in sensation

Silence
speaks
volumes
Wild ideas
create
lucrative
business
Smart
energy
solutions
Finding
the ultimate
cure
Lost
in sensation
EDITORIAL AND CONTENTS • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
And the winner is…
The best country in the world. A nation with an excellent education system. One of the least corrupt states. One of the
most equal countries...
International comparisons of national performance continually
place Finland amongst the top in the world. It has been proven
that the Nordic welfare state brings great advantages to its
citizens. But can there be other winners?
An educated people living in a clean and safe
environment with functioning infrastructure and
reliable systems make for an efficient society. This
also creates added value for all parties involved
with Finland. Whether you stay in the country for a
short or an extended period of time, are in need of
a business or research partner or decide to choose
Finland as a place to invest, you can enjoy
the benefits of its social and economic
dynamism.
The Finnish character has
never been one that boasts
with its accomplishments;
we have always relied on the
fact that action speaks louder
than words. By reading this
magazine, you will find out
just where our good reputation comes from. And why
walking alongside us makes
you the winner, too.
6
Finding the ultimate cure
Standard therapeutic regimes give way to personalised
medicine. Cancer patients get tailored treatment in Helsinki.
Rapid diagnostic solutions help to detect problems in good time.
22
Erkki Virtanen
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Employment and
the Economy
Dynamic design
2011
When used wisely, design is a means to build more
people-friendly environments.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paula Parviainen EDITORIAL BOARD Eeva Haaramo,
Minna Hakaoja, Soili Helminen, Anna-Maija Ikonen, Tiina Kairistola, Elina Kiiski,
Markus Kokko, Liisa Levänen, Mervi Liukkonen, Peter Marten EDITORIAL STAFF
Sanoma Magazines Finland Custom Publishing PRODUCER Tytti Mård
ART DIRECTOR Antti Kangassalo MANAGING EDITOR Kimmo Holappa
TRANSLATION Kathleen Kuosmanen ENGLISH EDITOR Shelly Nyqvist
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY Marja Seppälä PRINTED BY Libris Oy PUBLISHERS
Ministry for Foreign Affairs Department for Communications and Culture
formin.finland.fi Ministry of Employment and the Economy www.tem.fi
Tekes www.tekes.fi Sitra www.sitra.fi Invest in Finland www.investinfinland.fi
Finnfacts TAT Group www.finnfacts.fi ISSN 1797-3287
PHOTO: JULIUS KONTTINEN
Focus on the economy and technology is available in English, Chinese, German,
2
Japanese, Russian and Spanish. To read the magazine online or order paper copies,
please visit the Focus website at www.focusmagazine.fi. For paper copies, you can
also contact the nearest Finnish embassy.
PHOTO: KALLE BJÖRKLID
14
18
Lost in sensation
Fresh water for all
A musician’s act is not just about giving. It’s also about
surrendering to the music.
Water experts research ways to convert seawater into drinkable
water. Finns protect the Baltic and help clean up oil spills around
the world.
32
38
Smart energy solutions
Education for export
Energy solutions take many forms. Renewable energies, smart
grids, nanomaterials, conscious everyday choices – all valid and all
needed.
The Finnish school system has gained eminence during recent
years. Now its concepts have been wrapped into exportable
packages.
26
Wild ideas create
lucrative business
Don’t the best ideas always
seem a little funny at first?
The Shouters are just one
successful example of the
unconventional ideas created
by the Finnish mind.
4 News & updates
22 Benefits of strategic design
6 Up close and personal
25 Column
8 Flourishing genetic research
26 Wild creativity
9 Docrates tailors treatment
30 Heavyweights
10 Finding prince charming
32 Clean green energy
12 Rapid diagnoses
34 Smart living
13 Hospital in a container
36 Going nano
14 Shaman of freedom
37 Getting into ship shape
16 From ocean to tap
38 Education: a hot commodity
18 For a cleaner Baltic
40 Who says learning can’t be fun?
19 Call for the cleanup experts
41 From yuck to wow!
20 Listen – silence is talking
42 Easy does it
3
NEWS & UPDATES • FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • COMPILED BY LAURA PALOTIE
A MUSICAL
meeting
point
annerheimintie,
the capital city’s
main thoroughfare,
will become home
to yet another
cultural institution when the Helsinki
Music Centre celebrates its opening
in August. Located on a stretch that
includes the Museum of Contemporary
Art Kiasma, the Finnish National
Museum, Finlandia Hall and the Parliament, the centre is designed as an
accessible meeting point for everyone
from culture lovers to curious passersby. In addition to concert space, it
will house a café, a restaurant and the
Sibelius Academy’s music library.
Although the hall will be home
to high culture – the Helsinki
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish
Radio Symphony Orchestra and the
prestigious Sibelius Academy – it will
be decidedly void of snobbery.
Director Helena Hiilivirta has
said that organisers won’t even
mind if people walk through in
dripping wet boots on their way to
the railway station.
“Creativity is born from encounters
and shared goals,” said finance
minister Jyrki Katainen at the building’s topping out ceremony in May of
2010. “The Music Centre is in the best
possible position to become a fountain
of creativity.”
The centre is owned and operated
by the government of Finland, the City
of Helsinki and the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Construction costs have
totalled about 160 million euros.
www.musiikkitalo.fi
fi
4
ILLUSTRATION: MARKUS GERKE / LPR-ARCHITECTS
M
An investment
IN INNOVATION
he European
Institute of Innovation
and Technology (EIT) has
located one of its five information and communication technologies (ICT) research units in
Finland. The 2010-2014 budget
for the unit, founded by Nokia,
VTT Technical Research Centre
of Finland and Aalto University, is
approximately 100 million euros.
About one quarter of this comes
from EIT funding. By 2013, EIT
expects to have several hundred
researchers working at the unit.
In addition to Helsinki, the EIT
ICT Labs will open units in
Berlin, Eindhoven, Paris and
Stockholm.
T
EIT was established in 2008
as a promoter of top-level
innovation, economic competitiveness and sustainable growth
in Europe. Its governing board
includes representatives from
research, education and business.
www.eitictlabs.eu
FLYING
responsibly
innair has launched a
new emissions calculator
that determines the
airline’s fuel consumption based
on cargo weight and passenger
numbers. Passengers can enter
online their departure and destination cities to figure out the
environmental footprint
F
feel.finnair.com
Supporting
HUMANE
INNOVATION
very two years,
Technology Academy
Finland hands out a
prize of one million euros in
recognition of a technological
E
of their journeys. Emission data
is tallied by PricewaterhouseCoopers and updated each
quarter; Finnair is the first airline
in the world to commit to publishing its emission figures on a
quarterly basis. The airline strives
to reduce its emissions by 41 per
cent between 1999 and 2017.
innovation that
has significantly
improved the quality of human life.
The Millennium
Technology Prize
was established
in 2004 to bring
attention to the humane
aspects of technological
development and the
ways in which technology can help develop
a more sustainable society.
The President of Finland hands
out the award.
The four latest winners of the
world’s largest technology prize
include Professor Tim BernersLee, founder of the World Wide
Web, Professor Shuji Nakamura,
creator of LED light technology,
Professor Robert Langer, developer of polymers for controlled
drug release, and Professor
Michael Grätzel, founder of third
generation dye-sensitised solar
cells. The next Millennium Prize
will be awarded in 2012.
www.millenniumprize.fi
PHOTO: JUKKA MYKKÄNEN
Express departures TO RUSSIA
ravel time from
Helsinki to St.
Petersburg has
been cut by two
hours, thanks to
speedy Allegro trains that whisk
passengers between the two
cities. Reaching speeds up to
220 kilometres an hour, the
trains make two daily roundtrip
T
journeys. Early departures from St.
Petersburg offer Russian travellers
convenient day trips to Helsinki.
One-way tickets for adults cost 84
euros. Allegro traffic is a joint venture
between Finnish railway company
(VR) and Russian Railways (RZD).
www.vr.fi
5
HEALTH • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
We are all individual, so shouldn’t we get
customised treatment for our diseases?
BY LEENA KOSKENLAAKSO
PHOTOS BY ISTOCKPHOTO
AND GARY WORNELL
Up close
and personal
esearchers in Finland
have a good picture of
what hereditary diseases
people are susceptible
to, based on where they
and their parents grew up. Such
genetic mapping helps understand
the causes of different diseases and
gives researchers insight into their
treatment.
“But the information we get from
genes is only part of the story,” says
Professor Jonathan Knowles of the
Institute for Molecular Medicine
Finland (FIMM). “The other part is
the environment. We haven’t yet
understood enough to predict what is
going to happen to each of us, based
on what is written in the genome.”
What has now changed, however, is
the dramatic explosion in opportunities for new diagnostics and therapies.
This upsurge has taken place in
the last five years as a result of the
application of molecular technologies
to medicine.
“These studies have direct implications. When the correct therapy is
defined for a patient, a better result is
obviously achieved.”
R
6
Knowles should know, for he is
a world-recognised authority and
proponent of personalised medicine
with over twenty years of experience at
the senior executive level in the global
pharmaceutical industry.
Farewell to ineffective remedies
Up until now, doctors have treated
diseases with more or less standard
therapeutic regimes. Today, the focus is
shifting to personalised medicine.
About time, too. According to Professor Arto Urtti of the Centre for Drug
Research at the University of Helsinki,
only three out of every ten patients who
take a certain drug get real help from
it. Another three take their medication
irregularly so it doesn’t help them
much. A further three take it, but it
doesn’t help them at all. And the tenth
unlucky patient only gets worse.
Knowles has similar experiences:
“Every time you run a clinical trial
– which is the most precise form of testing new drugs and therapies – usually
between one-third and two-thirds of
the patients do not respond to the treatment.” Knowles is convinced molecular
personalisation of therapy is the answer.
7
HEALTH • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
Cancer blood tests within reach
Innovation in full swing
HIV used to be a death sentence, but
Knowles says the pace with which
now in many countries HIV patients
practical clinical applications are now
have roughly the same life span as
being created from scientific discoveries
healthy people.
is incredible.
“This is due to very highly focused
“There is a whole new set of medical
and accurate molecular diagnostics. It
products to be created on the back
allows the creation of a specific cocktail,
of this technological revolution in
a combination of antiviral therapies, for
medicine. Finland has an extraordinary
that particular patient,” says Knowles.
opportunity to participate and lead this
What is coming closer, though, is the
development,” he suggests.
opportunity to do the same thing for
Development of new therapies
cancer.
requires partnerships with pharmaceuti“There won’t be a magic
cal companies. With
bullet therapy, but it
today’s molecular
IN THE FUTURE,
is already possible to
diagnostic technoloidentify some cancers
gies, it is possible to
A SIMPLE BLOOD
from one millilitre of
identify the patients
TEST CAN
blood. The diagnostics
who will benefit from
DIAGNOSE
will increasingly be based
clinical trials.
CANCER.
on blood samples, so you
“The level of Finnish
may not even need sammedical science is
ples of the tumour. By utilising detailed
high. In addition, Finland has a number
molecular diagnostics you can design
of other major advantages that make
the right therapy – which will be a novel
it suitable for the creation of a centre
combination of anti-cancer drugs – and
of excellence where new therapies can
measure its efficacy.”
be developed in collaboration with
“In the future,” Knowles continues,
international partners. We have coher“when you go for your annual medical
ent long-term patient records, which is
check-up, a simple blood test can give
remarkable and very rare globally. We
you an early diagnosis of, say, lung
also have a very educated population
cancer. That will allow an operation that
with patients who are willing to particiremoves the tumour, perhaps followed
pate in medical research.”
by a short precise drug treatment, so you
Knowles adds, “And because Finland is
can actually cure the cancer.”
a small country, we have a pragmatism
Knowles gives another example of the
and an ability to get the right people
applications of precision blood tests.
around the same table. This makes deci“They can advise people who have
sion making easier.”
cardiovascular problems that they in
particular are in serious danger. This
will allow them to manage their condimidgard.genome.helsinki.fi
tion better.”
{ }
Professor
Jonathan Knowles
is a proponent of
personalised medicine.
Flourishing
genetic
research
8
he distinct genetic
characteristics of the
Finnish population have
been studied by the Institute
for Molecular Medicine Finland
(FIMM) and its collaborators
as part of the Finnish Gene
Atlas project. This exceptionally
extensive undertaking involves
collection and analysis of
T
genome-wide gene marker data
for more than 40,000 Finns.
The passion and dedication
of pioneering Finnish genetic
researchers such as the late
academician Leena PeltonenPalotie have considerably
contributed to the significant
advances made in genetic
research during the last ten years.
A private clinic uses the latest
innovative treatments for the
benefit of cancer patients.
BY LEENA KOSKENLAAKSO PHOTOS BY OSKARI HELLMAN
Docrates
tailors
treatment
ssociate Professor Timo
Joensuu, clinical director at
Docrates Clinic in Helsinki,
refers with pleasure to the 2007 Eurocare 4 study on survival of patients
with cancer.
“Finland ranked very well. We are
amongst the best in treatment results
for the more common cancers. We
also excel in radiation therapy, with
Helsinki at the forefront in devising
the best radiation dosage plans.”
Docrates utilises the newest
technologies in cancer imaging and
radiation therapy, supporting patients
with cancer all through the treatment
and follow-up periods. Treatment
is tailored individually for each
person, with a view to maintaining an
optimal quality of life.
“This concept is unique in terms of
overall service. We look at all issues
from the patient’s perspective; our
aim is not to maximise treatments.”
A
Help and hope
Joensuu says Docrates raised external
radiation to a new level with its
RapidArc technology. It combines the
best features of the previously existing
radiation therapy forms.
“We have also started using high
dynamic range (HDR) technology,
which allows us to give additional
intratissue radiation therapy to cancer
patients,” he explains.
Another important new cancer
treatment is Lutetium therapy, which is
used for treating rare neuroendocrine
tumours.
Genetic therapy involving oncolytic
viruses is still an experimental
treatment strategy used at the clinic.
It has been developed in co-operation
with academic research. Furthermore,
Docrates’ patients can participate in
clinical trials testing new cancer drugs.
“In the future, an increasing part of
cancer drugs will be based on nanotechnology, because it enables more
accurate targeting of treatment on the
cellular level. Radiological imaging,
too, will benefit from the increased
accuracy of nanotechnology,” Joensuu
notes.
www.docrates.com
Timo Joensuu (on right) talks
to a patient about personalised
cancer treatment.
9
HEALTH • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
10
IN CANCER, THE IMMUNE SYSTEM FALLS ASLEEP LIKE THE FAIRYTALE PRINCESS.
CANCER RESEARCHERS ARE LOOKING FOR THE
PRINCE TO COME TO THE RESCUE.
BY LEENA KOSKENLAAKSO PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO
FINDING
PRINCE CHARMING
ne of the main
areas in cancer
research is the
immune system
and how it works,” says Professor
Kimmo Porkka, chief physician of the
haematology clinic at the Helsinki University Central Hospital. “We all have
cancer cells, but as long as the immune
system eliminates them, we do not get
the disease. Cancer develops when our
immune response fails.”
Previously, it was believed that when
you get cancer, the cells involved in the
immune system cease to exist.
“We have managed to prove that at
least in leukaemia, the immune system
cells fighting cancer are still there, but
they have fallen asleep like Sleeping
Beauty. We are trying to find the prince
to come and wake them up.”
Porkka and his team are on the
right track.
“We have already managed to find a
couple of princes. They are very effective
drugs that are targeted at the genetic
deviations in malignant cells, but also
stimulate the immune system to restart
the fight against cancer.”
“O
Revolution in treatment
Targeted drugs are the key to tomorrow’s
cancer treatment. Malignant blood
disorders such as leukaemia are the
first diseases for which these drugs
have been developed.
This is because cancerous tissue
in blood and bone marrow is easily
accessible for research. Ample blood
and bone marrow samples can be taken
repeatedly before, during and after the
treatment. That, in turn, facilitates
detailed dissection of cancer-causing
molecular events.
Biobanks help
Porkka is convinced the new biobank
being set up in the premises of the
Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland
(FIMM) at the Meilahti campus – where
the Helsinki University Central Hospital
is located – will be a crucial asset for
cancer research.
The biobank is a professionally
managed archive of human-derived
samples, where samples of cancer
tissue are stored for researchers to use.
Some of the most important national
biobanking resources are located on the
Meilahti campus. This makes it not only
the most important hub for biomedical
research in Finland but unique also
on a global scale.
“Luckily, Finnish cancer patients
are extremely willing to contribute
to medical research. They allow their
blood samples to be stored in a biobank
and participate in clinical trials of new
drugs,” says Porkka.
“Ten years from now, many cancers
will have become chronic diseases similar to high blood pressure and diabetes.
This will be enabled by the new drugs
that are being developed today.”
{ }
WE HAVE ALREADY
MANAGED TO FIND A
COUPLE OF PRINCES
THAT STIMULATE THE
IMMUNE SYSTEM.
The cancer cells of each patient are
unique. After making a detailed genetic
profile of the samples, one can identify
the patients that are likely to benefit
from a particular drug.
As Porkka puts it, there is a revolution
going on in the medication and treatment of leukaemia, thanks to the new
methods based on genetic technologies
that enable individual treatment.
www.hus.fi
11
HEALTH • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
oing to a doctor who
sends you to the laboratory can mean weeks of
waiting for test results to
arrive, but with a rapid
diagnosis test you get
the results immediately. Rapid tests are a
necessity in places like the small towns
and villages of India where hospitals and
laboratories are few and far between.
For the poorest part of the Indian
population, there is constant demand for
inexpensive solutions. The growing middle
class of 400 million people, however, can
afford to pay a bit more for their rapid
diagnostic services.
G
Academic collaboration
Rapid
diagnoses
For countries like India, new
rapid diagnostic solutions
can be critical lifesavers.
BY LEENA KOSKENLAAKSO
PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO
12
The University of Turku is co-operating
with the University of Delhi and the
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) to develop
affordable rapid diagnostic methods. The
research team led by Professor Kim Pettersson aims at improving the sensitivity and
reliability of dipstick tests for infectious
diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C,
and tuberculosis. Another Indo-Finnish
research team is developing methods for
diagnosing dengue fever, a serious virusbased disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
“Blood transfusion saves lives but there is
a major imbalance between developing and
industrialised countries in regard to access
to safe blood. Pregnant women and children
are particularly vulnerable to blood
High infant mortality is also a major
transfusion-transmitted infections.
There is an urgent need for developing problem. Medix Biochemica provides
tools to help Indian midwives monitor
inexpensive strategies for safe blood
pregnancies. One of the tests detects in
transfusion,” says group leader Navin
five minutes if the foetal membranes
Khanna of the Recombinant Gene
have ruptured prematurely. Another
Products laboratory at the Internais a simple bedside dipstick test to
tional Centre for Genetic Engineering
measure whether
and Biotechnolthe mother is merely
ogy in New Delhi.
experiencing normal
“The World
FINLAND IS A
preterm contractions
Health OrganizaWORLD LEADER
or whether she is
tion recommends
IN DEVELOPING
about to give birth.
that, at a miniNOVEL DIAGNOSTIC
Furthermore, Ani
mum, all blood for
CONCEPTS.
Biotech has developed
transfusion should
two kinds of rapid
be screened for
immunodiagnostic
HIV, hepatitis B
tests for heart attacks, which cause
and C, malaria and syphilis. The IndoFinnish collaboration aims to develop 1.5 million deaths in India each year.
One predicts the probability of a
an affordable, robust, rapid, simple
heart attack; the other diagnoses it
and sensitive system for testing these
infectious diseases in blood banks,” he afterwards, based on cells that have
died from lack of oxygen.
explains.
{ }
Making things happen
Local presence needed
Khanna has been pleasantly surprised
by the enthusiasm of Finnish
researchers, and the high level of
natural synergy between colleagues.
“Finland is a world leader in
developing novel diagnostic concepts.
The University of Turku has a highly
focused research team and a critical
mass of researchers to make a significant impact in this area. The Finnish
researchers have a special ability to
make things happen, and our research
group has benefited immensely from
this collaboration.”
Khanna hopes to see the partnership strengthened with a long-term
exchange programme for students.
Aimo Niskanen, managing director of
Ani Biotech, is keen for the company to
establish a sales office in India.
“The lesson we have learned is that
significant business cannot be done in
India without a local presence,” comments Niskanen. The company’s main
markets are currently the European
Union, China and Japan.
Ismo Råman, CEO of Medix
Biochemica, says that special products
and high quality make Finnish rapid
diagnostic products globally competitive. His company’s main markets are
the European Union, Japan and Korea,
but India is an emerging contender.
“There is demand for Finnish
products amongst affluent Indian
middle-class consumers. Local production is the answer in the lower income
segment,” Råman concludes.
Saving babies
In India, diarrhoea caused by the dangerous rotavirus kills large numbers of
infants every year. Finnish diagnostics
company Ani Biotech has developed
tests for identifying dangerous forms
of diarrhoea. Sister company Ani
Labsystems produces tests for screening and identification of metabolic
disorders in newly born babies. All of
these blood-based tests are being or
starting to be used in India.
An all-in-one, ready-to-use hospital
shipped to a far-off location by
helicopter. Now how about that?
BY LEENA KOSKENLAAKSO
ILLUSTRATION BY PETRI TURUNEN
Hospital
in a container
xpandable containers serving
as health care clinics or even
fully functional hospitals with
laboratory facilities are manufactured in
Rautalampi in central Finland. Morehouse’s
termite-proof, multi-purpose modules can
be used in demanding field conditions
all around the world.
“The containers are built and equipped
to customer specifications from beginning to end,” says managing director
Pekka Tuomela.
Morehouse’s container suitable for
hospital use is a 20-foot sea container
which, when opened out, triples its volume,
expanding into a utility area of 40 square
metres. The floor space can be divided into
several rooms centred around a corridor.
The container can be used on its own, or as
a combination of several adjacent modules.
The units can be brought to the location by
truck, sea, rail, plane or helicopter.
“Our modules have been used all around
the world by customers such as the
Finnish Defence Forces, who use them in
international peace-keeping operations. The
containers are easy to install and relocate.
Assembling a container unit takes only 40
minutes.”
E
www.morehouse.fi
www.an
nibiotech.fi
www.meedixbiochemica.fi
13
CULTURE • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
Accordion adventurist Kimmo
Pohjonen is no slave to the
score. That’s why the energy
at his concerts flows freely and
the performer becomes the
instrument.
is studio is on a quiet
street in downtown
Helsinki. The most
important elements
decorating the room are
natural light, a good chair for accordion
playing, a bed and empty floor space.
“This is where I create my music.
I sit with my eyes closed and play.
Sometimes I stand and spin like a top.
I might repeat a piece dozens of times
until the movement spins in a new
direction. Generating inspiration takes
work,” Pohjonen says.
Pohjonen’s compositions have been
performed by some of the world’s
finest classical music orchestras – from
the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta to the
American Kronos Quartet. KTU, the
band he established with Trey Gunn
and Pat Mastelotto, has received raves
from both jazz and rock experts. He
has played with various ensembles on
nearly one hundred albums.
Music critics call Pohjonen a
shaman and the Jimi Hendrix of the
accordion. The same composition can
be contemporary, primeval folk music,
barrier-breaking rock or classical à la
Sofia Gubaidulina. His compositions
often draw parallels to nature.
“Freedom is an intrinsic value for me;
it isn’t easy to categorise my music. It
is Finnish. The strong, clearly distinct
four seasons can be heard in my
H
compositions. People of the north are
constantly seeking harmony. I have a
strong bond with Finnish folk music
and with the Kalevala.”
Walking through the wall
Pohjonen laughs at the mention of
his K Cube performance in Helsinki
the previous night which was more
reminiscent of the woodsy Canadian
Neil Young than of Hendrix.
“Being woodsy is good. Swimming in
the sea year-round could be included
in that image. I’m also a typical Finnish toiler; I might tinker with some
electronics-related task for hours on
end. My accordion is an acoustic and
electric instrument in one. It starts to
resemble the synthesis of an accordion
and church organ.”
At the Tavastia Club, Pohjonen’s
accordion harmonises with Timo
Kämäräinen’s guitar and Sami
Kuoppamäki’s drums.
“The concert formed a harmonious
ritual. The energy gradually started
flowing between the musicians and
between the band and the audience.
There were moments when the music
could go in any direction. I felt like I
could have walked through the wall.
“Surprising things can happen when
the charge of energy is really big. That’s
why I don’t write notes. Every musician
in a concert has an image about the
music to be performed but the music
can flow freely.”
A physical experience
The extreme physicality of the give
and take of energy in Pohjonen’s
performance had one New York Times
critic wondering about the musician’s
endurance. Surrendering to the free
flow of music is not without danger.
Shaman of
freedom
14
“Sometimes when the charge grows, I
have to almost wrestle my instrument.
If I become the underdog, a chaotic
phase might follow, and then the
instrument plays me like a doll. It is
interesting, but exhausting.”
www.kimmopohjonen.com
BY JORMA LEPPÄNEN
PHOTO BY MARJA SEPPÄLÄ
OLD CAPITAL,
ENDLESS CHARM
The Finnish city of Turku claims
the title of European Capital of
Culture in 2011. Thousands of
events will be held in this historical town throughout the year;
below are a few highlights.
BATTLE 2011
This performance art spectacle is
the creation of accordionist Kimmo
Pohjonen. Held at the Paavo Nurmi
Stadium, it combines wrestling, music
and ambitious visual effects.
AUGUST 31, SEPTEMBER 2–3
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Several projects have been inspired
by the infamous fire that demolished
Turku in 1827. The Great Fire of Turku
is a two-part dance performance that
depicts ordinary life during that time and
explores questions of guilt and blame
in the face of disaster. 1827 – Infernal
Musical, meanwhile, is created from
both Finnish and foreign modern metal
songs. A year-long art exhibition entitled
Fire! Fire! addresses human fascination
with flames.
THE GREAT FIRE OF TURKU:
SEPTEMBER 2–4
1822 – INFERNAL MUSICAL:
JANUARY 21–FEBRUARY 5
FIRE! FIRE!: JANUARY 16–DECEMBER 15
CELEBRATING THE BALTIC SEA
The New Baltic Drama Festival will
include Baltic Sea-inspired works by
playwrights from Finland, Sweden,
Russia and Estonia (where Tallinn is
the other Capital of Culture this year).
The summertime Lights Concert Series,
promoting archipelago protection, will
feature jazz and classical music in various
corners of the archipelago.
LIGHTS CONCERT SERIES: APRIL 28–JULY 22
NEW BALTIC DRAMA: TURKU CITY THEATRE,
AUTUMN
www.turku2011.fi
15
WATER • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
he land of 188,000
or industrial use in an energy-efficient
lakes is a world
and cost-effective way will be a central
leader in technology challenge.
for purifying, rePromising new technologies
using and saving
water. Now, bright
There are some 15,000 desalination
minds are immersed plants globally, with an annual growth
in converting
rate in the market of around 10 per cent.
seawater into fresh water.
“Traditionally, desalination
“Desalination of seawater is one of
technologies were seen as expensive
the biggest growth markets globally in
and energy-intensive. Now, a number
water technology,” says
of paths are being
Johan Grön, executive
developed to address
vice president, R&D and
the energy efficiency
DESALINATION OF
Technology at Finland’s
aspect. Here, we see
SEAWATER IS ONE
biggest water chemicals
the total efficiency
OF THE BIGGEST
firm Kemira.
improvement as
GROWTH MARKETS
In 2010, the Centre of
an integration
IN WATER
Water Efficiency Excelapproach of equipTECHNOLOGY.
lence (SWEET) was
ment, chemistry and
established to consoliprocess control,”
date and advance knowremarks Grön.
how in these areas. Led by the VTT
The main techniques are reverse
Technical Research Centre and Kemira,
osmosis, membrane desalination and
the centre seeks new business opportuthermal desalination. In the mid-1990s,
nities in the cleantech sector. Over the
membrane desalination surpassed
next four years, two hundred experts
thermal as the most commonly-used
will carry out research at partnering
technique.
companies’ facilities, with a potential
More recently, reverse osmosis techinvestment of 120 million euros.
nologies have become less expensive
SWEET experts are engaged with crudue to improvements in membrane
cial issues such as reducing industrial
science.
water use, converting wastewater sludge
“However, fouling of membranes is
into energy, and using electrochemical
a major drawback in reverse osmosis.
purification and nanofiltration.
Chemistry solutions can improve
Conversion of seawater for drinking
the performance of these systems. In
addition, pre- and post-chemical treatment systems can improve operations
and water quality.”
The largest market for desalination
will be located in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Mediterranean countries
through 2015 at least, Grön predicts.
While efficiency still hampers broader
application of desalination, Grön sees
“promising developments towards
T
{ }
Johan Grön is one of the bright
minds behind converting seawater
into fresh water.
overcoming these limitations, including
more innovative equipment design and
chemistry applications.”
In order to ensure clean water for all
in the future, research is also aimed at
reducing water consumption. Finding
more efficient ways to remove organic
impurities, heavy metals and radioactivity from water is a necessity as well.
Traditional methods are being
expanded through electrochemical
purification and nanotechnology.
“It’s important to deal with the reject
material from these processes,” notes
Grön. “Chemistry has a role in cleaning
rejected waters from some of these
emerging technologies.”
The power of sludge
Producing fuel from biomass left over
after purification opens interesting
prospects.
“Sludge from wastewater treatment
can be used for energy by converting
the organic matter into methane via
anaerobic digestion,” explains Grön.
“The digestion process can be optimised
by supplementing it with nutrients,
which improves the operation’s energy
efficiency. We can also extract valuable
nutrients such as phosphorus and
nitrate from sludge, methane for energy
and naturally water, which can even be
recirculated as potable.”
Significant improvements have been
achieved in water use efficiency.
“Kemira has long been involved in
improving water use reduction and
developing closed-loop water systems
in the pulp and paper industry,”
highlights Grön.
Yet another growth area is water reuse.
“Many municipal wastewater plants
are introducing systems where product
water is reused for irrigation, industrial
use and even indirect usage suitable for
drinking. These are new areas of application in many water-scarce regions of the
world.”
www.vtt.fi
www.kemira.com
Clean seawater is a matter of life.
Photo courtesy of Baltic Sea Action Group.
16
FROM OCEAN
to tap
What if the world could start
drinking seawater? Not as far-away
of a vision as you might think.
BY WIF STENGER PHOTOS BY SUSANNA KEKKONEN AND JANNE GRÖNING
17
WATER • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
hallow, brackish, heavily
trafficked and nearly
enclosed, the Baltic may be
the world’s most polluted
sea. Finland hosts the
Baltic Sea countries’ monitoring group
HELCOM and its BRISK project, which
prepares oil spill risk management
plans and scenarios for the sea.
A year ago, the Baltic Sea Action
Summit brought regional leaders to
Helsinki to address the critical state
of their shared waterway and gather
concrete commitments from states,
companies and NGOs. These included
Russian premier Vladimir Putin’s
pledge to re-start work on a wastewater
treatment plant in Kaliningrad, one of
the biggest eutrophication hot spots
in the Baltic. Since a similar Finnishfunded plant opened in St. Petersburg
in 2005, the water in the eastern end
of the Gulf of Finland is cleaner, with
less toxic algae.
“Eutrophication caused by wastewater
and agricultural runoff is one key
problem,” says Mathias Bergman,
secretary general of the Baltic Sea
Action Group (BSAG).
“Dealing with its causes will involve
drastic rearrangement of European
agricultural policies,” he adds.
S
Disaster waiting to happen
For a
cleaner
Baltic
BY WIF STENGER PHOTOS BY JUKKA RAPO / GORILLA AND FRED LARSEN
The Baltic Sea is a vulnerable ecosystem. And its protection calls for
efficient international co-operation.
18
Equally worrying is the risk of a
large oil spill.
“All Baltic Sea states must ensure
that maritime traffic management is
uniform and safe, while upgrading oil
spill prevention and combat equipment
in order to minimise the effects of a
disaster,” Bergman asserts.
Like many experts, Bergman believes
the question is not whether there
will be a major oil spill in the Baltic –
but rather when.
After all, this often-icy route is one of
the most trafficked sea areas, with some
2,000 vessels sailing at any time; and
one quarter of these tankers carry oil or
other chemicals. This total is expected
to increase to 3,500 vessels by 2015.
“While the overall risks of sea transportation grow, manning onboard has
been minimised and crews frequently
suffer from fatigue – one of the
most common causes of accidents,”
he points out.
As climate change brings more
extreme weather, safety must be
constantly improved. One step is
the implementation of the software
program AIS+, which provides ships
with fast information on weather, ice
conditions and traffic.
All eyes on the archipelago
Shipping regulations in the Baltic have
become stricter since 2005, when the
International Maritime Organisation
declared it a Particularly Sensitive
Sea Area, the same status as the Great
Barrier Reef, the Florida Keys and the
Galapagos Islands.
“Our special concern is the Gulf of
Finland, where the growing traffic from
the Russian oil ports poses the main
risk,” cautions Bergman.
CALL
FOR THE
CLEANUP
EXPERTS
“Both Sweden and Finland have large
archipelago areas. A large oil spill would
destroy these clusters of islands for
living, work and recreational purposes
for decades.”
Fortunately, Bergman believes Finland
has a good level of readiness for oil spill
control, including several new and
recently-converted oil combat vessels.
www.bsag.fi
www.helcom.fi
hen the Gulf of
Mexico oil disaster
struck in April
2010, Lamor, a family-owned
company in Porvoo, Finland,
leapt into action.
“Lamor became the largest
supplier of response equipment
for the biggest maritime oil spill
ever,” says CEO Fred Larsen.
Our Emergency Response
Team (ERT) played a significant
role. We’ve had personnel in
Louisiana commissioning and
maintaining recovery equipment as well as training local
fishermen in spill response.”
Lamor installed collection
units on more than 450 vessels.
Despite this, and during the
most hectic period, Lamor
delivered equipment and
ERT for other spills in China,
W
Singapore and Michigan, USA,
recalls Larsen.
The company, which specialises
in oil containment booms and
skimmers, took the busy season in
stride based on experience. Lamor
helped clean up after the 1999 Erika
tanker accident near France, the
2002 Prestige sinking off Spain
and numerous spills in Russia.
Larsen says there are crucial
lessons to be learnt from the Gulf of
Mexico experience.
“Preparedness needs to be
improved globally in terms of
stricter legislation and regulations.
When an accident happens, there’s
never enough equipment at hand.
More attention needs to be put on
developing contingency plans by
experts in the fields, not just ‘copypaste consultants’ as was revealed
during the Deepwater Horizon spill.”
www
ww
w..la
laamor
m .fi
fi
19
DOWNSHIFTING • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
The land of lakes
– and the land of serenity.
Photo courtesy of Baltic
Sea Action Group.
20
LISTEN
– SILENCE IS TALKING
“The secret of happiness, you see,
is not found in seeking more, but
in developing the capacity to enjoy
less.” Yes, even Socrates knew it.
Downshifting can be the key to a
better life. Easier said than done
when you’re surrounded by the
overpowering demands of modern
society.
Have you ever really experienced
the power of silence? Silence
could be described as one of
Finland’s most important natural
resources. Whether it’s found in a
leisurely weekend sailing trip in the
archipelago, a hike through the fells
of Lapland surrounded by autumn
colours, a crisp winter’s day fishing
on a frozen lake or a nature retreat
into the depths of an unspoiled forest
during spring’s awakening.
You deserve it, don’t you? Just to
stop for a moment and give your
inner voice a chance to tell you
what’s important?
BY TYTTI MÅRD
PHOTO BY JANNE GRÖNING
21
DESIGN • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC
DESIGN
22
N
In a globally competitive world, design means
much more than singing the praises of iconic
design items. It has evolved into a crucial resource
for everything from health care services to
transportation systems.
BY TIM BIRD PHOTOS BY AINO HUOVIO
H
elsinki’s role as
World Design
Capital in 2012
re-confirms the
reputation of
Finnish design.
However, new definitions of design bring it into the sphere
of government decision-making.
“Most design responds to global
trends, as it always has. It is also directly
influenced by fluctuations in national
economy, developments in industry
and government guidance,” says Juhani
Salovaara, senior design manager of the
Desigence design office.
“An explosion in design education
since the 1980s has made the subject
a commodity. Market-led pricing and
shrinking revenues forced the development towards multi-professionalism
and specialisation. This led to a more
universal approach to a dynamic design
business, too.”
Salovaara recognises that in nurturing
broader models, the activities of Sitra,
the Finnish Innovation Fund, provide
exactly the right opportunities for
taking design forward. Sitra has set
up the Helsinki Design Lab (HDL) to
advance strategic design ‘as a new discipline in tackling the problems of the
interdependent world’. It uses the HDL
Global forum to maximise networking
and international idea exchange. A
series of experiments brings together
leading strategic designers under the
HDL Studios umbrella.
Time for evolution
Salovaara says the design community
is ‘a relatively untapped source’ for
improving services in many social areas
and functions. Governments and communities are becoming the new clients
of design thinking.
“Design has evolved since the 1950s.
The rising cost of maintaining the
23
ILLUSTRATION: WDC HELSINKI 2012 WORKSHOPS
DESIGN • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
CAPITAL
DESIGN
W
orld Design Capital
2012 will celebrate
Finland’s renowned
traditions in design and its impressive galaxy of international design
stars, from Maija Isola and Kaj
Franck to Paola Suhonen and Harri
Koskinen. The occasion is also a
chance to involve Helsinki residents
in wider debates about how design
can play bigger roles in their lives,
contributing to and enhancing their
daily experiences.
The public has been invited to
submit ideas online about how city
life can be improved. Suggestions
range from more efficient traffic
light systems and bigger trash bins
to free public transport for pensioners and discos on beaches for kids.
Visitors too have an opportunity
to influence and participate in the
year’s programme planning through
the World Design Capital website.
www.wdc2012helsinki.fi
24
Nordic welfare society model requires
all possible resources to search for
innovative systemic solutions. We
need to solve complex social problems
of ageing and healthcare as well as
the economic survival of domestic
industries.”
Desigence, for example, has contributed concept generation and brand
consulting to Ecolution. The start-up
is developing new bio-waste treatment
services, using aerobic bioreactors
to treat bio-waste cleanly and costefficiently in urban areas. By procuring
these kinds of innovative solutions,
administrations can support creative
industries where design plays a central
role. And improve the quality of life of
their citizens.
“The rate of innovation is so fast that
we need new mechanisms,” says Marco
Steinberg, director of Strategic Design
at Sitra and a member of the HDL team.
“But strategic design won’t replace
other kinds of design, it will complement them. It’s about decision-making
and the ability to respond to challenges
and cross silos.
“Small countries may have the
advantage of being nimble. You can get
everyone around the same table fairly
easily.”
Looking at the big picture
Strategic design draws from the environment to architecture, from business
to behaviour. Say a local authority is
looking at where to locate a swimming
pool. It needs to look at the bigger
picture while taking into account bus
timetables and accessibility, as well as
the nuts-and-bolts specifications. Similar considerations need to be involved
in planning locations for new health
care facilities.
“We need a skill set that helps us
do this,” says Steinberg. “We need
to understand what drives value in
services.”
Salovaara believes that the merging of
the Helsinki School of Economics, the
Helsinki University of Technology, and
the University of Art and Design Helsinki into the single Aalto University
can only raise the existing high level
of Finnish design competence. The
establishment of the Design Factory,
Media Factory and Service Factory
draws on the specialist contributions
of Aalto’s three schools; and illustrates
such a move towards silo-crossing.
The Design Factory serves as a physical and brainstorming arena where
ideas can be germinated and processed.
This often happens in co-operation
with companies such as Nokia and
KONE – a spirit of collaboration that
focuses on concrete results.
In a similar spirit, the Design for
All (DfA) initiative aims at ‘design
for a society based on equality and
inclusion’. This means improving accessibility and making things easy to use.
The Finnish DfA is the largest and most
cross-disciplinary of the corresponding
European national networks. It brings
together nearly 40 research institutions,
universities and other organisations,
emphasising sustainability in all kinds
of design.
www.helsinkidesignlab.org
dfasuomi.stakes.fi
www.desigence.com
www.ecolution.fi
COUNTRY,
brand and myth
{
hen I lived in the Netherlands,
I befriended some Finns in
the travel industry. They had
a stuffed reindeer that they
would haul from one event to another. The
reindeer annoyed me. I finally blurted: “Do
you have to drag that thing everywhere? It
has nothing to do with modern Finnish life!”
They looked surprised and said: “Of course we
always bring the reindeer. The Dutch love it!”
When I recapped that story to branding
consultant Simon Anholt, he burst out laughing: “Just keep parading the reindeer. Why
fight it?” Finland’s country brand historically
revolves around three themes: creativity,
W
report is Finland’s practical approach to problem
solving. Pragmatism can be a great asset when it
comes to solving the world’s peskiest problems.
Our creative problem-solving ability and high level
of education stem from our history, in which wars,
recessions and other crises have united us in a battle for
a better future. We have fought for equality by sharing
our wealth and combating regional and social inequality.
Education and technology have been our main weapons
in the fight for prosperity. This message has now been
built into our national brand – a message that has global
carrying power. A country brand can strengthen the
positive traits for which Finland is famous – as well as
increase appreciation for our expertise.
Of course we
always bring the
reindeer. The Dutch
love it!
Laura Kolbe
The author is a Professor of European History at the University
of Helsinki. She was a member of the Finland Country Brand Committee appointed to update Finland’s national image. The final report
listed over 100 suggestions for promoting Finland and strengthening
its international competitiveness.
nature and education. Did the Country
Brand Committee manage to shake off
any of these myths in their efforts to
update our national image?
Finland is stereotyped as a nation on
the fringe of Europe. We presume that we
are ‘closer to nature’ because our culture
is younger than that of Continental Europe.
Nature is still our main selling point, even
when we market our modern,
industrial lifestyle. The Committee updated this nature
myth by adding two new
dimensions: technological
expertise and clean water.
The media’s great interest in the Committee’s
work made us very
cautious about our
methods and communication strategy.
The Committee
enlisted the help of the
public, brainstorming with
everyday Finns in workshops,
seminars and even on live TV.
What shines through in the final
PHOTO: ANTTI KANGASSALO
Column
FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • COLUMN • LAURA KOLBE
25
WILD CREATIVITY • FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • BY LAURA PALOTIE AND KIRSI-MARJA KAUPPALA
Heartfelt
recklessness
FINNISH SPECIALITY
o one can
accuse The
Guts to
Dudesons or
do the
Arman Alizad
weirdest
of not making
things
sacrifices for their
art. While Alizad,
producer and star of reality television
series Kill Arman, has voluntarily taken
a beating from some of the world’s most
skilled martial arts experts, the four
members of The Dudesons make a living
performing loony stunts that regularly
send them to hospital.
But the fearlessness has certainly
paid off. Alizad’s martial arts and
travel programme hybrid has been
N
sold to more than 100 countries. The
Dudesons, meanwhile, took their antics
to American Music Television with a
12-episode contract after four seasons
in Europe. Behind both shows is Rabbit
Films, a production company led by
Jarno Laasala of The Dudesons.
“We’ve always had faith that we know
how to do this, even when no one else
had the same, insane faith in us,” says
Jukka Hilden, member of The Dudesons
and partner and CIO at Rabbit Films.
“Because we knew nothing about how
a television show should be made, we
created it in an entirely new way.”
The Dudesons first met Alizad through
short-lived Finnish cable television
channel MoonTV several years ago;
Kill Arman director Tuukka Tiensuu
also works as creative producer at Rabbit
Films. The production company has
overseen international marketing for
Kill Arman, whose first season began
distribution abroad in the spring of 2009.
“Alizad’s show, unlike The Dudesons,
contains slightly more highbrow
humour,” says Hilden with a laugh.
“It combines martial arts and different
cultures in a rather appealing way, plus
it’s an impressive story of one man challenging himself.”
Hilden says that The Dudesons aren’t
actively searching for the next Rabbit
Films hit series, but do keep their eyes
open. “We’re in a passion-driven
business, so we love to work with
people who believe in their projects
whole-heartedly,” he says.
PHOTO: JAAKKO KUIVAMÄKI
w w.du
www
.d
dudes
du
desons
o s.co
ons
com
co
m
WILD
creativity
sometimes, going nuts can translate into global success
26
nly in
Finland,
even the most
Knees
serious sport
deep in it
can be turned
into great fun.
The world
championships of snow and swamp
soccer attract open-minded sport
enthusiasts from all over the world.
Roughly 1,000 players and spectators
gather for snow soccer games in
February. During swamp soccer world
championship weekend in July, as
many as 30,000 visitors take over the
tiny (population 2,800) Hyrynsalmi
municipality in northern Finland.
Last year’s swamp soccer teams were
from Spain, the Netherlands, Germany,
Sweden, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine.
O
FINNISH SPECIALITY
Time
to play
www.suopotkupallo.fi
Dare to wear it
PHOTO: STEINÞÓRA HILDUR CLAUSEN
FINNISH SPECIALITY
have lost
contact with
reality,
proEmpathy-rich
claims a pink
pumping
t-shirt. Have a
machine
Prozac and smile,
says another.
At first glance, these slogans can seem
insensitive, but for Helsinki-based
Mentalwear, a small serving of shock
value is just what the doctor ordered. For
the last 12 years, founder Satu Viskari’s
mission has been to draw attention to
mental illness in Finland and remove
the associated stigma.
The concept for Mentalwear was born
when Viskari was employed as a mental
health worker at a private clinic and
looking for fresh ways to raise funds for
the cause. The slogans stemmed from
her experiences on the job.
“At first they didn’t really sell, but then
different media outlets got in touch and
the whole thing just blew up,” she says.
I
Viskari says that many mental health patients
have sported these shirts proudly from the get-go.
“When the media and celebrities got onboard,
one of my customers started bragging about
how he actually had a mental illness unlike so
many people who were wearing my shirts,” says
Viskari, who runs the company together with
graphic designer Annukka Leppänen.
“I think attitudes towards mental illness have
changed somewhat since the company started;
it’s easier to talk about these issues through
humour,” she says. “But some stubborn
stereotypes remain. People still assume
that schizophrenia patients, for example,
are aggressive and unpredictable.”
Mentalwear has participated in
several campaigns bringing attention
to social issues. The company
donates 15 per cent from the
wholesale price of each product
to the Finnish Association for
Mental Health.
w .meenta
www
nt lw
wear.
ar.fi
fi
27
WILD CREATIVITY • FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • BY LAURA PALOTIE AND KIRSI-MARJA KAUPPALA
Sign & shout!
FINNISH SPECIALITY
ip-hop
artist
Handy
Signmark
loudalias
Marko
speakers
Vuoriheimo, 32,
proves there’s no
such thing as an impossible dream. Deaf
since birth, this determined Finn wanted
to make music and work towards
breaking preconceptions. Now he has
released two albums, performed and
spoken publicly about the rights of deaf
people in more than 20 countries. He
has also set up an enterprise, Signmark
Productions, and works as a special representative for Finnish foreign minister
Alexander Stubb.
Nothing challenges the stereotype
of the silent Finnish male – at least
when watching the 30 young men of
Mieskuoro Huutajat (Men’s Choir The
Shouters). Originally from Oulu, The
Shouters gave their first performance
in 1987 on Finnish Independence
Day, December 6th, shouting the
Finnish national anthem. The choir
has performed all over the world, from
the Roskilde rock festival to the Sydney
Opera House. Their repertoire consists of
conductor Petri Sirviö’s arrangements
of familiar songs.
Marko Vuoriheimo
delivers music with his
bare hands.
H
WILD
creativity
www.signmark.biz
www.huutajat.org
28
PHOTO: JAANI FÖHR
The Shouters perform
for a variety of audiences
from rock clubs to
chamber music concerts.
Made up in Finland
Ratio of patents granted per capita
PER MILLION PEOPLE PER YEAR
FINNISH SPECIALITY
he land
known
Inventionfor its lakes
and forests,
centric
certainly
processor
has no
shortage of
ideas either. Did you know Finns hand
in over 2,000 patent applications a
year? That makes Finns, per capita, one
of the five most innovative populations in the world.
“Most Finnish inventions these days
are related to energy, gaming or health
industries. Some have even become
worldwide hits, such as mobile phones,
F-Secure computer security software,
Polar and Suunto heart rate monitors,
and Footbalance insoles,” says Juha
Jutila, executive director of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions.
Many earlier start-ups have also
become success stories. Autorobot
T
Finland
Worldwide
SOURCE: WWW.NATIONMASTER.COM
Finland, founded by Olavi Venäläinen
exports more than 90 per cent of its
production. The company designs,
manufactures and markets auto body
straightening machines for repairing
vehicles damaged by collisions.
Finland’s most successful inventor
must be Göran Sundholm, creator of
over 110 patents in Finland, and more
than 1,000 granted patents worldwide.
His breakthrough proved to be Marioff,
the world’s leading supplier of water
mist fire protection systems. His latest
invention is a waste collection system
called MariMatic. These eco-friendly
Taifun waste handling vacuum conveying
systems are already in operation in
over 30 countries.
Sundholm claims his secret lies in
archived knowledge accumulated
throughout the years, and his ability to
transfer technologies to different fields.
Business thinking is crucial.
“A successful innovation is created based
on customer needs. It has to sell well and
be profitable,” Sundholm concludes.
www.marimatic.com
FINNISH SPECIALITY
ne
of the
goals of the
An ear
Savonlinna
for it
Opera Festival, held each
summer in
a 536-year-old castle in eastern Finland,
is to be a trailblazer in its particular
art form. In their efforts to get new
audiences interested in opera, organisers recently decided to hand over the
creative reigns to the general public. The
resulting project, Opera by You, invites
everyone to participate in the creation of
a full-length opera for the 2012 festival,
be it the story, the libretto, the score, the
costumes or the design of the stage.
Head of productions Jukka Pohjolainen says that Opera by You stemmed
from the organisers’ wish to get a
younger audience interested in opera.
O
According to a 2009 study, about 68 per
cent of the festival’s attendees that year
were 50 or older.
“We thought that if we found a way
to create an opera as a collective effort,
even if someone writes only two sentences, that would be incentive enough
to come and check out the finished
product,” he says.
Since the spring of 2010, anyone
interested has been able to join an
online community and submit short
melody suggestions, lines of dialogue
and suggestions for costumes and sets.
The submitted elements are pieced
together into a cohesive whole by Pohjolainen, composer Markus Fagerudd,
opera director Jere Erkkilä, librettist
Iida Hämeen-Anttila, production
leader Sivi Uitto and project manager
Päivi Salmi. The final creation will be
performed by an 80-member choir and
a symphony orchestra. Participants from
dozens of countries have contributed so
far, including professional composers,
designers and musicians as well as
ordinary opera fans.
“I’m happy that we’ve had the courage
to jump onboard with this and trust that
it’s going to work,” says Pohjolainen.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
Citizen composition
www.operabyyou.com/en
29
HEAVYWEIGHTS • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
Networking so typical to
the service business has
sparked a new kind of
leadership in Finland, says
business life and leadership
expert, philosopher and
Doctor of Political Science
Maija-Riitta Ollila.
BY JORMA LEPPÄNEN
PHOTO BY ANTTI KANGASSALO
From
arguments
to incentives
eading customer-centric,
service-focused networks
is not at all like leading the
hierarchical organisations
of the industrial era.
“There had to be a change in the
approach with employees – from giving
orders to justification, and from arguments to incentives. Shared interest
alone is not enough to create a world of
shared values, which is the foundation
of functional, sustainable networks,”
Ollila notes.
The next big leadership project, she
says, is related to creativity.
“For the past three hundred years,
the focus has been on developing more
rational organisations. The cerebral
activity fuelling creativity – sensory
experiences, instincts, emotions, intuition – has been suppressed in favour
of rationality. We must set creativity
free and build communities where all
aspects of human nature are supported
in harmony,” says Ollila.
Creativity is also a communal characteristic. Creating smart groups is the
way of the future.
L
30
“Leaders must think about what
kinds of communities have the ability
to regenerate creativity. The herd
behaviour of humans is already being
put to positive use, whilst averting the
downsides of groupthink.”
Justice through diversity
Leadership must also recognise that
values are changing and young people
are assigning more importance to
relationships and free-time. Finns have
traditionally viewed work as a moral
obligation; that, however, is no longer
a motivator. The importance of motivation is increasing, in which a perceived
sense of justice is a critical element.
“Different people must be treated
in different ways to achieve the
same end result for everyone: an
increase in experienced well-being.”
Ollila sees Finland as having
several strengths in the global
arena.
“We have our own way of integrating leadership and creativity.
Finland is a small nation in a spacious place. We value our decisionmaking power and opportunities
to have a say. The harshness of
nature has produced a tenacious
people with the stamina to make
even the maddest ideas happen.
We have also learned to adjust to
changes and to be intermediaries.
“The strong trust between the
Finnish people also facilitates
leadership and network creation.”
Networking
starts at
university
The multidisciplinary approach
of Aalto University brings
different sectors together
and facilitates networking,
says Doctor Hannu Seristö,
vice president of Knowledge
Networks at Aalto University.
BY JORMA LEPPÄNEN
PHOTO BY ANTTI KANGASSALO
t the beginning of 2010,
the Helsinki School of
Economics, Helsinki University of Technology, and the
University of Art and Design
Helsinki merged to form Aalto University.
Academic circles around the world have
kept a close watch on the university’s
launch.
“This merge is considered bold and interesting. Technology and economics have
always meshed at the world’s top universities, but adding the design component is
something new. Everyone is excited about
it,” Seristö says.
The universities that make up Aalto have
engaged in collaboration for a long time.
“Amongst other things, we have had
a common minor study programme in
which an engineer, an architect, a designer,
and marketing and financial experts work
together on implementing a project for
a company. This has been very popular
with students; and companies have been
satisfied as well.”
Seristö notes that it is important
for young people to learn to work
together early on.
“When different sectors converge already
at the university level, the students learn
to respect each other and to trust the
professional competence of others. This
also helps in creating networks and in
developing interaction skills.”
A
Global view on things
Globalisation, says Seristö, is
one of Aalto University’s most
significant goals.
“It’s important to include
foreign student participation
in joint master’s and research
programmes. We are aiming to
increase mobility: strengthening
our relations with leading
universities around the world
so that students, researchers and
professors have opportunities
to work and study abroad and,
respectively, so that foreign
students find their way here.
“We plan to have a small
number of genuine, strategic
partnerships in important core
competence areas. We are
pursuing partners in America,
Asia and Europe.”
Aalto University is also
placing a strong focus on
recruitment.
“We are creating teaching
and research programmes
that have international
appeal. We must make
our international campus
attractive because competition for the cream of the
crop – professors and students
alike – is fierce. Our goal is
to be amongst the world’s
best and most interesting
universities.”
31
ENERGY • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
CLEAN
GREEN
ENERGY
Finland is one of Europe’s leading producers of renewable energy –
especially when it comes to finding new ways to obtain energy from wood.
BY FRAN WEAVER PHOTO BY ANTTI KANGASSALO
he European Union aims to
get one-fifth of its energy
from renewable sources
by 2020. Finland’s target
is almost double that: to
increase the share of renewable energy from almost one quarter today
to 38 per cent by the end of the decade.
“This target is ambitious but absolutely
doable. We have the technology, the
know-how and the necessary government
support,” says Santtu Hulkkonen,
executive director of Cleantech Finland,
the global marketing partnership which
brings together the wide-ranging environmental expertise of 70 innovative Finnish
companies.
“The fastest growth will be in wind
energy, but there will also be steady growth
T
32
in bio-energy. This is already our most
important renewable energy source,
and we will strengthen our position
as a forerunner in the development of
a new generation of bio-fuels over the
next 10–20 years,” explains Hulkkonen.
Making the most of wood
Covering two-thirds of the country,
Finland’s forests are sustainably
managed. Their total annual growth
clearly exceeds the amounts of wood
harvested. This makes wood a carbonneutral fuel with regard to climate
change.
Thin trees, branches and tree stumps
cannot be used to make timber products or paper. Such ‘logging residues’
used to be left to rot, but today they are
increasingly collected and chipped for
use as bio-fuel. Finnish firms provide
the technologies needed all the way
along the wood energy chain, from the
harvesting machines used in the forest
to the boilers used in heat and power
plants.
Major forest industry companies are
keen to devise new ways to obtain
energy from wood.
“New technologies enable us to
create added value from chipped forest
residues by converting them to liquid
fuels,” says Hans Sohlström, executive
vice president for Corporate Relations
and Development of forest products
company UPM.
UPM have been successfully testing
gasification processes that convert
“We hope to launch commercial scale
woodchips into a synthetic gas that can
production at one of these three locabe further refined into liquid biodiesel
tions by 2014, and then develop the
suitable for diesel motor vehicles.
concept for use at other UPM mills.”
The company has preliminary plans
Sohlström stresses that demand
for wood-based biodiesel production
around the world
facilities linked
for liquid bio-fuels
to paper mills at
for transportation
Kuusankoski and
THE POTENTIAL IS SO
has already reached
Rauma in Finland,
HUGE THAT WE COULD
huge levels. It’s also
and Strasbourg,
rising fast, due to
France.
REPLACE ALMOST ALL
trends in oil prices,
“Combining
FOSSIL OIL-BASED
concerns about
biodiesel producLIQUID FUELS USED
climate change and
tion with paper proTODAY.
supportive energy
duction in the same
policies.
location creates lots
of advantages. It
Fuels come in many forms
enables us to make the most of all the
heat and energy involved in the proFirms are also finding ways to use
cesses, as well as existing infrastructure
other forms of biomass to produce
for collecting and processing wood,”
green fuels. New techniques devised
notes Sohlström.
by Oulu-based bio-refining specialists
{ }
WOOD-BASED FUELS 19.7%
HYDROPOWER 3.4%
WIND POWER 0.1%
Renewable energy sources accounted for
23.2 per cent of all the energy consumed
in Finland in 2009. Wood-based bio-fuels
used within the papermaking industry
make up a large share of this green energy.
Source: Statistics Finland
33
ENERGY • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
Chempolis use agricultural
wastes such as straw and corn
stalks to make products including
bioethanol, biochemicals and
non-wood papermaking fibres.
“There are plenty of opportunities around the world to make
bio-fuels from agricultural
residues or non-food energy
crops grown on unused land. The
potential is so huge that we could
replace almost all of the fossil
oil-based liquid fuels used today,”
points out Pasi Rousu, president
of Chempolis’s Asia-Pacific
operations.
“For social sustainability, it’s
vital that we leave food crops
for people. These new uses for
agricultural residues can also give
farmers a welcome new regular
source of income,” adds Rousu.
Chempolis’s trademarked formicobio technology involves cooking
up straw or other biomass in a
soup of organic solvents including formic acid.
“The processes are environmentally sustainable and emissionfree because they obtain their
own energy from lignin-derived
bio-fuel products. The resulting
bio-refining fractions can all be
sold for different uses. Even the
nutrient-rich ash can be put back
into farmland soils as fertiliser.”
Chempolis’s demo bio-refinery
in Oulu has been busy running
trials using different raw materials. Readily available sources
of biomass around the world
include straw, rice stalks and
residual bagasse from sugar cane
processing plants.
“We have already sold three
licences for new bio-refineries in
China, and there is great interest
in Southeast Asia, India and Latin
America,” concludes Rousu.
www.upm.com
www.chempolis.com
www.cleantechfinland.com
34
Residents in a new housing scheme in Espoo, Finland, will be able to
make energy-saving choices easily. A smart system enables them to
monitor the consumption of electricity, heat and water in real time.
Smart LIVING
BY FRAN WEAVER PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO
wider Smart Grids and Energy Markets
he 8-storey block will be
topped by a set of solar pan- Programme run by the Finnish energy
and environment cluster’s networking
els feeding clean electricity
company Cleen. The coninto the
cept involves minimising
property’s
RESIDENTS WILL
energy use in new urban
own smart electricity
GET A BETTER
housing developments.
grid, designed by
UNDERFortum’s business
the energy company
STANDING OF
development
manager
Fortum. Surplus solar
THEIR ENERGY
Vesa Koivisto believes the
power can be sold and
CONSUMPTION.
smart grid’s user-friendly
fed into the local grid.
computer interface, designed at Tampere
Fortum and construction company
University of Technology, will give
Skanska are using this development
residents a better understanding of their
to test their Sustainable Urban Living
energy consumption.
concept. The pilot scheme is part of the
T
{
}
PHOTO: ANTTI KANGASSALO
EVERYDAY ENERGY
consciousness
ow can people be
encouraged to
make energy-saving
choices related to housing,
eating habits and mobility? In
Helsinki, the Peloton project is
seeking short cuts that will help
spread ideas rapidly.
This is done by holding
brainstorming workshops for
H
groups of gatekeepers who hold
the keys to the spread of lowcarbon innovations throughout
communities. They range from
shop assistants, lunchroom
staff and science teachers,
to lifestyle media editors and
urban planners.
The concept is pioneered by
Demos Helsinki, an independent
think tank with a focus
on community-centred
social and environmental
innovations. The project’s
name comes from road
cycling races where the
cyclists save energy by
riding closely together.
www.demos.fi
FUEL FROM
SUNSHINE
rivers in the
future may be
able to tank up
with sunlight fuel.
The European Union-funded
DirectFuel project, led by the
University of Turku, will use
photosynthetic microbes to
convert carbon dioxide and
water into combustible fuel.
Algae or cyanobacteria
grown in water inside
transparent photobioreactors
will be engineered to produce
hydrocarbons such as propane
gas. These chemicals can
then be extracted from the
photobioreactor containers
and compressed to make
liquefied fuels.
“By 2014, we hope to be able
to demonstrate new biochemical processes with the potential
for developing commercial biofuel production,” says project
coordinator Patrik Jones,
who heads the university’s
bio-energy research group.
ILLUSTRATION: KIRMO KIVELÄ AND ANTTI UOTILA
D
“This should encourage savings
through informed choices. Ways
to do this include lowering room
temperatures by a couple of degrees or
switching off unnecessary lighting and
appliances.”
Free electric car for residents
Power and automation specialists ABB
have designed a special home/away
function for each apartment. This will
allow residents to switch to settings saving heat and power. Residents will also
have use of a shared electric car that can
be recharged from their own smart grid.
All benefits come at no extra cost to
residents, since the technology providers
are keen to use them as guinea pigs.
“We’re very interested to learn how the
residents behave given extra information and choices. If the pilot proves
successful, there will be plenty of scope
for replication,” says Koivisto.
www.skanska.fi
www.fortum.com
www.cleen.fi
www.directfuel.eu
35
ENERGY • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
GOING
PHOTOS: BENEQ
NANO
Nanomaterials have special properties that
can bring an entirely new dimension to
renewable energy technologies.
agle Windpower
uses a nanomaterial
known as hybtonite
to make light but
durable blades for small wind
turbines. Hybtonite is made
up of carbon nanotubes
just 1/50,000th of the
thickness of a human hair.
“Hybtonite was originally
developed to make ice hockey
sticks and skis, but it was soon
discovered that it would be
ideal for wind turbine blades,”
explains Eagle Windpower’s
marketing director Miamari
Siitonen.
Hybtonite is one hundred
times stronger than steel, but
only half as heavy as the glass
fibre used in conventional
turbines. This means that
blades can be much larger and
catch more wind, especially at
low wind speeds.
Eagle Windpower’s turbines
are suitable for homes, farms
and small industrial premises.
“We have built up a sales network around Northern Europe
where there is very high interest
in such turbines,” says Siitonen.
E
36
Thin film coatings
for solar cells
Industrial coating specialists
Beneq have launched the
commercial production
of machines that coat
photovoltaic solar cells with
super-thin films. This is done
by applying atomic layer
deposition and aerosol coating
technologies at the nanoscale.
These fine chemically-grown
coatings enhance the efficiency of both silicon and thin
film solar cells used in solar
power systems by preventing
the loss of current from
their surfaces. Sunlight can
easily penetrate into the cells
through the coatings, whose
thicknesses are measured in
millionths of a millimetre.
“There is great interest in
such nanocoating systems
amongst solar cell manufacturers around the world,” says
Beneq’s photovoltaic applications manager Jarmo Skarp.
www.eagle.fi
www.beneq.com
GETTING INTO
SHIP SHAPE
FOR FUEL SAVINGS
BY FRAN WEAVER
PHOTO BY MICHEL VERDURE
Ships can radically reduce their fuel use by making
well planned adjustments to water levels in their tanks.
essels take on or release
ballast water to adjust their
depth in the water. But
they can also pump water
between separate tanks to make the
ship lean slightly to the fore or the aft.
Hydrodynamically streamlining a ship’s
trim in this way, with regard to wind
and sea conditions, can greatly reduce
both its resistance and the amounts of
fuel needed for propulsion.
“Working out the optimal trim for a
ship at any time is a highly complex
process,” explains Henrik Dahl, head
of sales for Finnish shipping support
system providers Eniram.
Eniram have devised an automatic
ship-based application known as the
Dynamic Trimming Assistant (DTA).
The DTA system constantly monitors
V
a ship’s precise position in the water,
relates this data to prevailing conditions,
and keeps crew members aware of the
optimal trim for their vessel.
Fitted ships can trim their fuel costs by
hundreds of thousands of euros a year,
and also curb harmful emissions.
“Payback time on the investment
in such a system can be less than one
year. We believe as many as 20,000
ships sailing the world’s seas could
benefit,” says Dahl.
DTA systems have already been
fitted to more than 50 freighters and
cruisers, including the world’s largest
passenger cruise ship, the state-of-the-art
Oasis of the Seas.
www.eniram.fi
37
EDUCATION • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
With fingers around the world
pointing to the success of its
schools, Finland looks to
export its know-how.
38
Abu Dhabi
calling
Education:
A HOT COMMODITY
BY RANDEL WELLS PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO
s PISA, the McKinsey report,
and Newsweek rank Finland
amongst the leaders in
education, many wonder just
what really is happening up there in the
north. High test scores, low drop-out
rates, respected teachers – how do they
do it, and with less money than average?
“It’s simply not practical to always
bring delegations here. We need to package the concepts and bring them to others,” says Veli-Pekka Tihlman, director
at WSOYpro, part of Sanoma Learning
& Literature, a European provider of
learning materials and solutions.
A
Tihlman. “If our ideas can be adapted to
other cultural contexts and local needs,
that’s great!”
Complete offering
Innovative environments for learning go
well beyond the curriculum. Taking up
the challenge of developing a complete
environment for export is the Finnish
Education Group (FEG).
It all started in 2009, when Lumiset
Architects from Tampere won an
international competition to build
future schools in Abu Dhabi. During
this pilot, they came up with an
idea of ‘package schools’ that would
Rapid innovation
combine Finnish know-how in multiple
areas of education.
According to Tihlman, a big factor in
Since then, Lumiset has together with
Finnish success is the close co-operation
export and education experts formed the
between public and private sectors.
FEG to build a complete
These efforts have
offering that includes
led to Finpro’s Future
effective learning
Learning Finland
IF OUR IDEAS CAN
environments, school
programme which
BE ADAPTED TO
management, pedagogical
supports learning
OTHER CULTURAL
best practices and new
innovations by helpCONTEXTS AND
approaches. In addition,
ing to find funding
LOCAL NEEDS,
they have come up with
sources for export
THAT’S GREAT!
pre-fab school building
activities, and opensolutions that can be
ing doors to clients.
constructed within a year.
New innovations
“This is not an out-of-the-box solution,”
are coming up fast all over the country.
says architect Heikki Luminen. “We
For example, Helsinki is testing how
offer what we have and work together
students can actively affect energy
with the client to identify which
efficiency in their school. In Oulu,
components are best for them. It is very
students are using mobile phones for
important that this is an open process.
science projects, sending pictures and
We don’t have all the answers and need
audio recordings back to the classroom
to learn from others as well.”
for analysis.
Productising Finnish education can
be difficult, though, because it is almost
like selling Finnish society.
www.sofioy.fi
“However, we are not trying to change
www.educlusterfinland.com
people or say we are better,” emphasises
{ }
partnership is underway to
utilise Finnish know-how
and pedagogical methods
for improving primary
schools in Abu Dhabi. The pilot project
is run by EduCluster Finland, a new
generation expert organisation specialising in capacity-building for education
and lifelong learning.
“Thanks to the efforts of Ambassador Matti Lassila, we were able
to work closely with the Abu Dhabi
Education Council to formulate a solid
proposal,” says Elise Tarvainen, business
director at EduCluster.
The project includes 31 Finnish
personnel on location, including special
education teacher Satu Jokinen.
“I’m very excited about this
opportunity,” says Jokinen. “The people
here are warm and friendly, curious to
learn everything about you and ready
to help.”
Currently, children have up to seven
different teachers a day.
“We are introducing our class teacher
model to build better student-teacher
relations,” says Tarvainen.
Another concept introduced is
continual assessment which helps
children recognise their progress by
themselves.
“Teaching methods for children with
differing abilities is a third area we
are developing,” says Jokinen. “I work
together with two Emirati colleagues.
They are really interested in developing
their abilities. I feel privileged to
work with them.”
“This is very much a mutual learning
process,” says Tarvainen. “Education
is tightly bound to cultural traditions.
People, however, are fundamentally
the same. With mutual respect and
a willingness to listen, you can build
productive relationships.”
A
39
EDUCATION • FOCUS FINLAND 2011
Entrepreneurs turn a successful physical
education programme into an
exciting learning product
for the international
market.
BY RANDEL WELLS PHOTOS BY JUHA VILLANEN
AND PHILIPP SEIDEL / VFL WOLFSBURG-FUSSBALL
WHO SAYS LEARNING CAN’T BE FUN?
early 1.5 million
Finnish school children
have participated in
Liikuntaseikkailu (sports
adventure). The
programme encourages well-being by
having children record their activity
time and work towards a common goal.
“The core concept is very simple, and
that’s the strength of it,” remarks Juha
Villanen, co-founder of Muuvit, creators
of Muuvit Adventure.
“But commercialising know-how
from educational institutions can be
challenging,” recalls Villanen. “We
N
40
went through dozens of concepts before
settling on this one.”
Muuvit Adventure combines adventure with learning, creating a whole
new product. Classes go on a three-week
discovery, earning kilometres by exercising and then using these kilometres to
travel through an exciting virtual world.
Using a network of small, specialised
players, the primary content and technology was built in less than one year.
The Muuvit product is a flexible framework that is tailored to local needs.
“We constantly add to the adventure.
There are interesting ideas everywhere,”
says Villanen. “Thanks to the Union
of European Football Associations
(UEFA) and the World Heart Federation,
we have Eat for Goals, where famous
footballers present their own
recipes in their home cities.”
In many societies, the pressure on
children to get good grades is very high,
potentially ruining the entire school
experience. Muuvit Adventure makes
learning a participatory experience,
helping bring fun back into school.
www.mu
muuvit.com
FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • SUSTAINABILITY
FROM
yuck
wow!
TO
BY WIF STENGER PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO
Most societies avoid discussing toilets. Yet their
impact on humanity and our crowded planet are
far-reaching. Dry toilets could just be the answer.
ome 40 per cent of the world
population lack access to toilet
facilities. In parts of Africa that
figure is 90 per cent.
Beyond the indignity, the effects of
not using a toilet are overwhelming.
They range from the depletion of soil
nutrition in areas without fertiliser
to the spread of water-borne diseases.
Such illnesses kill more than 2.2 million
people annually, mostly children.
Meanwhile in costly Western toilet
models, huge amounts of water, paper,
nutrients and energy are literally flushed
down the drain.
A Finnish NGO is doing bold work to
raise awareness on the benefits of dry
sanitation. Sari Huuhtanen, project
manager at the Global Dry Toilet
Association of Finland, admits her group
had trouble being taken seriously when
it was founded in 2002.
“As people learn more,” she says, “they
realise that the dry toilet is the way to
go for dealing with wastewaters – as
opposed to not producing toilets at all.”
Nowadays the dry toilet can be made so
that it doesn’t smell, making it a viable
option for indoor, urban settings.
“They’re safe, hygienic and easy
to maintain.”
The group has gained a worldwide
pioneering reputation, bringing sustainable sanitation to Zambia, Swaziland
and Russia. These projects benefit local
employment, agriculture, school attendance and more. The association offers
free guidebooks and studies in various
languages online.
S
www.drytoilet.org
41
EASY DOES IT • FOCUS FINLAND 2011 • COMPILED BY LAURA PALOTIE
EASY DOES IT
Watch out
for the birds!
www.rovio.com
Mad for
matsutake
Get sappy
ews outlets have
predicted birch
sap to be Finland’s
next international success story.
Nordic Koivu, a company based
in the municipality of Tohmajärvi
in eastern Finland, currently
exports birch sap to about
20 countries, where it is
used in the cosmetics, food
and beverage industries. The
company also sells sap as a
N
bottled drink. Nordic Koivu’s
automated system allows sap
to be efficiently collected during
the three-week long season in
the spring. Birch sap has been
linked to enhanced acceleration
recovery in athletes. In unofficial
test groups, the consumption of
sap has helped reduce allergy
symptoms from birch pollen.
www.nordickoivu.com
A biker’s dream come true
BY KIRSI-MARJA KAUPPALA
ddly enough, a Japanese
delicacy grows in the Finnish
woods. In the early autumn,
matsutake mushrooms are found in the
north, where they often lurk underneath
pine trees. The availability of this delicacy
varies from year to year, and the Finnish
Forest Research Institute has even
created an online form on which casual
pickers can report their matsutake sightings. In Japan, the mushrooms are sold
for hundreds of euros per kilo.
O
T
The breathable material
endures wind and rain.
PHOTO: TOMOMARUSAN
www.mmm.fi
he Rukka Smart Rider’s
motorcycle suit,
designed by Jasmine
Julin-Aro, has become an
award-winning collector’s
item. Here’s a few
reasons why:
The suit evens out
temperature changes.
The material is both flexible
and tight, and stiffens on
impact.
The helmet visor doesn’t fog.
A wireless headset is
included for intercom
functionality and mobile
phone connectivity.
Elastic Gore-Tex allows
for a comfortable ride.
Safety technology has
been built into the
elbows and knees.
www.smartrider.com
42
PHOTO: OLGA PLETCHEVA
A one million downloads within
24 hours. Celebrities such
as American talk show host
Conan O’Brien and television
series Mad Men’s Jon Hamm
have admitted to being fans of
the game. Several international
tech publications have included
Angry Birds on their list of best
iPhone applications. Next, Rovio
has plans to turn the game into
a multi-platform franchise.
PHOTO: SAKARI MAJANTIE
flock of vengeanceseeking animated
birds are quickly
becoming some of the world’s
most recognisable Finns. The
brainchild of Rovio Mobile, an
Espoo-based company, Angry
Birds became a runaway hit
almost immediately after its
release in late 2009. Around the
world, the game has jumped to
the top of the iPhone premium
downloads chart. When it came
out as a free version on Android
in the autumn of 2010, it hit
More connections
to ASIA
innair has increased its traffic to Delhi from six to seven flights
per week. With the recent inclusion of Indian airline Kingfisher
into the Oneworld alliance, Finnair travellers can also continue
conveniently from Delhi to other destinations in India. Finnair offers
the fastest route from Europe to Asia via Helsinki, and continues
to experience growth in its Asian traffic. Between 2001 and 2010,
the number of Asian passengers passing through Helsinki Airport
increased from around 240,000 to more than one million per year.
F
www.finnair.com
PHOTO: RAMI HANAFI
The ultimate
welcome gift
he maternity package, a free box of childcare items
sent to expectant mothers, is a long-standing symbol
of the Finnish welfare system. As part of its push for a
more ecological society, Finland’s social insurance institution
Kela has incorporated environmentally-friendly products
into the package. Reusable nappies and nursing pads have
replaced disposable varieties, and much of the baby clothing
included in the package is made of organic or recycled fabrics.
The maternity package was first introduced in the late 1930s.
T
www.kela.fi
CLEAN DESIGN
W
ho says a waste bin can’t be
chic? The FinBin Ellipse litter bin,
sold by Finnish environmental
management, bio-fuel and recycled raw material supplier Lassila & Tikanoja, has a sleek,
futuristic and downright sophisticated look.
Available in stainless steel or with a powder
coating, the trash receptacles are in use at
many meticulously-designed public spaces
such as the new Dubai Metro. Ellipse has
garnered design awards in Finland.
The guys’ turn
wo documentaries exploring the psyche of the Finnish man have recently
attracted international attention. Mika
Ronkainen’s Freetime Machos, depicting a
season in the life of the world’s northernmost
rugby team, has made the rounds in the global
film festival circuit. It earned praise from highprofile media outlets when it played at New
York’s esteemed Tribeca Film Festival.
And Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen
took their cameras into the sauna, one of
the few places in which a cautious Finnish
man lets down his guard, and ended up
with one of Finland’s best-reviewed films
of 2010. Miesten vuoro (Steam of Life) is an
affectionate, bitter-sweet portrait of Finnish
masculinity that has won awards at film
festivals in Poland, Switzerland and Israel. It
was also shown in New York and Los Angeles
as part of the International Documentary
Association’s DocuWeeks showcase. Miesten
vuoro was Finland’s submission into the 2011
Academy Awards.
T
www.freetimemachos.com
www.nordiskfilm.fi
www.lassila-tikanoja.fi
43
PHOTO: RIITTA SUPPERI / GORILLA
GDP 2009:
171 billion EUROs
PHOTO: LAURI ROTKO / GORILLA
Population: 5.3 million
1 million live in the Helsinki
capital region
Member of the
European Union
since 1995
PHOTO: JAN DJENNER / GORILLA
PHOTO: HARRI TAHVANAINEN / GORILLA
PHOTO: KATJA HALVARSSON / GORILLA
Currency: Euro
PHOTO: HARRI TAHVANAINEN / GORILLA
The president is elected
every six years
The position is held by Tarja Halonen
Sovereign parliamentary
republic since 1917
Area: 390,920 square
kilometres or
150,900 square miles
9% is fresh water
PHOTO: JUHO KUVA / GORILLA
PHOTO: HARRI TAHVANAINEN / GORILLA
80% Lutheran
1% Orthodox
1% other
18% non-religious
Number of lakes: 188,000
www.focusmagazine.fi
PHOTO: ANTTI KANGASSALO
Finland IN FIGURES
PHOTO: HARRI TAHVANAINEN / GORILLA
91% speak Finnish
5% speak Swedish