Press Release, November 22, 2024, at 1:30 PM
President of the Republic Alexander Stubb awarded the Internationalisation Award in the Community category to the Forest Joensuu network on Friday, November 22. The award was received at the Presidential Palace by the Mayor of Joensuu, Jere Penttilä, Chair of the Board Jere Nuutinen, Chief of Staff Jenni Jokela, and CEO of Business Joensuu Oy, Tomi Haring.
- We are deeply honored that years of hard work are receiving deserved recognition. Joensuu is the forest capital of both Europe and Finland, whose expertise is also guiding our international partners into a new era of forestry. The city hosts a unique concentration of forest expertise, and this award belongs to everyone from machine operators to doctors, states Mayor Jere Penttilä.
Forest Joensuu brings together leading companies, researchers, educators, business developers, and global enterprises in the forest bioeconomy from Joensuu and its surrounding areas into a unique community where all actors are located in close proximity to each other.
The forest sector and related activities generate over €2 billion in annual revenue for the region. The main goal of Forest Joensuu is to significantly increase this revenue through new innovations and by developing existing operations.
A network of hundreds of companies and thousands of employees
The award criteria highlighted Joensuu's international business activities in forest and wood product industries, machinery and equipment manufacturing, and technology companies.
Additionally, the city hosts a high-level center of excellence for forest research and education. The network excels in areas such as the digitalization of forestry and the collection and analysis of forest and natural resource data. Forest Joensuu includes a total of 600 companies employing around 6,000 people.
- This recognition is a great example of the power of collaboration. Regional forest stakeholders have created a model where practical operators, researchers, developers, and companies can connect. International research and development activities, combined with the high-quality business services of Business Joensuu, pave the way for the internationalization of companies. The city's investment in key personnel recruitment and communication of its status as the forest capital of Europe completes the overall picture, analyzes Lauri Sikanen, leading researcher at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) and regional representative for North Karelia.
The Internationalisation Awards of the President of the Republic of Finland are bestowed annually in recognition of internationally successful Finnish companies or communities. The evaluation emphasises competitiveness, the international nature of business operations, and profitability. Other criteria include responsible operations, impacts on Finnish expertise and employment, foreign investments in Finland and making Finland’s innovation environment known abroad.
The award has previously been granted to companies such as Rovio, Slush, Energy Vaasa, and Harvia Plc. Various business sector experts, operators and organisations made nominations for the awards. The final proposal for the awards was presented to the President of the Republic by the Team Finland network, Business Finland, Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Finland’s export credit agency Finnvera and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
