In April 2024, I started as project manager of the BIOTUTO project in the micro-entrepreneurship research group MicroENTRE. In this position, I will remain until the end of the project in March 2026.
The BIOTUTO project will develop and pilot an energy self-sufficient farm model in Finnish conditions. The project aims to promote new business opportunities for the processing, procurement, and use of biomass in rural areas. The project will examine the value chains from the field to the end users of processed bioenergy via biorefineries, the roles of the different actors, their earning logic and the aspects affecting the profitability of the business. If the objectives of Biogas Vision 2030 are met, this will mean up to 5,000 new jobs in rural areas.
I am quite familiar with rural development. At the end of 2023, my previous fixed-term contract with the Rural Services of the City of Kalajoki, where I worked as a rural business expert, came to an end. During my time as a rural business expert, I worked closely with advisory organizations, development organizations and producer organizations, both in terms of production areas and the entire farming sector. Farming arrangements were also put in place in Kalajoki. My role was also to assist in the development of farms and farm-related enterprises. I applied for a lot of funding from various sources, for example for enterprise-specific investment projects in areas such as energy saving, new production technologies and farm transformation investments.
My journey also includes my experience in the rural development association Rieska-Leader registered association, from 2007 to 2021, where I worked for a long time as a Leader advisor for companies, business groups, quality work and communication.
Through Rieska-Leader, I have extensive experience of both EU funding and project work in general. I have worked on projects for regional development organizations, municipalities, cities, the non-profit sector and companies. My interests in my professional life - and one could even say my own field - are rural development in all its diversity, including project writing, quality work, management, communication, business group development as well as identifying the development needs of rural businesses, bioenergy utilization, and funding and how to apply for it.
BIOTUTO project will also give me the opportunity to work continuously with farm businesses, rural enterprises and various rural development organizations. There is a lot of potential and untapped potential in the countryside, including new and much needed business opportunities!
How did it come to this?
I am a living example of continuous learning and the benefits it brings to professional life. I am originally trained as a production economics engineer (Bachelor's degree in University of Applied Sciences) from Kokkola, Finland. In 1999, I also participated in my first EU-funded project to do my engineering traineeship, and that is still the path I am on. After my engineering studies, I obtained a vocational teacher's qualification and specialized qualifications in management, rural development and business consultancy. A few years ago, I also studied rural development agrology (Master's degree in University of Applied Sciences) in Oulu.
Since my engineering degree, all my studies have been intertwined in some way with working life. I have managed to do all my studies while working, and each degree has complemented my knowledge and enabled me to work more extensively in my workplace. On the other hand, my studies have benefited from the fact that I have been able to carry out work-related tasks. Studying just for the sake of studying has never made sense to me.
I moved from the city to a smaller municipality in 2002 and then to the countryside to a dairy farm in 2004. Since then, I have often been able to agree with the old MTK association saying, "you can't import the countryside", you must experience it yourself". We have huge natural resources, lots of nature, space to be, to live and to do, and to try. Our farm has since been converted into a cattle farm and later into a cereal farm with its own drying plant. Farming is a never-ending learning field, but also full of opportunities. It can be about EU subsidy policy or crop rotation and planning, fertilizer calculations or seasonal and weather variations.
Hobbies or lifestyle?
In my free time, you can find me mostly in the doggy activities where I am involved. Sometimes I am judging nosework (Finnish Kennel Club) or I am training dogs for animal searching. I also train my own dog, who is well on his way to becoming a volunteer animal tracker. I also train and practice rally-obedience for dogs, everyday dogs, nosework and service dog sports in varying degrees. On the other hand, in recent years I have also attended dog shows with my own dog, and I have done a lot of dog shows with other volunteers. I also train care dog handlers when necessary and assess the suitability of the dogs for the volunteer work in question together with other assessors. Volunteering as a working dog handler is also an important part of my own dog hobby.
Dogs, regardless of their "hair", are the best company in my free time and can make me forget about the day-to-day business. You must live in the moment with them, they do notice if you are only half involved. I have been involved in many dog clubs. Locally, I have set up two associations (rally-obedience and nosework), and a third is in the process of setting up an animal rescue association. At national level, as the vice-president of the breed association, I have had the opportunity to look at breeding issues, dog health monitoring and the production of a breed magazine. I also act in this same breed organization as a regional officer in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia.
My doggy life runs smoothly as a caravanner. We travel around Finland by camper van, usually from May to the end of September. You can see many places and even telecommuting has worked out well on the road!
Otherwise, I am trying to learn Spanish, and I am also involved in the local Lions association as a volunteer, locally, nationally, and globally. The coming year will be spent in the role of President. In my spare time, I am also involved in party politics, which keeps me aware of domestic issues as well as at EU level.
The University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute has been visible in my previous work as a highly active and proactive with micro-entrepreneurs in many places over the years. Now I have a terrific opportunity to become part of the University of Oulu, organization created by Kerttu Saalasti, a strong Finnish woman of influence, to further build social impact and increase opportunities in rural areas through collaboration.
Author:
Heidi Pasanen, Engineer (Bachelor´s Degree of University of Applied Sciences), Agrologi (Master´s Degree of University of Applied Sciences), Project Manager, the University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute, Micro-entrepreneurship Centre MicroENTRE
Photo: Minna Kilpeläinen
In Kerttu Saalasti Institute's blog we write about the topics of the Institute's research groups, micro entrepreneurship education and the Institute's general topics. The authors are researchers, experts and members of networks.
Our topics are: micro entrenepreneurship, future manufacturing technologies, regional excellence, micro entrepreneurship education