Steps towards integrating gaming and esports throughout the city organization
The City of Espoo has taken steps towards integrating gaming and esports throughout the city organization. In October Espoo and Nokia co-hosted Garage Gaming event at Nokia Garage in Karaportti.
During the event online spectators were able to enjoy a CS:GO tournament where teams from Espoo upper secondary education went head-to-head to find the best team in Espoo. Visitors in Nokia Garage were able to experience the atmosphere of an offline gaming event and try out mobile gaming using the Nokia 5G. The event was a collaboration project to test gaming and esports as a phenomenon to bring youth and new visitors to Nokia Innovation Garage.
"The fast, reliable connectivity of 5G will have a significant impact on the entire gaming industry. 5G delivers low latency and more capacity but to harness the full potential of 5G in gaming, we need right people to innovate how it can be done. We brought together players, businesses, education, and technology to discuss how the gaming industry is evolving and we was delighted to see several participants from the City of Espoo, Microsoft, Intel and Aalto university to share they view of industry and how to expand gaming to education, technology and to the business.” Vesa Kohtamäki, Site & Location head, Head of Technology Center Espoo.
"As high schoolers we were obviously very grateful for the opportunity to participate in an event organized in such a professional manner. Nokia made sure we had a chance to meet lots of interesting people and try out the new 5G tech, which definitely made the experience stand out from other tournaments." Samuli Rauste, high school student.
The impact of gaming on culture, business, education and sports has been ongoing and it will become even more evident in the future. I started as a planner, tasked with esports and gaming development in Espoo area, in January 2021. After this Espoo has contributed to the local esports ecosystem by aiding associations like Aalto Gamers in hosting the official Finnish students esports championships and collaborating with local companies, like Nokia. Esports is visible in multiple high schools and Omnia through studies or clubs and this event offered a chance to students to get the valuable experience of attending offline esports tournament and to meet one of the biggest employers in Espoo.
Esports and gaming can offer opportunities and new platforms in which to learn valuable skills in an environment that is up-to-date and interesting to younger generations. Espoo continues to innovate, experiment and collaborate around digital culture, esports and gaming.
The writer of this article is working as a planner in the Sports and Exercise Unit.