Timo Vuorensola, allies and Iron Sky revolutionize

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Timo Vuorensola, allies and Iron Sky revolutionize the film industry
Space voyage by
a volunteer community
Microtask slices work worldwide
Lymed applies healing pressure
Finland
tampere
business
2012
Photo Annikaisa Knuutila
tampere
Living Colours
How to make art for the
visually impaired? This was
the challenge facing Tampere
artists Charles Sandison and
Teija-Tuulia Ahola, when they
were commissioned to produce
an artwork for the lobby at
Tampere’s new patient hotel
and ophthalmic hospital.
“At first it seemed like
mission impossible,” Ahola
says.
“But then we studied
research in areas like how a
cataract patient sees things.”
The colours of the media art
piece portray the surrounding
nature.
“There’s a frozen lake, blue
sky, forest, a jogger’s red scarf,
different seasons. It’s visual
data, it lives and changes every
second,” describes Sandison,
who is acknowledged
internationally for his computeranimated installations.
Finland’s first private patient
hotel, Norlandia Care Tampere
Hotel, has been opened next to
Tampere University Hospital.
Video work by Charles Sandison
and Teija-Tuulia Ahola can be
admired in the lobby.
www.norlandiacare.fi
Time to make a collective commotion
We live and work together in the most attractive region – the Tampere Region – of Finland,
the country that has also been nominated best in the word. We haven’t made much noise about
this, even though we should.
What makes magnetism? People, communities, companies, active achievement, bold choices
– everything we’ve crystallized in our region’s international brand, Tampere All Bright! A brand
is the sum of all the images and understanding we have of something. What’s best is that we
don’t have to agree about every word that describes the Tampere Region. There’s plenty in
Tampere for everyone.
Tampere All Bright! is freely available for everyone’s use. It doesn’t replace the other strong
brands in our region, but it increases our magnetism further. A bold, open and enduring image
of the Tampere Region is supported by the VILI portal: Visit, Invest, Live, Innovate. The portal
www.tampereallbright.fi provides information about our business and expertise platforms, all
that we have to offer for tourists, and the region’s different environments for living.
Strong expertise, and cooperation between companies, universities and the entire innovation
community, are pivotal to our brand. The Tampere Region is known particularly for mechanical
engineering and information technology, among others. The structures of trade and business
are changing. In future we will continue to build our success on diverse and active business,
and on high-level education and research. The City of Tampere is securing this future by
embarking on a new, seven-year business and innovation programme, Open Tampere.
Companies innovate continually, and internationality and networking are an integral part of
the process. Innovations rarely emerge from the ideation of one stakeholder. In their innovation
activities, companies usually favour partners that are geographically close: other companies,
entrepreneurs, researchers and funders. A sufficient number of these is needed for successful
innovation activity. In the Tampere Region, investment in our own innovation environment
makes a difference. Also making a difference is the fact that we are making the change both
together, and in the same direction.
Päivi Myllykangas
Managing Director
Tampere Region Economic Development Agency Tredea
all bright! Tampere Business Published in English and in Finnish • March 2012
publisher Tampere Region Economic Development Agency Tredea
EDitor-in-chief Päivi Myllykangas, Managing Director
editing Communications Agency Tammisto, Knuutila, Tammisto Oy
layout Tiina Lautamäki Translation Violetti Valas Viestintätoimisto
printed by Hämeen Kirjapaino Oy circulation 5,000
441
209
Printed matter
HÄMEEN KIRJAPAINO OY 2012
additional copies sari.makela@tredea.fi cover by Sami Mannerheimo
All Bright! 2 Tampere Region
Photo Emil Bobyrev
The power of light!
Light designers Roope
Siiroinen and Katja Muttilainen
caused a glow in Tampere's
Hämeenpuisto park.
www.valovoimainen.fi
6
Eco house built from recycled glass
and shipping containers
8
Power from open and agile innovation
across industries
11
12
Space voyage undertaken by a volunteer community
14
Cargotec builds the future of container handling
16
New union of biosciences and technology
20
Lymed’s pressure garments help
seriously ill patients and top athletes
22
Windows opens windows:
ICT expertise up for grabs!
24
Bernard Garvey in Tampere for
international operations
Image University Properties of Finland Ltd/
LSV-arkkitehdit
what's up
Photo Martti Tammisto
TUT will have more room as well as space that inspires
interaction and meetings.
Winds of change in building
“The operations of rulers must be transparent. We work
to ensure that whistleblowing would be easy and safe
for the whistle-blower,” says founder of OpenLeaks
Herbert Snorrason.
There’ll be chaos,
but so what?
The latest MindTrek conference dove deep into social media.
The impact of social media is unpredictable because some of
the earth’s inhabitants have leapt to become subject matters
and users directly, without the intermediate stages that westerners have taken. There will be chaos, but so what?
And so the divide between developed and developing regions was crystallized. Herbert Snorreson from Iceland, selfproclaimed anarchist and founder of WikiLeaks breakaway
OpenLeaks, and Mohamed El-Fatary from Finland, founder of the hugely popular Muslim lifestyle website Muxlim,
welcomed chaos as an inevitable step towards change. Indian
journalist Shali Ittaman was left almost alone with a worry: In
social media, a careless word can bring blood on the streets,
and chaos is dangerous because people die.
MindTrek is the most significant conference in the field of
digital phenomena in the Nordic countries. This year it takes
place between 3–5 October.
www.mindtrek.org
The Tampere Central Deck and Arena project
designed by American architect Daniel Libeskind
has attracted a lot of publicity and has strong wind
in its sails. It isn’t the only spectacular building
project under planning in the Tampere Region.
Barcelona-based company MX_SI architectural
studio has been selected to implement an extension
to the Serlachius museum, Gösta, in MänttäVilppula. Those roaming about in Tampere’s city
centre will meet a charming view of a glass pavilion
designed by ALA Arkkitehdit by the Hämeensilta
bridge. The pavilion, Magnolia, will function as the
air circulation and entrance to a parking cave.
University campuses are also being renewed.
Tampere University of Technology (TUT) intends to
invigorate its campus with a futuristic arena, and a
new campus is also under planning for medicine.
A visionary image ALA Arkkitehdit
“It takes two to tango”
Tampere exuded the spirit of innovation as it hosted the annual conference
of Technopolicy Network, a community focusing on regional innovation
processes. The theme was open innovations in regional development. And
open innovation is today’s must have,
such was the shared opinion.
“It takes two to tango. Innovations
emerge from networks and interac-
tion. In the past the aim was to achieve
technology transfer from universities
to companies, but today we must strive
to share technology and knowledge.
Universities, too, need more and more
knowledge and expertise from outside,
from companies,” evaluated Erkki
Ormala, Director of Technology Policy from Nokia.
The role of open innovation in regional development was discussed at
Technopolicy Network’s conference in Tampere.
Ageing well
New solutions are required to ensure services for
the ageing population and to develop society for
the aged. Tampere is answering this challenge
with the launch of a sizeable programme,
TampereSenior. In the programme, ageing is seen
both as a resource and a positive change that
creates opportunities. The aim is to bring together
existing research and development projects and
service innovations linked to the field, and to
promote the operations of companies and the
establishment of new ones.
Tampere is set to be the world’s best place to
age in 2020. The move is perfectly in synch with
the times, as 2012 is the European Year for Active
Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.
Teppo, man of steel
Just after an exhibition opened with the
title ‘A defender of four decades’, the
name could have been appended with
‘and a coach of a fifth’. The exhibition
at the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in
Tampere features the long and significant
career of Teppo Numminen, who
finished his player career in 2009.
Numminen has picked up the puck
once again. He has become assistant
coach for the Buffalo Sabres. History is
in the making, as he is only the second
Finn to take a coaching position in the
NHL.
Man of steel Teppo Numminen:
A defender of four decades
Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame
until 2 Sep 2012
Vapriikki Museum Centre
Photo Jukka Rautio/Europhoto
Backlight illuminates again
Photo Backlight/Ida Nisonen
The international Backlight 2011 photo festival drew a significant audience: 10,000 people viewed works by 44 artists
on the themes global mobility and the desire for a good life.
A photo from Finnish photographer Ida Nisonen’s series,
Immigrants-in-Studio, was featured in Backlight’s theme
exhibition, Migration and Nomadic Livin.
Photo Petri Heinonen
Accessibility improved in theatre
Tampere, the theatre capital of Finland, is improving
accessibility for theatre audiences speaking another
language or with impaired hearing. Tampere Comedy
Theatre is testing a new personal texting service on
iPad during the play Five Women in a Chapel. Texts are
available in English and Finnish. The application is being
implemented by the Comedy Theatre and Tampere-based
software firm Kyy Games.
Now also in English! The Comedy Theatre launched a new text application
for the play Five Women in a Chapel.
All Bright! 5 Tampereen seutu
Photo Antero Tenhunen
what's up
A visionary image of the eco-house/Petra Savela, Arkkitehtiruutu Oy
Ecologically exemplary li
Eco house
from glass and
shipping containers
Whatever is going on in Lempäälä?
Glass Refining Finland Ltd is building
an eco-house based to a great
extent on recycling and a bold test
implementation of new technologies.
The building materials are recycled
glass and second-hand shipping
containers! A huge glass sphere will
cover a 200 m² house, sauna building
and swimming pool. The 900 m²
covered by the sphere will also have
a vegetable garden and rainwater
collection system.
www.ekotaloprojekti.fi
Vuores is incorporating sustainable energies into everyday
living. This green district of some 13,000 residents is
currently being built on the border between Tampere and
Lempäälä. A preview of Vuores will be open at a housing
fair this summer.
V
uores is one of the largest urban
building projects in Finland. It
brings together high-quality architecture, ecology, state-of-the-art technology and proximity to natural surroundings.
Energy- and eco-efficiency will be under
the spotlight at the housing fair, with both
passive and zero energy houses on show.
“The City of Tampere is giving a 50
per cent reduction on plot rent during the
first five years for those who build passive
or zero energy house. It’s an excellent, innovative idea which would be fine to see
implemented in other cities too,” says
Managing Director of Housing Fair Finland, Pasi Heiskanen.
Vuores will also energize its inhabitants: they will have allotments for their
own use, and the district’s traffic solutions
will support public transportation as well
as cycling and walking.
Natural rainwater and leachate processing, by keeping and absorption, emphasize
a nature-oriented focus. New technology
will be used in areas like waste management handled by a pipe collection system,
LED lighting for streets and parks, and an
ultra-fast data network.
The City of Tampere will bring art to
public spaces, bridges and squares. Art
will also be acquired by developers, private families and house manufacturers as
part of their building projects. Temporary
art will be placed in the area for the duration of the housing fair.
Finland’s largest wood-built
apartment area
Tampere is also planning Finland’s largest area of modern wood-built apartment
houses in the Isokuusi area of Vuores.
There will be 1,650 apartments, between
Hannele Räikkönen,
the Tampere Region’s
EU Liaison Manager
in Brussels, writes about
her tasks and experiences
thus far within the sphere
of the EU.
brussels calling
Hammering ahead at the
housing fair area in Tampere’s
Vuores district. Jani Lehtimäki
in the midst of the building
work last autumn.
Open Tampere:
future success stories
being built today – together
ving
500 and 700 of them in wood-built houses.
In addition to building with wood, ecoand energy-efficient housing in the area is
being developed under the leadership of
Tampere’s ECO2 project.
It hasn’t previously been possible to
implement an eco-efficient and competitive
wood-built apartment house area like Isokuusi. Building has been hindered by fire
regulations as well as a lack of expertise
and experience. Wood isn’t the only building material used for the Isokuusi houses,
which also incorporate steel, concrete and
glass.
Housing Fair in Tampere
13.7.–12.8.2012
l a 15-hectare estate for some 600 residents in Vuores
l a total of 39 display homes: detached houses, apartments, terraced and
semi-detached homes, a service home for the mentally impaired, and a cut-
way display house
l targeting 10 passive energy houses and 2 zero energy houses
l organized by Housing Fair Finland
and the City of Tampere.
www.vuores.fi
European debate has in recent years emphasized the future and the
challenges to competitiveness which follow. In addition to the economic
crisis, the many challenges range from a rapidly ageing population to
rusting infrastructure and crumbling education systems.
Views on Europe’s future prospects, held by former IBM president and
current chairman of the board Samuel J Palmisano, were recently heard
at an event arranged by Lisbon Council, the Brussels-based think tank.
Being “Pragmatically optimistic” he convinced us in the audience that the
European Union will continue to have influence. But we must focus on
ensuring that we have an operating environment that enables innovation,
and also strong leaders. In other words, we need both vision and
commitment.
Of course, Palmisano’s message is neither new nor revolutionary. The
European Commission has for a long time outlined strategic thinking and
developed new operating methods for European innovation activities. The
Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship Innovation Union initiative present
clear growth-supporting targets for Europe. The programmes during the
next funding period, such as the 80-billion euro Horizon 2020 which funds
research and innovation, provide resources that will enable these targets.
We in the Tampere Region are also convinced that the future will be built
on innovation. However, innovation activities require support from both
builders of frameworks and networkers. The objective of the innovation
and future-related work led by the Council of Tampere Region is to
develop the preconditions for innovation activities as a whole. The City
of Tampere’s Open Tampere programme is a new innovation platform
programme which aims to generate and develop environments and
methods that enable fast and open innovation activities in the Tampere
Region. The programme strives to ensure that our region will continue to
be an internationally attractive environment for innovation and business.
The Tampere Region is pointing in the right direction. We have a vision
to ensure the region’s future well-being and competitiveness, and we are
committed to reaching our aims. Subsequently, perhaps, we can export this
culture of getting things done: Open Tampere – Open Europe.
innovate
Let
i
t
!
o
d
's
What happens in Tampere
when the world changes – when
new operating models and a
new angle on development are
required, and when there’s a need
for communal spirit, openness
and innovation?
People roll up their sleeves and
reach the same conclusion: Let’s
do it!
Text Annikaisa Knuutila
lll When industry was dealt a blow
by structural change in the late 20th century, the reverberations on a traditional industrial city had a hardening effect:
Tampere began developing into a city of
knowledge society by bringing information and communication technologies
and services into its core development.
Health technology was also selected as
a focal area.
The Tampere region Centre of Expertise and the City of Tampere business
development programmes have built
bridges over structural change and driven the wind back into the city’s sails.
The eTampere knowledge society
programme was followed by Bio
neXt, which focused on health
technology, after which the
developmental lead was taken by Creative Tampere
(2006–2011). The next
thrust launches this
year with the Open
Tampere innovation programme
(2012–2018).
Boost for creative economy
The Creative Tampere programme returned a first-rate result: growth in creative industries accelerated faster than anywhere else in Finland. More than 1,000
companies took part in the programme
and more than 700 new businesses were
established.
The programme produced a centralized method for developing creative
economy companies which received international attention. Today, Tampere is
participating in the European Commission’s Creative Cities activities, and together with Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Nantes and Milan is brainstorming
policy programmes to create tools for
the development of innovative creative
economy and service industries during
the new structural fund period.
novation platforms that cover multiple
industries and focus on actualization.
Among these power plants are New Factory, which focuses on fast innovation
and the development of company startups in its Demola and Protomo subsidiaries, and Konela, which crosses the
boundaries of science and technology to
target the commercial utilization of research knowledge in mechanical engineering. Also under construction is Mediapolis, a minicluster developer for creative industries.
Another new and unique development environment, BioMediTech, combines biomedicine and technology from
two universities. Iron Sky, a communal
film production which demonstrates the
power of voluntary input, represents a
new spirit of achievement in the creative
economy.
Open Tampere
follows the path of creativity
Students rush to Demola
The objective of the Open Tampere business development programme is to further transform Tampere into a worldclass development environment, a city
of innovation.
The programme encompasses all industries and adds impetus to expertise;
joining competences and experts, generating new businesses, and bringing renewal to existing companies. The aim is
to improve communal expertise in product development, design and innovation, and to utilize this expertise more
effectively.
New and existing innovation factories provide stimulus for the programme. These factories, spaces and
operating methods, are communal in-
The operating models and environments
of open and agile innovation flourish in
New Factory and its Demola and Protomo programmes. Both have proven
themselves as growth environments for
winning teams.
In Demola students develop demo
products and services in collaboration
with companies. The activity began two
and a half years ago. Thus spring 2012,
210 projects have been established with
participation by 1,000 students.
Students of Tampere’s higher education institutions are today able to include a Demola Academy study module in their degrees. The Demola Academy represents innovation with real-life
R&D seeds provided by companies, and
lll
lll
immediately gained high popularity. More
than 400 applications were submitted for
the first round, from which 180 students
were selected. 35 projects were set up with
26 companies. The student teams’ development results include intelligent technology
to enable more precise drilling for Sandvik,
a personalized mobile user interface for the
control of industrial processes – the LiveManual – for Metso, and mobile and computer applications, operating methods and
services for the residents of Tampere’s new
Vuores district.
The joint Demola operating model by
the University of Tampere, Tampere University of Technology and Tampere University of Applied Sciences is internationally
pioneering.
www.demola.fi
New Factory produces winners
In New Factory’s Protomo programme, experts from different fields refine ideas and
generate companies worth funding.
Newly established companies are
among the visible results. And not just any
companies: Ovelin enhances guitar learning, and Zonear makes HTML5 technology easier. Both have taken off from Protomo to reach winning positions during
last two years in Startup Sauna, an Aalto University event
bringing together start-up teams from
around the Baltic.
The shiniest example is Ovelin. The
company’s WildChords software combines
learning to play a guitar with gaming. In autumn 2011, WildChords became the most
downloaded game in Finland, and by early
2012 it was App Store’s most downloaded
music application in 34 countries.
Ovelin and WildChords have achieved
top awards in various competitions: a category win in the 2011 European Best Learning Game competition, the Nordic Dimension Music Innovation Award 2011, first
position in the Slush100 pitching event in
a North European start-up conference, the
title of Overall Entrepreneur of the Entrepreneurship Festival in England and a category win in the MIDEM labs startup competition. Ovelin gained solid support for
its work to make the world more musical
in February, when American business True
Ventures invested in the company to the
tune of 1.4 million dollars.
www.newfactory.fi
Unique environment for innovation is also
the joint research unit of The University
of Tampere and Tampere University of
Technology. Biosciences and technology are
combined at BioMediTech , page 16
A novel way to create: the online community
was invited to take part in making the movie,
Iron Sky page 12
Tampere games hard
The game industry is growing fast
in Tampere. There are some 25
game companies, eight of which
were established in 2011. Growth
is accelerated by enthusiasm, good
conditions and support measures.
These measures include the Manse
Games project for the systematic
development of the industry, the
national Neogames research
and business activity, and an
expert workforce. Momentum has
multiplied with entry to Tampere by
Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds.
www.mansegames.fi
innovate
Text Martti Tammisto
S
ome years ago, Tampere local Otto
Chrons was pondering how people
living in developing countries could
earn money with their mobile phones. At
the same time, amateur photographer Ville
Miettinen from Helsinki was mulling over
how to categorize and arrange his 150,000
photographs. Their paths crossed, and they
noticed they had taken different routes to
arrive at a similar system.
Together, and bringing in two other partners, they established Microtask, a
company based on crowdsourcing. Both
men had previous experience of launching
a company start-up, growing it and selling
it to a large international company.
There is an endless number of paper
forms, coupons and cards carrying information that needs transferring into digital
format. Optical text recognition software
can read printed and typed text, but a human is required to interpret hand-written
text. This is where Miettinen and Chrons
identified a market for the system they had
outlined.
Three years later, the company’s head
office and product development are located
in Tampere, and its sales and customers in
the United States. The US office was set up
last September, and six sales persons were
hired nationwide.
“We won our first large projects in November – extensive archive projects, lifting
names, dates of birth and phone or driving
licence numbers from administrative materials, work satisfaction surveys, customer
competition entry forms, and filing address
data from cards,” describes Otto Chrons.
“We’re now growing well, as the sales
people have learned what they’re selling.”
What does this say?
Microtask’s typical customer is a
document management company which receives forms from
its own customers, scans and
sends them to Microtask for processing. A
browser-based system is ‘taught’ which data is to be picked from the forms and the
work is divided into small pieces, micro
tasks, such as querying whether a form has
a tick in a box or not.
Somewhere in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, China or Mexico, someone types
the answers to Microtasks’ questions using their own computer or that of a village school, for example, earning a salary
of two to five dollars an hour. The workforce is not employed by Microtask; their
salaries are paid by the company’s local partner. Otherwise, recruiting employees and managing salaries, taxes and other payments in different countries would be
impossible. In Pakistan, for example, Microtask’s partner has 900,000 people on its
books who are able to work online at least
occasionally. In the western world, it is impossible even to find people to do similar
tasks.
Microtask operates in the same market
as many other players in India, for example. The market is worth an estimated 300
billion dollars. The value of the data entry
tasks suitable for Microtask’s system is 30
billion.
together with the National Library of Finland. The library has digitized its newspaper archives by scanning. The problem stems from the Fraktur typeface used
in old newspapers, which text recognition
programmes are unable to read sufficiently well. Some 100,000 Finns took part in
fixing the mistakes using a system built by
Microtask in game format.
Otto Chrons believes that in a few
years Microtask could employ tens
of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. By then,
the company is likely
to be a part of a larger
conglomerate, and its
founding serial entrepreneurs will already
be developing something else.
Efficiency and accuracy
How does a Finnish start-up succeed
against the competition?
“Our system is faster and more efficient, and the results are of a higher quality
compared to our competitors,” Otto Chrons
says.
“The concept is a hybrid system where
as much work as possible is done with machine intelligence. But because it isn’t able
to do everything, the machine intelligence
is assisted by human work. By fixing mistakes made by machine intelligence, people
teach the machine.”
When constructing their system, Microtask organized the Digitalkoot project
“There are millions of people with
some kind of online access in
developing countries. Microtask
gives them an opportunity to use
the web to work and earn,” says
Otto Chrons.
After Iron Sky, the Wreckamovie
website has attracted hundreds of other
productions from different fields. An
opera titled Opera by You is being created
online for presentation next summer at
the Savonlinna Opera Festival. “We’re
constantly developing the site. Rovio’s
Peter Vesterbacka is also involved in the
work,” tells Timo Vuorensola.
Space voyage undertaken by
a volunteer community
The credits at the end of director Timo Vuorensola’s
sci-fi parody Iron Sky last six minutes. That’s how
long it takes to list everyone who took part in the
production; tens of thousands of people from all
over the world.
Text Katriina Liusjärvi Photo Sami Mannerheimo
Wreckamovie
While the script was being written, the
online community was invited to take
part in making the movie.
“We launched the Wreckamovie
website in 2007. Iron Sky was the first
production on the site.”
Wreckamovie offers a platform for
fans can take part in movie-making
interactively. Community members
are invited to act in mass scenes, for
instance, or to give their opinions on
advertising posters.
When you ask something from a
community, willing participants come
forward fast and in large numbers. A
group of some 20 trusted people eases
the director’s work and filters through the
best comments and suggestions.
Nothing is promised on either side:
the community contributes voluntarily
and for free, and the director uses
these elements as he sees appropriate.
The community doesn’t even know the
movie’s plot.
“If the whole plot were to leak out,
it would undermine interest in the film.
We ask for the community’s help mainly
through the Wreckamovie website, and
also elsewhere in social media. On
Facebook the movie has close to 90,000
fans.”
Crowd investment
The community is also asked to assist
financially. Iron Sky has the biggest
movie budget to date in Finland, at 7.5
million euros. Of this, a million is to be
raised by fans.
“Investments start from 1,000 euros
and there’s no upper limit. It works out
so that the money invested in the movie
generates a profit proportional to the
investment. Money starts coming when
the makers reach a profit.”
“When people have their own money
invested, they’re sure to spread the
word among all their friends and family,”
Vuorensola believes.
To date Spring 2012, the movie has
been sold to almost 30 countries.
welcome the Nazis, Vuorensola is already
dreaming of the next project. It might
be a sci-fi series for international TV
distribution.
“Nothing new has happened in this
area for years, but the sci-fi fans are still
out there.”
Something even more tangible
will endure in Tampere even after Iron
Sky: world-class expertise in computer
graphics.
“Tampere now has every chance
to develop into a place where special
effects are made. There’s already worldclass expertise here.”
Vuorensola believes that Tampere
could easily become even the Nordic
countries’ leading location for creating
virtual sets and special effects for
movies. Energia Productions, for
instance, is extremely well-versed with
the technologies, and there are plenty
of large halls available in Tampere for
filming backgrounds.
Concept art Jussi Lehtiniemi
E
verything began with a dream
seven years ago. Finalizing work
for the previous film, Star Wreck
– In the Pirkining, was in its last stretch
when one of the film-makers, Jarmo
Puskala, mentioned he had had a dream
about Hitler.
“And then he said we should
make a film about Nazis on the moon,”
Vuorensola laughs.
The idea clicked into place only after
it was related to Tampere writer Johanna
Sinisalo. She adopted the idea and
embarked on a five-year script writing
process.
The future
Iron Sky’s world premier took place
at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
While the world is only just preparing to
innovate
Konela engineers
leadership
Tampere is defending its position as a strong
competence centre for the work machinery
industry. Konela is the latest resource for taking
a trailblazing position in operating methods and
research project management for mechanical
engineering.
Konela was established in autumn 2011
to solidify cooperation between companies in
the industry and to accelerate research for the
industry’s needs. The adopted working method is
open innovation activity, which has been applied for
some time in the ICT field in Tampere with good
results. Through Konela, these proven concepts,
innovation tools and experiences are now being
transferred into the mechanical engineering.
Due to the exceptional strength of the
mechanical engineering cluster in Tampere – there
are several market leaders, for example – the new
operating method will be channelled into research.
The aim is to generate new innovations that will
benefit not only the engine companies but the SME
network that has emerged around them.
Konela’s workspace is located in Hermia. The
researchers participating in Konela’s company
projects meet more or less fortnightly with company
representatives to discuss achievements since the
last meeting. The targets for the next two weeks
are also agreed, and the project is advanced using
the methods of open innovation.
Konela is also raising next-generation
professionals. Tampere University of Technology
’s mechanical engineering students conduct their
own company projects in the communal workspace,
and at the same time are able to follow the work of
established professionals.
Cargotec builds the fut
Leading manufacturer of container
handling solutions Cargotec is investing
35 million euros to build an innovative
Technology and Competence Centre in
Tampere. Modern offices, a prototype
workshop and a large testing area will be
completed near Tampere University of
Technology by the end of 2012.
ture of container handling in Tampere
Text Martti Tammisto Photos Cargotec
T
ampere is an important centre of technology development for Cargotec and
a spearhead in technologies related to
intelligent machine operation and energy efficiency. The new centre will be part of Cargotec’s global competence centre network.
The Technology and Competence Centre in Tampere will host the world’s most
modern, and smallest, container terminal.
This terminal will facilitate testing related
to processes, functionality and machine durability. It will also be used to test new machine features and to gather data for use in
future machines and solutions.
Cargotec’s Tampere branch is rooted deep in industrial history. The facility
was built as the state aeroplane factory 75
years ago, and together with other mechanical engineering companies in Tampere it
has been an important facet in the industrial past of the Tampere Region and Finland as a whole. Equipment from railway
engines to lifts has been manufactured at
the site. In recent years Cargotec has manufactured Kalmar container straddle carriers,
RTG cranes and terminal tractors in Tampere. During the last five years, production
has been shifted to Asia and Poland, closer
to customers.
“Tampere has been the home of Cargotec’s technology development for 75
years. Many of Cargotec’s current solutions
weren’t even imaginable some decades ago,
but they are now leading examples of the
technology in their field,” says Matti Sommarberg, Chief Technology Officer of Cargotec.
Open innovation
In Sommarberg’s view, Tampere’s strength
is down to the expertise of the staff and local cooperation partners.
“Tampere is the focal point of fields
like mobile work machines as well as the
related research. The upcoming cooperation
with Tampere University of Technology, re-
search institutions and companies manufacturing mobile machines will be inspiring,”
explains Sommarberg of the reasons for
building the centre in Tampere.
Cargotec has been an active participant in FIMECC Ltd, the Finnish Metals
and Engineering Competence Cluster, since
its establishment. FIMECC is an open innovation company which deepens cooperation between its shareholders. According
to Matti Sommarberg, innovation communities are excellent players for carrying out
pre-competitive research.
The New Factory and Konela communities developed in Tampere are in a league
of their own as innovative meeting places
for companies, students and researchers.
Sommarberg says he’s impressed by the
quality of work done by students at the end
stage of their studies.
“Cooperation that breaks industrial
boundaries combined with the enthusiasm
of students and the latest research is a model that works. We are in the midst of change
brought about by globalization. In Tampere
this change is present as a positive environment that enables innovation.”
Cargotec’s new Technology and
Competence Centre includes a fivehectare test area for testing the results
of planning and design in practice, for
instance with unmanned and remotecontrolled prototypes. In addition to an
office building, a prototype workshop will
be built in the area (in the picture).
“Cargotec’s Technology and
Competence Centre in Tampere
will be the flagship of the
company’s sustainable solutions.
The new facility will also be a
forerunner in energy efficiency
in office buildings in Finland,”
says Matti Sommarberg, Chief
Technology Officer of Cargotec.
innovate
New union of
biosciences and technology
Text Päivi Eskelinen
The University of Tampere (UTA) and
Tampere University of Technology
(TUT) took a bold step in spring 2011
by establishing the joint research unit
BioMediTech.
BioMediTech is a milestone in
the combination of different kinds of
competences, a practice carried out by
Tampere universities since the 1990s.
The new institute assembles all biomedicine research at UTA and the key
biotechnology research groups at TUT.
The institute has challenging aims:
a more effective intertwining of bioscience education and research, the
generation of new business, and the
strengthening of domestic and international research funding.
The effort to raise Tampere-based
expertise onto the global forefront has
begun with a sizeable Human Spare
Parts project worth more than 10 million euros. The project’s themes include growing new bone and heart
cells from stem cells, and the development of therapies for spinal cord damage and age-degeneration of the eye.
All are fields in which Tampere research groups have produced worldclass results.
Moving together
“We’ve got off to a swift beginning,
characterized by enthusiasm. The next
thing under planning is to bring the institute’s research and product development together as well as students from
the two universities’ different units
– in the physical sense, too, at UTA’s
Kauppi campus,” explains Director of
BioMediTech Hannu Hanhijärvi.
“Daily interaction would expose
engineering and biosciences to mutual
influence in an interesting way. Linking BioMediTech more closely to the
other disciplines on the campus – medicine and health sciences – could also
produce new openings,” Hanhijärvi reflects.
Changing research culture
At BioMediTech, the emphasis of research funding is being shifted more
clearly from fundamental research to
strategic, goal-oriented research. A key
aim is to increase the societal impact
of biosciences. This will require a novel operating culture.
“Sizeable research projects such
as the Human Spare Parts project are
like pyramids, where every new research stage is built on those previous.
This means that the projects are sensitive in terms of schedules. The research groups have to understand the
goal-orientation of the research and the
importance of following the timetable,
not just from the funder’s perspective
but from the perspective of the work
of another research group,” Hanhijärvi
says.
Support is provided to keep pace
with timetables if needed. At the same
time, services are being built to improve the groups’ abilities to evaluate the applicability of their inventions
and observations in practice, and to
support the researchers in processing
invention disclosures.
Good eyes
restored b
spare part
Text Aila Välikoski
Photo Petri Laitinen, manipulation Tiina Lautamäki
If eyesight is lost due to
retinal disease, support
could be available from
a human spare parts
department.
A
n electronic retinal prosthesis
may be fitted to the eye, or sight
may be restored with a retinal
implant grown from human stem cells.
Tangible steps towards such new treatments are being taken in research led
by Professor Minna Kellomäki from
the Tampere University of Technology
(TUT) Department of Biomedical Engineering.
A number of researchers across different disciplines are taking part in the
Vision is considered the most important sense
for a human, and vision requires a functional
retina. Work by Professor Minna Kellomäki’s
research group aims to develop a retinal
implant grown from stem cells.
ight
y
s department
research – from TUT, the Ophthalmology Group at the University of Tampere
Institute of Biomedical Technology, and
the Research and Development Center
for Ophthalmic Innovations SILK. The
research follows two lines: an ICT-based
retinal implant, and a new retina grown
from human stem cells.
“Among the cooperation partners is
the University of Tohoku in Japan, where
researchers have previously developed an
ICT-based retinal implant to replace the
functions of a destroyed retina, ” Minna
Kellomäki says.
Researchers from Tampere are now
providing knowledge on the bio-electronic functions of eye cells as well as material and tissue technologies. A retinal implant fitted in the eye needs to be made
from materials that are maximally tissuecompatible and also support the electric
operation of the retinal prosthesis, for example by conducting electricity.
The best possible home
for stem cells
As people age, the functioning of the retina is threatened by many serious eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy.
“Age-related macular degeneration
is the most common cause of visual impairment in the western world. More than
50 million people are affected, and for a
large proportion of sufferers there is no
treatment.”
A tissue spare part made from embryonic stem cells – a new retina – would be
a revolutionary therapy for blinding patients. The research communities in Tampere are looking for a pioneering solution. As a whole, the work of Minna Kellomäki’s group is to develop the best possible home – a cultivating environment –
for stem cells being grown into a retina.
Retinal cells have a tendency to grow
slowly and attach to each other, cell
membrane against cell membrane in layers the thickness of one cell. What kind
of conditions would best please the fuzzy
cells? What kind of materials, biodegradable or stabile? In what kind of biochemical conditions do the cells flourish?
Would they benefit from electric stimulus
during growth?
Not everything is known yet. What
the researchers do know, is that if it is
possible to find the right answers somewhere, it is possible in Tampere where research communities – of ophthalmology,
tissue and stem cell technology, biomaterials engineering, electrical engineering
and information technology – work at the
international forefront in their respective
fields and in close cooperation.
news
Photo VTT
Turn your mobile
into a microscope
Angry Birds fly
as robot measures man
VTT has developed an
optical module for mobile
phone cameras which
turns the phone into a
powerful microscope.
The device can achieve
an accuracy down to less
than a hundredth of a
millimetre and will be of
interest, for instance, to
the printing industry and
consumers and in security
and healthcare. VTT is commercializing the product together
with Tampere-based company KeepLoop Oy, which develops
optoelectronic devices for the mobile world. www.keeploop.com
Fun expertise! Tampere-based OptoFidelity, a
technology company specialized in machine
vision and optical measuring technology,
was inspired to demonstrate the operation
of a testing robot by making it play Angry
Birds against a human opponent. The online
video ‘Man vs Robot in playing Angry Birds’
has attracted more than 130,000 views.
The video has also been noticed by Time
Magazine’s web publication Techland, and the
Vision Systems magazine online.
Who won? Find out at
www.optofidelity.com/en/videos/
Photo VTT
Ecological hologram
Package wrapping, mobile phones, cd covers
and laptops are getting a brand new look
thanks to environmentally friendly hologram
technology developed by VTT. The technology,
which can be printed on plastic and fibrebased packaging as well as plastic products,
is being commercialized by VTT and a new
Tampere-based company, Iscent Oy. The
technology is suitable for mass production
and can be integrated directly into existing
printing lines.
The technology enables brand owners,
for example, to provide assurance of the
authenticity of their products with a technical
solution that is difficult to copy. The method
also allows printing houses to reduce ink
volumes.
Commercial hologram technologies are based on metallized solutions, often
with laminated structures or producing effects with UV varnishes. The
new method reproduces the colour phenomena of a rainbow without using
additives, by modifying the topography of a plastic or paper surface.
Numbers reveal what the eye can’t see
Childhood memories
booked online
TUT Professor of Medical Physics Hannu Eskola and his research group can
see things in MRI (magnetic resonance
imaging) images that human eyes cannot
– attracting a lot of interest from the international science world.
Eskola’s Tissue Characterization
(TIC) group has studied quantitative images and the generation of quantitative
data from normal medical section images, such as MRI and CT (computed tomography) images. The group is focusing
on using a machine-vision based method of analysis – texture analysis. Tex-
Intoloop Kids, the online child journal
developed by Starduck Studios, is proving
to be an international hit. Parents can
quickly and easily share their child’s
daily news, funny moments and photos
with relatives and friends. The child’s
information is secure in the service
because Intoloop Kids operates with
encryption in the same way as online
banks. Full rights to the data remain with
the parents. The service already has
thousands of users in 15 countries. There
are also mobile apps for the child journal
in iPhone and Android environments.
www.intoloop.com
ture analysis of MRI images has been little researched elsewhere. The TIC group,
which operates at Tampere University
Hospital, is a pioneer in its clinical application. The method has been tested,
among others, in the diagnostics of lymphoma, breast cancer, MS and brain injuries and the monitoring of therapy results.
“The results are promising. With
brain images, for example, our method
identifies things that radiologists can’t
see,” Eskola explains.
column
Petri Räsänen
Director, Innovation and Foresight
Council of Tampere Region
Winners produce well-being
The number and quality of growth-seeking company start-ups in the Tampere Region is
growing strongly – as proven by the success of the region’s companies in the international
Startup Sauna accelerator. Tampere-based companies have been selected as the best
Finnish operations in the programme for two years running, first with guitar-playing
enhancer Ovelin, and last year with Zonear, which brings ease to HTML5 technology.
Neither team has emerged out of the blue. They entered Sauna from a background of
development in the communal environment New Factory. The teams had gained invaluable
field expertise in entrepreneurship from other experts, customers and funders. Ideas had
been refined into product and service demos and prototypes. They had learned to try, to
learn, and to change their value proposition according to feedback.
The winners have also had the ability to creatively solve the challenges they face, because
the teams possess a wide range of expertise and have the ability to seek solutions to
adjust their business as required – from several directions, personal networks and the
surrounding community.
In New Factory, innovation projects are destined for shortages. The same is true for these
winners. There has been little space and few tools, and a small budget for experts; the
parties have been subdued and publicity has been hard to get. On the other hand, diverse
expertise and tangible achievement have been buzzing around them. This combination of
shortage, expertise and achievement drive hunger.
More innovation factories like New Factor will be generated through the recently launched
Open Tampere programme. This means that development environments supporting the
emergence of hungry start-ups will be trimmed into excellent shape in Tampere.
The emergence of growth-seeking companies is not enough in itself, however. In order to
generate genuine well-being in the region from the seeds of growth, we should have tools
to accelerate and anchor growth in the Tampere Region. Currently these tools aren’t in
the best possible shape; in particular there is a lack in the growth funding that companies
require. Sustained efforts are also required to support companies’ readiness for growth and
funding.
To preserve the fruits of growth, we must seize these challenges without preconceptions.
For example, innovative funding cooperation between public and private sectors and
communal crowdsourcing operating models could provide the means necessary to clear
bottlenecks. Winning start-ups deserve a winning growth platform – and this is what we are
developing in the Tampere Region.
Healing pressure
– impossible to copy
Designer Milja Kansanen (left)
ensures that everything is
correct with the pressure levels
and complicated structures of a
pressure garment used to treat
swelling. “Producing pressure
garments takes experienced
professionals. It wouldn’t be
possible without them,” says
Managing Director Teija Toikka.
All Bright! 20 Tampereen seutu
Photo Tomas Whitehouse
The textile technologies developed by Lymed Oy for its
pressure garments are the result of multidisciplinary
product development and constitute a sizeable bundle
of innovations. They make it possible to create a healing
pressure that can’t be copied.
Text and photo Aila Välikoski
L
ymed’s pressure garments help both
seriously ill patients and international top athletes. The garments are
used by premier players at Dutch football
club Anderlect, among others, as well as
by the prospective superstar Romelu Lukaku, who transferred from Anderlect to
English club Chelsea. In Finland, the pressure garments are used by leading clubs in
many sports.
The pressure garments provide support
for athletes’ ultra-tuned physiques. They
correct the effects of old injuries and anatomically incorrect positions, improve balance and accelerate recovery.
Wearing pressure garments is a novelty for athletes – but standard therapy for
many conditions such as the after-treatment of scars from deep burns. Pressure
garments prevent and ease swelling after
cancer therapies, among others, and they
are worn after liposuction and facelifts.
With neurological functional disorders,
pressure garments have provided good results with autistic children.
Technologies meet tailors
The required pressure for pressure garments is calculated based on the laws of
mathematics and the elasticity and reversibility of textile materials.
Every garment manufactured by
Lymed is made individually for its user. According to Managing Director Teija
Toikka, the garment as a whole incorporates an individual measuring and design
process, materials, sewing technologies
and design. At Lymed they are all unique.
“More detailed tailoring is what separates us from competitors. We can work
different levels of pressure into the same
garment as well as unique support and
structural solutions.”
The group working to produce the garments has included plastic surgeons, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
Lymed has developed the material in cooperation with experts from VTT and TUT.
Another cooperation partner is Tampere
University of Applied Sciences. Product
development is continuous: new fibres and
fibre structures are under constant research
and the material improves all the time.
Training the makers of growth
More than 50 per cent of Lymed’s production is exported to hospitals around Europe, Japan and Saudi Arabia. New export
countries are adopted without hurry. Importers take care of sales and train the local occupational therapists and physiotherapists responsible for measuring for the
garments.
All pressure garments are manufactured in Tampere.
“We can’t be copied, and our production can’t be moved elsewhere. The manufacturing chain right the way through to
sewing requires a workforce with a diverse
range of training, which we take charge of
ourselves. By increasing our exports in a
controlled manner, we make sure that a
workforce shortfall won’t become a bottleneck for growth,” Teija Toikka says.
Lymed Oy
l Industry: manufacture of
pressure garments
l Turnover: 1.5 million euros
l Employees: 23
www.lymed.fi
Kiira Korpi won
silver in the European
Figure Skating Championships.
Elina Loueranta designs the
sport star’s outfits.
Textiles
on the move
Tampere is renewing its textile
traditions, too. In addition
to Lymed, many companies
specialized in sports clothing
are a source of new vitality for
the city of cotton factories – like
swimwear manufacturer Delfi
Oy, dance and gymnastics outfit
manufacturer Mia-tuote Oy, and
Piruetti Oy, whose ballet shorts
have attracted interest from pop
icon Madonna.
Design from Tampere also
lends the final touch to figure
skater Kiira Korpi’s loop and
Salchow jumps. Korpi, who
won silver at the European
Championships in Sheffield,
performs in outfits designed by
Elina Loueranta.
invest
Seize the Day,
Smartrac purchases
UPM’s RFID business
UPM has sold its RFID business to Dutch company
Smartrac. Smartrac is one of the world’s leading
manufacturers of RFID remote identifiers used in
passports, credit cards and public transportation tickets.
UPM RFID is the world’s leading manufacturer of
passive HF, NFC and UHF RFID remote identifiers.
“UPM RFID is the undisputed pioneer in the
manufacture of RFID remote identifiers. With the deal,
Smartrac gains a wide NFC and UHF RFID product
range, and production facilities in strategically important
markets,” says CEO of Smartrac Christian Fischer.
More renewable energy
Photo Nokia
The Finnish cities of Tampere, Turku, Oulu and Vantaa
and the Helsinki Region Environmental Services
Authority are launching cooperation to increase the
use of renewable energy. Key areas in the cooperation
are the generation of new operating models and
the management of the energy system. In Tampere
the areas of development are solar energy R&D, the
adoption of renewable energy in the Kämmenniemi
district heating network, a heating plant operating with
wood pellets, and carbon neutrality for the Särkänniemi
Adventure Park and Tampere Hall.
The RESCA project (Renewable Energy Solutions
in City Areas) will continue until February 2014 and
is coordinated by Hermia Ltd. Hermia and ECO2 are
responsible for Tampere’s input. www.resca.fi
Intel is establishing a research unit in Tampere
as Rovio brings Angry Birds developers to
town. Qualcomm is seeking new people
for customer support from Tampere while
Samsung funds Future IT research at Tampere
University of Technology through its SAIT
GRO programme.
The new strategy of mobile phone company
Nokia was initially unsettling news for
Tampere. It turned into
an opportunity opener:
Windows opens windows.
Text Annikaisa Knuutila
O
f course Nokia continues to have
a strong presence in the city. Tampere has been the company’s largest R&D centre and is now one of the main
locations for phone development in Europe
and an important development centre for
start today!
Windows phones. Furthermore, some thirty
new growth-oriented companies have been
established in the region with Nokia in the
background.
Nokia’s decision to focus on Windows phones untied a large number of mobile phone and software experts from Nokia
and its subcontractors. The strategic move
prompted these experts to have a good look
around them and consider their career alternatives. Business Development Director and
invest-in activator Petri Nykänen from the
Tampere Region Economic Development Agency Tredea, believes the
availability of a skilled workforce is
the current hot magnet.
“Now is the time to consider establishing a company or unit in Tampere or to seek research cooperation,” Nykänen encourages.
As a case in point, Intel set up a
high technology unit of more than
50 people in just a hundred days.
“And the people are guaranteed to have high-level competences. It’s now completely possible to achieve things like this,
due to the mobility of experts.”
Engineering talent on offer
Also a strong asset is the pricequality ratio of Tampere experts.
“Salary costs here are lower than in countries like Great
Britain or Germany – and about
20 per cent lower than in Helsinki. Rovio, for example, has
stated that it is easier to hire a
workforce for its needs in Tampere than in the capital region.
Furthermore, the staff stay. In
China the cost level is already
high for tasks requiring strong
Tampere’s strengths include
the availability of ICT
experts, a partner network
and leading-edge research
expertise, and cooperation
between companies and
universities. Tampere is also
Finland’s most attractive city
to live in and take studies.
technical expertise. India is still cheap, but
staff turnover is high and the best are just
passing through.”
Nykänen also emphasizes the expertise of engineers. The transition has projected them onto a path of continual learning and they have had to adapt to agile methods. Methodological expertise is strong in
research and product development. There
are abundant experts and companies regardless of field: in user interfaces, mechanical
products, applications and online and mobile
services. Gaming too is in a phase of intense
activity, with games researchers and skilled
game developers spinning the dice.
Research on the global level is being
conducted in many IT-related fields, for example in signal processing and optoelectronics. Mobile-related research also has a long
tradition in Tampere.
significant international recognition by receiving the Innovation Award of the Assembly of European Regions in 2010.”
New and existing innovation factories
provide momentum and are development engines in the City of Tampere’s new business
development programme, Open Tampere.
“And if you look at the operating environment, our location within the EU market and Tredea’s openings towards Russia
generate interesting possibilities,” estimates
Nykänen.
“We’re a good stepping stone for European operations, too. The ophthalmic drug
company Santen is a good example of this.”
Mobile Tampere
l mobile products and services, games,
embedded systems (intelligent traffic,
intelligent machines)
lmore than 6,000 jobs and 25 to 30
companies in the mobile cluster
lan estimated 8,000 to 13,000 total jobs
in the ICT cluster
www.investtampere.fi
Photo Rovio
Development momentum from
innovation factories
“Companies are also interested in our development model for innovation activity.
Innovation factories like New Factory and
Demola operate effectively. Demola gained
The availability of competent workforce
brought Rovio and Angry Birds to Tampere.
live
Love brought American Bernard
Garvey to Finland. That, and a
meaningful job in New Factory’s
Demola keep him in Tampere.
“We’re happy here, cultures
and feelings are in balance. The
weather is cold like in Michigan;
I’m not afraid of winter. And
summer will always come!”
“I’d like to introduce
you to someone…”
“Hi, I know someone
you should meet…”
“Do you know each
other already?”
Bernard
Garvey
weaves connections for
New Factory’s Demola,
and there’s a reason why
his business card carries
the designation
”collaborates internationally”
Text and photo Annikaisa Knuutila
A
s international coordinator of technology company Hermia and facilitator of the innovation environment Demola, Bernard is in his element.
He brings people together – in Finnish and
in English – and increases the international presence of Demola while tending to
Demola’s student teams in New Factory.
“This work is… totally awesome. When
Demola was one year old, I started study-
ing how the concept could be extended
elsewhere, and how these kinds of innovation platforms have been implemented elsewhere. Demola differs from many others
in that high quality is produced on a small
budget, the emphasis is strictly on getting
things done. Many have been surprised how
three institutions of higher education have
started to cooperate. That isn’t something
you can take for granted.”
Demola is currently in talks concerning
cooperation with many European cities.
TOP School is in
“Demola somewhere else is probably not going to be like Demola in Tampere, but we aim for a free flow of ideas
and an exchange of expertise in projects.
We give and receive knowledge. The EU,
too, is more interested in innovation platforms, which is likely to increase international activities.”
“We have hit the mass”
Bernard recruits students to Demola together with other facilitators. When groups
have been established, the facilitators
maintain the teams in operational form.
“The students have good competence in their fields, they are experts in the
projects’ subject matters. We facilitators
help them get the best out of themselves.
Help is also needed to make IT engineers,
well-being experts and mechanical engineers work together. At the start of each
Demola project we set aside a lot of time
for building the teams and team spirit. Before you can talk about a project’s content,
you talk about the people.”
In a few short years, Demola has established itself to the point that students
ask to participate in the projects.
“Yes, we have hit the mass,” Bernard
muses.
“For example, we received 600 student
application relating to 35 projects for the
spring 2012 Demola Academy. A similarly
large number of applicants can be expected to apply for our summer job campaign.
Last year’s InnoSummer offered full-time
summer jobs to 23 students. In a way, it’s
a positive problem and a challenge to find
a way to help those left out from Demola projects. There’s so much talent that we
should be able to build opportunities for.”
Bernard’s transition into an international engine in Tampere started after he
met his fiancé in the United States. Their
shared path took them from Michigan to
Toronto, where Bernard studied film and
TV production, and in 2005 to Tampere for
studies.
“There were a couple of difficult years
in short-term jobs. I studied a degree in International Business at Tampere University
of Applied Sciences even though I already
had studied business economy in Michigan. I wanted to learn European business
culture and Finnish habits. My thesis and
practical training at the technology company Hermia then led to Demola and New
Factory.”
“I also studied Finnish language for
a year. I hear and write it quite well but
when speaking I prefer to use English.
In Demola everyone speaks English,
but knowing Finnish helps a lot in other
projects.”
Tampere has adopted the development
of learning environments as a strategic
aim. The TOP School project has been
launched to coordinate this development
and runs until 2013. The objective
is to realize learning environments
that correspond to the needs of the
knowledge society and the children and
youths born into it. The project aims
to generate references of international
interest, potentially turning Tamperebased expertise related to education and
learning into products and exports.
“This aim is quite attainable, the
elements exist. A lot of development has
already taken place,” evaluates project
manager Riitta Juusenaho.
In the project, the term learning
environments encompasses physical
spaces, teaching technology, software,
pupils and staff, choices related to
teaching and its organization, the
operating cultures of schools, and
cooperation networks.
http://tampereenoppimisymparistot.
wordpress.com
Image Arkkitehtitoimisto Aarne von Boehm Oy
“I also like mämmi”
Cooking tops Bernard’s list of hobbies.
“We’re food addicts, we try new recipes all the time. My specialities are desserts, cakes, everything unhealthy!”
One has to ask a food enthusiast: do
you like Tampere’s traditional black sausage?
“Oh, of course!
As for mämmi, a rye-based desert
which isn’t to everyone’s taste: “It did take
me three years to get used to it, but nowadays I’m happy to eat this Finnish Easter
dish. My boss Ville Kairamo says that in
this respect I’m more Finnish than Finns.”
Bernard speaks so warmly of food that
it’s no surprise that his favourite spots in
Tampere are related to food: the Market
Hall and markets.
“And our own garden is definitely one of my favourite spots. I live – like
Finns dream to – almost in the middle of a
city, on a lake. I just have a few too many
neighbours,” he jokes, knowing that Finns
love their privacy and space around them.
The City of Tampere will invest 108 million
euros to build and renovate schools in the
coming years. The Vuores school centre
will be built with particular consideration
to novel learning environments and
methods. The first stage will be completed
in spring 2013.
Start-up for international school
The Finnish International School of
Tampere (FISTA) starts operations in
Amuri next autumn. First, third and fifth
graders will begin their studies following a
new curriculum. All grades will be included
in autumn 2015.
visit
You’ll find everything you need to know about events and activities, restaurants and
shopping opportunities in Tampere at www.visittampere.fi. A visitors’ online shop
opens at the same address this spring.
Where to go? www.visittampere.fi
MEMO 2012
lTanssivirtaa Modern Dance Festival 17.–22.4.
lTammerfest 11.–14.7.
lTampere Floral Festival 27.7.–4.8.
lTampere International Salsa Festival
27. – 29.7.
lDelfin Basket Tournament 2.–5.8.
lTampere Theatre Festival 6.–12.8.
lWorld Tango Festival 14.–16.9.
lMindTrek conference 3.–5.10.
lTammer Tournament 18.–21.10.
lTampere Illuminations
28.10.2012–6.1.2013
lFinnish Handicrafts fair 16.–18.11.
Photo Maarit Kytöharju
Photo Tampere Art Museum
l J.M.W. Turner Liber Studiorum
at Tampere Art Museum 25.8.-4.11.
A strong event, a memorable
experience – including beats
from Yemen Blues.
Tampere Jazz Happening
Festival of the Year 2012
J.M.W. Turner, Coast of Yorkshire/
Near Whitby, 1811.
Tampere Jazz Happening is
swinging. Last autumn the event
attracted an audience of more
than 10,000 with over 140
musicians from 15 countries
performing on stage. It’s getting
even better: Finland Festivals
awarded Tampere Jazz Happening
the accolade Festival of the Year
2012. This year the event takes
place between 1 –4 November.
The event is produced by Tampere
Music Festivals, part of the City of
Tampere Cultural Office.
Photo Jussi Koivunen
l Erik Enroth at the Sara Hildén Art Museum until 6 May.
Erik Enroth,
Elonleikkuu,
oil on canvas,
1953.
up and coming
in 2013
l European Athletics U23 Championships
l Creativity World Forum,
the world’s largest creative economy event
l Metropolis, global conference for migration researchers and stakeholders
Major Event Office
Would you like to arrange an event in
Tampere? Help is at hand at Tampere’s
new Major Event Office. The office
is responsible for coordinating major
cultural and sports events, provides
support for the implementation
of large-scale events in Tampere,
and provides a data bank for event
organizers.
Contacts: anna.saarni@tampere.fi,
saara.saarteinen@tampere.fi
Check out! www.virtualtampere.com.
Ilmakuva Hannu Vallas
Photo Ravintola C
Clarity and care, the policy at C.
Vistas on a plate.
News agency CNN
has recognized
Restaurant
Näsinneula on
its list of rotating
restaurants
achieving the
globally highest
standard. The
restaurant was
praised particularly
for a menu which
favours local food
and seasonal
ingredients.
www.nasinneula.fi
Restaurant C,
Finland’s best
‘C’ in Tampere won recognition as Finland’s Restaurant of the Year 2011. The
award distinguished the clarity and care
of food preparation.
“The decisive factor was C’s appreciation of high-quality ingredients,
careful preparation of food that follows the seasons, and a careful pairing
of food and wine,” says Raili Koroma,
Chairman of the Finnish Gastronomic
Society which gave the award.
www.ravintola-c.fi
The Tampere Region
l490,000 inhabitants
ltwo universities, three universities
of applied sciences
lthe biggest private employers include
Nokia, Metso, UPM, Metsä Group,
Nokian Tyres and Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa
Top expertise in
ICT and Mobile, Intelligent Machines,
Life Sciences and Health Technology,
Biotechnology, Optoelectronics
www.innovatetampere.fi
Easy to reach
Tampere-Pirkkala airport has direct
connections from e.g. Stockholm,
Copenhagen, Rome, London and Frankfurt.
See www.tredea.fi/tmp
Two thirds of Finns live within
a two hundred kilometre
radius of Tampere.
Tampere
Region
Angry Birds land in Särkänniemi
Furious feathered animals are
invading the Särkänniemi Adventure
Park this summer with the opening
of the world’s first Angry Birds Land.
The diverse theme area is intended
for families and children. The area
will also include a ‘Magic Place’
where physical activity meets the
entertaining world of gaming.
Särkänniemi is Finland’s leading
leisure centre according to a survey
by Taloustutkimus, receiving its
highest rating for versatility.
l The summer season at the
Särkänniemi Adventure Park starts
on 28 April. www.sarkanniemi.fi
Interior design
among the best in the world
Sokos Hotel Villa, built in an old grain
store and fully renovated last year, placed
in the top six in the hotels category of
the international Interior Design Awards
2011. The winning hotel design went to
W London in Leicester Square.
The architectural and interior design
for Sokos Hotel Villa were created by
Sisustusarkkitehdit Gullstén-Inkinen Oy.
Vesilahti
Get in touch
lTampere Region Economic Development Agency Tredea Oy
Managing Director
Päivi Myllykangas
phone +358 (0) 40 743 6417
paivi.myllykangas@tredea.fi
www.tredea.fi
lTampere Business Region
www.investtampere.fi
lTampere Region EU-office in Brussels
EU Liaison Manager
Hannele Räikkönen
phone +358 (0)40 776 3446
eu@tampere.fi
www.tampereallbright.fi
Kuva Sokos Hotel Villa
visit
innovate
Live
www.tampereallbright.fi
“Tampere is a city that has replaced
heavy industry with heavy
thinking and heavy rock. To me
that’s an ideal combination.”
Howy Jacobs, Professor of Molecular Biology
at the University of Tampere
invest

Timo Vuorensola, allies and Iron Sky revolutionize

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