Think BIG 2026 Brought Clean Tran­si­tion Stake­hold­ers Togeth­er in Nivala

Think BIG 2026, held in Nivala at the end of August, brought togeth­er ener­gy com­pa­nies, investors, project devel­op­ers, pub­lic author­i­ties, and deci­sion-mak­ers to dis­cuss clean tran­si­tion invest­ments, ener­gy infra­struc­ture, and new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties. The event, host­ed at Cham­pion­Door Are­na, attract­ed 700 reg­is­tered par­tic­i­pants as well as more than 50 exhibitors and part­ners. The pro­gramme focused par­tic­u­lar­ly on elec­tric­i­ty grids, data cen­ters, the hydro­gen econ­o­my, and region­al com­pet­i­tive­ness in the increas­ing­ly intense inter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion for clean tran­si­tion invest­ments.

Through­out the day, par­tic­i­pants heard from a wide range of influ­en­tial speak­ers and indus­try experts. Futur­ist Pert­tu Pölö­nen opened dis­cus­sions on future oppor­tu­ni­ties and emerg­ing trends, while Mem­ber of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Elsi Katainen pro­vid­ed a Euro­pean per­spec­tive on ener­gy and indus­tri­al devel­op­ment. Fin­grid CEO Asta Sihvo­nen-Punk­ka and Ele­nia CEO Jor­ma Myl­lymä­ki high­light­ed the crit­i­cal role of elec­tric­i­ty grids in enabling sus­tain­able growth, while Heli Virk­ki of Gas­grid Fin­land explored the devel­op­ment of the hydro­gen econ­o­my. The pro­gramme also exam­ined how data cen­ters, ener­gy projects, and new invest­ments can strength­en region­al vital­i­ty and com­pet­i­tive­ness.

The event show­cased sev­er­al ongo­ing mul­ti-bil­lion-euro invest­ments across North­ern Fin­land and high­light­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ties they cre­ate for com­pa­nies in sec­tors such as con­struc­tion, tech­nol­o­gy, main­te­nance, logis­tics, and busi­ness ser­vices. One of the day’s most notable announce­ments was the sign­ing of a pre­lim­i­nary land reser­va­tion agree­ment between the Nor­we­gian com­pa­ny Arbaflame and the City of Haa­pa­järvi. The agree­ment rein­forced Nordic coop­er­a­tion and demon­strat­ed the grow­ing inter­na­tion­al inter­est in clean tran­si­tion invest­ments in the region.

The reser­va­tion agree­ment sup­ports Arbaflame’s plans to expand its oper­a­tions in the area and con­tributes to the con­tin­ued devel­op­ment of North­ern Finland’s bioen­er­gy and clean indus­try ecosys­tem. North­ern Fin­land remains one of the country’s most sig­nif­i­cant clean tran­si­tion invest­ment regions, where stake­hold­ers from the ener­gy, indus­tri­al, and tech­nol­o­gy sec­tors are work­ing togeth­er to build future growth and pros­per­i­ty.