The Geographics of IT in Finland

Given Finland's reputation as a world power in information technology, it comes as no surprise that the country is host to several major IT concentrations. Indeed, Finland has a national IT cluster program, where the government, as policy, actively encourages and funds the development of IT clusters (8), which has resulted in Finland being ranked first in the world by the World Economic Forum for cluster development (9).

Currently, it is possible to identify four major clusters in Finland. First and foremost is Helsinki and its environs, located in Southern Finland. The main driving force behind this is that Helsinki plays host to Nokia, as well as "lesser" (in a relative sense) ICT companies such as Sonera and major academic centers such as the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University of Technology. As a result, the area is estimated to attract approximately 80% of Finnish technology investment funds. (10)

In the North, there is Oulu. Oulu's rise as an ICT cluster has been traced to 1982, when the local university, working with a state-owned electronics research center and the local government created a technology park. Now a publically-held company called Technopolis, this park has more than 2000 companies employing over 4500 workers. Bolstering this was Nokia's decision to establish an R&D facility in the area in 1985. Looking forward, Oulu is projected to be home to 22,000 high tech jobs by 2006. (11)

Additional clusters include Turku and Tampere, both in the South. Turku is home to more than 170 high tech companies, with major names such as Nokia, Ericsson, Bosch and IBM, as well as dozens of start-ups and small software companies. Of these 40 are research and educational operations and 80 are technology firms. The workforce numbers 1,700 people, in addition to 1,500 university and graduate students. (12) Tampere is a major academic center, as well as home to "incubators" such as the Tampere Technology Centre. (13)

Major IT Clusters in Finland (In Red)