PROMAS
As we wrote on 8 December, the Monitoring Committee selected projects to be financed from the 2nd call for proposals. The seven approved standard projects are shortly described below. More information will be published after the Managing Authority has signed Grant Contracts with each Lead Partner.
KO 2011 Arctic Railway Infrastructure in Kolarctic II – ARINKA
Lead partner: Northern Research Institute Narvik, Norway
On Kolarctic region, the railway plays an important role for freight transport of minerals & ore, fish, grocery, paper and timber. Travel with train in the Kolarctic region is also becoming increasingly popular among commuters and tourists. Generally, in Europe and the Kolarctic region, there is an expectation of a gradual increasing demand of transport capacity on the railway network.The Kolarctic region provides extremely challenging conditions for railway operation and maintenance. The ARINKA project main objective is to increase railway capacity in Kolarctic region and to contribute to making railway network, operations and maintenance smarter, more sustainable and climate-proof.
KO 2020 Barents on Time
Lead partner: Finnmark County Authority, Norway
Hundreds of travellers cross the boundaries between Russia, Finland and Norway daily. Travelling by bus is not always convenient and efficient. The project “Barents On Time” (BoT) has an objective to provide cross-border travellers with up-to-date tools and services for using public transport. The target group is authorities, bus terminals and bus operating companies. The project will result in new tools and services: website with timetable and route search, mobile ticket application and information screens on bus stops. The project will facilitate bus priority at cross-border checkpoints, produce emergency plan to increase safety, and contribute to efficient timetables.
KO 2071 Development of common approaches to involvement youth into science and technical sphere – Be Tech
Lead partner: Municipality of Alta, Norway
School development experts and education policy makers have expressed their concern that young people do not apply for studies in mathematics and science, or in other subjects where these are applied. This is the situation in the countries of Kolarctic region, as well as in many other industrialized countries. It leads to an undesired structure of competence among the citizens: a lack of experts in natural sciences. This project will contribute to raising motivation of schoolchildren to learn science, via work with teachers and teaching methods. It will also contribute to raising interest towards business and industrial sector, via e.g. study visits.
KO 2072 Kolarctic Food Refining CBC Project – KFR
Lead partner: NordConsult Oy, Finland
The project will contribute to using and refining – more, and better than earlier – the nature products from Finnish Lapland, Murmansk region and Nenets Autonomous District. This project has chosen to develop, by means of cross-border-cooperation, the handling and refining of reindeer meat and wild, forest berries. Participants of the project, besides of the Lead partner, the Finnish company NordConsult Oy, are
– 3 other Finnish companies in reindeer meat and forest berry business,
– 4 Russian companies in reindeer meat and forest berry business and
– 3 other Russian expert organizations.
KO 2093 Phenomena of Arctic Nature – PAN
Lead partner: Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland
The project will increase the attraction of the project area and Arctic nature, by creating better business environment, recreational infrastructure and growing attraction of destinations. The project develops international cooperation in the field of tourism, environmental protection, environmental education and the formation of good neighbourly relations in the Arctic.
The main tasks of the project include
– Connecting tourism with nature and capacity building, by workshops for entrepreneurs and new observation sites made either by building new infrastructure or by restoring existing buildings.
– Raising the awareness and attraction of nature-based tourism, by making educational materials and new exhibitions to nature centres and information points, as well as making marketing materials.
– Creation of an operational network as part of Green Belt of Fennoscandia initiative, by networking between the nature and visitor centres, and complementing the network with tourism businesses and other operators.
KO 2100 Ice Operations
Lead partner: Northern Research Institute Narvik, Norway
The project works towards improved maritime accessibility, better knowledge of ice conditions, and accurate models to ensure safe and environmentally sustainable field developments.
The work packages of the project will:
– Perform field expeditions, measurements and test, data collection,
– Increase current knowledge base of the Barents Sea area and ice conditions,
– Extend existing knowledge, experience and expertise on ice mechanics and perform numerical simulation of ice forces on structures,
– Establish best practice models/understanding for ice and structure interaction relevant for the Barents Sea, and
– Make recommendations for oil and gas field development concepts (contribute to build new knowledge on how to design offshore structures operating in ice-infested waters)
KO 2124 Reindeer Meat – Quality High
Lead partner: Lapin Nahka Oy, Finland
Export of Russian reindeer meat overseas is still relatively small. In Finland on the other hand, the exporting of reindeer meat overseas is restricted by the sufficiency of reindeer meat, but for instance, there is expertise in exporting reindeer products. The objective of the Reindeer Meat – Quality High project is to combine the strengths and expertise of the Russian and Finnish companies in the reindeer meat production chain. The project creates guidelines for Russian reindeer slaughterhouses. Also, seminars and company visits to Finland will be arranged for employees and management-level persons employed in Russian slaughterhouses. The objective of this is to demonstrate reindeer meat production processes in Finland. The aim is for the Russian slaughterhouses to apply for and become incorporated in the European TRACES system (TRAde Control and Expert System), in order for them to be able to export their products to the EU region.