Juuka, Finland Juuka is a municipality of North Karelia, a province in Eastern Finland. The ice structure will be built on private property owned by Tulikivi, the world’s largest manufacturer of heat-retaining fi replaces. The ‘Pykrete Dome’ and ‘the Sagrada Familia in Ice’ projects really had a big impact on the municipality of Juuka. The success of the projects could Who Joensuu Regional Development Company JOSEK Ltd specialises in business counselling for small and medium-sized enterprises, marketing of the region and development of business in diff erent industries. The company operates in the Joensuu region. What & How Our role is to bring together ideas and operators. We have been involved in the Juuka ice construction projects from the beginning. A large number of companies, organisations and communities that serve ice construction have been created in Juuka. Such activity is the best way to practice collaboration and getting to know each other. In future, these emerging networks will be important tools as we create more work and livelihood to North Karelia and Juuka. In our opinion, the project has in that respect exceeded the targets that were set for it by more than 100%. To Whom The Bridge in Ice has played an important role in bringing together enterprises, education institutions and other operators in Finland as well as between Finland and the Netherlands. This year, we have also had operators from e.g. Belgium, the UK and Russia. The Bridge in Ice project has contributed considerably to reaching one of our key goals, the internationalisation of our region. Future In our region, there is already a knowledge base and a favourable attitude towards development in the fi elds of the forest-based bioeconomy, travel and tourism, and construction. From the point of view of North Karelia and Juuka, it is especially important to promote collaboration in those industries. Jouni Luoma and Jouko Piirainen, JOSEK Ltd be a starting point for an annual event. This of course requires some organization, not only from the Technical University of Eindhoven, but especially from the municipality of Juuka. The mayor of Juuka, Pekka Pietiäinen, supported this vision and together with the local volunteers they formed the driving force for new ice projects in Juuka. The municipality was able to arrange sponsors and a subsidy. The budget of this financial contribution was spent under the responsibility of the steering committee Karelia Ice Pie. Without the help of the municipality of Juuka the ‘The Bridge in Ice’ project could not have been realized. ‘As the new mayor of the Juuka municipality, I am interested in what the municipality and its people stand for. Juuka is known for the soapstone industry, Lake Pielinen and during the recent years for ice building. This has brought international visibility to Juuka. Nowadays ice building has become a part of the personality and profi le of our town. The task of the sciences is the search for truth and to explain what the world is like. The task of the arts is to give visibility and content to the world. Their joint creativity gives us social capital and contributes to our well-being. This project has brought together science and art. At the same time it has brought together people from all over Europe. Here in our small northern municipality, this has succeeded in mutual co-operation between builders and local volunteers. Our thanks go out to the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Aalto University and other universities from Belgium, Great Britain, Portugal, Switzerland and Finland. Thank you to hundreds of volunteers, businesses from our region and to all who sponsored and participated in the project.’ Markus Hirvonen, Mayor of Juuka Municipality 6
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