The ICT and electronics sector has had a significant effect on the development of the Helsinki metropolitan area into a European super-region. The number of jobs in the information sector alone has almost doubled in the last ten years. The ICT sector contributes about one quarter of total production in the Helsinki region. As many as one in five of all start-ups in the Helsinki region are ICT firms.

Software Product Business

There are about 1,200 software product businesses in Finland right now, over half of them located in the Helsinki region. The software product business leads the Finnish software sector when it comes to technology and successful business, producing about one third of the net turnover for the entire software sector.

The total net turnover of the software product industry exceeded the one billion euros mark in 2002 with an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year. The percentage of exports was about 40 per cent. According to estimates by experts, the software product industry has the potential to achieve a value of 8 billion euros by 2010.

Content Production and e-learning Services

Digital applications in Finland have rapidly developed and become international. Future prospects are also promising because the use of e-transactions and digital services in business continues to increase.

One in ten of the people who live in Helsinki are employed in content production. Over half of the 600 Finnish content production businesses are located in the Helsinki region. Approximately 70 per cent of the 300 businesses in the e-learning sector serve the Helsinki region.

There is a strong synergy amongst sectors in the software product business: over 40 per cent of content product enterprises and one third of e-learning enterprises are active in the software product business.

Enterprises that produce digital media services are becoming increasingly specialised as experts in certain fields of applications. Specialisation enables enterprises to provide their clients with added value through digital services. The most important application areas for digital services are marketing communications, business communications, various self-service solutions, services for loyal customers and entertainment services.

E-learning services are a new but rapidly growing ecosystem, containing a wide spectrum of enterprises. E-learning service providers, content providers, technologies, tools and hardware providers and support service providers all come under this umbrella. E-learning services range from the more traditional understanding of online education to services that help increase productivity with digital media, learning in groups and knowledge management.

For further information
Finnish software business cluster
Finnish digital content businesscluster
Finnish digital learning business cluster