ISSUE : August 2003, Vol. 17

FINNISH ICT INDUSTRY

Finland is one of the world’s most basic and far-reaching features within the competitive economies and most Finnish ICT sector are easily pinpointed: technologically developed welfare and solid technological infrastructure, open information societies. It is also a country competition, widely shared common vision currently specialized in the development and and co-operation in the development of ICT production of ICT products and services. and information society, government’s active offers one of the world's most role, technology-oriented citizens with high sophisticated ICT infrastructure and quality education and top caliber skills and application environments and provides knowledge-based technology centres, e.g. cutting-edge, high efficiency settings for all metropolitan area and cities like kinds of business. Nokia, Finland's largest , , and Jyväskylä, all promoting company, is the world's leading mobile intense networking activities. In the Finnish phone supplier and a leading supplier of model for Information Society, the role of mobile, fixed and IP networks as well as the government and one of the welfare state multimedia terminals. Finland is also home have been given considerable emphasis to to many niche leaders in related fields such guarantee the development of favorable as mobile commerce, wireless equipment atmosphere through infrastructure, and data security. Approximately two-thirds legislation, and accessibility for all. of Finnish software companies develop and Interoperability – intense and broad inter- produce ICT software. organizational co-operation both within the industry as well as with other industries and Finland went from being one of the least the research sector – and neutral forums for ICT-specialized industrialized nations to promoting information society development become the most specialized one. Some have been key factors in Finland.

Finnish Market Size

1999 2000 2001

Spending (US$ Mn) IT Hardware 1,884 1,987 1,956 Software 716 971 1086 IT Services 1,496 1,598 1,774 Internal 1,479 1,559 1,649 Other Office 159 168 166 Equipment Total IT 5,734 6,283 6,630 Telecommn. 3,059 3,193 3,372 Total ICT 8,793 9,476 10,002 Ratios ICT/GDP 6.8% 7.8% 7.7% ICT/Capita $1,702 $1,835.4 $1,938.2 Software/ 38% 48.9% 55.5% Hardware Spending

IT Variables PCs installed in 166,000 181,259 205,032 Education PCs installed in 966,000 733,029 810,072 Homes PCs installed in 738,000 793,964 887,838 Business & Govt Total PCs 1,870,000 1,708,252 1,902,941 installed (Source: World IT & Services Alliance)

www.mait.com Country Intelligence Critical to getting to the current level was the phone - have reduced the country’s Finnish ICT equipment industry cluster that dependence on fluctuating raw material centres on telecommunications equipment based-industries, such as forestry and manufacturing and service provision. Finnish paper. Thus, the cluster creates an ICT cluster has been evolving for 100 years environment critical to the health of the on the basis of non-regulation and full economy and causes government to competition and the subsequent growth of become closer and more active with the its member companies through successes - public sector than in other countries. like manufacturing the world’s first mobile

As far as competitive ability is concerned, from the fields of information and Finland is a leading country within EU communications technologies. In the future, (World Economic Forum 2002). High the role of those technologies will increase technology exports have tripled in five years; significantly, as they are likely to develop in industrial productivity Finland has caught faster than other fields. The overall up with the United States, which sets the productivity has increased since 1992 standard for the rest of the world. More than annually by 15 per cent, and in electro- half the growth in productivity is explained technical and telecommunications fields 25 through high technology. Approximately 10 per cent. per cent of the Finnish GNP already comes

Investment in research and development of research and development experts are has increased strongly in Finland for almost clearly on the increase. The metal and 20 years, and investments in R&D by electronics industry is, by far, the biggest companies in Finland are among the highest investor in R&D. It is responsible for more in the world. Though the growth rate has than 80 per cent of all the research and somewhat slowed down from the peak development investment in Finland. In 2001 years, the R&D investments and the number it spent over 4 billion euros on R&D.

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Finnish Government has 170 service entities administrative functions such as course available online, e.g. portals for Citizen’s enrollment and grading as well as online Handbook, as well as enterprise and classes and tutorials at the high school and research services. Taxes and import & university levels. Computer facilities for export levies can be paid via the network. games and learning are even provided in People who are seeking for work can do it public daycare and pre-school facilities. online. Enterprises can transact through net with the Government on public procurement. Finland is also a leader in e-commerce. The Legal proceeding with the Court of Justice financial services industry implemented can be started electronically, etc. Also advanced payment, security and verification municipalities are developing services, internal IT systems in the early 1990s, which in many cases are nearer to the enabling Finnish banks to be among the first citizens. in the world to offer online and mobile banking. Though Finnish consumers have The government has stressed the been slower to adopt e-commerce for importance of its Information Strategy for business and retail, evidence of the nation’s Education and Research 2000–2004, ICT sophistication can be found in car created to provide ICT access and literacy washes and soda machines paid via mobile training for those in need, with priority given phone. Online services are now used widely, to the poor and minority groups. All Finnish and banking and information transfer remain schools are connected to the Internet. These the largest segments of e-commerce for networked schools offer online both businesses and consumers.

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Jyväskylä

During the past decade, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become one of the cornerstones of industry in Jyväskylä. ICT businesses in Central Finland currently employ about 4,000 professionals with the number of new openings increasing at an annual rate of 15–20%. The slow development of Electronic industry has been more than compensated by the positive development of software sector. Strong growth is predicted to continue in the near future and the number of employees in the region’s ICT industry is expected to more than double in the coming years reaching nearly 10,000 by 2010. ICT professionals will also be employed in other fields and industries effectively transforming the region into an Information Society.

The fast growth of vacancies in the ICT industry is largely a result of increased educational opportunities provided both by the University of Jyväskylä and Jyväskylä Polytechnic. With some 700 new ICT majors admitted in autumn 2002, the total number of students in the field will rise to 3,500 by 2004. The correct timing of educational investments has enabled quick development of ICT business activities in Central Finland. Thanks to additional investments in education and training, the availability of ICT professionals in Jyväskylä will be good in the years to come.

ICT companies in Central Finland focus on software, data communications, digital media, utilization of network technologies, and industrial automation. The teaching and research practiced at the University of Jyväskylä and Jyväskylä Polytechnic provide ample support for the region’s current ICT businesses as well as expertise for future needs in fields such as digital media, the Internet, mobility, content, and their combination. One of the future breakthrough areas will definitely be handheld devices and mobile applications for their worldwide exploitation. Nokia started its operations in Jyväskylä at the end of 1999. Nokia’s units in Jyväskylä include Nokia Mobile Phones and Nokia Networks.Nokia Mobile Phones focuses its product development on cellular phones and TETRA (Transeuropean Trunking Radio) terminals while Nokia Networks develops software for IP (Internet Protocol) mobility networks. Besides Nokia’s own staff, that has since 1999 risen to about 400 people, Nokia employs a number of local subcontractors. Most ICT companies in Central Finland operate in global markets. Small and medium -sized growth companies have been involved in the national Global Software Program targeting the U.S. markets. The program provides software companies with the opportunity to implement their internationalization strategy through “hands on” training.

Jyväskylä is also the site of one of the best technology company incubators among the Finnish Technology Centers. Incubation activities in Jyväskylä, managed by the Jyväskylä Science Park, have ten years history during which some 140 companies have been incubated. Three fourths of the companies work in the ICT industry and by 2010 an estimated 300 tech companies with a total revenues of hundreds of millions of euros have undergone the incubation process. In addition to injecting more versatility into the region’s industry, the incubation activities have also helped several startup companies grow into considerable medium -sized enterprises. Most technology companies are located by the lake, in the center of Jyväskylä. The Jyväskylä Science Park area, also near the lake and adjacent to the University and Polytechnic, is well on its way to housing a considerable part of the region’s high-tech businesses. The district currently employs some 2,400 people in 170 companies with a target of 3,000 employees in 2004. Adding to this figure other people involved in the ICT industry, including ICT teachers, researchers, and majors, the total number of ICT persons that are working in the vicinity of the Jyväskylä Science Park will rise from 7,000 to 10,000 by 2006.

www.mait.com Country Intelligence ELMO - Miniaturising Electronics Technology Programme 2002–2005

The aim of the Finnish electronics programme ELMO is to ensure the competitiveness of the Finnish ICT industry in the long run. The span of the programme is from 2002 to 2005 and the estimated volume of the programme will be approximately 100 million euros, of which Tekes provides some 50%. ELMO makes funding available for R&D projects in which universities, research institutes and companies work together to achieve common goals. Some funded projects by ELMO are as follows:

Flexible Design Methods for DSP Systems (FlexDSP) The project has two principal objectives: development of methodologies and tools for designing embedded systems, especially for digital signal processing (DSP) tasks, and development of embedded DSP systems utilising the developed methodologies. The design methodologies are developed to allow more efficient customisation of the implementation architectures according to the given application. The developed methods and tools are to be demonstrated by applying the design methods for design cases specified by the participating industrial companies. The project contains research collaboration with Berkeley Wireless Research Center, University of California, USA; Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands and Texas Instruments, France. The national collaboration parties are Elektrobit, Instrumentointi, Nokia Mobile Phones, Nokia Networks, Metso, Patria New Technologies, Vaisala, Finnish Research Institute, Tampere University of Technology/ Software Systems Laboratory.

Towards Lighter Technologies (TORCH) The objective of TORCH is to improve the expertise of researchers to strengthen cooperation between universities and to promote the competitiveness of Finnish industry in the fields of ultra-fast optical telecommunications and optoelectronics. The prime research subjects are the future light sources and subsystems. The project is divided into two parts: Part 1: The research on the new GaAs -based lasers, the monolithic VCSELs, the quantum mechanical mirrors and the modulators for the wavelengths of 1300 - 1700 nm. The basic material is GaInAsN, the diluted nitride alloy. With this material it is possible to manufacture components which can operate outside the spectrum range achieved by the conventional GaAs technologies. None of these components are available in the markets, but the research results achieved in many laboratories, also in ORC, are very promising. Part 2: The research on the new technology: the splitting of the spectrum. The objective is to develop the transmitter in which the wide continuous spectrum is formed by many quantum wells in one component, probably in the LED-type light source. The spectrum will be divided into narrow bands and will be driven into the different channels. Alternatively, the spectrum will be generated from the super continuous field of the fibre laser based on the non-linear phenomenon.

PRINTO In the Printo-project roll-to-roll related mass production techniques (gravure printing, embossing, digital printing, offset etc.), optical, electrical and optoelectrical components are evaluated and developed. Polymeric, inorganic and hybrid materials suitable to be used as an electrical or optical ink for the roll-to-roll manufacturing process are also tested, modified and developed. The driving force of this project is the integration of the cost effective and mass-producible optical, electrical and optoelectrical components and modules for tomorrow's product packages and printed papers. Research work will be carried out in close cooperation between VTT Electronics, VTT Information Technology and the universities of Joensuu, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Lapland. During this project, a cooperation network between Finnish research institutes and internationally notable roll-to-roll electronics research institutes will also be set up.

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