International AI event brings the best in the field to Espoo

AI Finland & AI Day 2021 is being organised by the City of Espoo, together with Business Finland, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI.  

“We want to build a socially, culturally, ecologically and economically sustainable future. This means that we must be able to make effective use of artificial intelligence. This is something that we want to advance with our partners,” says Mayor of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä. 

The main theme of the event is impact leadership and foresight with AI. The event will also address space tech, quantum technology, health, 6G and the regulation and ethics of artificial intelligence.  

“Finnish AI companies and research are, without a doubt, among the best in the world. Our goal at AI Finland & AI Day 2021 is to provide these operators with networking opportunities, showcase Finnish expertise to international companies and investors and build a global AI ecosystem here,” says Outi Keski-Äijö, Head of AI Business at Business Finland. 

“Events like this are a great opportunity to find new and impactful opportunities for cooperation. Modern AI technologies have potential in almost every area of society. Thanks to decades of persistent work by Finnish AI researchers, our country has a wealth of unique expertise. The greatest benefit and competitive advantage for AI users will come from innovations that can harness this expertise,” says Petri Myllymäki, Vice-director of FCAI. 

AI is not a niche field  

The Helsinki region is among the top 20 urban areas in the world in the list of emerging startup ecosystems in the Global Startup Ecosystem 2021 (GSER) report(external link, opens in a new window) published today. The report calculates that over the past 2.5 years, the startup ecosystem has created €5.6 billion in value added for the Helsinki region, with a total of €469 million in early-stage funding. 

The Helsinki region is particularly highlighted by the abundance of skilled professionals in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, analytics, gaming and digital health. In addition, the region has extensive support resources for start-ups in these fields. The report also states that startup companies should move to the Helsinki region precisely because of the good availability of skilled professionals in these fields.  

“Finland has outstanding AI expertise. The national Artificial Intelligence 4.0. programme launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment aims to ensure that Finland will continue to be a leader in digitalisation in the future. We must pay particular attention to SMEs, increased investment in digitalisation and European cooperation,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä. 

“To ensure that we continue to have enough AI talent and skills in the field, we want to use this event to bring AI closer to people and show that it is not a niche field. The main thing is how we do things together: how artificial intelligence is used to build a sustainable future and how urban communities can be made more vibrant through data, knowledge and impact leadership,” says Services Development Director Päivi Sutinen from the City of Espoo.  

The programme of the hybrid event will be mainly in English.  

Media representatives will be welcome to attend the event on site at Dipoli. Advance registration is required: 

Mari Ala-Mikkula 
Marketing and Communications Manager, City of Espoo 
tel. +358 43 8267495
mari.ala-mikkula@espoo.fi

AI Finland is a regionally touring concept owned by Business Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, which annually brings together companies and cutting-edge research in different themes and areas. The first AI Finland was held in Tampere in 2020 and focused on smart production with AI. AI Day is an annual event organised by the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI in collaboration with the Finnish Artificial Intelligence Society, bringing together the scientific community, researchers, businesses and the public sector. In 2021, these two event will be held together. The event will be held in English. The ETAIROS event held alongside the joint event will be in Finnish. The ETAIROS research project promotes the ethical application of AI in different business sectors and public administration.  

More information: 

Heli Hidén 
Development Consultant, City of Espoo 
tel. +358 40 8019930
heli.hiden@espoo.fi 

Media enquiries: 

Mari Ala-Mikkula 
Marketing and Communications Manager, City of Espoo 
tel. +358 43 8267495
mari.ala-mikkula@espoo.fi 

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Check out the event page.