Business Finland enables and accelerates sustainable growth for companies worldwide
1. Please share with our readers a bit about your organization Business Finland and your role in the ICT segment. It would be interesting to shed some light on your international cooperation models, especially when it comes to start-ups and SMEs.
Business Finland is the Finnish innovation funding, trade, investment, and travel promotion organization, headquartered in Helsinki. Business Finland is fully owned by the Finnish Government. Business Finland employs over 700 experts in 42 offices globally and in 20 regional offices around Finland.
Public innovation funding has been one of the most important enablers for many Finnish startups and SMEs, making it possible to share the risk related to their R&D activities. We also support the companies in their internationalization activities by building networks and sharing contacts. Our experts worldwide help to accelerate the companies’ sustainable growth globally by matching their offering with local market opportunities.
ICT sector is one of the strongholds of Finland. Our innovations range from intelligent connectivity solutions to cybersecurity, and from augmented reality to nanosatellites providing data for commercial use. Future sustainable cities, autonomous driving, industrial robotics, mixed reality and quantum computing all contribute to growing use of data. Role of data is vitally important, and we excel at data analytics and building software solutions. Future digital competitiveness is largely built on software technologies.
2. Finland consistently ranks at or near the top of international rankings when it comes to innovation. Strong tech expertise, high education levels, large contingent of creatives and a burgeoning start-up scene put Finland at the forefront of digitalization, health solutions, and smart and clean technologies. How Business Finland “exports” this valuable know-how? What are some ways in which other parts of the world can engage in learning from your inspiring examples?
It is true that Finland ranks at top of many international rankings. We are already building what is coming next. For example, in year 2017 Finland was one of the first countries to prepare the national AI strategy and program. Currently hundreds of Finnish startups utilize AI in their products and services in a competitive way. Deep tech companies that are spin-offs from universities or research agencies are on a special focus. Excellent example from the deep tech sector is IQM that has been among the fastest-growing companies in the quantum computing sector.
Our advisers coach Business Finland’s customers in every phase of their internationalization. We support companies planning an entry into a new market or seeking to improve their competitiveness in the existing market. We work closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and together belong to the Team Finland network. Team Finland gathers the Finnish authorities, publicly funded organizations, and other central actors representing Finland in the particular region.
3. What type of projects have you done in the Western Balkan region? Can you share with our readers an example of success story, perhaps in the clean-tech sector.
Team Finland network has been actively supporting Finnish companies to find partners and opportunities in the Western Balkan region. In the industrial and clean-tech sector for example Molok has solutions for high capacity waste and recycling and has been presenting their solutions to local companies. Taaleri investing in a wind farm in Serbia is another great example. There are several areas where even tighter co-operation can be built in the future.
4. Finally, as we are getting ready to embark on 5G, University of Oulu is leading the 6G Flagship research programs. What is the 6G vision for 2030? How can companies in Serbia benefit from the 6G Flagship programs?
Intelligent future connectivity and transition from 5G to 6G are at the core of 6G Flagship research programs. First of all, the aim is to speed up digitalization in society. Digitalization via 5G is strongly driven through the key industry verticals. On the other hand, the aim is to build partnerships to develop the fundamental technologies needed to enable 6G. Nokia is one of the key players in the 6G Flagship and is actively building technology leadership in future connectivity solutions.
The 6G Flagship is building an open innovation ecosystem and testbeds, so that the industry players can test their solutions. This will help to shorten the time to market. The current network consists of more than 400 industrial partners from 31 countries. Joining the Flagship as a partner is a great way to speed up digitalization in society.