ELY Centre for Southwest Finland - Sustainable Growth with Us

The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southwest Finland (ELY Centre for Southwest Finland) is a diverse and broad-ranging development and service centre created during the Government’s Reform Project for Regional administration. Our goal is to strengthen well-being in the regions of Varsinais-Suomi and Satakunta. Networking with other actors in the region is the starting point for our activities. The best ways to achieve impact and reach targets are good co-operation and effective use of resources.

The ELY Centre for Southwest Finland is involved in everyday life

The ELY Centre for Southwest Finland is a diverse and broad-ranging development and service centre. Our goal is to strengthen wellbeing in Southwest Finland and Satakunta. The aim of our operations is to ensure sustainable wellbeing, a vibrant business community, attractive municipalities and the wider environment, and a satisfied population through clustered collaboration.

Med i vardagen NTM-centralen i Egentliga Finland

NTM-centralen i Egentliga Finland är en branschövergripande utvecklings- och servicecentral. Vårt mål är att stärka en hållbar välfärd i Egentliga Finland och Satakunta. Utgångspunkten för vår verksamhet är att med ett nätverksbaserat samarbete trygga en hållbar välfärd, ett aktivt näringsliv, attraktiva landskap och en attraktiv miljö samt nöjda invånare.

Itse tehty moderni. Gramofoni, polkupyörä ja valokuvaus suomalaisten elämässä 1880-luvulta 1940-luvulle

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan aineellista modernia ja materiaalisen kulttuurin muutosta Suomessa 1880-luvulta 1940-luvulle tutkimalla sitä, miten kolme kansainvälistä teknologiaa, gramofoni, polkupyörä ja valokuvaus, otettiin Suomessa käyttöön ja millaisia paikallisia ilmiöitä niiden ympärille kehittyi. Tutkimus koostuu johdanto- ja yhteenveto-osan lisäksi kuudesta artikkelista, joissa käsitellään seuraavia alateemoja: itse tehtyjä polkupyöriä, käyntikorttikuvien käyttöä maalaiskodeissa, maaseudun pyöräilyä ja sen muistelemista, vuoden 1929 gramofonikuumetta, valokuvausta teknisenä harrastuksena sekä maalaisia gramofonin käytön tapoja. Tutkimuksen lähteinä on käytetty laajoja muistitietoaineistoja, sanoma- ja aikakauslehtiaineistoja, arkistoaineistoja, aikalaiskirjallisuutta ja museoesineitä. Lähteistä on etsitty mikrohistoriallista lukutapaa noudattaen johtolankoja gramofoniin, polkupyörään ja valokuvaukseen liittyneihin käytäntöihin. Esitän, että muistitietolähteet, muiden lähteiden kanssa ristiinluettuina, antavat hyvän mahdollisuuden sellaisten arjen käytäntöjen tarkasteluun, joiden tutkiminen muiden lähteiden perusteella olisi vaikeaa tai mahdotonta. Tutkimuksessa käytetyistä teoreettisista kehyksistä niin teknologian sosiaalinen rakentuminen, arjen historia, materiaaliseen kulttuuriin liittyvä teoriapohja, kulutuskulttuurin tutkimus kuin käytäntöteoriatkin kannustavat tarkastelemaan sitä, miten käyttäjien toiminta muokkaa ja määrittää teknologiaa. Näiden teoriasuuntausten pohjalta olen tätä tutkimusta varten kehittänyt itse tehdyn modernin ja kansankeksinnön käsitteet, jotka tarkentavat katseen ajallisesti ja paikallisesti tyypillisiin teknologian muokkauksen ja määrittelyn tapoihin sekä paikalliseen teknologiseen kekseliäisyyteen. Itse tehdyn modernin käsite auttaa hahmottamaan materiaalisia muutoksia ja pysyvyyksiä ajanjaksolla 1800-luvun lopulta toiseen maailmansotaan. Suomalaiset muovasivat omanlaisensa modernin, jossa uutuudet ja muutokset sulautuivat osaksi sitkeinä jatkuvia ja hitaasti muuttuvia maalaisyhteiskunnan toimintatapoja ja muokkasivat niitä vähitellen. Itse tehty moderni sekoitti omavaraisuutta ja kulutuskulttuuria, käsillä tekemiseen perustuvaa taitavuutta ja kursseilla sekä koulutuksessa saavutettua teknistä tietoa, paikallisia aineksia ja kansainvälisiä vaikutteita. Puhumalla kansanomaisista keksinnöistä olen halunnut korostaa tällaisten yhdistelmien mahdollisuutta ruohonjuuritasolla ja massatuotettujen laitteiden sovittamista osaksi pitkälti itse tehtyä ja omavaraista esinemaailmaa.

Violations of children's rights in armed conflicts : international treaties, observations by peacekeepers and crisis management training in Finland

Ninety-nine Finnish peacekeepers, who had been serving in 15 different operations around the world, participated in the study (8 women, 27-52 years old, m = 37.4, SD = 8.9; and 91 men, 21-69 years old, m = 41.4, SD = 10.2). Three military crisis management trainers from the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre also participated in the study. The data was collected with two webbased questionnaires. In addition two interviews were made with specialists of civilian crisis management in Finland. The study also provides an overview of international treaties concerning children’s rights in armed conflict. The results show that 48.7 % of dangers for children in conflicts reported by the peacekeepers were related to physical injury (e.g. landmines and traffic), and 27.4 % were related to social problems (e.g. poverty, child soldiers, and trafficking). 24.1 % of the peacekeepers had made observations of children’s rights violations either often or very often during peacekeeping operations. 49.6 % of the observations were related to social problems (e.g. child labour or being forced to beg), and 33.0 % were related to physical injury (e.g. assault). Frequency of observation of children’s rights violations was not associated with either sex or military degree of the peacekeepers; instead it was significantly correlated with the peacekeepers’ degree of knowledge of EU’s child protection guidelines. On the basis of the results, it is recommended that knowledge about children’s rights and protection should be included in the training of Finnish crisis management personnel to a much higher degree than at the present.

Crowdfunding and its utilization for startup finance in Finland – factors of a successful campaign

This thesis studies crowdfunding with qualitive methods to introduce the phenomenon as well as provide guidance to those interested in its utilization. Knowledge and ideas were gathered form several sources, from academic literature to commercial media and expert interviews. Crowdfunding has already demonstrated its ability to impact the startup scene but is still far from being utilized to its full extent, especially in Finland, where even its legality has been questioned. Crowd financing can provide capital to entrepreneurs who might not otherwise be able to obtain funding as well as enable crowdsourcing the funders in several ways. A successful campaign, however, requires a wealth of knowledge on the subject, careful planning and hard work on the implementation. The thesis will provide most benefit to entrepreneurs who are considering the use of this new form of finance, but should also be of value for investors, academics, politicians and everyone else interested in the subject.

Transfer pricing documentation differences in Finland and China - Case company study

This Master’s Thesis deals with the topic of transfer pricing documentation in Finland and China. The goal of the research is to find what kind of differences exist in a single case company’s transfer pricing documentation when following Chinese or Finnish transfer pricing regulations. The study is carried out as a case study research. The theoretical framework consists of information from different transfer pricing topics and transfer pricing documentation regulations in China and Finland. The main research material was the case company’s transfer pricing documents with the support of open discus-sion with one of the case company’s employees. The study compared the 2009 and 2010 documents. The 2009 document was done based on the Finnish method while the 2010 document was based on the Chinese documentation principles. The conclusion made is that the content of the documents was heavily similar, while the main differences come in the way the content is presented and the level of detail used in the documents.

The role of network coordination in business incubation - Comparative evidence from Finland and Russia

Business incubators (BIs) have an important role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. Networks have been identified as one of the main factors influencing business incubation success; however, their management has not been widely covered in previous business incubation research. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate the role of network coordination in business incubation. Thus, the research aims to understand how the BI as a hub firm coordinates, i.e. manages and orchestrates, the business incubation process. As business incubation is also claimed to be affected by country specific factors, a cross-country comparison of Finland and Russia is conducted. Based on previous scientific literature on networks, network management, network orchestration and business incubation, a theoretical model combining business incubation and network coordination is developed. Through a qualitative multiple-case study evidence from a cross-country sample of BI managers and their residents was collected via semi-structured interviews. Based on the empirical data the network coordination mechanisms used by BIs are identified, yet only minor differences in network coordination in different countries are found. The results suggest that network coordination enables value creation in business incubation.

Russian SME technology transfer to Finland – Entrepreneurial challenges and motivation

The purpose of this thesis is to study the international technology transfer of transition economy SME entrepreneurs to the developed countries. The research aims to characterize the phenomenon by studying Russian SME technology transfer to Finland with the research methods from case studies. In addition to characterizing the phenomenon, the research finds out factors that motivate Russian entrepreneurs to conduct international technology transfer and what are the challenges the Russian entrepreneurs face when they enter the Finnish business environment. The qualitative data was collected from six semi-structured interviews with the entrepreneurs and several secondary data sources, considering four different technology transfer cases. The data and the analysis showed that the case companies in Finland are mostly linked to manufacturing of physical products. The entrepreneurs are motivated to come to Finland mainly by the opportunities and support the Finnish business and innovation environment provides to the entrepreneurs and by the personal gain that they get by establishing the company in Finland. Major challenges in the process include time constraints and capital requirements, difficulties on achieving sales on the Finnish market and finding skilled personnel to support the Russian management and owners.

Reaching influential early adopters effectively in Finland : Rock Science – new generation board game

Innovations diffuse at different speed among the members of a social system through various communication channels. The group of early adopters can be seen as the most influential reference group for majority of people to base their innovation adoption decisions on. Thus, the early adopters can often accelerate the diffusion of innovations. The purpose of this research is to discover means of diffusion for an innovative product in Finnish market through the influential early adopters in respect to the characteristics of the case product. The purpose of the research can be achieved through the following sub objectives:  Who are the potential early adopters for the case product and why?  How the potential early adopters of the case product should be communicated with?  What would be the expectations, preferences, and experiences of the early adopters of the case product? The case product examined in this research is a new board game called Rock Science which is considered to be incremental innovation bringing board gaming and hard rock music together in a new way. The research was conducted in two different parts using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. This mixed method research began with expert interviews of six music industry experts. The information gathered from the interviews enabled researcher to compose the questionnaire for the quantitative part of the study. Internet survey that was sent out resulted with a sample of 97 responses from the targeted population. The key findings of the study suggest that (1) the potential early adopters for the case product are more likely to be young adults from the capital city area with great interest in rock music, (2) the early adopters can be reached effectively through credible online sources of information, and (3) the respondents overall product feedback is highly positive, except in the case of quality-price ratio of the product. This research indicates that more effective diffusion of Rock Science board game in Finland can be reached through (1) strategic alliances with music industry and media partnerships, (2) pricing adjustments, (3) use of supporting game formats, and (4) innovative use of various social media channels.

Developing of Supportive Context for Eco-Industrial Networks in Finland

The aim of the present thesis was to explore possible promotional actions to support the emergence of eco-industrial business networks in Finland. The main objectives were to investigate what kind of factors affect in the development of eco-industrial networks and further make suggestions in what kinds of actions this could be supported. In addition, since the active facilitation was discovered as one potential promoting activity, further investigation about facilitation process in Finnish context was conducted and also main characteristics of nationwide facilitation programme were identified. This thesis contains literature review of network orchestration and eco-industrial networks. The latter consists of green supply chain management and industrial symbiosis, although the main focus of the study leans on the concept of industrial symbiosis. The empirical data of the study was obtained from semi-structured expert interviews. These interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study identified four main promotional activities for eco-industrial networks: 1) building awareness, 2) incentives, 3) dismantling of legislative barriers and 4) active facilitation. In addition, a framework for facilitation activities in Finnish context was built and main characteristics of nationwide facilitation programme were identified.

Invenio customization for CERN Document Server

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Repository and its place at the University of Pardubice

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Integrating CRIS and repository – an overview of the situation in Finland and in three other Nordic countries

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014