Industrial parks as an instrument of the new industrial policy

According to the government programme of Prime Minister Orpo, industrial parks present an opportunity to facilitate investments in Finland. The policy goal is to promote the construction of industrial parks, the development of existing industrial parks and the renewal and expansion of industry in these areas with a simplified permit procedure without compromising on the environmental effects. The importance of industrial parks in Finnish industrial policy is central and growing. Making them part of the industrial policy strategy currently under preparation requires a vision of the national development concept of industrial parks.

MDI and FCG were carrying out a study commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment which aimed to clearly define the concept of an industrial park and the different types of industrial environments. The work identified the roles of key players in the development of industrial environments, such as the relationship between electricity and gas transmission network development decisions and the location of manufacturing industry. The overall goal of the work was then broken down into the following three sub-goals, based on the contents presented in the call for tenders: 1) Definition of industrial parks, operating conditions and economic significance, 2) Possibilities and potential of industrial parks, 3) Development needs and roles of industrial parks.

The aim of the first work package was to identify and catalogue the prerequisites for the operation of industrial parks while highlighting their economic significance. The result was a definition of industrial parks, a reference framework for the review and an analysis of success factors, as well as a description of the economic significance of industrial parks. In the second work package, an overall picture of the existing national and EU support elements of industrial parks was formed, and development measures were described that can strengthen the industrial policy effectiveness of industrial parks and their attractiveness from an investment perspective. The central goal of the third work phase of the study was to gather together and describe, A) development measures concerning industrial parks, such that they would attract more investments and B) more broadly, development measures, with the help of which the industrial policy effectiveness of industrial parks can be strengthened and evaluated. Here, it is important to identify more precisely the most efficient division of labor between state, municipal and regional level activities.