Four business experts and investors from abroad joined the Lapland Expedition in March 2022. They were invited on the expedition to experience and learn about Lapland’s cross-sectoral business and investment possibilities.
This wasn’t just your average Lapland trip but a four-day adventure into the business scene in Lapland with many unique experiences. For example, the explorers visited the Pallas weather and climate research station on top of a fell, connected with local entrepreneurs, business owners and experts, and got to experience Lapland’s one-of-a-kind aspects. The explorers were impressed and had a lot to say about Lapland’s business potential.
We didn’t only want to showcase Lapland to the explorers but, also, to hear from an outsider’s perspective what business ideas they come up with. Our visitors were interested, amongst other things, in the possibilities presented by Lapland’s space, soil, and forests, for example, carbon sinks, carbon binding CLT (cross-laminated timber) building, and renewable energy sources like geothermal energy.
– The business opportunities in Lapland, – I was actually quite surprised by the potential here to go into renewable energy technology implementation that requires a lot of space. Well, Lapland has a lot of space, says Leon Stille, General Manager at Energy Delta Institute Business School, from the Netherlands.
– You could think about maybe data centers or you could think about building giga factories for batteries, – So maybe you [Lapland] can be the leading example in carbon neutrality as a business, states Franc Mouwen, a Dutch climate tech entrepreneur.
Lapland’s unique, and sometimes even adverse, weather conditions can create new possibilities for business. Just one example of this is the testing of vehicles, and vehicle components and parts in the development of new and better vehicles, like electronic and automotive vehicles.
– What gets me really excited, is the opportunity for founders to really utilize these extreme conditions you have in Lapland, and solve problems that were unsolvable before, Lisa Brouwer, Startup investor from the Netherlands, says. – I see many opportunities for Lapland. There is a chance to strengthen and expand on existing industries such as tourism, but beyond this, I believe Lapland is a place where entrepreneurs can push the boundaries of what is possible and utilise the extreme and contrasting conditions of Lapland to drive a new wave of innovation.
Also, German Peter Blumenwitz, Partner at Floris Capital, believes that the tourism, industry and forestry sectors hold a lot of potential for future development and innovations but, additionally, Lapland has possibilities for growth outside of the current biggest sectors.
– Lapland has very much to offer to entrepreneurs, you just need to harvest the basement you have coming from the traditional industries, he mentions.