Cleantech suits the Tampere Region

Cleantech is a promising field, with predictions showing a lot of new jobs, innovations and business globally in the near future. The Tampere Region has excellent prerequisites for becoming an important centre of cleantech.

There is no need to start from scratch with cleantech in the Tampere Region because it already has extensive research competence and education in the field as well as companies developing and using cleantech solutions. The companies and educational institutions also cooperate actively.

– In that sense, the Tampere Region is a nationally and internationally interesting area for cleantech businesses, says Petri Nykänen, Director of Business Development and Investment from Tredea.

Business Tampere has studied the status of the cleantech field in its region. According to the study, there are at least 35 cleantech businesses in the region. In addition, the Tampere Region has approximately 2,800 companies in the technology industry that require increasing amounts of cleantech: materials, components, subsystems and technologies. Applying resource-efficient cleantech solutions offers a competitive advantage to the technology industry companies.

– This means that the cleantech companies that settle here have excellent opportunities for introducing their innovations in the industry and, from there, branching out to export. After all, that's what’s driving all this: investing in cleantech must generate jobs and export, says Nykänen.

The growth of the Tampere Region makes it attractive to cleantech companies, too. The Tampere Region is preparing for its population to increase by approximately 110,000 people by 2040. The new inhabitants will live, work and move around in the region and spend their leisure time there; a framework for all this must be built. A tramway, underground parking areas and new residential areas are examples of investments planned in the region – projects that cleantech companies may also find interesting.

– We already have encouraging experiences with this. For example, the automatic waste collection system using pipelines and completely new technology that was constructed in the new residential area of Vuores has been a good reference, says Nykänen.

At the reference site, the functionality of the product can be presented in practical, everyday use. When there are many sites like this in the same region, it increases the interest in the region as a whole.

– The Tampere Region has all the prerequisites and the will to develop into a demonstration and pilot region at the national level, where people from near and far come to learn about the latest cleantech solutions, Nykänen considers.

Cleantech companies can operate everywhere in the Tampere Region, but they can also take advantage of Kolmenkulma, a special business area set up in a joint project by three municipalities (Tampere, Nokia and Ylöjärvi). The goal there is to implement the first Eco Industrial Park in Finland. Tredea is speeding up the development of the area with a project lasting a year and a half.

– The background work has been done, and now we are going to roll up our sleeves and start looking for companies that could relocate to the Eco Industrial Park. Based on the studies, we already have a clear idea of what kind of companies we should start discussions with and what kind of needs they have, Nykänen says.

At Kolmenkulma, a completely new cleantech business zone is being created with ecological sustainability as a basic starting point for the operation: the buildings are built to be energy efficient and the energy grids to be smart, and the traffic solutions are constructed to be environmentally friendly. The Tarastenjärvi area complements the Eco Industrial Park. The development of material flows and waste management is focused there, and the waste-to-energy power plant constructed in the area will create new business around it.

– What will the Eco Industrial Park be like, then? That depends on the companies that will be located there. At Tredea, we believe that the area will develop around large leading companies, and we are opening discussions with them now, says Nykänen.

Cleantech is...

• Technology, innovations, products and services that help to reduce the burden human activity puts on the environment.
• Saving energy and natural resources and improving the living environment, which means solving the largest problems in the world while simultaneously carrying out a profitable business.
• Multidisciplinary; it can be linked to industrial emissions, energy efficiency, processing waste and sewage, transport and traffic, etc.
• One of the fastest growing business sectors in the world.
• Cleantech companies in the Tampere Region.

Photos: Olli-Pekka Latvala
Translation: Lingoneer