Although the CECO project ends now in September, the local ecosystem work CECO initiated will continue on several fronts through JAMK’s OPTIMI project, local stakeholder discussions on the local hub model. In the transition phase, I may also send occasional newsletters or emails for transmitting important information. Nevertheless, as when we started the project (https://ceco.nmi.fi/2025/03/14/beginners-thoughts-vol-i/), it feels like a good moment to reflect again on the lessons learned over the past two years.
What seems most prominent in my mind are the people I have met – the huge increase in my professional network. Although most local companies have not yet reached the goal of entering or growing in international business, several are much closer now. I would say the first lesson is that internationalization is a slow, gradual process. Somebody in the organization has to actively do the required networking to a reasonable degree and hope that opportunities emerge that return the investment of your valuable working time. In retrospect, this has certainly happened to me, but in completely unexpected ways compared with straightforward go-to-market ideal scenarios. In our case, the networking has generated more opportunities to participate in international funding applications, which have even led to a few granted projects. The funny thing is that it is virtually impossible to know beforehand what opportunities will pay off. As one of my colleagues said, openness and flexibility are very important qualities. The network itself is like a family – there are members of varying ages and qualities. When you know lots of different kinds of actors, you have better chances to compose and connect a well-fitting and complementary group of actors together for a particular opportunity. Some opportunities are for juniors, some are for huge institutions, and in between we share information to help ourselves and others along the way to get their share.
I think this is really my recurrent theme, let’s get out there, expand our network and believe it will lead into good things!
With these words, I want to express my gratitude for meeting you specifically, and I hope to meet you again soon to explore opportunities for working together in future.
Jarkko
