Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

225As a result <strong>of</strong> these developments, tens <strong>of</strong> projects with various partners have shown manyachievements:• Today about 150 citizens study in Kuusamo in universities and 100 in polytechnics, althoughthe closest universities and polytechnics are situated 200 km away.• In 1987, nobody in Kuusamo worked for ICT companies. Today about 250 do: more than onehundred <strong>of</strong> them developing s<strong>of</strong>tware and solutions, in many cases for travel sector, and the restin call / contact centers. Because <strong>of</strong> this the unemployment rate has decreased more than3%-units that means about 15 % less unemployed people.• Kuusamo (and the region around the town) was among the first in Finland to open the fastWide Area Network (WAN). Today a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) provides evenmore advantage for our companies and other organisations.• Cooperation, Public Private Partnership in reality, and long-term strategic work are foundations<strong>of</strong> this success. An essential element is the network <strong>of</strong> good partners from outside Kuusamo.• Kuusamo is now well known in Finland for its development work in telematic services andsolutions. We work to fulfill the objectives <strong>of</strong> the “Regional Centre Development Programme”managed by the Ministry <strong>of</strong> the Interior.Koillismaan Yrityspalvelukeskus (YPK) Oy has been involved in this development for years. Inaddition to the work at local and regional level, YPK has a long experience <strong>of</strong> sales, marketing,exports and international projects. YPK helps companies and other organisations to be successfuland take pr<strong>of</strong>itable actions in changing circumstances.