Jukka Rantanen: LADEC builds the future
7.12.2021
LADEC is a builder of the future that operates by commission of the funding municipalities and offers services for both companies and those who intend to become entrepreneurs. In addition to this, the region is being developed together with the municipalities so that it will be the best place in Finland to live and do business.
Lahti Region Development LADEC Ltd is the workhorse that implements the regional business policy of its funding municipalities, Asikkala, Hartola, Hollola, Iitti, Lahti, Orimattila and Padasjoki, in practice; it is tasked with promoting sustainable growth, which in turn promotes the vitality of the region.
As an open and neutral operator, LADEC helps companies to develop, renew themselves, grow and relocate to ensure that the conditions for success and thereby also the creation of jobs and tax revenue are as favourable as possible.
“Our operations are divided into two larger wholes. Advisory and development services for companies and those who want to become entrepreneurs, as well as developing the business environment,” says Jukka Rantanen, CEO of LADEC.
The partner of companies and municipalities
The purpose of the advisory and development services is to lower the threshold for starting and developing a business and promote the accessibility of public services for the companies in the region. The advisory services are free of charge, and the activities are led by the individual needs of the customer companies.
“The values that describe our operations are agile, inspiring, open and reliable. Together with the municipalities of our region, our goal is to make the Lahti region into the best operating environment for companies in Finland,” the CEO states.
Developing the business environment involves extensive cooperation with companies, in which the aim is to increase the pull factors of the area and the functionality of the business environment by means such as land use planning and development of business areas as well as marketing the region outside the operating area. As for market dialogue, it is used to trim the public procurements of municipalities, for instance, so that they meet both the customer’s needs and the market supply better.
“There are around thirty business experts working for LADEC, and their expertise has been harnessed for the use of companies and municipalities. We are very familiar with the business activities in the region on the one hand, and the strengths and possibilities of the municipalities on the other hand,” Rantanen summarises.
Sustainability attracts
Developing and maintaining the vitality of the region plays a central role in the well-being of both residents as well as companies. Vitality can be influenced by development projects that arise from the needs of the companies in the region, among other things, as well as developing the advisory services for companies.
“You could say that our mission is to build the future, commissioned by the funding municipalities. We develop our operating area further as a business environment and link different kinds of strengths together to increase pull and retention factors and support renewal. When companies are doing well, so are the residents.”
In addition to the location and different kinds of business clusters, pull factors can be found in the special characteristics of the region’s business scene.
“Industry is the most important employer in the area, and there are plenty of subcontracting companies, for instance. There are more than ten thousand family-owned micro and small companies, which means that it is easy for companies to network and find opportunities for cooperation in the region.”
According to the CEO, one pull factor is sustainability that has highlighted Finland as a whole and the European Green Capital Lahti in particular on the world map of business. The demand for industrial plots has grown, and despite the coronavirus, the need for different kinds of services has increased.
“Last year, personal customer contacts exploded, the number of internationalisation services grew and the amount of business funding in euros increased considerably compared to the previous year, largely due to the so-called corona aid. Through LADEC, 15 new companies with more than 120 jobs relocated to the Lahti region. This is more than ever before in LADEC’s operating history,” Rantanen notes.
The importance of sustainability is growing, and nearly every manufacturing company in the area already operates sustainably. The question is: how can you make sustainability into a competitive and differentiating factor of the region? Communication is at centre stage: It is crucially important to do the right things, but it is also important to tell people about them. This requires cooperation with municipalities and the initiative of decision-makers.
“When municipalities cooperate in areas such as housing and transport development and make a point of telling about it, every municipality reaps the rewards. Lahti naturally plays a key role, because when the central city is doing well, it’s reflected on the whole region.”
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Text: Johanna Autio
Image: ISOKuva Panu Rissanen