Growth Path+ Opens New Doors – Boosting Internationalization for Eastern Finland’s SMEs
PRESS RELEASE
The Eastern Finland Growth Path+ project launched by Kuopio Health offers new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Eastern Finland to expand internationally. The project focuses particularly on companies in the health, wellbeing, and social sectors that have promising products and services but often limited resources to access international markets.
The project develops and pilots a new, dynamic business group model that brings together complementary expertise and provides a pathway to international networks and ecosystems. The goal is to identify at least 45 companies, form a minimum of 10 business groups aiming for internationalization, and open routes to at least 10 key target markets.
“SMEs are the backbone of Eastern Finland’s vitality, yet they often lack sufficient resources to go international on their own. Growth Path+ offers a model where companies can join forces and move forward together toward international markets. Furthermore, their products and services often differ significantly, making the formation of business groups challenging. However, flexible, needs-based collaboration between companies could make market entry possible but such a model does not yet exist,”
says Kimmo Solehmainen, Project Manager and Development Manager at Kuopio Health.
Responding to Challenging Times
The current economic and geopolitical uncertainty further emphasizes the need for initiatives like this. Growth Path+ creates opportunities for companies to internationalize in a planned and sustainable way, strengthening the resilience and growth of Eastern Finland’s entire business ecosystem.
“The preparation of the Eastern Finland Growth Path+ project has been based on extensive regional and national development work, including analyses of the challenges and development needs related to SME internationalization,” Solehmainen explains.
The project’s impact extends far beyond individual companies. It strengthens regional innovation ecosystems and provides a nationally scalable model to support the internationalization of SMEs.
Implementation and Duration
The project is implemented by Kuopio Health Co-op.
Duration: 1.8.2025–31.1.2028
Funding: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The funding has been granted by the ELY-Centre for South Savo.
Further information:
Kimmo Solehmainen, Development Manager
Kuopio Health Cooperative
+358 40 848 5034
kimmo.solehmainen(at)kuopiohealth.fi
Kuopio Health is an open innovation ecosystem that promotes expertise, research, and collaboration in the fields of health, wellbeing, and nutrition both in Finland and internationally. The cooperative network brings together companies, researchers, and public organizations.