Photo/Tim Greenway
Dana Eidsness, director of the Maine International Trade Center’s Maine North Atlantic Development Office (MENADO).
August 17, 2020
Forest economies in focus at MITC virtual mission to Finland
Courtesy/Maine International Trade Center
Dana Eidsness, director of MITC's Maine North Atlantic Development Office and a 2019 Mainebiz Next List honoree, is leading the virtual mission to Finland that kicks off today. She is pictured in the bottom row with a stuffed Moomin, from the Finnish children's book series by Tove Jansson.
Less than a year after Gov. Janet Mills and Finland's prime minister at the time agreed to strengthen their respective forest economies, a virtual trade and study mission that kicks off this week aims to open doors for companies from both countries.
The mission, organized by the Maine International Trade Center's Maine North Atlantic Development Office (MENADO), kicks off with a webinar today, to be followed by two further webinars in August and an online business-to-business company matchmaking in September.
When COVID-19 derailed plans for an in-person mission to Finland in June, organizers decided to switch to a virtual format.
"When we came to the decision we couldn't do the mission in person, we put the brakes on and said, 'We didn't want to cancel this, there's still a lot of interest," Dana Eidsness, MENADO's director and a 2019 Mainebiz Next list honoree, said in a phone interview this week.
"We condensed a week-long trade and study mission" into two webinars and some online matchmaking in partnership with Business Finland, she said. Business Finland is the northern European country's government organization for innovation funding and trade, travel an investment promotion.
As of Monday, Eidsness said that 156 individuals had registered for the webinars, of which 61% are in Maine, 25% in Finland and 14% from elsewhere including other US. states as well as New Zealand and Canada.
Registrants represent a wide variety of sectors including forest management, bio-based manufacturing and pulp and paper manufacturing as well as economic development, engineering and construction, investors and consultants.
Today's webinar focuses on Finland as a model of success for Maine's forest economy, highlighting its transition from traditional pulp, paper and wood manufacturing to a world-leading bioeconomy.
"They transformed that economy in about 10 years," Eidsness said, noting that like Maine, Finland had mill closures, before shifting gears.
"With the rise of the digital economy, they shifted to tissue and package production, and they were also very introspective," she said. "It is a lesson learned for us, and the first webinar is about looking at Finland as a model."
Maine's efforts to reinvent its forest industry will be the focus of the second webinar, on Aug. 25.
In a news release ahead of the event, Patrick Strauch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, said, "Maine's forest products industry is full of innovation and opportunity. We're excited about the global interest of investing in Maine's forests and the future of our bioeconomy. We look forward to growing our relationship with industry partners in Finland."
Eidsness told Mainebiz that while the virtual format was not the original plan, in several ways it's more efficient than a physical trip to Finland would have been.
"With a physical trade mission you're also focused a lot on the logistics," she said. "Without having to focus on that, we can serve a lot more companies."
Eidsness says the webinars are open to anyone with an interest in the topics and adds, "Probably one of the most exciting things about this virtual process is that it gets you really high-level accessibility to people in this environment."
She also said that while virtual meetings will never full replace the in-person experience, they also offer the chance to move relationships forward more quickly than having to travel to two or three meetings.
"Right now we're looking at the upsides," she said. "This is a great first step towards solidifying some concrete relationships under the memorandum of understanding" signed by the two countries last October. "People are looking for good news, and we're happy to be a source of good news."
Find the full program and registration information here.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments