IFEZ Journal

Oulu is a city located 500 km north of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. This small city is well-known for Oulu Technopolis, the first science park in Northern Europe. 

Take a look at the past and present of Oulu, which has grown into a world-renowned high-tech cluster with many global companies moving in, including Nokia and HP.

Finland Oulu Technopolis

Oulu is an entire city, an incubation company, and a vast conglomerate. In 1982, Oulu created the name “Technopolis” and began operations to brand the cluster. Hence, it grew into a representative startup-support company for the region.

Government-led IT Cluster

Oulu, Finland, is the first city in Northern Europe to adopt an industrial cluster strategy. As a port city, its original strengths were in the logistics industry. Traditionally, the pulp, wood, and steel industries were developed, but in the mid-20th century, as existing industries declined and unemployment increased compared to other cities, an urgent need arose for fostering new growth industries. With a change to its development strategy, Oulu, accordingly, adopted and implemented an industrial cluster strategy for the first time in Northern Europe. As a result, the path was paved for successive achievements, including establishing the University of Oulu and attracting the Nokia R&D Center and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT, a national research institute). In 1982, the city created a high-tech cluster, also establishing Technopolis as the operating entity to prevent the outflow of human resources produced within the region and to lead employment in high-tech industries.

In the 1990s, the Finnish government’s national cluster-support policy rapidly increased the number of large corporations and venture companies moving into the area. The Oulu Cluster covered much of Finland’s economy in the 2000s, accounting for 4 percent of Finland’s gross domestic product, 30 percent of total R&D investment, and 20 percent of national exports. Oulu Technopolis, created based on solid support policies from the central and local governments, has gained renown beyond Europe as a global cluster model.

The Entire City as One Cluster

The entire city of Oulu is one large cluster; this regional cluster contains specialized clusters for each field. That is, the cluster comprises five major axes — IT, bio, health and welfare, content media, and environment — and it focuses on infrastructure-strengthening projects. Infrastructure-improvement projects are mainly carried out in relation to business-model discovery and development, communication environments, global environments, fostering companies through incubators, strengthening education, and building facilities.

Oulu Technopolis began as a government-led project but is characterized by its flexible network. The ecosystem was formed based on cooperation between universities, research institutes, large corporations, and related industries. In this ecosystem, joint projects utilizing the network’s strengths are actively carried out, and information and human resources are exchanged freely. At the center are the University of Oulu and the global company Nokia. The University of Oulu focuses on high-tech fields like IT and BT and conducts various educational programs specializing in human resources. In addition, this university, active in industry-academia collaboration, welcomes researchers from companies like Nokia to join as advisors for high-tech-related projects on campus. Nokia is also focusing its capabilities on R&D and actively cooperating with local universities and research institutes to lead the creation of innovation in the region.

Incubating Institution Leading the Cluster

Technopolis, the cluster operator established by Oulu in 1982, successfully led the Oulu Cluster and grew into the largest incubation company in Europe. In 1999, it became the first city in the world to be listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange — as Oulu Technopolis (abolished in 2019).

Oulu provides offices, related facilities, and various services linked to corporate activities to tenant companies in order to promote corporate activities and increase employment. The scope of services includes everything tenant companies need to carry out their jobs, including use of offices and conference halls, mail sending and receiving benefits, furniture rental, human-resource employment support, business consulting, networking, and cleaning services. It supports and fosters 1,500 companies in six countries, including Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In addition to Technopolis, various operational support organizations, such as Oulu Innovation and Otaniemi, maintain and develop this cluster.