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July 2011
BENCH - One year review
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The BENCH project, cooperation between seven partners in three countries, has
now been running for a little more than a year. In this year, many interesting
meetings have taken place, contacts have been established and ideas for new
networks and business relations are forming.
All partners have engaged in joint activities such as research about what Small and
Medium-Sized Companies, SMEs, need in order to do business with China.
Another joint activity is mapping of investment opportunities in the participting
regions. A marketing material to attract Chinese investors is being produced and a
study trip to an EU-country with succesful collaboration with China will take place
in October.
In this newsletter you can read more about the first year of BENCH in Estonia,
Finland and Sweden.
Interrim Conference in Lahti, Finland
The BENCH Interrim Conference will be held in Lahti in Finland on 20
October 2011. Please note the date if you are interested in attending the
conference!
At the conference the project findings so far will be presented, as well as
interesting speakers who will inspire and give a broader view of subjects
concerning the project. Some of the preliminary speakers are Governor Elisabeth
Nilsson, County Administrative Board of Östergötland, Sweden and Santtu von
Bruun, Manager of Strategy at the City of Lahti, Finland. There will also be a
presentation by a company involved in making business with China.
The programme also includes study visits to Energon, research Centre for
renewable energy, and to Lahti Science Business Park, leading Cleantechnology
Centre of the Nordic countries.
Updated information about the Interrim Conference will be published continuously
at the BENCH website.
This is a newsletter from the
BENCH project, "Beneficial
Business Contacts between the
Central Baltic Region and China".
BENCH is an EU-funded pilot
project designed to take advantage
of established contacts with China
to benefit trade and industry in the
involved Nordic and Baltic regions.
The main focus of the project is
on developimg joint working
methods to support small and
medium sized enterprises and to
utilize contacts with China.
The BENCH partners comprise
three universities, two regional
development entities, one science
park, one centre for environmental
technology and one national
chamber of commerce and
industry. The BENCH regions
include Östergötland County in
Sweden, Päijät-Häme and Uusimaa
in Finland and the whole of Estonia,
with the main emphasis on the
Tallinn and Tartu regions.
In this newsletter you will find brief
summaries of the first year of the
BENCH project and links to more
information. I hope you will find it
interesting!
Annika Holmström, Project
Manager
Contact info BENCH partners
Examples of activities in Estonia
During this first year the Estonian partners have put effort into background
research, case studies, promoting the project in Estonia and arranging seminars.
Sweden
County Administrative Board of
Östergötland, Lead partner
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Estonia's sister cities and municipalities with China have been mapped,
incoming Chinese delegations are being mapped and a visit package for Chinese
visitors in the BENCH region is being produced.
Business opportunities for Estonian SMEs in China have been discussed at two
events. A seminar was held in Tartu Science Park in May about experiences and
possibilities for Estonian companies for exporting to China. The event had 23
participants from companies and Estonian BENCH partners.
Read more about the seminar at the BENCH website.
An "Estonian potential to the investments from China" roundtable was
arranged by the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with
University of Tartu and Tartu Science Park in April 2011. 36 representatives from
24 different companies and organizations participated in the roundtable.
Find more information and a summary from the roundtable on the BENCH
website.
Examples of activities in Finland
In Finland, emphasis has been put on
networking, working with case studies
and surveys, meetings and seminars,
and making the project known to
Finnish SMEs as well as governmental
officers and other stakeholders.
A 2-way Street to China seminar for
SMEs in Southern
Finland was arranged in Lahti in
March. Topics discussed where the
impact of the rapidly changing
business environment in China on
SMEs and Chinese investments in the
Central Baltic area. Speakers included
high officials from, amongst others, the
Bank of Finland, the Chinese Embassy
and the Finland-Hong Kong Trade
Association.
Annika Holmström, Project
manager,
[email protected]
Östsam Regional Development
Council
Mattias Flodström,
[email protected]
Center for Environmental
Technology in Östergötland
Gert Kindgren,
[email protected]
Linköping University
Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck,
[email protected]
Finland
Lahti University of Applied
Sciences
Maija Härkönen,
[email protected]
Lahti Regional Development
Company
Pekka Komu, [email protected]
Estonia
Estonian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry
Peter Gornischeff, [email protected]
Tartu Science Park
Henri Hanson,
[email protected]
University of Tartu
Uuno Puus, [email protected]
www.benchproject.eu
Read more about seminars and
workshops in Finland at the BENCH
website.
The management of BENCH in
Finland has also participated in
networking conferences such as for
example Growth for renewables
2010-2014 and the Kurki Seminar on
China.
Examples of activities in Sweden
During this first year of the project a survey have
been conducted, a number of seminars have been
arranged and case studies have been initiated.
A survey asking SMEs about there interest in
making business with China was conducted. The
survey also asked about what kind of support the
SMEs thought they would need in order to be able to
establish business contacts with China.
Read more about the survey and the results here.
The BENCH team in Sweden has arranged four
seminars for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in
the county of Östergötland. In the seminars, SMEs,
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politicians and other stakeholders have learned more
about investing in China, successful SME’s business
experiences and about research carried out in the
BENCH project.
Read more about the seminars at the BENCH
website.
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