Gold Label Through Collaboration: The Vaasa Region’s Shared Success Story

Gold Label Through Collaboration: The Vaasa Region’s Shared Success Story

 

When EnergyVaasa received its first Gold Label for Cluster Management Excellence in March 2022 and became Finland’s first cluster to ever reach this level, it marked a milestone built on decades of collaboration, strategic focus, and shared commitment in the Vaasa region. The certification, renewed again in 2025, is more than a badge of honour. It is a quality recognition awarded to clusters that demonstrate outstanding professionalism, transparent governance, strong stakeholder engagement, and consistent value creation for their members.

Behind this achievement stands a long history of cooperative development work carried out by VASEK, the City of Vaasa, neighbouring municipalities, Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, and the companies that form the backbone of the EnergyVaasa cluster. Their long-term financial and strategic support has been decisive in building a cluster structure that meets the highest European standards.

 

Among the people who helped shape this journey is Johan Wasberg, who has now retired after nearly 30 years at Technology Centre Merinova. Although he would be the first to emphasise that the gold certification is a collective accomplishment, Johan’s expertise and international perspective have played a vital role in lifting EnergyVaasa to an internationally recognised level.

 

From Regional Initiative to Internationally Recognised Cluster

EnergyVaasa’s path toward formal cluster excellence began over a decade ago. In 2012, as part of a national initiative, all Finnish clusters underwent an initial labelling exercise. EnergyVaasa received a Bronze Label at that time. The result was fair, encouraging, and offered concrete guidance for development.

 

One of the next major milestones was the Towards Cluster Excellence pilot project (2016–2017), selected as one of only six EU cluster excellence pilot initiatives. Through this project, the cluster was benchmarked against leading international peers, visited gold-label clusters, and systematically strengthened its operations.

 

“The feedback was honest and clear. We learned where we were strong, but also where we needed to improve. That process made us better,” Johan recalls.

 

Encouraged by evaluators to aim directly for gold, EnergyVaasa spent the following years refining its governance model, strengthening member engagement, deepening communication practices, and improving how company needs are translated into strategy and concrete yearly actions.

 

What the Gold Label Represents

To reach Gold Label status, clusters must perform strongly across areas such as governance, services, resourcing, transparency, and member influence. For EnergyVaasa, this meant building strong and continuous dialogue with companies: understanding their needs, gathering feedback, and ensuring that all development work genuinely creates added value for members.

 

A Gold Label signals that:

• the cluster is professionally managed and strategically guided
• companies have a strong voice in decision-making
• resources and operations are stable and transparent
• the cluster can be trusted as a project partner by both regional and European funders

Why EnergyVaasa Succeeded: Long-Term Regional Consensus and Support

While the daily cluster work has taken place at Merinova and the cluster marketing at VASEK the foundation for success has been built through regional unity. Vaasa and surrounding municipalities made a strategic decision early on: energy is the region’s core strength. When other areas followed temporary national trends, Vaasa stayed committed to energy technology, which has later been proven an essential long-term choice.

Equally important has been the sustained support from the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia and from the entire company base of the EnergyVaasa cluster. Many of these companies have participated actively in the development work, contributed expertise, and offered feedback that shaped the cluster’s strategy.

“Without the commitment of the cities, municipalities, the Regional Council, and our member companies, a gold certification would simply not have been possible,” Johan emphasises.
“Consensus of focusing on energy together with mental and financial support have been the main reasons why things are now in such good shape.”

Raising International Visibility

Over the years, EnergyVaasa has become increasingly visible on the European cluster map. Johan has been one of the people representing the region internationally, from Cluster Excellence initiatives to major industry events such as Hannover Messe. His active participation helped build long-term relationships with key European clusters, including the Basque Energy Cluster and the Green tech Valley Cluster in Austria.

The Gold Label has further strengthened this visibility. In international settings, mentioning the certification immediately elevates interest and credibility. Several European programmes also prefer one gold-label clusters for consortium leadership, which is a clear competitive advantage for EnergyVaasa.

A Legacy Built Together

Although Johan Wasberg’s retirement marks the end of an era, the foundation he helped build will continue to support the region for years to come. His nearly 30 years of experience in Merinova’s international projects, cluster development, and energy technology initiatives have contributed to shaping EnergyVaasa into the internationally respected cluster it is today.

At the same time, the strength of EnergyVaasa has always come from more than any single individual. It is the result of a region that chose a clear direction, worked together, and built trust over decades.

The EnergyVaasa cluster’s Gold Label is ultimately a celebration of this shared commitment. It is a symbol of what can be achieved when companies, cities, municipalities, the education sector, and regional actors work toward the same goal.