Mission: To support growth in RD&I and indus­trial collab­or­a­tion in forest bioeconomy and green & clean trans­ition. To enhance region-to-region collab­or­a­tion between the partners of North Karelia, Nagano and Hokkaido Prefec­tures. Collab­or­ating, co-creating and co-innovating new, smart forestry and unique food solutions together.

The end-results are thriving regional economy and resid­ents’ wellbeing.

Aims and targets:

1. Enhan­cing the Forest­bioeconomy and Food Ecosystem cooper­a­tion Accel­er­ating joint initi­at­ives for research-development-innovations
2. Piloting novel climate friendly, sustain­able solutions for forest bioeconomy value chain
3. Exploring the well-being and health effects of wood and habitat in housing and service environments
4. Increasing the inter­na­tion­al­iz­a­tion poten­tial of North Karelia’s unique food products
5. Increasing business cooper­a­tion between regions and prefectures
6. Supporting the Finnish smart forestry offering to connect with Japan
7. Providing cutting-edge training programs for Japanese skilled labor development
8. Working as a contact point for Japanese networks and companies in bioeconomy (in close collab­or­a­tion with FKII network Japan and MAFF, EU-Japan Centre, Nagano and Hokkaido prefec­tures and Ina city)

BIOSYS was added into Finland-Japan Science and Techno­logy dialogue in Forest Bioeconomy, Tokyo (Embassy, Academy of Finland and TEM)

History: Successful North Karelia – Nagano and Hokkaido Forest Bioeconomy Cooper­a­tion 2020 – March 2023

2020–2023 was successful despite challenges like the pandemic and the Russian war of aggres­sion towards Ukraine:

• Laid a solid found­a­tion but also identi­fied needs for the 2024–25 phase to build more concrete pubic/policy, commerce and RDI collaborations.
• Visits both ways North Karelia to/from Nagano and Hokkaido.
• Finland Week in Sapporo, Hokkaido: May 2022.
• Businesses success­fully began opera­tions in Nagano and continue to expand its opera­tions: e.g. Arbonaut, Kesla, John Deere.
• Numerous workshops, webinars, networking events, training: e.g. Hokkaido Prefec­tural Kitamori Forestry Training School and RIVERIA.

Event Calendar 2024–2025: In Japan

• Completed: June 23 to July 1 Prepar­a­tion Visits to Tokyo, Nagano, Hokkaido, Japan, and Seoul, Korea
• November 12 “Finland-Japan Collab­or­ative Symposium: Advan­cing Forest Bioeconomy and Climate-Intelligent Digital Solutions for a Green Trans­ition — Enhan­cing Global Wellbeing” at the Embassy of Finland Tokyo: MMM, MAFF, regional govern­ment forestry divisions, companies and R&D operators
• November 12 Renewals of MoUs with Nagano Prefec­ture and Ina City
• November 13–15 North Karelia – Nagano and Hokkaido Forest Bioeconomy Day in Japan
• Regional-Prefectural, City diplomacy meetings and sharing ideas on mutual targets and concrete activ­ities — building a common goal space, model areas and demonstrations
• November 18 Visit to Gangwon-do Province, South Korea
• On-going research-development-innovation-collaboration workshops – in cooper­a­tion with Prefec­ture partners and the Japanese FKII network (including more than 4,200 partners)
• Direct business cooper­a­tion meetings and trading room cooper­a­tion (in cooper­a­tion with the Embassy and Business Finland)　

Event Calendar 2024–2025: In Finland

• On-going Foresty associ­ations, prefec­tural, academia/research organ­iz­a­g­tion and business deleg­a­tion visits to Norht Karelia
  • June: Japan Woody Bioen­ergy Association
  • June: Marubeni Corp
  • August: Akita Inter­na­tional Univer­sity and Akita Prefec­ture University
  • August: Hokkaido Prefec­tural Govern­ment Forestry Depart­ment, local forestry associ­ations and business owners to FinnMETKO and North Karelia
• August 31: Hokkaido Sakura seedling trans­planting ceremony in Joensuu
  • Hokkaido Finland Association’s gift to the BIOSYS North Karelia Inter­na­tional Growth Ecosystem
  • H.E. Mr. Takashi Okada, the Japanese ambas­sador to Finland parti­cip­ated in the trans­planting ceremony.
• On-going Joint seminars, meetings and regional dialogues
  • Collab­or­a­tion events
  • SILVA Forest Fair 2025 or similar event
• Marketing & Press: e‑newsletters, social media visib­ility and impact stories, shared success stories

Join the BIOSYS Ecosystem!

Contacts

• LinkedIn