Diversity brings strength and sustainability to our region’s economy

The importance of foreign companies establishing in the Tampere region, or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Text: Oliver Hussey, Head of ICT

Helping companies born in Tampere to thrive is the top priority. However, FDI also plays a very important role in a healthy business ecosystem and the importance of attracting FDI should not be underestimated. In the case of Tampere, the jobs in these companies tend to be high salary jobs, brining great tax revenues to the local economy.

When larger international corporations with big budgets fund product development here, it also enables our own experts to learn new tools, new technology, etc. At the same time, this may also generate new ideas for other sectors, thereby enriching our startup activities. Research has shown that for every direct FDI job that’s created, 2 other indirect jobs are created, e.g. local companies providing services.

Interesting times in the global economy are upon us, which will bring challenges, especially regarding the USA. However, technological innovations remain our strength, and companies will continue to come here for the skills of our highly educated and experienced workers (Thank you Tampere University!). While the USA continues to be the largest single source country of FDI, the source countries are becoming increasingly diverse.

There are other positive signs too. This year we’ve seen an increase in startups relocating here from abroad. In fact, a few have moved their headquarters to Tampere, which usually goes rather to the capital area. This diversity in size of companies is also important, startups bring a fire of innovation that larger companies sometimes lack.

The industries where we attract investments also continues to be more diverse. In January, Norwegian firm Feija announced a new fuel production site in Nokia. It will be among the largest eMethane plants in Europe. The total amount of investment will be in the Billions of Euros, making it one of the largest FDIs in Finland in recent times.

Our achievements do not appear overnight or by accident. Our R&D businesses are benefitting from the many years of research and education development. Long-term work to enable industrial investments requires planning and long-term cooperation. Let’s not forget this.