Networking
Business Espoo cooperates with several different actors and other networks. We can refer you to the legal and financial experts in our network. We offer international networking opportunities, for example, through targeted investor and matchmaking events and digital platforms.
Network of experts
We will guide you through all stages of the company’s lifecycle, whether it is a question of financing the company, applying for an extension to start-up funding, internationalisation, converting a business name to a limited company, finding a suitable office space or changing ownership. The development of your company’s business is always our goal.
Network of experts
Through business advice, you have the opportunity to seek further advice from consultants, lawyers and other specialist service companies in the Business Espoo network of experts. The first consultancy visit to the expert is free of charge. Any other measures will be invoiced separately by the experts based on their price lists.
Explore the network of experts(external link).
Book a business advice appointment for expert referral(external link).
Free initial advice for members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Espoo Enterprises
Do you urgently need reliable information about taxation, employment relationships, contracts or financial management? Would initial advice from an experienced expert help in a difficult decision situation?
Free telephone advice for the members of the Federation of Espoo Enterprises provides diverse advice related to business activities.
Read more(external link) about counselling services for members of the Federation of Espoo Enterprises.
Legal advice service of Suomen Yrittäjät for members(external link).
The document bank for entrepreneurs
You also have access to a document bank(external link) with a wide range of document and contract templates available free of charge. The document bank for entrepreneurs includes document templates for the following topics:
- Sales and rental agreements
- Family law and inheritance law
- Procedural and criminal law
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Employment relationships and labour law
- Debt relations and debt collection
- Company law and community law
Business advice from the Chamber of Commerce
The member interests of the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce include free advice on a company’s legal matters, taxation, financial administration and internationalisation. An information point of the EU’s Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is also located at the Chamber of Commerce. It provides help in becoming established in other countries, looks for business contacts and organises meetings at international fairs.
The Chamber of Commerce provides advice, for example, on
- employment matters
- contractual matters
- VAT and income taxation
- company law
- accounting
- IPR matters
- export documents
- issues of internationalisation
Advisers of the Chamber of Commerce and EEN on the website of the Chamber of Commerce(external link).
Digital matchmaking platforms
Find a partner for your company through digital platforms.
Digital matchmaking platforms
The Dealroom platform helps start-ups reach a growth path by providing them with a connection to investors and major companies operating in Finland and internationally. By creating a profile for your company, you can gain information on other actors and cooperation opportunities. You can also contact potential partners. The basic profile in the service is free of charge.
Maintained by Enterprise Europe Network, the Business Contact Database(external link) allows you to find, for example, retailers, representatives, franchising partners, subcontractors, logistics partners and product development partners and explore opportunities for joint ventures and acquisitions. You can browse contact requests by profile type, profile country of origin, destination country or different search terms. By registering at the Business Contact Database, you can also create a search alert, which allows information about the profiles you are interested in to be automatically sent to your email. Please contact the experts if you would like to create your own contact request in the database.
Contact us by email: Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce/Enterprise Europe Network
Johanna Niemistö johanna.niemisto@chamber.fi
Johanna Marin-Hyppönen johanna.marin-hypponen@chamber.fi
Maija Kärkäs maija.karkas@chamber.fi
Contact information of EEN’s other experts in Finland on the EEN website(external link).
Referral to innovation hubs
Espoo’s innovation ecosystem enables you to form networks and work with the main innovation actors in Finland.
Referral to innovation hubs
Fast-growing Espoo is the second largest city in Finland. We offer companies an excellent location in the Helsinki metropolitan area and good connections to Europe, Asia and Russia. The heart of the largest innovation centre in the Nordic countries beats in the Otaniemi-Tapiola-Keilaniemi area. International corporations, a thriving start-up community, diverse cultural activities, active sports associations and a renowned scientific and research community are sure to make the area interesting. The basis for success now and in the future is smooth cooperation between actors.
Along with Aalto University(external link), major organisations such as VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Nokia, Kone, Neste and Fortum have made the ecosystem their home. Supercell and Rovio were born here and hundreds of startups are founded here every year.
Espoo’s innovation ecosystem enables you to form networks and work with the main innovation actors in Finland. Enter Espoo will help you to do sustainable business and establish yourself in the Espoo innovation ecosystem:
- Meet the local actors relevant to your business
- Identify sustainable opportunities to grow your business
- Find spaces and everything you need to start a business
- Grow your business in Espoo
Read more about the Espoo innovation ecosystem on the Enter Espoo online service(external link).
Health Capital Helsinki is building the greatest health capital by developing the Helsinki Metropolitan health ecosystem, boosting the growth of innovation-driven startups and helping international investors and corporations find their opportunities and partners in Finland. Health Capital Helsinki is your guide to the health sector in the capital region and Finland.
Health Capital Helsinki is supported by a public alliance of the largest cities, hospital and educational institutions in Finland: Cities of Helsinki and Espoo, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Aalto University, and Helsinki Metropolitan Universities of Applied Sciences Haaga-Helia, Laurea and Metropolia.
Read more and contact the Health Capital Helsinki team: www.healthcapitalhelsinki.fi(external link)
Smart Otaniemi is an innovation ecosystem for smart energy, where different organisations cooperate to develop sustainable and commercially viable energy solutions that help us to move towards a carbon-neutral society. During its two years of operation, the ecosystem’s network has already grown to more than 100 operators and several pilot projects are underway. The innovation ecosystem is coordinated by VTT, and the activities are financed by Business Finland as well as companies and partners.
Smart Otaniemi offers a new way to do research and development work. Co-creation projects between different companies and research institutes address challenges from different perspectives. Read more about Smart Otaniemi(external link).
Networking events
We organise networking events where we invite international guests such as investors, large companies and administration representatives from different countries to help you find the right partners.
Networking events
Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) organises dozens of business contact events every year in connection with major international fairs/events, where it is possible to meet many potential new partners within a short period of time in pre-arranged bilateral meetings. Meetings are arranged based on profiles created in the system. Participation in meetings is usually free of charge and adds value to participation in fairs. During these exceptional times, many of the events take the form of online meetings, so participation in certain fairs is not required.
All events of the EEN network(external link)
Events in Finland(external link)
Further information from the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce by email: een@chamber.fi or Johanna Niemistö johanna.niemisto@chamber.fi
Enter Espoo(external link) focuses on building long-term partnerships with international companies and investors. We want to make sure that the companies that turn to us meet the right start-ups and find the most suitable technology solutions for them. By logging in to Launchpad(external link), you will ensure that we find your start-up and are able to provide you with the right opportunities to meet international corporations or investors.
Knights of Nordics
- 159 international investors from Singapore, US, Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, India, China, Sweden, Norway and Netherlands
- 32 global corporates from Japan, Korea, Germany, US and Sweden
- 74 startups and scaleups from Finland, Nordics and Germany
Corporate-Startup Online Weeks
Organised for the first time in 2020, Online Weeks brought together 107 start-ups and scale-ups with 15 international corporations.
Visit Espoo (part of Enter Espoo Oy) is responsible for the promotion and destination marketing of conference, congress, and leisure tourism in Espoo. Visit Espoo participates in and represents the region's industry in domestic and foreign promotional and marketing events. Companies in the area also can participate in the events at their own expense. Examples of sales events in the tourism industry:
- IMEX Frankfurt - One of the biggest trade exhibition for meetings, conventions, events, and incentive travel.
- Meetings & Incentive Forum Europe: Virtual and in-person networking events for the Meetings & Events Industry
- FCB Association Event: Networking event for Finland's leading congress cities and international scientific associations and professional congress organizations, organized by Finland Convention Bureau
- ITB Berlin - the World's Leading Travel Trade Show
- Visit Finland's tour operator workshops
Visit Finland’s networking & sales events (Finnish only)(external link).
More information about Visit Espoo’s activities: visit@espoo.fi
The national Talent Boost network organises both virtual and physical events 2–4 times a year, where Finnish companies and international experts can meet.
Learn more about Talent Boost on YouTube(external link)
Contact by e-mail: melissa.arni-harden@espoo.fi
Organise a meeting or congress
Organizing a meeting in Espoo is easy. Visit Espoo will help you find the most suitable facilities and partners for your event.
Visit Espoo conference and congress services
We offer free assistance in planning and coming up with ideas for your organisation’s meetings, well-being and recreation days and various festive and gala events. We help with brainstorming and mapping for premises, programmes and accommodation required for meetings, recreation days, business parties or international congresses, regardless of their size. We organise regular visits to local meeting venues (face-to-face and virtually).
We offer free assistance in pre-planning and coming up with ideas for leisure group travel. We will help you find the most suitable accommodation and catering services, places to visit and experience and partners in Espoo, Kirkkonummi and Vihti.
- Expert help in brainstorming and finding suitable destinations, services and partners
- Familiarisation trips (FAM trips) to destinations
You can also order various Espoo brochures and maps(external link) from us free of charge.
Partners and networks
Business Espoo has extensive business networks.
Partners and networks
Bilateral trade associations, chambers of commerce and guilds established by Finnish companies around the world support and strengthen the internationalisation and export efforts of Finnish companies. The Finland Chamber of Commerce has brought these active parties together in the joint FinnCham network(external link), which involves a total of 35 organisations operating independently and largely on a voluntary basis.
Organisations in the target countries bring together large and small Finnish companies and other export promotion partners and cooperate with Team Finland, i.e. embassies, ministries and other organisations promoting internationalisation. The activities support the creation of a strong image of Finland and cooperation with bilateral trade associations operating in Finland.
Additional information:
Finland Chamber of Commerce, Jenni Isola, jenni.isola@chamber.fi
The Visit Espoo(external link) marketing collaboration network offers services to the tourism, conference and congress sector.
We invite all tourism and related companies in the municipalities of Espoo, Kirkkonummi and Vihti to participate in Visit Espoo’s joint marketing and partner network. As Visit Espoo’s partner, your company can be a part of an active network and participate in international and domestic marketing measures. The partner network operates on the basis of an annual fee based on turnover. Around 40 companies participate in the network on an annual basis. Visit Espoo organises topical networking and training events for the members of the network about 5–6 times a year.
More information on the Visit Espoo website(external link).
Contact person:
Tiina Backman, tiina.r.backman@espoo.fi
The City of Espoo cooperates closely with the City of Shanghai and with many European cities and urban networks. The City of Espoo often participates in various international events, such as China’s largest import promotion event, China International Import Expo, in which companies may have the opportunity to participate as part of the city delegation on a case-by-case basis. In Shanghai, Espoo also acts as a gatekeeper to local markets in situations where a company may need the support of the city.
The city also cooperates with companies in various EU-funded projects in which the companies can participate as partners or the city can act as a test and innovation platform for the companies’ own projects, depending on the situation.
In addition, Espoo receives visits by dozens of international delegations and journalists every year, also involving the presentation of Espoo companies and cooperation projects between the city and companies.
Communities and networks of international experts
The City of Espoo cooperates closely with universities and universities of applied sciences to strengthen the working life connections of international degree students already during their studies. Examples include HankenHIT and Aalto International Talent Programme. The City of Espoo also supports immigrant associations whose operational goal is to strengthen the career development of their members in Finland.
Read more about the city's international activities.
Contact us: international@espoo.fi
More information about Kasvu Open(external link). (In Finnish)
Pääkaupunkiseudun Kasvupolku(external link). (In Finnish)
Business Mentors Finland is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through mentorship. Business Mentors Finland is a national network of experienced entrepreneurs and business managers. They offer their competence and experience to support Finnish small business owners in solving their business challenges.