry. Tourism

could also be a sector where this technology could be utilised. Among the creative industries,

the games industry is an interesting new business area. The research focus areas of the

University of Oulu (creating sustainability through materials and systems, the molecular and

environmental basis for lifelong health, digital solutions in sensing and interactions, earth and

near-space systems and environmental change, and understanding humans in change) provide

excellent support for these main sectors of innovations.

In addition to those mentioned at the beginning, there are two other research institutes, which

have their own important role especially in the area of the Arctic research. Thule institute is

a strategic coordination unit within the University of Oulu. It supports and implements the

Arctic Attitude and the strategy of the University of Oulu in all its activities related to the Arctic

and northern issues. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is cooperating in research

related to maritime transport, mining and tourism.

17

Regarding strategic cooperation, in addition to the Oulu Innovation Alliance, Business Kitchen

is an important university level actor in the Oulu region. Business Kitchen is the

entrepreneurship hub and growth-company centre of the University of Oulu, the Oulu

University of Applied Sciences and BusinessOulu. It provides a wide range of services, helping

companies refine their business ideas and develop their business operations. In addition, it also

helps them to utilise the competence of students. BusinessOulu, an enterprise owned by the

City of Oulu, is responsible for implementing the city's industry policies and providing

companies with development services including promoting exports, import, investments, and

employment. Through its international partner network, BusinessOulu helps companies grow,

especially companies located in the North. Demola is an international learning environment

and innovation platform for students in various fields and facilitates the formation of multi-

disciplinary and multicultural project groups for solving actual work-life-related open

problems. Kielo Growth is a startup incubator focusing on companies with hardware

prototyping requirements. The University of Oulu has just opened a new University

Innovation Centre (UIC), which provides services for the development of research-based

innovations, university-company collaboration and business development.

In addition to the EU funding coordinated by the Council of Oulu region, The Finnish

Innovation Fund Sitra and Business Finland are the most important source of funding on the

national level. The Academy of Finland provides funding for academic research. Butterfly

Ventures is the leading seed stage-focused VC firm in the whole Nordics. Since 2012, it has

provided funding to the early stage firms, especially those in the Oulu region and other parts of

Finland, other Nordic countries and in the Baltics.

Links:

https://www.businessoulu.com/en/frontpage/en/company-networks-2/oulu-innovation-

alliance.html

https://oulu.com/who-is-here/

https://issuu.com/businessoulu/docs/ict_katalog_022018_digiversio

https://www.printocent.net/

http://ouluhealth.fi/

https://apaja.com/oulu-game-industry/

https://www.oulu.fi/university/node/35079

18

https://www.sitra.fi/en/

https://butterfly.vc/

https://www.businesskitchen.fi/en/#businesskitchen

https://www.oulu.fi/university/universityinnovationcentre

https://www.businessoulu.com/en/frontpage/en/businessoulu-2.html

https://www.oulu.fi/forstudents/entrepreneurship/demola and https://www.demola.net/

https://kielo.com/kielo-in-english/

https://www.oulu.fi/thuleinstitute/

https://www.businessoulu.com/en/frontpage/en/businessoulu-2/businessoulu-dictionary.html

19

3.3 Region of Rovaniemi-Kemi

Lapland smart specialisation clusters play an important role in the innovation ecosystem of

the Rovaniemi-Kemi/Tornio regions and in the whole Lapland area. The aim of Lapland’s smart

specialisation is to achieve a leading position in the sustainable utilisation and

commercialisation of Arctic natural resources and conditions. Its five clusters are Arctic

Industry and Circular Economy Cluster, the Arctic Development Environments Cluster,

the Arctic Design Cluster, the Arctic Smart Rural Community Cluster, and the Arctic

Safety Cluster. The Arctic Industry and Circular Economy Cluster together with the Arctic

Development Environments Cluster provide an excellent network / development platform for

the bioeconomy and circular economy sector. In the same cooperation network, the Arctic

Industry and Circular Economy Cluster connects process and mining industry companies,

SMEs serving industry, universities, research institutions, funding authorities and regional

authorities. The expertise in this field has been noted on the national, Nordic and EU levels. In

2017, The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra named the industrial circular economy innovation

platform led by Kemi Digipolis Oy as one of the key projects of the road map. Located in

20

Kemi, the Bio and Circular Economy Centre aims to develop a more competitive business

environment for companies involved in the bioeconomy and circular economy. The actors of

the cluster, especially the Lapland University of Applied Sciences, have been active partners in

EU projects for years. Today, the City of Kemi calls itself the capital of the Arctic Bioeconomy

Mining, metallurgy and forestry industries, which for decades have played an important role

as employers, utilise the strong bioeconomy expertise of the population in this area. A further

objective of the cluster is the utilisation of these process industries (largely concentrated in the

Kemi-Tornio region) across sectors to facilitate network-based co-operation of the bioeconomy

cluster to improve the utilisation of industrial production and society-based side streams.

Tourism has an important role as an employer, especially in Rovaniemi and in the large tourist

resorts in the Northern part of Lapland. The vision of this sector is to make Lapland the leading

destination for sustainable nature and experience tourism in Europe by 2020. The firms are

quite small, but their cooperation is well organised within the sector. Tourism brings not only

welfare to all parts of Lapland but also serves as a source of service innovations and facilitates

the exploitation of the innovations of other sectors.

The Multidimensional Tourism Institute (MTI) brings together the expertise of various

organisations, such as the Lapland Tourism College, the University of Lapland and the

Lapland University of Applied Sciences. It cooperates closely with the business community

and international science community. The Arctic Design Cluster brings together expertise on

arctic conditions, culture and knowledge on materials. The development fields are service

design, product design, interaction design and applied visual arts. The Faculty of Art at the

University of Lapland provides a good basis for the development of this cluster. The Lappish

R&D innovation platform – the Lapland Centre of Excellence for Research, Development

and innovation (Center of Arctic Smartness Excellence) has been set up to support the Arctic

Smartness Cluster’s needs, feed innovations and ideas and to work as a booster for innovations.

The platform’s aim is to increase the cooperation between research and development (R&D)

actors and firms in areas such as testing and service design. As in the Oulu region, The Finnish

Innovation Fund Sitra and Business Finland are important sources of funding. The EU

funding is coordinated by the Regional Council of Lapland.

21

Links:

https://arcticsmartness.eu/

https://arcticsmartness.eu/artic-industry/

http://www.teollinenkiertotalous.fi/en/home.html

https://www.sitra.fi/en/projects/competence-training-centre-industrial-symbiosis-kemi-

tornio/#what-is-it-about

http://arcticbiocapital.com/

http://www.lappi.fi/lapinliitto/en/development/travel

https://matkailu.luc.fi/In-English/About-us

https://arcticsmartness.eu/arctic-design/

http://luotsi.lappi.fi/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=3807809&name=DLFE-32211.pdf

https://www.lapinamk.fi/en

https://arcticsmartness.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Arctic-Smartness-hankkeen-

loppuraportti_final.pdf

http://www.lappi.fi/lapinliitto/arctic-smartness-exellence-ase

22

3.4 Region of Tromso

Knowledge and expertise together with a unique natural environment and natural resources

provide good opportunities for creating more green growth in Tromsø. The key actor in

innovation activities in Tromsø is UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. UiT is a driving

force for the commercialization of research results and has (according to UiT’s 2016 annual

report) achieved more success in this regard than has any other Norwegian university

environment. The Tromsø region has the highest number of start-ups per invested R&D krone,

the largest number of joint ventures, the most approved patent applications and the most notable

inventions registered at the technology transfer agency (according to Norinnova TT). UIT’s has

the following research centers: TTL – the Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory, which focuses on

the research in the field of telemedicine and eHealth systems; CIRFA – the Centre for Integrated

Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations; the MabCent- Centre on Marine

Bioactives and Drug Discovery; and iAD - Information Access Disruptions, which focuses on

research in the field of fundamental structures and concepts for large-scale information access

applications.

23

Specialised fields of marine biology, namely, marine biodiscovery, marine bioprocessing,

and marine biotechnology (blue biotechnology) are clearly the most innovative sectors in the

Tromsso region. However, there are many small actors. Tromsø’s biotechnology community is

organised within the biotech cluster “Biotech North”, a triple helix research and innovation

cluster focusing on research and the commercialization of marine bioactive compounds from

the Arctic. Approximately 500 researchers are engaged in bio-marine sciences at the university

and eight other R&D institutions. Biotech North is a cluster of young biotech enterprises and

R&D organisations, which cooperate closely with regional funding and development factors

(triple helix). The majority of Biotech North’s enterprises are active within life-science

applications and markets. To date, the cluster contains approximately 30 organisations from

both the private and public sector.

This field of research is closely linked to the fishing cluster (fishing, landing of fish, equipment

and supplies for the fishing fleet and the fisheries’ research and education). Tromsø is Norway's

largest municipality for the landings and shipment of wild fish. In Tromsø, there are also a large

number of companies that are suppliers of the aquaculture industry and who can further develop

their business in this field. In addition, institutions and organisations, such as the Nofima food

research institute, the Institute of Marine Research, Sintef, Norut and the Norwegian Seafood

Council, have been established in the municipality.

Another strong innovative sector is remote sensing. Due to the increased recovery of petroleum

and mineral resources in the north, greater use of coastal areas for business purposes and the

increased shipping traffic in the Arctic, there has been an increasing demand for this type of

technology and data, fuelling the growth of this sector. R&D activities in this area offer

interesting applications/innovations that can be utilised in different fields, e.g., in mining,

climate research and ocean research (water quality, icecap, oil spilling, etc.) The remote sensing

research community cooperates in the field of mining with universities and other research units

in Luleå and Oulu. Possible new areas of cooperation could be forestry, fish farming and town

planning. The use of drones in both the industrial and public sectors also implies opportunities

for economic growth for not only the firms in the remote sensing industry but also for those

sectors that use such technology. The use of drones for monitoring salmon dredges is one such

example.

24

Satellite data is central for understanding and monitoring the northern areas, the environment,

weather conditions, shipping traffic and ice conditions. It is not surprising that a growing arena

in which UiT Arctic has taken a leading role is that of Earth observation. There are several

nationally leading companies within the field of satellite-based remote sensing. This is the result

of a conscious long-term build-up of competence within the city, county and region. The

Tromsø Centre for Remote Sensing was founded in January 2008 by the Faculty of Science and

Technology at UiT Arctic, the Northern Research Institute (NORUT), Kongsberg satellite

services (KSAT), Kongsberg Spacetec and the Norwegian Polar Institute. The use of satellite

data offers huge possibilities for mapping, for example, the mapping and surveillance for farms,

safety and preparedness. Satellite data can also potentially be used in climate monitoring.

Norinnova Technology Transfer is a company that has a dual role in the local innovation

system. The first role of Norinnova is to provide technology transfer services, commercializing

the results of various research activities. The second task of Norinnova is to offer business

incubator services. Based on the large university environment, a number of research institutes,

such as NOFIMA, NORUT, and Akvaplan Niva have emerged. The University Hospital in

Northern Norway (UNN) is also a major research actor, primarily in the health sector. Located

also in Tromsø, the FRAM, the High North Research Center for Climate and the

Environment, along with the Polar Institute and a number of national research institutes,

conducts a great deal of research on climate and environment in the Arctic.

Despite these numerous research institutions, the R&D intensity of the businesses in Troms is

still relatively low. This may indicate that the business community in Tromsø is primarily

characterised by companies that retrieve their innovation pulses from the market rather than

from R&D environments. The low R&D intensity can also be linked to the fact that the business

community is dominated by small businesses; on their own or as the "locomotive" in a cluster,

few companies have the ability or financial power for systematic development or innovation.

Tromsø’s business development is positive, but its business structure, competence base and

interaction patterns are such that the research institutions only interact to a small extent with

the business community. A report by Bye et al. (2010) stated that there were too few venues for

networking in Tromsø and that the research sector was not involved enough in business

activities. One strategic tool that UiT has initiated to fight this is the Tromsø High North

Cluster (THiNC), a strategic alliance of seven research institutions in Tromsø. THiNC is a

forum for discussion, information exchange, and strategic cooperation for Arctic-related

25

research. There is therefore still a need for more meeting places at different levels and for

instruments such as competence-sharing.

Innovation Norway (IN) is without question the dominant and most important public sector

player in the country for enterprise-oriented innovation and development. In many larger

projects, IN cooperates with the county municipality. For a long time, the Troms County

Council has played an important role as a regional development actor. The Industrial

Development Corporation of Norway (SIVA) is the governmental corporation and national

instrument founded in 1968. SIVA aims to develop strong regional and local industrial clusters

through ownership in infrastructure, investment and knowledge networks as well as through

innovation centres. SIVA’s goal is the improvement of the national infrastructure for

innovation.

Links:

http://www.npolar.no/en/research/fram-centre.html

https://nofima.no/en/about-us/

https://norut.no/en/about-norut

https://www.innovasjonnorge.no/en/start-page

http://www.flownorway.com/

https://www.tromso.kommune.no/grunderhjelpa.239550.no.html#

https://cirfa.uit.no/

https://www.sintef.no/en/

http://www.imr.no/en

http://www.akvaplan.niva.no/en/about_us

https://www.nibio.no/en/about-eng

https://ehealthresearch.no/en/about-us

https://www.tromso.kommune.no/grunderhjelpa.239550.no.html#

https://framsenteret.no/english/

https://sivatromso.no/

https://uit.no/utdanning/program?p_document_id=187697

http://www.norinnova.no/incubator/

https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/Home_page/1177315753906

https://www.innovasjonnorge.no/en/start-page

http://www.mabit.no/english.html

26

https://www.norinnovainvest.no/

https://www.regionaleforskningsfond.no/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1253953709201&pag

ename=nordnorge%2FHovedsidemal

https://www.tromsfylke.no/

27

3.5 Region of Umeå

The most central feature of the innovation ecosystem of Umeå is the number of specialised

innovation sectors. However, the entire innovation network/ecosystem is well coordinated

and forms an established innovation support system. The Umeå University covers a wide

range of arctic topics, e.g., climate, environmental and social questions in the fields of

humanities, medicine, natural sciences, social sciences and the science of education. For

instance, in medical research in Umeå, there has been a strong tradition of research

conducted within the fields of genetics, molecular biology and neurology. The high quality

research infrastructure attracts researchers from all over the world. The Laboratory for

Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) in Umeå has a pronounced international

profile. Umeå University also has the main responsibility for two of the Swedish Research

Council’s strategic research areas: energy research and marine environment research

One of the strong innovation sectors in the Umeå area is biotechnology. For instance, the

worldwide-known firm SpinChem develops innovative rotating bed reactors (RBR) for

28

synthesis, manufacturing and purification in the chemical and biotechnology industries.

This firm has delivered RBR system to the team of Francis H. Arnold, who was awarded

the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018. Uminova Innovation, a broad-spectrum business

incubator, directs its activities towards tech and sectors such as IT, medtech, digital health,

and welltech. Umeå Biotech, focusing specifically on biomedicine and diagnostics,

provides good support for start-up firms in this field and reinforces and boosts the biotech

and life-science sectors in the region. The proximity between the multidisciplinary Umeå

University and the University Hospital of Umeå is a clear advantage. SLU, the Swedish

University of Agricultural Sciences, which has a campus in Umeå, specialises in the

following fields of research: ecology, environmental sciences and plant sciences. The

activities at SLU Umeå, located just next to the University of Umeå, are mainly related to

the departments of the Faculty of Forest Sciences. Its location in Umeå is clearly

advantageous for the forest technology sector.

An interesting field of innovation is artificial intelligence and interactive simulation. AI

Competence for Sweden is the working name for developing a national distributed platform

for increasing AI competence in Sweden and is supported by the Swedish government.

Umeå University is one of the universities participating in this initiative. The Department

of Computing Science of the University of Umeå, the High Performance Computing

Center North, and the Umeå Institute of Design in Umeå University give strong support

for this field of RDI. For instance, headquartered in Umeå, Algoryx Simulation, a spin-off

from Umeå University, is a leading provider of software and services for visual and

interactive physics-based simulation. In industrial design, the Umeå Institute of Design of

Umeå University is ranked 26th in the world in the Art & Design category in the QS World

University Rankings. A multidisciplinary research group in the Umeå Institute of Design

carries out studio-based design research in close collaboration with a number of leading

industry partners. The Umeå studio of RISE Interactive drives design research and

innovation for transformative practices.

In a field of cleantech, the main operators are located in Skellefteå (approximately 100 km

north from Umeå) and Örnsöldsvik (approximately 100 km south form Umeå). The natural

resource sector—minerals, wood, and hydropower—have been important industrial drivers

in Skellefteå. A good example of Skellefteå’s strong position in the energy sector is the

Swedish company Northvolt’s receipt of the environmental permit for the establishment of

29

Europe’s largest lithium-ion battery cell factory in Skellefteå. Skellefteå is part of a raw

material and mining cluster and has a long history of process manufacturing and recycling.

Örnsköldsvik in turn has a long-standing industrial culture in the forest, cellulose and

engineering industries. North Sweden Cleantech is a regional innovation and export

platform for green technology, clean energy and sustainable solutions. The cleantech sector

has as a strong cooperative relationship with Västerbotten County and the Vaasa region is

Finland (Vaasa is the centre of excellence in the use of energy and environmental

technology in Finland) through the Interreg-Atlantica project Cleantech Kvarken. The

strategic research area of the Swedish Research Council, energy research, which is

coordinated by Umeå University, gives valuable support for this sector of innovation

(circulation economy, bioeconomy, cleantech, etc.). Telecommunications, sustainable

urban planning and construction are also strong innovation sectors in the Umeå region.

A striking feature of the innovation ecosystem is that the strategic cooperation network is

very scattered and includes various types of platforms and networks. For instance, there are

many incubators, which are specialised to certain technology fields. The Umeå Biotech

Incubator focuses on biomedicine and diagnostics, while eXpression Umeå is specialised

in artistic and cultural businesses. Uminova Innovation is a broad spectrum business

incubator geared toward tech and sectors, such as IT, medtech, digital health, and welltech.

In addition, BIC Factory is a business incubator for young entrepreneurs between the ages

of 18-40 years old. Since 2015, it has run a project called “Young Entrepreneurs Doing

Digital Business”, where the focus has been on digital start-ups. Umeå University

Holdning is home to the University’s innovations’ office. Innovation Office North

supports researchers, teachers and students on matters regarding the utilisation and

commercialization of scientific findings and other knowledge intense ideas. SLU Holding

runs SLU’s innovations office, which has a similar setup and services. One example of the

strategic cooperation network is the Arctic Game Lab. The focus of the Arctic Game Lab

is to support and be a part of the creation of a stable games industry platform in the north

of Sweden. The Arctic Game Lab also has a cooperative relationship with Oulu.

Links:

https://www.umu.se/en/research/research-excellence/strategic-research-areas/

https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/locations/slu-umea/

https://www.uminovainnovation.se/en/our-initiatives/biotech/

30

https://www.uminovainnovation.se/en/nyheter/nobelprize-winner-uses-spinchems-

rotating-bed-reactor-system/

http://umuais.cs.umu.se/ai-sweden/

https://www.umu.se/forskning/fordjupa-dig/artificiell-intelligens

https://www.uminovainnovation.se/en/about-us/the-innovation-support-system/

https://www.sluholding.se/en/about-slu-holding

https://bicfactory.se/bic-factory-in-english /

https://www.abi.se/en/about/

http://www.norrlandsfonden.se/english/

http://northswedencleantech.se/en/about-us/

http://www.cleantechkvarken.se/

https://www.algoryx.se/company/about-algoryx/

https://www.tii.se/groups/umea

https://www.hpc2n.umu.se/

http://www.dh.umu.se/en/

31

4 ONGOING CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION PROJECTS

4.1 Cross-border A5 research cooperation in the form of co-authored research papers

According to the Scopus database, the researchers of the Arctic 5 universities and the other

research institutes published slightly over 120, 000 (120, 296) research papers in the period

from 1973-2018.7 A total of 2.2 % of them (2668 articles) are co-authored papers, where we

have authors (their main affiliation) from two or more of the Arctic 5 universities or research

institutes. This share is surprisingly small and clearly shows that there is a room for increasing

cooperation. However, Figure 1 below shows that the number of publications increased

significantly after 2000. The word clouds in the Appendix provides a simplified picture of the

research profiles of the Arctic 5 regions and the research topics addressed in the cross-border

cooperation.

Figure 1. Co-authored research papers of the Arctic 5 regions.

7 Elsevier's Scopus (registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.) is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-

reviewed literature (including scientific journals, books and conference proceedings). For more information, see

www.scopus.com.

32

In the period 2015 - 2018, a total of 726 co-authored “Arctic 5 research papers” were published

in 17 selected fields of research. Of the co-authored papers, the research institutes of the Umeå

region were mentioned in 503 papers; Luleå, in 309; Tromso, in 302; Oulu, in 294; and Lapland

was mentioned in 94 of those research papers.8 Table 1 below shows the distribution of the

papers by the different fields of research.

Table 1. Research papers in different fields of research

When we examined these co-authored papers in more detail, we found that biotechnology,

health and the environment were the main research fields in Umeå, Luleå and in Oulu (Table

2). Even though biotechnology is one of the strong sectors in Tromso, in that field, there was

little research cooperation between Tromso and the other A5 regions. In Lapland, social

sciences along with the environment were the most common fields of A5 cooperation.

8 In the case of Lapland, the number includes research papers that have been done in research units of both

Rovaniemi and Kemi (e.g., Universities of Lapland and the Lapland University of Applied Sciences)

Research field Number of research papers

Agriculture 1 Biotechnology 118 Business 1 Culture 3 Education 3 Employment and Entrepreneurship 3 Environment 150 Health 346 ICT 26 Industrial Innovations 5 Mathematics 10 Mining 8 Other 13 Regional Politics 7 Social Sciences 28 Tourism 4 Total

726

33

Table 2. The main research fields of A5 cooperation by regions

Region Research fields

Umeå Biotechnology, Environment, Health

Luleå Biotechnology, Health, Environment

Tromso Health, Environment

Oulu Biotechnology, Health, Environment

Lapland Environment, Social science

Regarding the scope of the cooperation, in 96 % of the research papers, there were researchers

from two different A5 regions (and possibly from other non-A5 regions). In 25 papers, the

authors were from three A5 regions, and in 6 papers, the authors were from four regions. We

did not find any papers whose authors were from the research institutions of all five Arctic 5

regions. Table 3 below shows the papers co-authored by only two different A5 regions. In all

papers, there may be other authors from all over the world.

Table 3. Research papers between two A5 regions

Oulu Lapland Umeå Luleå Tromssa

Oulu

48 96 56 61

Lapland 48

9 6 26

Umeå 96 9

207 170

Luleå 56 6 207

26

Tromssa 61 26 170 26

Total 261 89 482 295 283

“Trilateral research cooperation” was most common in the fields of environmental and health

research. Table 4 shows the “combinations” and the number of research papers. We found only

6 research papers “between four A5 regions”: they all were in the field of environmental

research (Table 5).

34

Table 4. Research papers between three A5 regions

Tromssa – Luleå - Lapland 8 Tromssa – Luleå - Umeå 1 Oulu – Lapland - Umeå 1 Oulu – Luleå - Tromssa 2 Oulu – Luleå - Umeå 1 Oulu – Tromssa - Umeå 13

Table 5. Research papers between four A5 regions

Oulu - Lapland - Umeå -Tromso 6

4.2 Interreg Nord, Northern periphery and Arctic Programme, and Horizon 2020

projects

The one aim of this report is to provide a picture that is as comprehensive as possible and that

demonstrates the ongoing cross-border, innovation cooperation projects of Arctic 5 regions in

various levels and fields, e.g., in the biotechnology, environmental and industrial innovations

and in the mining industry. We have collected information regarding the Interreg Nord,

Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, and Horizon 2020 projects that started after 2015

(table 6). We found a total of 35 projects, for which the total funding was approximately EUR

30 million. Most of these projects are in the field of environmental and industrial innovations

(e.g., in the cleantech sector). However, there are also many cooperation projects in the fields

of biotechnology and mining. Somewhat surprisingly, we found only a few projects in the fields

of ICT and health. One reason for this may be that these three sources of funding (Interreg

Nord, Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, and Horizon 2020) are not that important for

those fields of research. The interviews that we made during this project showed that there is

ongoing cooperation between the Arctic 5 regions in these fields. Approximately half of the

projects are bilateral from the point of view of Arctic 5 cooperation. There are a number of

other national and international partners in these projects. In the other half of the projects, there

are three A5 universities (or the University of Applied Sciences) involved. We did not find any

projects in which four Arctic 5 universities were involved.

35

Luleå has been the most active cooperation partner. It is involved in 29 different projects in

various fields, most of them being in the fields of environmental innovation, biotechnology and

industrial innovation. Oulu and Tromso have also been very active partners in fields similar to

those in which Luleå has been involved. The University of Lapland and the Lapland University

of Applied Sciences, especially its units in Kemi, are active partners in the field of

environmental innovation and mining, especially in the region of Luleå. According to the table,

Umeå has been or is a partner in only 7 projects. Interestingly, these projects are in fields where

other universities are not that active.

The RESEM (Remote Sensing Supporting the Surveillance and Operation of Mines) project is

a good example of cross-border, multidisciplinary cooperation, where technology developed in

one sector is utilised and developed in another sector. The University of Oulu, the Northern

Research Institute Norut from Tromso, and Luleå University of Technology are the main

partners. The aim of this project is to develop new opportunities to use remote sensing data

from satellites and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in mining safety and environmental

monitoring. The project is funded by the Interreg Nord 2014-2020 programme and the Council

of Lapland, the Norrbotten County Administrative Board and Troms County. (For more

information, see https://www.oulu.fi/water/resem).

The WAX research project (Natural Wax of Arctic Berries) in the biotechnology sector is

another good example of a multidisciplinary, cross-border project. The aim of this project is to

develop environmentally sustainable methods for extracting wild berry wax from industrial side

streams and waste. New application areas and uses for wild berry waxes are analysed through

the entire value chain from berry picking to the new high-end and high-value wild berry wax-

based products. The WAX Interreg project is co-ordinated by the University of Oulu, (Centre

of Microscopy and Nanotechnology), and the main partners are Luleå University of

Technology, NIBIO – Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research in Tromso, and the Oulu

University of Applied Sciences. The research project is funded by Interreg Nord, the Regional

Council of Lapland, the Norrbotten County Administrative Board and Troms County. (For

more information, see https://www.oamk.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehitys/hankkeet/wax/).

A good example of the utilisation of wireless and the Internet of Things technologies outside

the core ICT sector is the Wirma project (https://www.wirma-project.eu/index.php/project/).

The target of the project is to research, develop and test new vehicle-based sensor data solutions

in the field of winter road maintenance in the North. The aim of the AMCA (Arctic Mobile

36

Communications Architectures, https://www.oulu.fi/sites/default/files/content/Visio.pdf)

project is in turn to create and describe alternative mobile communications architectures and

high-speed network solutions for the sparsely populated arctic regions and other remote

locations. The AMCA project could provide a good starting point for cross-border cooperation

with the aim of providing high quality broadband Internet connections in the arctic region.

Another good example of the cross-border cooperation project is the Smart Construction

Cluster (http://www.smartconstruction.no/about-us/, which was funded by the European

Regional Development Fund (ERDF)). The cluster was established in Alta in 2016. Currently,

there are also Smart Construction Cluster “nodes” in Oulu, Tromsø, Narvik and Luleå. The goal

of this project is to make the local construction industry more digitalized and to develop more

innovative methods and products for buyers. This has been done in cooperation with, among

others, the ICT industry in Oulu. The cluster nodes provide activities locally and on a cross-

border basis between the nodes. This and other previously mentioned projects will provide

information on the good practices, existing partnerships and networks that can be useful in

forthcoming projects.

More information about the projects in table 6 is available by opening the hyperlink.

37

Environmental innovation

Arctic Energy

BuSK

EPOS IP

H-CHP

LECo

New technology for energy-efficient particle

separation from flue gases

NOTE

Pre-CHP

RESEM

WIRMA

EEBAK

Biotechnology

ARCTIC-ecocrete

NEWPACK

RENEPRO

WAX

New Exploration Technologies

Industrial Innovation

C3TS

CMT

Flexible Transparent Conductive Films as

Electrodes

INTERACT

NorFaST-HT

Mining

MinNorth

SusMinNor

VanProd

Mining and Metallurgy Regions of EU

MineFacts

ICT

AMCA Employment

Academic North

WELD

Competitiveness

Business Model Innovation and Internalization

of Process Industry SMEs

Construction

ICNB

New possibilities for CLT

Health

INSPIRE

Entrepreneurship

ARCTISEN

Culture

Digital access to the Sámi heritage

archives

Abbreviations of cooperating institutions (number of

projects in brackets):

= University of Oulu (22)

= University of Lapland / Lapland

University of Applied Sciences (12)

= Luleå University of Technology (29)

= University of Tromsø (15)

= Umeå University (7)

Table 6. Arctic 5 cross-border cooperation projects (Interreg Nord, Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme and Horizon 2020) in a selected

field of research (starting year 2015 or later).

38

5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE AREAS OF COOPERATION

5.1 Smart specialisation strategy as a tool for regional development

One important aspect which we can raise related to the work of the joint taskforce, especially

concerning the point “the Competence areas and fields with complimentary advantages” and

the also to the cross-border cooperation in general, is so called smart specialisation concept.

The European Commission has defined three priorities for the Europe 2020 strategy: smart

growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth. Smart growth means strengthening

knowledge and innovation as the cornerstone of economic growth. According to the principles

of smart specialisation, this means not only investing in the most successful or trendy areas but

also in the strategic integration and exploitation of regional expertise. Regions should focus on

the strategic integration of existing key competence areas and the search for strong and

emerging, potential new areas of specialisation. Although the concept of smart specialisation

remains relatively new, it has gained great popularity and has become the most important

principle guiding regional development, especially in Europe. (McCann & Ortega-Argilés

2014).9

What are the key principles of a strategy for smart specialisation? Smart specialisation is a

place-based approach. In other words, it builds on the assets and resources available to regions

and on their specific socio-economic challenges. The idea is to identify future growth areas.

Smart means that regions should be able to identify their own strengths and comparative assets.

Specialisation in turn means that regions prioritise their research and innovation investments in

the competitive areas. Strategy means that regions define a shared vision for regional

innovation.10 Could these same actions be done cross-border in the Arctic 5 regions? Could we

define a smart specialisation strategy for Arctic 5 regions?

9 At the European level, national and regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialization are called

RIS3 strategies. For more information, see

https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/presenta/smart_specialisation/smart_ris3_2012.pdf 10 For more information, see http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/what-is-smart-specialisation-.

39

The Regulation (EU) 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council defines a smart

specialisation strategy in the following way: “Smart specialisation strategy means the national

or regional innovation strategies, which set priorities in order to build competitive advantage

by developing and matching research and innovation’s own strengths to business needs in order

to address emerging opportunities and market developments in a coherent manner, while

avoiding duplication and fragmentation of efforts.”

Knowledge spillovers, i.e., technology flows between the sectors and industries, are typically

viewed as an important source of regional growth. Studies have shown that knowledge

spillovers between the industries are especially beneficial when these industries share a

common knowledge/technology base. The academic literature talks about the industries, which

are technology related. From the perspective of regional growth, this means that knowledge

flows support regional development only if the regional industry structure is diversified in a

way that industries are technologically closely related (related in variety, in Finnish

yhteenkietoutunut moninaisuus) (Boschma and Frenken 2009). Regions benefit most from

sectoral diversity when the sectors are interlinked and complementary. A region specialising in

a particular composition of complementary sectors will experience higher growth than a region

specialising in sectors that do not complement each other. According to Hartog, Boschma ja

Sotarauta (2012), the role of related variety and technological spillovers are especially

important in the high technology industries. However, it is not just the diversified industrial

structure that promotes regional growth and that is the most beneficial for regional growth. It is

important to find such areas of core expertise that link these region’s competence/focus areas

together. Furthermore, the focus should be on supporting those future growth areas that are

linked to regional expertise and that will benefit from public guidance and support.

Smart specialisation literature talks about the key enabling technologies (KET) or general

purpose technologies (GPT) (Foray et al 2009, Foray & Goenaga 2013).11 A general purpose

11 The following six individual KETs have been identified by the European Commission: Nanotechnology (NT),

Micro- and Nanoelectronics, (MNE), Industrial Biotechnology (IB), Photonics (PHOT), Advanced Materials

(AM), and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT). Great expectations will be attached to these

technologies in the future in the context of both economic growth and job creation, and they will play a key role

in defining areas of smart specialization (See e.g., http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/key-enabling-

technologies/european-strategy_en).

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technology is a type of major innovation/technology that can be utilised in a number of areas

and is engaged through the emergence of new products, policies and services to create economic

growth. Additionally, in the traditional manufacturing sector, an individual GPT innovation or

application (or combination of different GPTs) or a key enabling technology (KET) makes it

possible to enhance and renew the existing applications and processes, for example, utilising

biotechnology applications in the food industry or nanotechnology applications in the paper

industry. We should be able to define sectors and activities in which new or current

technological adaptations can most likely be applied and which can benefit from knowledge

spillovers. The way in which the technological adaptation is applied depends on the

connectedness of the activities and sectors. Some regions may prioritise the development of one

or more key enabling technologies (KETs), while others will focus on applications of such

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technologies to specific purposes or defined fields. Figure 2 below tries to clarify the idea.

(Bresnahan 2010, Foray ym. 2009, Bresnahan & Trajtenberg 1995.)

Figure 2. General purpose technologies as links between the focus/competence areas.

The limited resources of regions emphasise the more precise identification of focus areas and

the possibilities of smart specialisation not only within the regions but also between the regions.

We should identify those technology areas where we should target R&D and other investments

in a way that most effectively fosters regional growth. All regions have certain economic,

technological and knowledge-based assets and strengths that can be utilised effectively to bring

about growth and economic transformation. An investigation of focus areas in different regions

has most likely already been done in all participating Arctic 5 regions, or at least there is a good

regional understanding of what these focus areas are.

Exactly as the smart specialisation argument posits, regional policy should focus on a peripheral

region’s most connected industries so that the regional industrial base is best able to learn from

the more advanced regions (see figure 2 above). In terms of the OECD (2011b) regional-

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innovation typology, the concept of lagging implies that less advanced regions develop ways

of fostering learning linkages with either industrial production zones or knowledge regions and

that industrial production zones should foster linkages with either knowledge regions or

sometimes other industrial zones. The role of less advanced regions might be to focus on the

development of applications and incremental innovations. Similarly, although most of the

leading regions are not necessarily inventors of generic technology, they may be successful in

developing enterprise applications. The further development and application of GPT

innovations require research and development activities as well as knowledge intensive

activities. Less advanced regions might capture knowledge spillovers from the leaders, and

leading regions may receive from less advanced regions, ideas that help them to re-invent

themselves. (Foray, 2013)

Therefore, in order for a smart specialisation-type policy to work in a regional context, the

analytical focus must centre on ways to maximise the knowledge spillovers and learning

linkages within the regions as well as between the regions. This means that we should define

such technologies (areas of expertise) that might connect the focus areas of the different Arctic

5 regions. This could be especially beneficial for those regions that lack these types of themes

or technologies, which can connect their existing focus areas together. This large vision of the

possibilities of smart specialisation could provide a good basis for cross-border cooperation

work.

Why is it important to keep the number of priorities low? With fewer priorities, it is easier to

generate clusters that allow greater benefits, such as agglomeration, scale benefits, and

knowledge spillovers, in knowledge production. Choosing too many priorities can lead to a

fragmented model that offers little or no competitive advantage at all.12 Another challenge is

precisely defining the priority areas. Rather than prioritising some specific sector(s), regions

should have more detailed descriptions of their priorities. Selected areas of smart specialisations

are typically technology fields or areas of expertise that combine different sectors. In other

12 For more information, see http://www.s3platform.eu/4-priority-setting/.

43

words, these areas are at the cross-section of different sectors, technologies or knowledge

domains.

The selected set of priorities should focus on the existing strengths of the regional economy and

the emerging opportunities within. The selection process itself must be based on versatile

qualitative and quantitative information on the different areas of expertise in the regions.

Regional stakeholders, especially companies from various industries, research groups of

universities and research centres in different fields of expertise, have an important role in this

search process. Together, they could identify not only the most promising areas of specialisation

in the region but also any weaknesses that are currently hampering innovation. It is important

that major players and interest groups do not alone decide these priorities and that the final

choices truly reflect the situation and needs of the region. (Foray et al 2009.)

Based on these principles of smart specialisation strategy, the aim of this report is to investigate

through the lenses of smart specialisation whether in these urban A5 regions, there are these

types of competence areas, which might provide new possibilities for intensified cross-border

cooperation involving representatives, especially those representatives in the Arctic 5 city-

regions, of both industry and academia. Smart specialisation strategy means that regions should

define and make choices for investments. One potential difficulty is that the regions have to

focus and decide on investments. The regions should be able to jointly identify those

technological areas and the areas of economic activity where they have a competitive advantage

now and hopefully in the future. What are those areas where the regions have the potential to

generate innovation activities to support their own knowledge-driven growth and possibly also

to tackle the major and most urgent challenges for society at a global level? In addition, it is

important to avoid ineffective "business as usual strategies" that spread government support

thinly to a number of sectors or imitate those of other successful regions. Imitating other

regions’ strategies can lead to a situation where we have several small, regional clusters

focusing on the same things.

All Arctic 5 cities and regions have their own strong innovation sectors. Their universities and

other research institutes have worldwide-known research facilities, expertise in several fields,

e.g., health, biotechnology, various fields of engineering, and ICT. As shown in the previous

chapter, there is ongoing research cooperation in various fields of research between A5

44

universities. The research projects in the field of bioeconomy, e.g., circular economy, cleantech

or energy projects in Oulu, Luleå and Umeå as well as in the Kemi/Tornio regions, are good

examples of the utilisation of the strong, regional expertise in various fields of ICT. Another

good example of a multidisciplinary research field is the eHealth sector of the Oulu region.

Within this field, Oulu has become known as an innovative city by combining its strong

expertise in wireless technology with health and life science applications.

The utilisation of remote sensing technologies (especially in Tromso and Luleå region) in ocean

and climate change research is also a good example of multidisciplinary research. For example,

the remote sensing research community of Tromso has cooperated with universities and other

research units in Luleå and Oulu in the field of mining. The Umeå region has a strong and long

tradition in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning and interactive simulation. This

knowledge has already been utilised in various sectors, e.g., the maritime and mining sectors as

well in design (and even in pedagogy and finance). The Centre for Distance-spanning

Technology (CDT) is one of the many centers of excellence in Luleå Technical University. Its

Cloudberry project is an excellent example of interdisciplinary research projects in this field.

The goal of the project is to provide new knowledge about the energy and resource-efficient

solutions in data centers. (the Internet of things, complex cognitive systems and communication

networks are other key areas of CDT). The mining, metallurgy and forestry industries, which

have had an important role for decades as an employer in the Kemi region, can now utilise the

strong bioeconomy expertise of the area.

It seems that we have many multidisciplinary projects, which are now more or less region

specific (e.g., remote sensing research in Tromso or printed intelligence in Oulu). Could such

multidisciplinary region-specific project cooperation extend beyond borders? On the other

hand, for utilising the strong expertise of the Arctic 5 regions, could we find new areas, for

instance, remote sensing, artificial intelligence or printed intelligence applications? Is it

45

possible to find specific KETs and GPTs that would facilitate cross-border linkages for some

focus areas of the Arctic 5 regions? Figure 3 below clarifies the idea.

Figure 3. Regional and cross-border possibilities for smart specialisation

According to Forey (2013), the areas and ways in which the region(s) can excel are as follows:

13

1. Transition path formation from an existing set of collective capabilities of a region to

the foundations of a new business, i.e., a “marriage” of two strong, existing industries,

e.g., the textile and chemical industries in Lyon;

2. Exploitation of a complementarity between a GPT / KET application and a traditional

sector (upgrading or modernisation), e.g., the use of ICT applications in tourism and the

exploration of bio-technology potentials in the agrofood industry;

3. Diversification, where potential synergies/economies of scope can be achieved between

an existing activity and a new one and in which current knowledge and innovations can

be applied in a new field; and

4. Radical foundation where the new domain is founded with no direct link with existing

structures.

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Next, we will introduce some ideas regarding how the strong expertise of different Arctic 5

regions could be utilised more or less in a similar way. In most of the cases discussed, we try

to find a complementarity between a GPT / KET application and a traditional sector (case 2).

5.2 Proposal for the areas of cooperation

As we have seen, there is a considerable amount of ongoing cross-border cooperation between

A5 universities and regions in number of fields, such as health, the circular economy, and

mining. In this report, the approach has been slightly different. We have tried to find suitable

new areas of cooperation based on the following principles.

- Cooperation areas are based on the regions´ strengths and comparative knowledge-

based assets on both the academic and industry level.

- Cooperation should expand in areas that offer new ideas for ongoing collaboration (i.e.,

not a business as usual, e.g., broadly defined thematic network cooperation).

- Cooperation should expand for a limited number of priority areas.

- The selected priority areas broadly link together the regions' competence/focus areas.

- The selected areas are in line with global technological megatrends and address/tackle

different global challenges.

Our proposition for new possible areas of cross-border cooperation is as follows.

A. Remote sensing technology. Remote sensing (the acquisition of information from a

distance, https://learn.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-imagery-book/chapter2/) methods are a fast

evolving technique enabling more precise, reliable and cost-efficient data collection.

Currently, this technology is mainly used (as far as we know) in the field of

environmental and maritime research, e.g., in climate change research. New areas of

utilisation (or at least areas where it could be utilised more) could be fish farming,

forestry (optimisation of logging), farming (use of fertilisers and its effect of growth),

13 Foray, D. (2014), Smart Specialisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Regional Innovation Policy. New

York: Routledge. Page 28.

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town planning, traffic solution (unmanned vehicles), water quality research, and oil

industry applications. The processing of remote sensing data is demanding, and the

efficient use and development of these methods requires experts from several fields.

The RESEM project (Remote Sensing Supporting Surveillance and the Operation of

Mines), where the aim is to develop new opportunities to use remote sensing data from

satellites and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in mining safety and environmental

monitoring, would provide a good starting point for extended cross-border cooperation.

The main partners in that project are the University of Oulu, Norut (Northern Research

Institute) from Tromsø and the Technical University of Luleå. The Centre for Integrated

Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations (CIRFA) in Tromso is a

knowledge hub for research and development on Arctic surveillance technologies,

possessing leading expertise in disciplines such as remote sensing. The Arctic Drone

Labs, a drone application ecosystem coordinated by the Oulu University of Applied

Science (https://www.arcticdronelabs.com/) and which is a member of the European-

wide Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) network, could be a good partner in this field of

research/innovation.14 The University of Oulu and the VTT Technical Research Centre

of Finland are research partners (among many others) in that ecosystem.

The regions with the most potential for cooperation are Tromso, Oulu, and Luleå.

B. Printed intelligence. Printed intelligence is a fast-developing area of technology that

has become increasingly popular in recent years. It requires knowledge in both the

natural sciences, such as chemistry and physics, and in engineering. At the moment, the

application focus areas range from rapid disposable diagnostics (eHealth/Wellness),

smart flexible lighting and wearables to the Internet-of-Things with sensors and energy

harvesting. A printed intelligence solution offers interesting new possibilities for many

sectors such as the automotive industry, construction and design. For example, in

tourism, ski resorts in Northern Finland could provide a good test environment for

different kind of solutions. Located in Oulu, PrintoCent has a wide global network of

14 Arctic Drone Labs is a part of the Allied ICT Finland network (https://alliedict.fi/ ).

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international companies and partners. In the Oulu region, more than 300 experts are

working in this industry. The wireless technology expertise of the Oulu region is already

connected to the printed intelligence sector. Design research in Umeå and Rovaniemi

and AI research in Umeå represent areas where there could be interest in cooperation in

this field. Currently, in this sector, cooperation between the Arctic 5 regions is limited.

The regions with the most potential for cooperation are Oulu, Umeå, Luleå, and

Rovaniemi.

C. Artificial intelligence. The increase in digitalisation, the use of smart technologies and

the use of solutions provided by artificial intelligence (e.g., machine learning and

computing) offer new opportunities and challenges in many sectors, including the

energy sector, health technology and the environmental technology sector. How to

handle, utilise, and analyse big data and the growing volumes of all forms of data (big

data analytics, https://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-

analytics) is a big question in both research and the business world. This knowledge has

already been utilised in various sectors, e.g., in logistics (road traffic), maritime,

healthcare and in the mining sectors. Fields such as design, education (learning &

pedagogy), and tourism (e.g., utilising big data to determine how to provide the right

services at the right time for users, i.e., how to provide smart tourism experiences) could

benefit from this type of multidisciplinary cooperation. The Umeå region owns a strong

and long tradition in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning and interactive

simulation. One international project where Umeå is involved is The Humane AI

(http://www.humane-ai.eu/). Targets of that project are highly similar to those of Gen Z

(https://www.oulu.fi/genz/), a strategic profiling theme of the University of Oulu and

funded by the Academy of Finland. Oulu in turn has a strong expertise in robotics (the

Biomimetics and Intelligent Systems Group, https://www.oulu.fi/bisg/) and in work

related to machine vision (Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis,

https://www.oulu.fi/cmvs/). Furthermore, the OuluHealth ecosystem offers an excellent

development and testing environment to explore and exploit emerging technologies (AI,

deep learning, big data analytics, etc.) in the next-generation digital solutions. The

research of the Bothia Living lab in Luleå deals to some extent with similar types of

technologies, although their approach is more related to the design and the development

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of digital service innovations with users and other stakeholders in their real life context,

i.e., the smart-city type of research. (https://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/information-

systems/Botnia-Living-Lab?l=en).

The regions with the most potential for cooperation are Umeå, Oulu, Luleå, and

Rovaniemi.

D. Circular economy / Cleantech: Global warming has increased people’s awareness of

environmental questions and the need to protect the environment. For instance, people

are increasingly interested in reducing their own carbon footprint by using alternative,

renewable energy sources and eco-friendly food. Firms are interested in solutions that

maximise the use of materials. This provides huge business opportunities for firms, and

for universities and other research institutions, this creates more research funding

opportunities. The circular economy and cleantech sectors are good examples of

multidisciplinary research fields, which combine and utilise the expertise of various

fields, e.g., ICT, engineering and biotechnology. The Luleå University of Technology

is one of the world’s leading universities in the development of sustainable, energy-

efficient and environmentally friendly systems and processes. Furthermore, the Arctic

Industry and Circular Economy cluster is one of the Lapland’s smart specialisation

clusters (its activities are concentrated in the Kemi-Tornio region). These

research/innovation environments together with the strong expertise of the universities

of Umeå and Oulu, e.g., in the bioeconomy sector, would provide an excellent network

/ development platform for the circular economy sector. The actors of the Arctic

Industry and Circular Economy cluster, especially Lapland University of Applied

Sciences, have been active partners in EU projects for years, and have been involved in

ongoing research cooperation with the Arctic 5 regions, especially with Luleå and Oulu.

The regions with the most potential for cooperation are Luleå, Rovaniemi/Kemi, Umeå,

and Oulu.

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Furthermore, we can name at least one area where potential synergies can be achieved between

an existing activity and a new one: an area where current knowledge and innovations can be

applied in a new field (case 3).

Biotechnology. Biotechnology is broad and as one of the growing fields in the

developing world, it is closely tied to dimensions of human well-being, such as food

production and health, as well as to renewable biofuels. In the Tromso region, there is

strong research expertise in the specialised sectors of blue/marine biotechnology

(marine biodiscovery, marine bioprocessing, marine biotechnology; blue biotechnology

refers to aquaculture and marine). Biotechnology is also one of the strong innovation

sectors in Umeå. The research there (as far as we know) is focused on plant and forest

biotechnology, i.e., green biotechnology (colour green refers to the agriculture or food,

plant and environment). In Oulu, the research is diversified, including red (health and

the medical sector including diseases & diagnostics) and grey/white biotechnology (the

industrial sector) research.15 Biotechnology is also one of the strongest innovation

sectors in Umeå. The worldwide-known expertise of the University of Umeå in the

selected fields of biotechnology might offer interesting opportunities for other

biotechnology sectors. There might at least be potential areas of cross-border

cooperation between the blue and green biotechnology sectors in the food industry-

related fields, e.g., fish farming, reindeer meat processing, the utilisation of berries, the

cultivation and exploitation/usage of seaweed, and the growing of potatoes. Organised

within the biotech cluster “Biotech North”, and including approximately 500

researchers and approximately 30 organisations from both the private and public sector,

Tromsø’s biotechnology community could provide a starting point for cross-border

cooperation. For instance, UiT and the ferrosilicon producer Finnfjord AS have a

cooperative relationship in which CO2 in factory smoke is transformed into marine

biomass by microalgae-based photosynthesis. The algae can provide a plethora of

valuable products (food, feed, biofuel). In this sector, we also find potential cross-border

synergies between test laboratories. The WAX research project (Natural Wax of Arctic

15 See https://www.cenetrionline.org/blog/color-code-biotechnology/.

51

Berries) is a good example of the multidisciplinary, cross-border projects in this field

and could be utilised as a pilot project.

The regions with the most potential for cooperation are Tromso, Umeå, and Oulu.

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Other types of cooperation – The use of test laboratories, the cooperation between

incubator organisations, and the organisation of thematic seminars

The interviews that we conducted also revealed the need and willingness to increase

cooperation in other areas. The utilisation of test laboratories across borders is one of these

areas. All regions have unique test laboratories in their strong areas of expertise. The Oulu

region has over 30 different types of laboratories for researchers and firms in different fields,

such as the field of 5G mobile/wireless networks, eHealth and wellness. Tromso and Umeå

have various type of laboratories, e.g., biotechnology sector laboratories that are available not

only to local firms and to researchers but also for external actors. In Luleå, as a full-size testing

environment, the Cloudberry data centre provides excellent opportunities for the cooperation

of researchers and firms. Regarding the testing environment in general, the ski resorts in

Northern Finland and other centers of tourism could be testing grounds for the application and

development of numerous technological advances in the field of printed intelligence and

wireless communication solutions. 16

Business incubators in all regions are also interested in sharing their knowledge across borders.

The Oulu region offers expertise in patenting, and the Luleå area organisations have knowledge

regarding the commercialization of research results. The incubators in Umeå and Tromso are

also interested in this type of cooperation. It would be easy to organise workshops or seminars

to share the ideas and experiences between these organisations.

There are not that many thematic networks between the Arctic 5 universities similar to those in

the UArctic network. UArctic has nearly 50 different thematic networks that promote

cooperation in various fields (https://www.uarctic.org/organization/thematic-networks/).

Currently, Arctic 5 cooperation takes place in the following thematic areas: energy, mining and

health, regional development, learning and issues related to the Sami/indigenous people. It

would be easy to extend this type of cooperation to fields presented previously in this report.

16 For example, see the Special Issue on Tourism Competitiveness in the Digital Economy, Investigaciones

Regionales – Journal of Regional Research, 42, 2018, https://investigacionesregionales.org/en/article/special-

issue-on-tourism-competitiveness-in-the-digital-economy/.

53

That kind of cooperation would strengthen the position of the Arctic 5 universities and the

whole Arctic 5 organisation in the UArctic network. Currently, interregional cooperation is very

project-based. It is clear (based on many comments) that we need more systematic cooperation.

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6 CONCLUSIONS

In this report, we have focused on the cities of the Arctic 5 regions. They are in many ways the

engines of growth in these regions. The growth of these cities has a positive impact on the

surrounding regions. The multidisciplinary universities in these regions play a leading role in

the innovation activity. Their role is emphasised in world where most of the innovations take

place at different interfaces of science. However, among the actors of regional innovation

ecosystems, there is space for intensified cooperation across the borders. The aim of this report

is to provide academic insights for further discussion on whether it is possible to identify such

areas of competence /expertise, which could provide opportunities to enhance cross-border

cooperation involving representatives of both the industry and academia of these five regions.

Currently, a smart specialisation strategy forms the core idea of the EU regional innovation

policy. Another key theme of regional policy is the concept of regional resilience. Academic

literature defines regional resilience as the capability of regions to anticipate, prepare for,

respond to, and recover from the environmental, economic and technological shocks. The

capability of regions to adapt to shocks is closely linked to the forms of regional innovation

networks, regional industrial structures, structures of ecosystems, entrepreneurial culture, the

mobility of labour and the policy measures of the regional authorities. Well-defined cross-

border smart specialisation would increase the resilience of the innovation ecosystems of these

regions and promote their regional, sustainable growth. This policy would be in line with the

OECD policy recommendation, which encourages northern sparsely populated areas (NSPA)

to collaborate on joint opportunities related to their smart specialisation strategies.17

Smart specialisation is a challenging concept and by no means a trivial question or policy to

implement. However, it is interesting to think about the type of synergy that a cross-border

smart specialisation strategy that was implemented in one way or another could provide for the

Arctic 5 regions. Furthermore, what kind of a message and learning results could the Arctic 5

17 For example, see http://www.nspa-network.eu/news/oecd-report-launched-in-brussels.aspx, the report “OECD

Territorial Reviews: Northern Sparsely populated Areas”. Published in 2017, it is available at https://read.oecd-

ilibrary.org/urban-rural-and-regional-development/oecd-territorial-reviews-the-northern-sparsely-populated-

areas_9789264268234-en#page1.

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smart specialisation strategy provide for other countries in Europe? It has become clear that the

organisations of the EU are interested at various levels in the cross-border innovation

opportunities of these particular regions.

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Appendix: Research profiles of Arctic 5 regions and research topics of the cross-border Arctic

5 research cooperation

Luleå:

Oulu:

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Lapland:

Tromso:

60

Umeå:

Cross-border research cooperation of A5 regions in a form of co-authored research

papers (2000 latest articles from all fields of research, 100 keywords, authors from 2- 5 Arctic

5 universities. Source: Scopus):