Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 56

At Turku Science Park, applied ICT is linked
to – in addition to Biotech – also maritime
and metal industries. Other up-and-coming
areas include electronics, digital media and
speech and language technology.

True Blue

Science Park plans are well in line
with the City’s Climate and Environment
Programme which wants to cut greenhouse
gas emissions per capita by 30 % from the
1990 level by 2020. The City also believes
that preventing climate change and creating a low-carbon society present significant
opportunities for businesses in the region.

Winning Formula
The Science Park area is, of course, in the
very core of Turku’s smart city plans, since
this is where the “big brains” are to be found.
There are universities, numerous high-tech
companies and other service providers in
the neighbourhood – with more to come,
believes Jouko Turto.
“The recipe for success involves local
players, both big and small, cooperating in
new ways. Creating and utilising expertise
networks in the best possible way – that’s
what the Turku Science Park is all about,”
Turto sums up the winning formula.
Naturally, it doesn’t exactly hurt that
the Science Park has, not one, but two areas,
where it has world-class clout: biotech and
ICT.

Booming Biobiz
BioTurku – the cluster for biotechnology
actors in the Turku region – presently comprises around one hundred players, including companies as well as training and
research centres. The cluster companies are
constantly on the look-out for information
which has accumulated over time, but has
not been put to good use commercially. The
players at BioTurku have a lot of expertise
at pinpointing such areas – and turning raw
data into global hit products.
A long-time anchor in the biobiz is
drug development. Nevertheless, many people are still surprised to learn that 10 percent of new European medicines – which
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have been cleared for sale by the authorities
– has actually been developed right here in
the Turku Region.

Dynamic Data
The facts and figures involving ICT are
equally impressive. The information and
communication technology is the second
biggest business sector in Southwest Finland at the moment, and has been growing continuously and steadily (currently
employing 13,500 people). The Turku–Salo
region forms Finland’s strongest ICT expertise cluster outside the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The “extra edge” of ICT lies largely in
the fact that it is one of those sectors which
can give a boost to just about any industry.

New and intriguing opportunities have
opened up also by the sea as the German shipbuilder Meyer Werft bought the
Turku shipyard – and announced its desire
to develop the local operations. Timo
Hintsanen reports that this recent development is a great fit for the emerging ‘Blue
Industry Park’ which brings local players
together.
“In connection to the shipyard, there
will be production, R&D and training,”
Hintsanen says.
But let’s go back to the new city neighbourhoods for a moment. Jouko Turto points
out that Turku wants the future city districts
to be innovative, ecological environments,
as well as engines of economic growth.
Skanssi and Linnanfältti are two key areas
in City’s plans – and especially the latter has
been waiting in the wings for a long time.
Now, the word is finally ‘GO’.
“The construction of Linnanfältti area
begins in 2015,” confirms Turto.

The Soul of Smart
According to Turto, the City development
strategy is not about realising individual projects – no matter how big in scope – but
about looking at the big picture, and driving the message home on all fronts.
“From our perspective, that’s the
essence of smart, urban development.”