Noheva Technology Park Transforms Savonlinna into a Talent Hub

By project REWARD

Published on 27 February 2025

Finland

Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomi

Savonlinna

About this good practice

Noheva Technology Park, established in 2005, enhances the region’s forest and biomaterials sector by building local capacity and strengthening the talent pool.

With €80M invested in infrastructure and €400M in export revenues, Noheva is a model for capacity building, ensuring sustainable talent development and economic growth in Savonlinna’s innovation ecosystem.

Noheva integrates research, development, and education, ensuring a steady flow of skilled professionals. Key partners include research and higher education institutions such as Finnish Natural Resources Institute LUKE, XAMK university of applied sciences, and Aalto University – the leading technical university in Finland. The innovation ecosystem enterprises involved are some industry leaders and export oriented high-tech companies.

Significant investments have created cutting-edge RDI infrastructure, including specialized laboratories for fiber technology, industrial wood construction, and forest seedling propagation.

Noheva’s degree programs equip students with expertise in bioeconomy fields, while university-industry collaboration ensures alignment with workforce needs. XAMK’s local campus, with 1,500 students, provides direct access to emerging talent.

Aalto University’s Professor of Practice model fosters knowledge transfer, and flexible study paths enable students to advance to Master’s and Doctoral levels. Digital connectivity and remote work options help retain professionals in the region.

Expert opinion

Noheva Technology Park exemplifies how regions can strategically build innovation ecosystems around circular economy sectors such as forest-based industries and biomaterials. By aligning education, research, and business needs, Noheva ensures a steady pipeline of highly qualified professionals while boosting local job creation and economic resilience. With strong collaboration between universities, research institutes, and export-oriented companies, Noheva develops cutting-edge RDI infrastructure and education programmes tailored to industry demands. This strengthens the circular bioeconomy across the value chain—from raw material innovation to advanced processing—while anchoring skills and employment in the region. For policymakers, Noheva demonstrates how smart specialization and long-term investment in talent can drive sustainable industrial transformation, helping regions retain skilled labour, attract high-tech enterprises, and grow globally competitive clusters. Its integrated approach and proven impact in both education and export make it a highly transferable model for other regions aiming to align labour policy with circular industrial growth.

Luc Schmerber

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

Total invest in the campus facilities since it's inception has been €80M. XAMK university of applied sciences, Aalto University and LUKE has built a project portfolio on the basis of external funding of EU research and development programmes. XAMK receives funding from the ministry of education.

Evidence of success

RDI activities engage c. 40 experts in laboratories. The total of skilled jobs in cluster enterprises in Savonlinna region is 500. The engineering degree programmes have recruited a total of 1500 students constituting a talent pool for enterprises. RDI at Noheva has generated €400M in export revenues. Noheva is a model for capacity building, ensuring sustainable talent development and economic growth in Savonlinna’s innovation ecosystem.

Potential for learning or transfer

The concept of Noheva has developed on the basis of the smart specialization strategy of the South Savo Region and in accordance to the guidelines of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) for developing industrial clusters. The aim is to register the Noheva cluster for ECCP in future thus closely replicating the European cluster model.
As an innovation ecosystem based on regional strenghts: competencies, industrial base and resources, Noheva is a good practice of fostering talent and creating a critical mass of RDI to support start-up enterprises and a substantial growth of highly specialized export industry.