Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2013 | Page 46

Innovations:
The Great Fire of Turku in 2013
Turku explores the full potential of science parks
with network excellence

“H

ere former rivals can often become colleagues and partners,
working together for common
objectives,” Jouko Turto, Director of Turku
Municipal Property Corporation, explains
the local mindset.
Right now, the talk of the town is the
Turku Science Park, one of the largest, oldest and still fastest growing innovation parks
in Finland. There are big plans to realise a
world-class campus area in the park which
bridges the academic with the corporate –
and also recreational with residential.
A lot of things have happened, since
the ownership of the park was reorganised a couple of years ago. Turku Technology Properties Ltd. is now taking care of
the real estate development of the Science
Park, serving as an asset manager. Turku
Science Park Ltd in turn accelerates the
commercialisation of innovations especially in selected focus areas, namely biotechnology and ICT.

Room for More
In the whole Turku Science Park area there
are over 250,000 square metres of completed
premises. Managing Director Mikko Lehtinen from Turku Technology Properties says
that their ownership is 85,000 square metres
44 Nordicum

Photos: Turku Science Park Ltd

Turku, the first capital of Finland,
has always possessed a business
scene that combines diversity and
depth. The city was also among the
first in Finland to realise the value
of clusters and cooperation. Strong
clusters – such as biotechnology and
world-class marine cluster – have
emerged through innovative attitude
towards networking.

The other focus area of Turku Science Park, ict, can give a boost just about to any
industry, e.g. marine sector and biotechnology.
of existing premises – and there are plans to
add another 75,000 to create a full-fledged
innovation campus in the most central part
of the park.
“A former industrial area is being
transformed into a new type of neighbourhood which connects studying, living and
leisure in a novel way. We are working hard
to make sure that there is life on campus
grounds after five o’clock too,” he says.
The campus is to include versatile
green areas and sports grounds, making it
a place where people simply like to go –
and stay.
Turku Science Park has a long history
of bringing together academic and business
experts, with special focus on biotechnology
and ICT. It offers a unique growth environment for the commercialisation of researchoriented innovations and for the generation
and growth of enterprise activities related to
high-tech. The area is very much in demand
by companies, too:

“Our occupation rate is 95 %, so there
is constant demand,” Lehtinen says, adding that the new campus area will only add
to that appeal: more and more companies
flock to the area, creating an incredibly rich
ecosystem.

New Opportunities Emerging
Rikumatti Levomäki, CEO of Turku Science
Park Oy Ltd, is confident that the Science
Park will thrive in the future as well:
“There are more and more opportunities out there, and those who have the ability to move fast are best suited to capitalise
on those opportunities,” he says.
Jouko Turto notes that Turku Science
Park is really exceptional in the sense that
all the elements needed for successful operations are present right here. The compact
Science Park area features universities, numerous high-tech companies and other service providers in a centrally located tight