KS1907 Race4Scale

Development of the multidisciplinary educational, business and RDI opportunities for the Finnish-Russian automotive and motorsport industry ecosystem

Kouvola region had profiled itself as a Finnish motorsport center of expertise. Taitaja education centre trained mechanics for rally and formula teams and collaborated with major motorsport organizations. A new motor sports circuit meeting international standards had been opened in the municipality of Iitti, near Kouvola. On the other hand, there was a significant car industry in the St. Petersburg region. Many well-known western companies had car assembly plants in the region. In addition, there were companies serving this industry in the region, such as Nokian Renkaat Oy, whose production was more than 80 percent from a factory in Russia.

The automotive industry is currently changing faster than ever in its history. This is particularly emphasized in the development and introduction of new car engine and fuel systems. The most significant driver here is climate change and the stricter emission requirements for traffic. A rapidly changing industry requires new skills, this also involves vehicle maintenance and repair. Education plays an important role in this. Educational institutions must be able to meet the needs of the automotive industry, even to be able to anticipate these needs.

Three of the project partners were from Kouvola and three from St. Petersburg. The project included six Work Packages (WP), under which there were different Tasks. One or alternatively several organizations were responsible for the implementation of the WPs. The WPs included tailor-made workshops for students, Industry Day events for the project staff, days for the teaching staff, and several studies based on these. Regardless of the external factors mentioned above, all the work packages of the project could be implemented, although in different ways than what was mentioned in the project plan. The change to be mentioned was also a significant undershoot of the project’s budget implementation. Travel and outsourcing services were not implemented much in the project.

View this project in keep.eu