Message from Ambassadors

Finland: Japan’s partner
towards sustainable andwell-aging society

Pekka Orpana
Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Japan

Pekka Orpana graduated in 1979 from the University of Helsinki with a Master of Laws degree and joined the Finnish
foreign service in 1982. Since then he has served in various posts in eight countries. Before starting in Tokyo in September 2018, he had served as an Ambassador also in Serbia and in Peru as well as the Senior Advisor on Energy
External Relations and Climate Change Policies at the MFA of Finland.

Standing at the top of many international
rankings i.e. in education, innovation,
happiness and equality only encourages
us to continue developing our strengths.
Our strengths are also creating excellent
business ecosystems for i.e. ICT,
forestry, health and wellbeing, startups
and smart and sustainable energy
solutions. If the question is “with who”,
the answer is probably Finland.

innovation hub was based especially on one factor:
education. Our free, inclusive and high-quality education
system guarantees that everyone has an equal chance toacademic success and the possibility to contribute to thesociety regardless of their socio-economic background.

If you ask a Japanese person the first thing that comes intomind from the word “Finland” I am pretty sure it will beeither education, Moomins, Aurora Borealis, equality,Santa Claus or sauna. We are very happy for the positive
resonance our country and culture receives in Japan anddelighted that tourism as well as cultural exchange
between our counties is very frequent. From myperspective, what is even more encouraging is theincreasing number of Japanese companies andorganizations that have found Finnish partners andsolutions for whatever challenges they may face. And it
certainly doesn’t hurt that Helsinki is connected to fourJapanese cities with 41 flights operated both by Finnair
and JAL this summer – in Europe, only Paris has more
direct weekly flight connections.

What is special about Finland is that we have a long
history of fluent public-private cooperation between
companies, universities, research institutes and public
sector to find the best ways to keep up with the everchanging world. We are true believers in teamwork.

Today, Finnish universities have over 100 agreementswith Japanese counterparts and they are developing
together the next generations of problem-solvers. Besides
this, our research institutions are collaborating actively.

Tomorrow: digital, sustainability andhealthIn general, Finland is eager to be a testbed for global
solutions from autonomous ships to basic income. This isIn 2019, we are celebrating 100 years of diplomatic
relations between Japan and Finland which provides aperfect opportunity to establish or develop further also
business relations between us.

Education as the main key
Our path from a poor agrarian society to an excelling24

2019.7

Finland-based startup event Slush gathered 6000 bright minds
in February to Tokyo. Picture: Ari Honkanen

グローバル思考に盲点は無いか？

only possible via the aforementioned close public-private
partnerships and innovativeness. It is no coincidence thatthe world’s second biggest startup event Slush – a worldknown party of ideas, investment and visibility – wasborn in Finland. And today, Finland has more digital
startups per capita than any country and our ecosystem is
a popular reference for other countries, like Japan as
JETRO has selected Helsinki as one of its global startup
hubs.
In the health sector, Finland is especially well known in
the fields of genomics, digital health and senior care, andin general delivering cost-effective patient outcomes. Our
population-based
biobanks,innovation-friendly
legislation, comprehensive and digital healthcare registers
create unique opportunities for targeted drug discovery
and clinical research.
Actually, the law on secondary use of health data waspassed earlier this spring that increases research andinnovation opportunities in health and wellbeing, disease
prevention, and personalized medicine. In 2020, Finnish
as well as foreign companies can access our national data
through the Findata service which was again a result of aclose public-private cooperation.
Sustainable and smart energy solutions are leading theway towards carbon-neutral future and tackling theclimate change. Already, our energy market is among thesmartest in the world allowing also testing of newsolutions in real life context. Our recently appointed
government has perhaps the world’s most ambitious
energy and climate policy, which means that the energy
sector will be in focus in the coming years as well.
Achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 requires unforeseen
policy and technology. Smart Otaniemi is one of theleading testbeds in this regard.

～北東欧ユーラシア～ 特集

ranks high in education, technology, health andenvironment. World Economic Forum’s Global
Competitive Index 4.0 ranked Finland as 11th among 140
countries, being at the very top in macro economic
stability, intellectual property protection and skills.
Already over 130 Japanese companies have realized theiropportunities to grow and develop their solutions inFinland. Perhaps the most visible major investment thisspring has been MUJI, one of the leading design
companies in the world, which decided to build their
European flagship store in Helsinki. Also, ITOCHU has
just partnered up big time with Metsä Group to develop
wood-based textile fibers in Ääneskoski. Murata
Manufacturing is expanding their already existing factoryin Vantaa and many smaller scale investments are on theirway.

Metsä Pavilion in Tokyo Olympics
One concrete – or wooden to be precise – example of ourtrade enhancing efforts in Japan is Metsä Pavilion thatwill host Finnish Olympic and Paralympic teams as wellas provide Finnish companies a unique platform todemonstrate their products and services from June toDecember 2020. This one of a kind project is – youguessed it – another example of public-private partnershipfrom Finland.

Business Finland as your guide
Finnish business ecosystem and legislation is supportiveof entrepreneurship and very open to international
companies. Company tax (20%) is below the EU average,
and Business Finland also facilitates foreign companies
to start operations in Finland via multiple methods
varying from financial support to guidance.
In international competitiveness comparison, Finland

Metsä Pavilion will be the hub for Finnish know-how from theTokyo 2020 Olympics until the end of the year. Picture: H&Co

駐日フィンランド共和国大使館
お問い合わせ先
Tel: 03-5447-6000
E-mail: sanomat.tok@formin.fi

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