Northern Lights Shine the Brightest
Speeding up the growth path, Oulu is set to capitalise on a wealth of opportunities in Arctic Europe
To paraphrase an adage from the Old West:“ Go North, young man!” Oulu’ s population is the youngest of all European cities and, even more importantly, it is the fastest growing city in the Nordics. In September 2016, the City of Oulu reached 200,000 citizens, and the Oulu Region now boasts a quarter million people. Hailed as the“ Capital of Northern Scandinavia,” Oulu is poised to be one of those pioneering European cities that are pushing the boundaries of technology, creating innovative business models in the wake of engineering prowess.
S eija Haapalainen, Senior Adviser in
BusinessOulu points out that Oulu has benefited from Nokia’ s strong presence in town in mobile phone and mobile networks businesses. During the company’ s heyday as a mobile phone giant, Oulu shouldered the load for some of the most innovative R & D on the planet. As Nokia pulled the plug on the handset operations in the city, Nokia mobile network operations continues on the full speed and at the moment Nokia with large local ecosystem is working on 5G development. The accumulated brain power of mobile handset did not become obsolete – far from it, actually.
“ Nokia and its successor Microsoft had facilities totalling 90,000 square metres. Now, instead of having just one big company, 126 smaller companies have taken over the same space, employing as many as 4,300 people,” Haapalainen says, adding that it comes as no surprise to the natives that such a comeback was in the cards – but the rapid ascension of so many formidable players has been quicker than many experts predicted.
These companies, rooted on top-notch ITC expertise, have found that the Northern ecosystem keeps creating one opportunity after another – for those willing to venture outside the box.
“ As a consequence, we have a rejuvenated corporate base and also international companies are establishing operations here since they are eager to explore the local synergies.”
Builder’ s Paradise
And it’ s not like ICT is the only game in town. Also the construction business is booming: the City of Oulu’ s Building Supervision Committee has estimated the market value for green-lid construction in 2016 at approximately EUR 1.5 billion.
Building permits during Jan-Sept
Nordicum 3