Socio-economic impacts of a local bioenergy-based development strategy – The case of Pielinen Karelia, Finland

Abstract

Keywords:Socio-economic impacts Regional inputeoutput modelling Bioenergy Place-based development a b s t r a c tThe regional bioeconomy has great importance for generating socio-economic impacts, especially in sparsely populated resource peripheries. The benefits include increased employment and income and improved security of supply. In this study, the modified regional inputeoutput model of North Karelia, Finland is applied for analysing the socio-economic impacts of a bioenergy-based local development strategy. The results indicate significant socio-economic benefits of a local development strategy based on bioenergy. This benefit is corroborated by approximately 12 million euros in annual income impacts and 280 personnel working years in the district. New stimuli in a currently declining municipality could potentially break negative path dependency. New bioenergy and bioeconomic developments are promising solutions for the construction of place-based regional development in resource peripheries.

ACMECS Bioenergy 2015 Three Years of Effort Towards a Regional Bioenergy Network

“…Consequently the development of renewable resources, such as biomass can be a contribution to a stable economy in other sectors as well. This type of positive socio-economic impact was recently confirmed by a regional input-output model for a region in Finland (Lehtonen and Okkonen, 2016).…”

Metsäenergiatuotannon pitkän aikavälin aluetalousvaikutukset – Esimerkkinä Enon Energiaosuuskunta

“…Biotaloushankkeisiin, joihin myös metsäenergian tuotanto kuuluu, liittyviä aluetalousvaikutuksia on arvioitu aikaisemmin paljon (Lehtonen & Okkonen 2016;He ym. 2016;Jackson ym.…”

“…2018). Tutkimukset ovat kuitenkin pääasiassa keskittyneet biotaloushankkeiden rakennus-ja tuotantovaiheisiin (Lehtonen & Okkonen 2016), joten muut pitkän aikavälin vaikutukset ovat jääneet huomioimatta. Näin aikaisemmat tutkimukset ovat voineet aliarvioida biotalouden aluetalousvaikutuksia.…”

Types of Intellectual Capital Employed in Bioeconomic Projects – A Longitudinal Case Study

“…Globalization has had, over the past decades, an extensive impact over countries, institutions, business and individuals and it has led to the development of new technologies and processes (Pop and Valeriu, 2015;Lehtonen and Okkonen, 2016). Moreover, given the impact that globalization has on the environment, sustainability concerns were raised.…”