South Karelia Region - Combining High Technology, Advanced Infrastructure and Unique Location

The region of South Karelia with its 137,500 inhabitants is small enough to focus on certain business sectors. It is also large enough to provide a wide spectrum of specialized research, education, subcontracting and business services, well-educated labour, business premises and public-private partnerships to support the chosen sectors. The infrastructure has been purposefully built for innovation, IT and communications, and industry and commerce. The dynamic development of the region is founded on well-integrated research, education, development and utilization of technology and business expertise.

EU - Russia Gateway

Located on the border between the EU and Russia, 200 kilometres from the metropolis of St Petersburg with its 7 million inhabitants, South Karelia has prospered from international commerce for centuries - and the business prospects are now better than ever before. The EU-Russia cross-border operations are everyday activities in research, business, travel, transportation and the public sector, and the cross-border business park concept of Imatra is about to take this co-operation even further.

Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), South Carelia Polytechnic and Centre of Expertise in Southeast Finland place special emphasis on cross-border business and technology transfer as well as on logistics. Bridging the EU to Russia, South Karelia educates Finnish students in Russian economics and Russian students e.g. in information technology, thus creating a strong resource base with higher education, cultural awareness and language proficiency.

South Karelia provides efficient transport and border crossing facilities for all modes of traffic - road, rail, air and water. The Lappeenranta Free Zone, at the Saimaa Canal Harbour - a junction of road, rail and waterborne traffic - offers free zone services for the intermediate storage of transit goods and for duty-free production, as well as the flexible use of different modes of transport.

Forest Industry Cluster

South Karelia treasures an exceptional technology intensive hub of forest industry, with several large research and production units of international forest giants, supported by research and higher education of LUT and Polytechnic, and as the latest effort, Imatra District Birch Centre specializing in the development of mechanical wood processing. South Karelia is also the natural home base for subcontracting, consulting and IT companies dedicated to serve the forest industry around the world.

Growing Information and Communication Technology Sector

Lappeenranta University of Technology along with Technology Centre Kareltek - with its business premises, incubator and accelerator activities - have served as catalysts for innovation and business expansion in the ICT sector, especially in mobile technology. There is a growing number of ICT companies in South Karelia, and the trend will be further stimulated by the interdisciplinary research institutes like Telecom Business Research Centre and Intelligent Industrial Systems Laboratory Centre as well as modern business premises offered at the campus area in Lappeenranta and in the heart of Imatra.

Research on Metal Structures

The pioneering research of Lappeenranta University of Technology and the Technical Research Centre of Finland in Lappeenranta has created spearhead technologies in welding, steel constructions, sheet metal technology, mechatronics and virtual engineering. This expertise already serves the metal industry near and far and actively prospects new applications in e.g. electrical and mechanical engineering.

More information and links:

http://www.lappeenranta.fi/english/index.html
http://keyeast.imatra.fi/en/default.htm