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Finland

Page history last edited by Brian D Butler 13 years, 5 months ago

Finland

Finland is located in Northern Europe, sharing borders with Sweden, Norway and Russia. Its main urban areas are Helsinki (capital city), Espoo, Turku, Oulu and Vantaa. The country has become a natural launch-pad for technology companies looking to move into Europe, offering a “tech-savvy” workforce and access to one of the world’s most connected countries.

 

Its telecommunications and ICT sectors are experiencing rapid growth in specialised sectors such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology and e-commerce. Nokia, a home-grown Finnish company is the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer and joins other companies who are at the forefront of developments in mobile technology.

 

The Finnish people are renowned for being early adopters of technology. Finland has the highest rate of mobile penetration in the world and one computer per ten inhabitants.

 

More than 2,000 overseas-owned companies have moved into Finland to work with the leading edge Universities and corporate sponsored research institutes. Multinationals located in the region include ICL, Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Tellabs, Lotus and Razorfish.

 

Regions / Cities

 

- Finland Helsinki Oulu Vantaa Tampere Turku Espoo Jyvaskyla

 

Investment Promotion Agency:

 

Mr Tuomo Airaksinen

Chief Executive

Invest in Finland

Kaivokatu 8

Helsinki

00100

Finland

 

 

tel: +358107730300

fax: +358107730301

 

Helsinki

As Finland’s main urban area, the Helsinki Region is one of the most dynamic in Scandinavia today. Some 24 municipalities make up the region. The three biggest, which form the metropolitan area are Helsinki the capital of Finland (population 550,000), the city of Espoo (population 205,000) and the city of Vantaa (population 170,000). The whole region is home to over one fifth of Finland’s total population.

 

One of the countries at the forefront of the new economy, Finland boasts the world´s most advanced telecommunications including the highest telephone penetration of and the highest rate of personal and corporate Internet usage in the world.

 

Key growth sectors are pharmaceuticals, electronics, IT and telecommunications.

 

Recent foreign investors to the region include Fujitsu, Tellabs, VTI Hamlin, L‘Oreal and Smithkline Beecham.

 

Due to its geography, Helsinki has some of the fastest air routes to the US or Japan and is ideally placed to serve the Russian and Baltic markets as well as continental Europe.

 

Investment Promotion Agency:

 

Mr Juha Pokela

Helsinki Region Marketing Oy

Katajanokanlaituri 5

P.O.B 123

Helsinki

161

Finland

 

 

tel: +358 (0) 9 6131 2230

fax: +358 (0) 9 6131 2250

 

 

Oulu

The City of Oulu is the capital of northern Finland. The Oulu region has almost 200,000 inhabitants and it is the country's fastest-growing region.

 

The area is at the very cutting edge of new technology. Telecoms giant, Nokia has major R&D facilities in Oulu, and the company’s meteoric rise the early 1990s was a source of inspiration for the local software industry.

 

About 10,000 people are employed in the high technology sector in the Oulu region and the great majority work in the electronics industries in R&D. Other sectors promoted in the region are optoelectronics, microelectronics, training and education software.

 

Companies are attracted by one of the world's highest-qualified health care networks, offering clinical expertise, cooperation in clinical trials and a demanding test market. There is also a pro-active approach in the development of telemedicine and other telematic systems for health care.

 

Technopolis Oulu houses more than 200 international high-technology companies such as Atex Media Solutions, QPR and Tellabs.

 

The Medipolis community, which comprises private companies, the University of Oulu, the Oulu University Hospital and the Kastelli Research Center, is a remarkable concentration of knowledge, skills and hi-tech expertise. Medipolis is an internationally-successful scientific, research and business center, concentrating in areas such as applied biotechnology and process technology

 

 

Vantaa

Vantaa is an international Airport City in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area of Finland. The airport offers flights to the major cities of Europe and Russia and intercontinental destinations. More than 90% of Finland’s international traffic is handled out of Vantaa airport.

 

The Airport city is keen to build on its base of hi-tech tenants and attract companies from the telecommunications, information technology, environmental technology, biotechnology, health care, electronics and logistics sectors.

 

More than 1,000 companies have already located operations in and around the airport, including Sanoma Corporation, Nokia, Yves Rocher, L’Oreal, TNT, Seiko, Fuji, Federal Express, VTI Hamlin, the world’s largest producer of micro-machined sensors and Okemtic Oy, producer of silicon wafers.

 

The area around the airport has the world’s densest and fastest growing communications network and number of IT users per capita. Investors can also benefit from good education levels in Vantaa.

 

 

Tampere

The city of Tampere is the third largest city in Finland with a population of 200,000 people.

 

Tampere has an objective to become world class in the fields of machine engineering and automation, information and communications technology, health care technology and knowledge intensive business services.

 

Several clusters of expertise are concentrated in Tampere in areas such as mechanical engineering, automation, information technology and health technology. These sectors are included in the national Center of Expertise programme.

 

A new partnership approach will enable the industries in Tampere and the Tampere region to take full advantage from the strengths of the region's high-tech enterprises and research institutes and make the region more competitive internationally.

 

Nationally and to some degree internationally the city is already a significant center of information technology. The content industry (the production of information technology applications for industry, education, administration and recreation) is considered one of the growth areas of the future.

 

Local residents are guaranteed equal access to the information society by improving the information networks and widening the selection of municipal services available through these networks.

 

Local education is strong with facilities including Pirkanmaa Polytechnic, Tampere Polytechnic, Tampere Technology Center Hermia, Tampere University of Technology and University of Tampere.

 

 

Turku

Turku is located in Southwest Finland which is the second most important economic area after the capital region. It houses over 440 000 inhabitants, 3 international harbours and an International airport.

 

Turku has recently witnessed explosive growth in its computer and office machinery manufacturing sector and it now accounts for 45 per cent of Finland’s output of electronic products. Companies located in the area concentrate on the production of radio and TV equipment, mobile phones and computers.

 

Other key sectors in the region are shipbuilding, food products, machinery, chemical products and printing and publishing. Half of the medical industry and over 60% of the Finnish diagnostics industry is located in Turku and taught at its higher education institutes.

 

In terms of accommodation, Turku is home to Finland’s largest technology center – Turku Technology Center. The Center’s proximity to two of Turku’s universities, the Business School and the University Central Hospital means that it can pull on pool of 2000 researchers and 20,000 students.

 

The main fields of activity in the Center are biotechnology, materials research, electronics and information technology. A newly planned center, BioValley, will house research units and pharmaceutical industry production plants.

 

The three universities in the area are The University of Turku, The Turku School of Economics and Business Administration and Abo Akademi University. All of which train graduates for the investing companies such as Perkin Elmer, Leiras and Orion Pharmaceuticals.

 

 

Espoo

Espoo's population has climbed from around 40,000 in the 1960s to over 200,000 today, making it the second largest city in Finland.

 

Espoo is home to the Helsinki University of Technology and many other noteworthy educational institutions. Also located in this area are the Innopoli technology center and the Otaniemi science park, which are equally well known for their expertise and creativity.

 

Nearly 500 international companies have established operations in the city. Espoo is the home of the world's largest producer of mobile phones, Nokia Corporation and has Northern Europe’s largest concentration of high-tech companies. Names such as Orion, Inex Partners, Tellabs, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Planar International and Xerox.

 

The people of Espoo are well educated and multilingual. Over a quarter of the city's residents have a university degree and over 40 per cent have some type of vocational certificate. Innovation is an integral part of Espoo's character. The city and the enterprises, educational institutions and other organizations which operate there have often been pioneers in their own fields.

 

The Tapiola area has rapidly become the leading technology center in northern Europe. Nearly 30,000 people work or study in the technology zone which includes Keilalahti, Tapiola, Otaniemi and Kilo. Around 75 per cent of all industrial jobs in Espoo are in high-tech fields.

 

Investment Promotion Agency:

 

Mr Juha Pokela

Helsinki Region Marketing Oy

Katajanokanlaituri 5

P.O.B 123

Helsinki

161

Finland

 

 

tel: +358 (0) 9 6131 2230

fax: +358 (0) 9 6131 2250

 

 

Jyvaskyla

Situated in the very center of Finland, Jyväskylä has diverse educational and research opportunities and a skilled and professional laborforce.

 

The position enjoyed by the Jyväskylä region as a major concentration of high-tech is reinforced by the Human Technologies Center, linking research, teaching, and entrepreneurial activity. The center will seek new ways of bringing a human and user-friendly perspective to the world of information technology by combining expertise across different disciplines.

 

 

External Links

 

 

Library of Congress: Country Studies

 

Excellent source of historical information about a country; "The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.

 

 

 

 

 

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