In the strategy prepared for Northern Finland in 2001, the commencement of natural gas and oil industry production in the surrounding areas of the Barents region, together with its related investments, was seen as providing promising opportunities for the mechanical engineering industry of Northern Finland. Th e fi rst project to be started was the Norwegian Snövit project. Th e goal for the BASTMO project was to obtain information regarding the opportunities related to constructing the oil and natural gas fi elds and to create a realistic picture of the near-term projects in the northern regions. Th e project was to, for example, obtain material in writing regarding the future investments of both Norwegian and Russian projects. Analysis regarding the competitiveness of the mechanical engineering industry in northern Finland and the state of readiness in terms of participating in the implementation of the aforementioned projects (for example, fi nancial capacity, technical know-how and capacity to be able to off er the job contracts in question, job contract procurement strategy and organisations, and cooperation between diff erent offi cials) was also included in the information gathering. After acquiring this information, the project would then make Finnish and Russian metal industry companies familiar with the new opportunities available in the Barents region and create personal contacts between the key offi cials and individuals of the diff erent parties in, for example, the Hammerfest area and in the mechanical engineering industry and industrial council of the Murmansk area in Northwest Russia. Achievements: The project started with an international Snövit seminar held in Oulu. The most signifi cant achievements of the seminar were creating the understanding of the scope and size of the natural gas and oil projects in the Barents region in addition to receiving the latest information about the Snövit project phase and the schedule of the Murmansk oil harbour and the other projects in the northern region. Trips were made together with managers in order to create contacts. Reports were created by experts regarding how companies would be able to participate in competitive bidding for projects. Shared marketing material was prepared for the participating companies and shared participation in the Swedish Nordisk Industrie journal was supported. An attempt was made during the beginning of the project to assess if, for example, similar contacts could be made in the ICT or software industry as in the mechanical engineering industry, but it proved impossible. The main learning experience from the Snövit project was that the business culture in Finland tends to be too small to participate in large projects, therefore cooperation and an active approach is needed. In the end, the mechanical engineering team in the project was able to participate in competitive bidding processes and some business transactions were also realised. In order to ensure successful operations in the future, the participating mechanical engineering shops have founded a shared marketing company, Oy SteelDoneGroup Ltd.