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The Helsinki Capital Region is becoming a genuine global reference area for intelligent and ecologically sustainable solutions. Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa have launched a large-scale Smart & Clean partnership project in collaboration with Sitra. The aim of this new kind of collaboration is to make the capital region more attractive to investment, establish new business and create more jobs.
Cities have a crucial role to play in curbing climate change and enabling adaptation solutions. There is huge global demand for technological solutions that promote sustainable development, and Finland now has considerable expertise and skills in this area. Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa have several plans and measures in place aimed at creating smart and clean solutions. But Finland badly needs a world-class reference area in order to boost business and exports. That is why the cities have decided to pool their strengths.
The Smart & Clean partnership project represents a new approach to co-operation across municipal and organisational boundaries, making the capital region a pioneer in this endeavour. Open and active collaboration between cities, business and the government will mean the launch of major projects and better operating models, aimed at generating new business and jobs. Over the next few years, the capital region plans to engage in major ventures in areas such as transport, water supply and energy efficiency.
“We will make the capital region into a globally significant reference area that caters for companies offering smart and clean solutions and either operating or investing in Finland,” Jussi Pajunen, Jukka Mäkelä and Kari Nenonen, the mayors of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, said in a joint statement. “The world’s major cities are competing for clean investment and the benefits to be had from Smart and Cleantech brands. The combined will of the cities, government, universities and companies, as well as the actions they take, will do much to make the capital region a genuine pioneer in sustainable growth.”
And Sitra’s Senior Lead Tiina Kähö welcomed the partnership: “It’s wonderful that the capital region intends to become a trailblazer and is taking real steps towards this. We hope that companies and organisations, whatever their size, get involved in establishing new business and creating sustainable growth.”
The Smart & Clean partnership in the Helsinki Capital Region will help to establish Finland as a cleantech superpower by 2020 (a government strategic objective), while creating tens of thousands of new jobs in the country.
The following organisations are involved in the Smart & Clean partnership project alongside Sitra, Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa: Uusimaa Regional Council, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and the Climate Leadership Council. The work is being co-ordinated by Sitra and Greater Helsinki Promotion.
Further information
Marja-Liisa Niinikoski, Managing Director, Greater Helsinki Promotion, tel. 040 538 4541, marja-liisa.niinikoski@helsinkibusinesshub.fi
See also: Helsinki Capital Region as a global driver of cleantech
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