Digital Innovation

An older woman on couch with smart watch receiving data through wire attached to finger

Photo: Eeva Anundi

The Story

Finland is the most digitalised country in Europe. Digitalisation is the next great industrial revolution. It can grow profits, boost sustainability and improve the quality of services. Efficiency is a key benefit, but digitalisation can also improve innovation and creativity.

Some of the sectors in which Finland thrives include artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), big data, virtual reality (VR), cyber security and 5G. This has led to strong growth in companies as diverse as gaming, smart buildings, smart health, electronics and software. Finland has a talented high-tech workforce which consists of both homegrown and international professionals.

The foundation of digitalisation is data, so Finland has progressive legislation when it comes to data access, sharing and privacy. Finland has been a leader in building international technical and ethical standards in open data. The central government shares environmental and topographic data for the public use, while cities have opened public transport data. Finland is also the spiritual home of open source, as the Linux operating system was born here and the open source philosophy remains popular.

The Finnish startup ecosystem is one of the most attractive in Europe: high-tech companies and investors from all over the world participate in the annual Slush event. Finland has a good reputation for researching digital innovation, and now there is a push to spin off these inventions into private companies, often with international partners.

Finland creates and applies new digital innovations.