Business Espoo’s Elinkeinofoorumi focused on intelligence capital

History was made at Business Espoo’s Elinkeinofoorumi in mid-April (18th of April). A record audience of more than 400 people had registered to the Dipoli hall and livestream lines.  This time the weather was favourable as well.

“On this day we usually face snow or sleet, so even this tradition was now broken”, joked Sari Äikäs, Director of the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, who was the moderator of the event together with Harri Paananen, the City’s Director of Economic Development.

The theme selected for the Elinkeinofoorumi was competence and its development, this being one of the key challenges in the future for Espoo and all of Finland as well.

Mayor Jukka Mäkelä said it is also a factor that the next government must take into consideration.

“We need more international experts, but at the same time we must also see to the educational paths of their children and of young people. Such paths must be offered in international languages, and a serious investment must be made in this going forward. This is especially important in the metropolitan area”, Mäkelä pointed out.

He also stated that Espoo, which is growing its population at a record pace, is a growth engine not only for the Helsinki metropolitan area but also for the whole of Finland, as approximately €1.0 billion of the tax revenue it provides to the government is directly allocated to other provinces.

“Half of the turnover of companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange comes from Espoo-based businesses, more than 50% of growth companies started at universities are established in Espoo, and Espoo ranks sixth in the number of patent applications filed in Europe. The city also came second in the European Innovation Competition”, Mäkelä listed.

He also brought up the close cooperation between the City, Aalto University and VTT, which is used for seeking solutions to global challenges.

“More and more people have begun to realise that they need collaboration among the public sector, research institutions and enterprises. Now we have the momentum to push the matter forward”, Mäkelä noted.

At the start of his own presentation, futurist, inventor and author Perttu Pölönen praised Espoo’s bold lean forward, rate of growth and innovativeness. He also emphasised that education and degrees do not guarantee a secure future.

Advances in technology will lead to yet another industrial revolution where steps are taken in a more humane direction than before.

“The keyword is competence that must be updated in the same way as a phone.  The employee of the future is a creative and humane problem-solver who needs a sharp head and also a big heart”, Pölönen reminded.

Working life has traditionally valued speed and efficiency. Soon a turn will be seen here too.

“Any one of us can wonder whether a library, store or bank is better if it does not have any staff? Or a Teams meeting compared with a face-to-face encounter? In the future we must learn to see the value of these genuine encounters and humanity”, Pölönen said.

At the same time he emphasised that there is no point in trying to slow down the global pace of advances in technology and the development of artificial intelligence, for example.

“The task of technology is to facilitate the work done by humans. And as we have seen over centuries, there is always someone leading it forward”, Pölönen reminded.

Participants at a panel discussion headed by Harri Paananen, Espoo’s Director of Economic Development, focused on investments in personnel and the added value they provide, and on the means to hold on to experts better than before.

Amel Gaily, the Chief Executive Officer of Cuckoo Networks, acknowledged that attracting employees is more difficult by the day. Something else must be offered besides a salary, and every company must consider what it could be.

“The corporate culture, values and opportunities for development hold more significance for employees than before”, she summarised.

Hanna Kivelä, the Managing Director of Fujitsu Finland, emphasised that people look for meaning in their work and that money alone is not motive enough.

Susa Nikula, the Chief People & Culture Officer of LähiTapiola, concurred with this and highlighted the significance of good management and a comfortable work community. She also remarked that in the current business cycle people have begun to re-emphasise the value of pay.

The three panellists also stressed that investments in competence and in a diverse and multidisciplinary work community will bear fruit over time.

“Businesses have traditionally invested in machinery, equipment and walls. People and their competence should be seen as a similar investment. This is particularly important in service industries”, Nikula summed up.

A forecast on business cycles at the Elinkeinofoorumi was provided by Tiina Helenius, the Chief Economist of Elo Pension Insurance Company. She anticipated clammy and foggy but not utterly hopeless weather for this year. However, a new geopolitical crisis can rearrange the building blocks once again.

“Finland is headed for a mild recession but we are likely to survive it without a major downturn. The rate of inflation also appears to calm down”, Helenius noted.

The slowdown in construction is beginning to show, and the economist said that unemployment would grow slightly. Another challenge is that up to now households have hung in there with savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now many people are starting to run out of those buffers.

She predicted that the interest rate peak in the euro zone would occur in the latter half of the year.

“One key factor is China and its economic trend. If a rise occurs through construction in the traditional manner, it will be felt in the euro zone as well. If a recovery is driven by services, the impacts here will be faint”, Helenius said.

The event closed with an award presented to the Espoo Company of the Year. The entrepreneurs selected Ilmapallokeskus Balloon Center, established by Jonna and Petri Nieminen in 1991, which has grown into a diverse professional of festive arrangements.

The company has a total of seven stores, three of them in Espoo. Balloon Center has 70 employees and turnover of around 13 million euros.

The criteria for the award praised the company’s responsible, systematic and persistent path that has led it through years of depression, financial crises and the Covid-19 pandemic that hit the event industry really hard.

The company has also taken good care of its personnel. Employment relationships are long and have continued to the next generation of experts.

Read more about the Espoo Company of the Year.



Text: Timo Sormunen

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The arrangements for the Elinkeinofoorumi were carried out by the Business Espoo network. It includes the City of Espoo, Enter Espoo, the Federation of Espoo Enterprises, the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, business services at the Uusimaa TE Office, and EnterpriseEspoo. More information: BusinessEspoo.com