The enterprising Archipelagos

The archipelagos of Stockholm, Åboland (off the southwest coast of Finland) and Åland (at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia) are faced with the same problem: the number and small size of the islands prevent the creation of large industrial centres or universities and encourage a drain of human resources. From the mid-1980s, think tanks were set up to develop strategies to stem this flow. From these emerged, in 1997, the "Enterprising Archipelago". This project, part-financed by the ERDF, aims to encourage the creation of stable jobs suited to the islands' geographical situation, such as, jobs connected with taxi-boats, scuba diving, tourism, construction, household services, etc. Those running "Enterprising Archipelago" carry out constant activities to explain the project to people and organise seminars on a whole range of subjects, such as navigation (in order to increase transport possibilities), sea rescue or safety-at-sea days. As requested, they have organised courses on information technology, accounting, sales techniques, Internet for business, insurance and business start-up, etc. Proof of the project's success are that 46 jobs were created or maintained and a further 90 jobs still planned (compared to the 33 jobs initially planned).