Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2012 | Page 27

Opportunity Knocks On Wood
Invest in Finland is exploring the potential of wood construction
and service innovation
Photo: Sini Pennanen

Finland has been on the radar of
many foreign investors of late. After
Newsweek declared Finland the best
country in the world, more and more
people have been paying attention to
the small Nordic nation.

E

ven with a recession pressing on, for
example the business services sector
shows no signs of waning down. Director Sari Toivonen at Invest in Finland
says that growth is expected to continue in
the coming years.
“Finnish companies go global early
on in the game and they are often looking
to acquire consultancy services in this process,” comments Toivonen, who is in charge
of Business Services at Invest in Finland.
About one third of Finland’s growth companies operate in sectors mainly providing
business services.

Making the Switch
The situation in the country’s real estate
market is no less attractive, with both residential and commercial side showing promise. Despite all the focus on Finland during
recent years, there are still new, up-and-coming areas which have not been discovered
by investors yet. Sari Toivonen reports that
there are plenty of opportunities – for example in wood construction.
This may sound strange to many people with even passing knowledge of Finland.
After all, the entire country is covered with
thick forests and built its economy largely
on the strength of the “green gold” – producing everything from pulp and paper to
wooden design furniture.
Toivonen says that wood construction
is very popular in single one-family houses,
but apartment buildings have been made of
concrete. “Strict fire regulations have held
the construction of multi-storey buildings
back for a long time, but new legislation –
which took effect in April 2011 – provides
new opportunities in this area.”

Get in the Game
Toivonen is hoping for a wooden renaissance in Finland – and urging foreign investors to consider this option: now is a great
time to explore the market. “We have material and skilled labour, and plenty of woodrelated expertise,” Toivonen says, adding

From left to right Sari Toivonen, Maria Arruda and Tuija Tommila.
that Finland could easily follow the example set by the Swedes. In Sweden, already
20 % of the new multi-storey buildings are
made of wood.
Invest in Finland has done the math,
too: if even 10 % of multi-storey construction would be wooden, this would allow for
several industrial production facilities to be
established in Finland.
“Also renovation projects deploy more
and more wood elements,” Toivonen says,
pointing out that the wild card in all of this
is, in many regards, Russia: “In renovation
projects alone, Russia is simply brimming
with potential,” she says. A solid game plan
for an international company could include
setting up shop in Finland, using Finland for
production purposes and as a pilot market,
and then making the big push east.

Design Edge
As Helsinki and her partner cities celebrate
the World Design Capital 2012, all things
related to service design (or embedded design, as is the theme of the special year) are
a very hot topic around the country. For international companies, it might be a good
idea to look into the Finnish service design
and service innovation field, says Toivonen.

“In the field of service innovations,
Finland provides an interesting environment
for companies, since Finns are known as early adaptors and are very hi-tech oriented.”
Marketing Director Maria Arruda
adds that in the future, strong design and
planning will come into the limelight even
more frequently: “Looking at the public sector, for instance, it is clear that one has to
achieve better results with limited resources,” Arruda says.

Open Arms Approach
Transparent and secure business environment – as well as safe and friendly atmosphere for doing business – are just some of
the reasons international companies frequently give when asked about why they
find Finland such a strong prospect.
Manager from Invest in Finland Tuija Tommila says that according to feedback
from customers, business meeting are extremely easy to set up in Finland. “We often hear international companies say that
Finland has a remarkably open and friendly business culture – and they love to come
back here.”
Sami J. Anteroinen

Nordicum 25