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The Maritime Working Group of the Baltic Sea Commission of CPMR, the cooperation organization for the European peripheral maritime regions, met on June 3-4 in Oulu. The topic of the meeting was the role of ports in the Baltic Sea. At the event, a review of the security situation in the Baltic Sea was heard by the former intelligence chief of the Defense Forces, MP Pekka Toveri, as well as presentations from the ports of Oulu and Stockholm and the Raahe Region Development. In the new TEN-T regulation, the port of Oulu has been promoted from the comprehensive network to core network. "Ports have been an important topic on the Maritime Working Group's agenda during this EU mandate period, and due to the security policy situation in the Baltic Sea, their importance will be even more emphasized in the future. It is also important to secure a sufficient level of CEF funding to support port investments. The participation of our key partner regions in the meeting of the maritime working group in Oulu was particularly valuable," states Sari Nurro, chairman of the maritime working group and member of the provincial board of North Ostrobothnia. On Tuesday, June 4th, the Working Group visited the port of Raahe, where the role of the port at the center of the energy transition and wind power transport in Oulu Region was presented. The port of Raahe has grown to become one of Finland's busiest ports thanks to wind power transports. "The visit to the port of Raahe was an interesting experience for the representatives of the partner regions to see the operation of a versatile energy and circular economy port in practice," continues Nurro.

The Council of Oulu Region is involved in a large project submitted to the EU's Horizon Europe program, the purpose of which is to develop the hydrogen economy on the west coast of Finland and create a functioning ecosystem for it. Energy production and consumption are in a transition phase when moving from combustion-based energy to emission-free energy. The need for clean electricity is growing all over Europe. A significant part of renewable energy investments has been realized and is planned in the BotH2nia hydrogen valley area. In this way, energy-using industry can also be created and attracted to the area. The total budget of the BotH₂nia Hydrogen Valley project is 20 million euros and it involves 65 partners and an even larger group of other participants. Company partners from our region include Oulun Energia, Raahen Energia and SSAB. The University of Oulu is responsible for the project's research and technology work package. The Council of Oulu Region plays a key role in cooperation between regions. Our responsibility is to create a strategic inter-regional hydrogen economy roadmap to serve the development of the whole region and forecasting and evaluating the effects of the hydrogen economy from an economic, social and environmental point of view. The project is for five years and if it receives funding, the project will start in 2025. The presentation of BotH₂nia Hydrogen Valley can be found here https://www.both2nia.com/en/news/both2nia-hydrogen-valley-nutshell

Towards a carbon neutral Northern Ostrobothnia Northern Ostrobothnia is contributing to reaching Finland’s 2035 carbon neutrality target inline with the EU targets. Northern Ostrobothnia Climate Roadmap lines seven themes and 130 measures from different sectors.

The RDI actors of the Oulu Region are continuously preparing regional, national and international RDI project applications and looking for opportunities to join project consortiums with the aim of advancing digitalisation and automation of the agri-food value chains. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to traceability and food safety in food value chains, collection and utilisation of data throughout food value chains, and digitalisation and automation of food production processes. Our region is currently a member of the following Partnerships of the EU's Smart Specialisation Platform for Agri-Food: Traceability and Big Data High Tech Farming Our project portfolio of relevance includes coordination or participation in e.g. the following: AFarCloud – Aggregate Farming in the Cloud DEMETER FoodWay – Developing the traceability and safety of food chains in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland Labrobot RUOKARIIHI – Development of Skilled Food Business Seafood Age VASTE – Service Platform for Low-carbon Logistics