Current Drivers of the EU-Russia Innovation Corridor

There is a long history of co-operation between South-East Finland/Lappeenranta and St. Petersburg/Leningrad Region making it an ideal starting point for the development of the EU-Russia Innovation Corridor. The potential for important innovations with compatible priorities based on a modern infrastructure, best-in-class universities and research centres, as well as a growing industrial innovation cluster of several thousand innovative small businesses and world-class large corporations exists on both sides.

ERICO is driven and managed by the leading innovation organizations of the cities of St. Petersburg and Lappeenranta and is supported by governmental bodies in the EU and Russia.

European-Russian InnoPartnership

The European-Russian InnoPartnership was registered in February 2008 to enhance innovation collaboration between Russia and Europe. The founding members are Lappeenranta City Holding Company Ltd, Lappeenranta Innovation Ltd, St. Petersburg Information and Analytical Centre (IAC) and St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance (FINEC).

The partnership develops innovation activities in St. Petersburg and expands the St. Petersburg - Lappeenranta innovation axis overother parts of Europe and Russia.

Finnish-Russian Innovation Centre in St. Petersburg

The main goal of the Finnish-Russian Innovation Centre is to develop a communication platform for European and Russian companies and organizations specializing in directly supporting innovation and its commercialization. The Finnish-Russian Innovation Centre plays an important role in developing innovation cooperation between the Russian Ministry for Economic Development and the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

The Centre, which opened in February 2008, has a broad customer interface that features companies, research institutions, universities, innovation centres and technology parks as well as the public sector. The Centre is supporting the implementation of innovation at any stage of a company’s lifecycle.

Finnish-Russian Innovation University

The Finnish-Russian Innovation University is a planned alliance between Finnish and Russian universities with the goal of establishing a consistent and dynamic structure for state-of-the-art research and education by combining technology, economics, and arts. The University forms an alliance of independent Universities to achieve top-quality results within international academic research and education. It connects Finnish and Russian Universities but is open to cooperate with universities from across the EU and other countries. A ‘Letter of Intent’ was signed in 2008.

Planned activities include:

• Serving as the strategic partner for the AALTO University of Finland
• Acting as a link between the EU, Finland, and Russia for the collaboration of Universities and other organizations related to research activities
• Conducting research in the fields of technology, economics and arts which support the initiatives of the Finnish and Russian Innovation policy
• Coordinating Russian cooperation with the Innovation University of Finland towards the development of research and educational activities within the joint organization