European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Operational Programme for Eastern Finland
Objectives of the Eastern Finland ERDF Programme
According to its vision, the Eastern Finland of the future will be a globally competitive environment for knowledge, business
and living and its proximity to Russia will be a strength. The key objective of the programme is to improve the attractiveness
of Eastern Finland on the basis of the region’s own strengths both nationally and internationally and to reduce the problems
arising from the region’s remote location and sparse population.
The EU grants co-financing for projects that are implemented
in Eastern Finland, through which it is possible to enhance the
region’s appeal, promote the creation of innovations as well
as create additional entrepreneurship and jobs. The ERDF operational programme for Eastern Finland is part of Finland’s
Structural Funds strategy and its regional competitiveness and
employment objective.
Regional competitiveness in Finland requires the regions to
recognise the importance of the various elements to their
competitiveness and to identify their own strengths and success
factors. For the regions to be able to respond to tightening
competition and structural changes, the key local elements to
competitiveness must be preserved and developed.
The following key objectives have been set for projects that are
implemented in the operational programme for Eastern Finland:
- 13 230 new jobs, of which the share of women’s jobs is 5 210
- 2 020 new enterprises, of which the share of enterprises run by women is 710
- 800 new jobs in product development
