Attractive Tampere, Finland also shines in smart city development

Tampere’s attractiveness in terms of experts and companies can be seen in the large number of participants in general as well as in the large number of international participants at the Tampere Smart City Week conference starting this week.

Tampere, Finland attracts investments and intrigues international companies and experts. This interest is also reflected in the participants of the Tampere Smart City Week conference being held this week. More than 1,300 participants from over 60 different countries have registered for the virtual smart city development event. You can still register for the conference, free of charge.

“Versatile innovation activities and urban development, together with companies and different actors is also starting to show in various international connections. This year, our international conference on smart city development is one of the biggest European events in terms of speakers and participants,” says Seppo Haataja, Director of the Smart Tampere Ecosystem programme at Business Tampere.

Pasi Tuominen, Managing Director of Wapice Ltd, a technology company specialising in industrial software development, says that Tampere probably hosts the company’s largest office because the city has a lot of training in the field and, as a result, also experts. He also praises the active cooperation between different operators.

“There is an abundance of expertise and a diverse business sector in Tampere. The city has a positive attitude towards all kinds of development work and invests in the systematic utilisation of digitalisation. Tampere is clearly moving to the next level in its development and is responding to the challenges posed by changes in the living environment with different solutions,” says Tuominen.

Wapice Ltd has recently been selected to build the city’s IoT platform, which in the coming years will help to develop the urban environment outdoor lighting control system and urban environment sensorisation in general. The platform will include open interfaces that can be utilised by both training operators and companies.

Doing the right things brings results

Attraction comes from within, and the results of the survey conducted by Taloustutkimus on business managers in Finland clearly indicate this. Tampere and its city region performed brilliantly in the annually conducted municipal image survey. Tampere ranked second in terms of overall image and was in top ten in eight of the eleven measured factors.

“Enabling companies to innovate by supporting strong innovation and business ecosystems and promoting solid cooperation between educational institutions and municipalities are factors contributing to the success of the Tampere city region. A diverse supply of labour and good transport accessibility raise us up to the metropolitan category. We still need more international contacts and expertise. This goal is well supported by Tampere Smart City Week,” says Harri Airaksinen, CEO of Business Tampere.

Tampere Smart City Week ends with the Tampere Business Forum event on Friday, 29 January. The theme of the Tampere Business Forum is “Why invest in Tampere?” and the event presents business and investment opportunities offered by the attractive Tampere city region to companies operating internationally.