Science in the Helsinki Region
Helsinki Metropolitan Region forms an area of 1,2 million inhabitants and includes the capital, Helsinki, and the neighbouring cities Espoo and Vantaa with 22 other surrounding municipalities, within a wider region, Uusimaa.
The geographic area of the region is 6365,6 km2 and the area’s population is 24 per cent of the total population of Finland. There are 680.000 jobs in the Helsinki Region and the value of the GVA is approximately 40 milliard euros (2002). Helsinki´s share is 23% of the population, 29% of the jobs and 34% of the GVA of Finland as a whole. About 81 per cent of all jobs were within the service sector (2001).
Helsinki is a productive and wealthy city. GVA per capita in Helsinki is approximately 50 % higher than the national average and the city belongs to the top the group of the wealthiest metropolises in Europe.
Helsinki-Vantaa international airport was expanded throughout the 1990s and the third runway came into operation in autumn 2002.
The most prominent businesses in the region include wholesale trade, finance and insurance services, and information-intensive business services. The region accounts for nearly one third of Finland's national product. Thanks to effective and efficient communications, both in terms of transport networks and telecommunications, two thirds of foreign companies operating in Finland are based in Uusimaa Region.
The core of Finland´s ICT industry is Nokia, which accounts 25 % of Finland´s exports, 4% GVA and 35% of total commercial R&D. Helsinki will remain among the fastest growing cities with respect to all variables. The relatively positive economic prospecs for Helsinki are based on several factors. Helsinki´s ICT sector is competitive and well placed in the global markets when the overall demand in the industry recovers. The growth of the private sector is expected to continue du to domestic demand.
Science in the Helsinki Region
Half of Finland's research and development facilities are based in Uusimaa Region. One fifth of the region's population of working age has an academic degree, and most young people continue their education beyond their compulsory general schooling, i.e beyond the age of 16 years. The region and metropolitan area are also prominent in higher education with a student population of over 50.000 at 9 universities.
Helsinki Metropolitan Region has been widely recognised for creating and cultivating a world-class cluster of businesses and research organisations in the field of information and communication technology, and high-tech manufacturing plays an important role in the Finnish economy. With regard to the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS), which is overseen by Culminatum Ltd Oy, many of the activities have been developed as subprogrammes of the region's Centre of Expertise Programme. The fields of expertise covered are:
- Adaptive Materials and Microsystems.
- Gene Technology and Molecular Biology
- Medical and welfare technologies
- Software Product Business
- Digital Media, Content production and Learning services
- Logistics. Technopolis Pls - Vantaa
The vision of a Science Park concentrating on the biological sciences and biotechnology is implemented in the Helsinki Science Park at Viikki. The initial phase of development, in the first two buildings of the University’s new Biocentre, was completed in the spring of 1996 and a second phase began that summer, providing business incubators for biotechnology companies, together with larger, more specialised accommodation for later phases of growth. So far some 30 companies have made use of the incubators and 7 have moved on into larger premises where production can take place. The Helsinki Science Park sees its work as being complementary to that of the Arabianranta site.
Another example is the Otaniemi Cluster, which is located in the core of the high-tech area of the region, the campus of Helsinki University of Technology in the peninsula of Otaniemi, Espoo and forming one of Northern Europe’s largest concentration of technology-related businesses, research labs and educational institutes. The Cluster includes major operators such as Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), Spinno spin-off program, Otaniemi Science Park, and Technopolis - Innopoli, among others. |
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