What a fixed link across Kvarken could mean for jobs, innovation and regional growth
Northern parts of the Nordic region hold significant potential for green transition, supported by access to affordable renewable energy, strong industrial capacity and a growing knowledge economy. Better east–west connectivity could unlock that potential more fully. Within FLINC, Work Package 3 examines what a fixed link across the Kvarken Strait could mean for jobs, innovation and business development across the region.
Beyond travel time and construction costs
Traditional cost–benefit analyses focus on travel time savings and construction costs. They rarely capture what happens when labour markets become more integrated, when knowledge and innovation flow more freely, or when companies gain access to suppliers and customers they could not previously reach.
These are the effects that Work Package 3 sets out to analyse, across five dimensions: labour market expansion, innovation effects, business area growth, logistics scenarios and new investment potential.
“The study examines the labour-market potential arising from increased mobility among innovation-intensive professionals, including R&D personnel, ICT experts, managers and marketing specialists. Together, these groups are important drivers of intangible capital. The knowledge and expertise they bring create long-term economic value across the region,” says Hannu Piekkola, Professor at the University of Vaasa.
Hannu Piekkola, Professor at the University of Vaasa, analyses within the FLINC project how cross-border infrastructure could affect labour markets, innovation and regional growth.
What may be lost
As the analysis develops, it will give decision-makers a clearer picture of what is at stake not only if the link is built, but also if it is not. The methods being developed may also support similar assessments in other sparsely populated cross-border regions.
“The objective is to assess the value created by greater labour mobility between Finland and Sweden and across the Kvarken region, as well as what may be lost if that mobility is not strengthened,” Piekkola explains.
Background
The work builds on the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency’s feasibility study, completed in 2025 in cooperation with the Swedish Transport Administration. That study established the technical and economic foundation while also highlighted the need for broader analysis of impacts that conventional frameworks rarely capture, particularly in sparsely populated cross-border regions.
Join the discussion
You are welcome to join us at Wasa Future Festival, where ongoing work on the financing and security-related dimensions of cross-border infrastructure will be presented. The session “The Nordics tomorrow – growth despite global tensions” will take place on Thursday 13 August 2026, from 13:00 to 16:15, at Mindsquare, Wasa Innovation Center, Vaasa. The programme will be held in Finnish and Swedish.
Work related to the financing dimension of large-scale cross-border infrastructure will also be presented at Almedalsveckan 2026.
About the FLINC project
Work Package 3a (wider benefits) is carried out by: University of Vaasa on behalf of the Kvarken Council EGTC
FLINC (Financing Large-scale Infrastructure – Nordic Connector) is an Interreg Aurora project co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Kvarken Council EGTC. The project uses Nordic Connector as a reference case. Within Nordic Connector, the proposed fixed link across the Kvarken Strait between Finland and Sweden is highlighted as one way to strengthen resilience, accessibility and growth in the Nordic region. FLINC develops knowledge and methods for assessing cross-border infrastructure at Nordic and European level.
Read more about FLINC: kvarken.org/en/project/flinc
This article is part of a FLINC series presenting ongoing analyses ahead of the final results, including work on financing and security-related dimensions of cross-border infrastructure.
