Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2020 | Page 48

A view from the front of Villa Medica towards the University Hill.
Turku Takes Synergy to the Next Level
Combining cross-industrial prowess, accessibility
and sustainability, the City of Turku is making room
for more success stories
Right now, Turku is all about
momentum. The first capital and the
powerhouse of the Southwest Finland
is pushing boundaries in maritime,
cleantech, health and IT, and forging
ahead with a superbly deep and
diverse ecosystem. The facts are there to support Turto’s
claim: there are already more than 20,000
businesses and 130,000 jobs in the Turku
region, and the City of Turku is growing at
the rate of 1,600 residents per year – which
is, proportionally speaking, among the fast-
est in Finland.
J The hi-tech core of the community is Turku
Science Park, located just a walking distance
from the downtown area in the immediate
vicinity of the Kupittaa railway station and
the Turku–Helsinki motorway. The Turku
Science Park is home to the University of
Turku, Åbo Akademi University, Turku Uni-
versity of Applied Sciences, Diaconia Uni-
versity of Applied Sciences and over 400
other organizations and companies which
employ a total of nearly 16,000 people.
In addition, Turku Science Park fos-
ters an active start-up culture which is pro-
moted by the start-up community SparkUp,
ouko Turto, Real Estate Development
Director for the City of Turku, says
that Turku is in the midst of a “positive
structural change”:
“We have industries here that keep
reinventing themselves and finding new
ways to innovate,” Turto says, adding that
the local “secret sauce” is collaboration.
“For years now, we have concentrated
in creating an ecosystem that truly serves the
changing needs of the businesses. I feel that
we have been very successful in this effort,”
Turto comments.
48 Nordicum
Where Science Meets
Business
based in ElectroCity. Furthermore, cowork-
ing space Werstas opened in 2015 and has
been a success story from the beginning.
However, new capacity is direly needed
since Science Park is quickly outgrowing
its former premises.
“We have 140,000 square meters of
leasable space – and only about 400 square
meters presently available,” says Mikko
Lehtinen, Managing Director of Turku Tech-
nology Properties which oversees the Park.
According to Lehtinen, there are ongo-
ing negotiations to add more space to meet
the needs of the market.
“We’re presently talking about add-
ing three new buildings into the Science
Park, totaling almost 40,000 square meters,”
Lehtinen says, adding that investment deci-
sions should materialize in January 2020.
Wanted: Better Integration
Furthermore, in the spring of 2020, a new
hotel (with 18,000 square meters) will open
its doors in the area, followed by the grand