The number of foreign direct investments made in Finland continued to grow in 2012 for the third consecutive year. The Helsinki region attracted the most investments, with an increase of 13 per cent in comparison with the previous year.

Investments in Finland were made especially from the United States, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia.
— International companies are interested in the availability of a highly-skilled and knowledge-driven workforce. This is an area in which the Helsinki region has been able to meet the needs of foreign companies and investors. Additionally, internationally recognised Finnish companies like Rovio and Nokia add to the investment attractiveness of Helsinki and Finland, explains Peter Lemagne, CEO of Oxford Intelligence.

The figures on direct investments are based on the Ernst & Young European Investor Monitor Report compiled by the Oxford Intelligence research organisation.

— Last year, the Helsinki region received a number of major investments such as IT giant Huawei’s R&D centre and Microsoft’s, Nokia’s and Aalto University’s shared AppCampus. The common denominator attracting both these investments was the expertise inherent in the region, and the employment effect generated by the investments will be much broader than just the directly created jobs, says Micah Gland, CEO of Greater Helsinki Promotion, the invest-in organisation of the Helsinki region.

— These are precisely the kind of knowledge-driven companies that we wish to attract to the region.

When foreign capital investments and corporate acquisitions are included, the entire volume of investments in Helsinki increased by seven per cent. In Sweden’s capital Stockholm, however, the corresponding foreign investment figure fell by 12 per cent compared with 2011.

Finland is one of Europe’s success stories
According to Ernst & Young’s European attractiveness survey,75 investment projects were directed at Finland in 2012, which is 21 per cent more than in the previous year. Investments were made especially from the United States, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia.
According to the survey, Finland is Europe’s twelfth most attractive investment target. The UK and Germany took the top spots.

All in all, the number of foreign investments made in Europe declined slightly. On the up side for the Nordics was the increasing share of investments directed at the region, equalling nine per cent of all foreign investments made in Europe.
The information on corporate acquisitions and capital investments is based on the Zephyr database by Bureau van Dijk.

Source: Good News! from Finland: www.goodnewsfinland.com
Photos:
Tourist and Convention Bureau's Material Bank/Finlandia Hall/Katri Pyynonen
Tourist and Convention Bureau's Material Bank/Paul Williams