Socio-economic impacts of a local bioenergy-based development strategy - The case of Pielinen Karelia, Finland

The regional bioeconomy has great importance for generating socio-economic impacts, especially in sparsely populated resource peripheries. The benefits include increased employment and income and improved security of supply. In this study, the modified regional input-output model of North Karelia, Finland is applied for analysing the socio-economic impacts of a bioenergy-based local development strategy. The results indicate significant socio-economic benefits of a local development strategy based on bioenergy. This benefit is corroborated by approximately 12 million euros in annual income impacts and 280 personnel working years in the district. New stimuli in a currently declining municipality could potentially break negative path dependency. New bioenergy and bioeconomic developments are promising solutions for the construction of place-based regional development in resource peripheries.