Kuopio’s sister cities

Cooperation with Latvian Aluksne has included information exchange and cultural cooperation. Twin city Aluksne 

French Besançon is the capital of Franche-Comté. This town of over 120,000 residents is located close to the Swiss border, 2.5 hours by train from Paris. The main form of cooperation has been educational cooperation with the Savonia University of Applied Sciences. Twin city Besançon 

In 2016, Bodø was selected as the most attractive city in Norway. The same year the city also celebrated its 200th anniversary. Bodø is the European Capital of Culture in 2024. Bodø is a busy, modern, and growing university city with 50,000 residents, with only 150 km to the Arctic Circle. The principal means of livelihood in the region are fishing, fish farming and processing, tourism, air base, and agriculture. The city is building a completely new residential area with a theme “smart arctic city”. 

The business partner in Bodø is the development company BRUS, owned by 30 companies from the region. The common themes for future cooperation between the twin towns and business life include Smart city and the Arctic. Twin city Bodø 

Castrop-Rauxel is a German city with 79,000 residents, located in the eastern part of the Ruhr area in the district of Munich. The distance to the German capital Berlin is around 500 kilometres. Youth and student exchange have been organised with Castrop-Rauxel. Twin city Castrop-Rauxel 

Craiova is a city with 310,000 residents in southwestern Romania. Over the past few years, there has been little cooperation between Craiova and Kuopio. Twin city Craiova 

Gera is a city of 110,000 residents in the state of Thuringia, 260 kilometres southwest of Berlin. Gera is located in a hilly country by the White Elster river. Kuopio has organised youth exchange with Gera. Twin city Gera 

A city of 129,000 residents located in northwest Hungary, Györ has a long history and a rich cultural life, including a national theatre and a ballet. The National Theatre of Györ and Kuopio City Theatre have engaged in professional cooperation for years. Collaboration with the city of Györ has focussed on non-governmental organisations and educational cooperation. In former years, Kuopio has also participated in the Györ book fair.  Twin city Györ 

Kuopio’s longest connection is with the Swedish city of Jönköping, which became a twin town during the Winter War in 1940. 

Cooperation with Nordic twin towns Bodø, Jönköping, and Svendborg is multilateral and coordinated at joint meetings between these four Nordic cities. In addition to Nordic meetings, language courses and other education-related cooperation have been organised. Jönköping will organise a twin town conference under the twinning agreement in May 2023. Twin city Jönköping 

The county of Lääne-Viru is located in eastern Estonia on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. The county has 70,000 residents. Kuopio has exchanged information with the county. Twinned county Lääne-Viru 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, has been a twin town of Kuopio since 1972. Minneapolis is a diverse city of science, culture, and technology. Finland as a country is well known in the area, also thanks to Nordic immigrants. Minneapolis has an active Kuopio working group to promote connections with Kuopio. The cooperation is the most active, extensive, and continuous between the universities in the two cities. Recent years have seen research and lecturer exchanges for example in the field of brain research. Different artist, orchestra, and exhibition exchanges are also organised almost annually. 

The Honorary Consul of Finland in Minnesota maintains a constant contact with Kuopio, and the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce in Minnesota promotes the visibility of Finnish businesses in Minnesota. Read the Minneapolis story: Over 40 Years of Friendship. Twin city Minneapolis 

Kuopio and the Polish Opole entered into a town-twinning relationship in 1980. Their cooperation was rekindled in 2013, when representatives from Opole visited the Kuopio Science Park and a return visit by a Kuopio delegation led to a framework agreement between the cities in 2013–2018. 

In addition to cultural cooperation, Opole is now becoming more important in science park and business cooperation. The common development targets of Kuopio and Opole can be found in the sectors of cleantech (e.g. water and environmental processes), food development, health, and culture. The aim is to exchange experiences and concepts, open new channels and establish concrete partnerships to promote business and to find new business opportunities. Twin city Opole 

Cooperation between Kuopio and Shanghai Pudong New Area began in the early 2000s. The starting point for cooperation is to support the internationalisation of Kuopio and the region, to strengthen the collaboration between technology parks, and to promote business development and cooperation between businesses. Businesses can take advantage of the expertise found from the exceptionally close cooperation network in Kuopio. The cooperation network includes the City of Kuopio, the University of Eastern Finland, the Kuopio Region Chamber of Commerce, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, and the Savo Consortium for Education. Twin city Shanghai 

Cooperation with Nordic twin towns Bodø, Jönköping, and Svendborg is multilateral and coordinated at joint meetings between these four Nordic cities. In addition to Nordic meetings, language courses have been organised and other youth work- and education-related cooperation has been promoted. Twin city Svendborg 

Winnipeg is the capital of the province of Manitoba. These days cooperation between Kuopio and Winnipeg has been limited, but will restart when new forms of cooperation are found. Twin city Winnipeg