Aiming High, Going Deep
The centenary emphasises Finland’ s strengths – such as equality and democracy – and offered Finns and friends of Finland diverse and international centenary programme in Finland and abroad. The centenary year has provided ample opportunity to better understand the past, experience the Jubilee together and set the course for Finland’ s future success.
The Prime Minister’ s Office established the‘ Finland 100 Years’ organisation which put together the programme that reaped a lot of praise for its inclusiveness and earnest effort to celebrate different facets of Finnish life.
During the year, we have seen people samba and build snow castles in celebration; photos have been taken of the Northern Lights by a satellite; Finland100 menu was composed, complete with recipes; refugees have been encouraged to startup businesses...
No Office Party
One of the key areas amongst all this is, of course, the Finnish business sector. The country that gave the world texting and Angry Birds has always had a vibrant business scene – and this is not likely to change any time soon.
General Secretary Pekka Timonen, who heads the Centenary Year Secretariat at the Prime Minister’ s Office, was delighted to find out that Finnish companies more than pull their own weight during the special year. In fact, businesses became, in many regards, the very architects of the centenary
Photo:( c) Helsinki Marketing
Photo: Jaakko Jaskari year, with hundreds of companies involved within the framework of commercial and non-commercial cooperation. According to Timonen, the centenary year is also a“ celebration of Finnish entrepreneurship”.
Planning the Course Ahead
Mikko Kosonen, President of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, sums up Finland’ s 100-year success story: it’ s simply a tale of a small, agile and capable country whose prosperity is based on mutual trust and cooperation. As for a blueprint for the future, Kosonen argues that the future cannot be built in isolation, either; now, more than ever, the Finns must put themselves in other people’ s shoes and come up with new ways to engage in a constructive dialogue.
According to Kosonen, the centenary festivities take place in trying times, as we are called upon to be responsible and show resolve in our actions. Faced with global megatrends such as digitalisation, the sustainability crisis and the transformation of the labour market, the time has come for Finns to make choices and decisions. What should Finland do? Can the welfare state cope by simply tweaking the existing system or are bold changes in order?
The next 100 years should be interesting to watch, as well. l
Sami J. Anteroinen
Nordicum 19