JUNE 2017 - 

Aller Media Finland, part of the larger family-owned Nordic Aller Holdings, has been publishing magazines in Finland since 1992, establishing itself as market leader with brands such as Elle, Koti ja keittiö (Home and Kitchen), Katso (Look TV magazine) and Seiska (Seven), the largest social entertainment weekly magazine in the country. Brand-related websites comprise an important part of its business with www.seiska.fi the leading magazine site and Suomi24, Finland’s largest social networking web community followed by 1.4 million weekly users. Yet, in recent years Aller Finland has found a valuable niche, one that has propelled the company not only into unchartered territory but also into the position of leading the charge in turning consumer data into big business. READ MORE

MARCH 2018 - The Helsinki city council innovation subsidiary Forum Virium has joined the 5G Finland network launched by Telia Finland, which aims to create and pilot 5G applications. Forum Virium's goal is to make Helsinki the world's "smartest" city, in co-operation with companies, academia and residents. Forum Virium development director Pekka Koponen said it wants to make Telia and its other partners to be a leading test platform. READ MORE

MARCH 2018 - Last year, on the centenary of its independence, Finland was ranked, by assorted international indices, the most stable, the safest and the best-governed country in the world. It was also the third wealthiest, the third least corrupt, the second most socially progressive and the third most socially just. Finland’s judicial system is the most independent in the world, its police the most trusted, its banks the soundest, its companies the second most ethical, its elections the second freest, and its citizens enjoy the highest levels of personal freedom, choice and wellbeing. The Nordic country’s 5.5 million inhabitants are also the third most gender-equal in the world and have the fifth lowest income inequality. Their babies are the least underweight, their kids feel the most secure, and their teens perform the second best at reading (only third at science, though). READ MORE

MARCH 2018 - Avid, a leading global media technology provider for the creation, distribution, and monetization of media assets for global media organizations, enterprise users, and individual creative professionals, today announced that Finland’s leading commercial TV network, MTV3, has rolled out Avid’s story-centric news workflow powered by Avid MediaCentral to create and deliver a wide range of multimedia-rich content to audiences across television, web, and digital platforms. Part of the Bonnier Group, one of the largest media companies in the Nordics, MTV3 and its production house, Mediahub, has the largest audience share among Finland’s commercial TV channels. It broadcasts news programs twice a day, seven days a week as well as a diverse range of content including sports, entertainment, and films reaching millions of viewers. READ MORE

FEB 2018 - The Media Honeypot program – expertly curated by Janina Salo-Glasemann and her team – was emceed by the estimable Ralph Simon, whose bon mots in Finnish and Swedish brought more than a few chuckles from the crowd. Tomas Franzén, CEO of Bonnier, discussed how the company has managed to move into the digital space, while also nurturing a venture arm. He reminded the audience that, at its core, Bonnier’s chief job is to promote and protect democracy; a welcome message during these times. Moritz Holzgraefe, with Axel Springer, was one of several major publishers on the lookout for new startups; his company has certainly led the way in transforming a proud old publisher into a digital powerhouse. Laura Avonius, co-founder of Data Refinery, showed how her unit at Aller Media turned the company around by using its own data and spun it off as Data Refinery. READ MORE

FEB 2018 - Music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music help artists get songs onto listeners' playlists with just a few steps, but how artists are paid is a little more convoluted. In a rare move in 2016, Spotify released data about its streaming payment scheme for the month of March of that year to Aalto University. A recent joint study by Finnish music industry organisations and Aalto University took a closer look at those numbers and compared the current streaming payment scheme with a different compensation model. READ MORE

FEB 2018 - In 2017, Business Finland issued most of its funding to Small and medium-sized enterprises. Innovation funding had a great impact in the growth and success of companies. "Small and medium-sized enterprises having received Tekes innovation funding grew both their turnover and exports by 35 per cent during the period of 2013 to 2016. At the same time, other SMEs increased their exports by 4 per cent," says Pekka Soini, Director General of Business Finland. Business Finland issued funding totalling EUR 510 million in 2017. The share of grants was EUR 221 million, the share of loans slightly more than EUR 176 million and that of research funding EUR 112 million. A positive funding decision was awarded to 4,485 projects out of 6,300 applications. READ MORE

The objective of the new Business Finland programme, AI Business, is to make Finland the best country in the world to develop and utilise artificial intelligence and platform economy and to build global ecosystems and test platforms to attract investment. The AI Business program funds Finnish start-up, SME, midcap and large companies in all fields developing and utilising AI and platform economy in business. The programme also offers international networks and export services like matching selected companies with large global companies. The four-year AI Business programme’s (2018-2022) budget is EUR 200 million, of which Business Finland covers approximately half. In addition EUR 60 million can be used e.g. to fund digital platforms, resulting in significant network effects. READ MORE

Feb 2018 - Digital Media Finland’s VR/AR report presents basic information on the current state of the VR/AR market and suggestions how the Finnish VR/AR companies could enter the international market and grow. The report was commissioned to Digital Media Finland by Nokia Technologies. DOWNLOAD HERE

Nov 2017 - The Finnish companies were recognised for their expertise in inbound marketing, which draws customers through content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO). Sales Communications was recognised for the second successive year in the Partner of the Year category and doubled its catch this year with another HubSpot Impact Award in the Happiest Customers category. Zeeland Family meanwhile, took home an award for Integrations Innovation, recognising its creative integration of inbound marketing with e-commerce, which enabled the marketing to automatically connect with the online store. MORE HERE

Une mutation rapide dans la structure de l’industrie finlandaise des télécommunications a offert aux entreprises l’occasion unique d’embaucher des ingénieurs de premier ordre et de grand talent. Aujourd’hui, la Finlande est le pays idéal pour démarrer un bureau de recherche et de développement. LIRE PLUS

Octobre 2017 - Alors que la France vient à peine de réformer son droit du travail, la Finlande est parvenue à placer l’entrepreneuriat au cœur de son nouveau contrat social. L'exemple de ce pays, qui a aussi de nombreux défis socio-économiques à relever, montre que contrairement à ce qui peut être pressenti dans certains débats en France, qu'il est possible de faire coexister un service public fort et une économie flexibilisée et compétitive, sans que cela ne nuise aux droits des salaries et aux capacités de développement des entreprises. LIRE PLUS

Les raisons de cette accélération ? La consommation des ménages est repartie et le pays profite du retour à meilleure fortune de la Russie qui, sortie de récession, recommence à acheter les produits finlandais. Surtout : Helsinki a commencé à diversifier son industrie, afin de combler le vide laisser par Nokia. « Les savoirs et le capital humain de l’industrie électronique ont été transférés aux technologies de la santé, nouveau secteur très prometteur : il a représenté 2,1 milliards d’euros en 2016, soit la moitié de nos exports de hautes technologies », explique M. Mykkänen. Ce « transfert » a été permis par un écosystème favorable à l’innovation, qui met en relation universités, chercheurs, start-up et entreprises..LIRE PLUS 

Feb 2018 - The Football Association of Finland (SPL) has signed a pilot agreement with Pitchero, which will supply a grassroots digital platform. The UK’s leading provider of technology to amateur sports clubs will provide a first-of-its-kind platform to Finnish soccer’s governing body, enabling it to engage with its grassroots participants online and generate revenue. READ MORE

This independent media startup has launched a new kind of audio listening service: a YouTube for podcasts. For Kieku, the tool for sculpting the horizon comes in the shape of a podcast content provider, which is tailored to listeners’ interests at the push of a button. “We are not focussed on ‘click this and laugh’ content, more so the stories that might stimulate thinking,” Fabritius explains. “Kieku makes it easier for people to find inspirational and brainy content. Better thinking leads to a better life and better ideas.” READ MORE

OCT 2017 - You certainly know the success stories behind Nokia, Angry Birds and Supercell, but did you know that these are Finnish companies Finland is fastly growing to become one of the most vibrant startup scenes in the world and country’s startup incubators and accelerators are the major enablers of high-growth potential startup businesses. READ MORE