Information and communication
Finland has built up a unique expertise and business base in information and communication technologies, largely thanks to the strong mobile technology cluster driven by Nokia.
Finland offers an excellent place to test new ICT services and solutions in living lab and test bed environments, which take advantage of pools of creative talent, socio-cultural diversity and the inventiveness of end-users.
Companies and research groups working in Finland have world-class competence in the following fields:
- wireless and mobile communications and networks
- radio technologies
- future Internet
- embedded and adaptive systems
- signal processing
- software technologies and games
- algorithms and architectures
- security and trust, e-banking
- machine vision
- positioning and navigation
- wireless sensor networks
- printable electronics
- optical component technologies
- MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems)
Strong networks between companies, researchers and end-users
Companies and research groups take actively part in research and development programmes and networks, such as Tekes programmes, the TIVIT Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in the field of ICT, the EU Framework Programmes and EUREKA projects.
R&D is characterised by strong international cooperation, open innovations, and open source development. The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, began his career as a computer science student in the University of Helsinki in the 1990s.
Numerous new internationally oriented businesses have emerged in the telecommunications and electronics industries, telecommunications services, and software and content production. Demand for wellbeing technology, especially health care technology, has remained steady.
The net sales and R&D investments of the ICT sector in 2007 totalled EUR 64.4 billion and EUR 3.8 billion, respectively.