Inno­va­tions and Eco­sys­tems

A woman and a man standing in front of a glittering wall. A man stares into the distance with VR glasses.

In Oulu, inno­va­tions and their deve­lop­ment have always been based on co-crea­tion and col­la­bo­ra­tion between dif­fe­rent ope­ra­ti­ves.

The eco­sys­tems and clus­ters of dif­fe­rent industries all have diver­se repre­sen­ta­tion from educa­tion, research, busi­ness, and the public sec­tor in Oulu. In 2009, a network of networks cal­led Oulu Inno­va­tion Alliance was establis­hed to sup­port this col­la­bo­ra­tion.

On top of digi­ta­li­sa­tion

One of the things we in Oulu know excep­tio­nal­ly well, is pro­duct deve­lop­ment – you can come to Oulu with an idea and lea­ve with a finis­hed pro­duct in hand. We have all the know-how you will ever need to pro­duc­ti­se, fund, test, and com­mercia­li­se your inno­va­tion to the inter­na­tio­nal mar­ket.

Eve­ry day, clo­se to 3 bil­lion people glo­bal­ly use mobi­le tech­no­lo­gies deve­lo­ped in Oulu. By com­bi­ning exper­ti­se and wire­less know-how to dif­fe­rent sec­tors, like health and life science tech­no­lo­gies and the industry, smart ICT solu­tions are int­ro­duced to deli­ver advanced, per­so­na­li­sed, and con­nec­ted ser­vices for all busi­ness sec­tors.

The Oulu­Health eco­sys­tem is at the forefront of digi­tal health by con­ver­ging health and life science solu­tions with ICT. As one result, the world’s smar­test hos­pi­tal is being built in Oulu and comple­ted by the year 2030. Oulu is also e.g., home of prin­ted elect­ro­nics, which is dra­ma­tical­ly chan­ging the way in which auto­mo­ti­ve industry is desig­ning, deve­lo­ping, and manu­fac­tu­ring cars.

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Test­bed for smart solu­tions

In recent years, the eco­sys­tem of the tech­no­lo­gy industry of Oulu has chan­ged into a hub of tens of glo­bal pro­duct deve­lop­ment units. In Oulu, end users and deve­lo­pers meet in a real-world ope­ra­ting envi­ron­ment in which solu­tions beco­me func­tio­nal.

Inno­va­tion envi­ron­ments are mee­ting places for ideas, teams and com­pa­nies, and places whe­re new solu­tions and busi­nes­ses can be deve­lo­ped and tes­ted. They use met­hods of co-deve­lop­ment and pro­vi­de inno­va­tion ser­vices.

Read more about Smart City Oulu
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Oulu Inno­va­tion Alliance

In Oulu, inno­va­tions and their deve­lop­ment is based on co-crea­tion and col­la­bo­ra­tion between dif­fe­rent ope­ra­ti­ves. The eco­sys­tems and clus­ters of dif­fe­rent industries all have diver­se repre­sen­ta­tion from educa­tion, research, busi­ness, and the public sec­tor. In 2009, a network of networks cal­led Oulu Inno­va­tion Alliance was establis­hed to sup­port this col­la­bo­ra­tion. Oulu Inno­va­tion Alliance is your gateway to the best networks and eco­sys­tems in the Oulu region.

Read more about Oulu Inno­va­tion Alliance (opens in a new tab)

The place to be for star­tups

Col­la­bo­ra­tion between com­pa­nies, the public sec­tor, and the uni­ver­si­ties is seam­less, and the city is burs­ting with inno­va­tions and oppor­tu­ni­ties for crea­ting new things. Oulu offers world-class educa­tion and trai­ning as well as tech­no­lo­gical exper­ti­se that will ele­va­te the know-how of your com­pa­ny to a new level.

Star­tup Sta­tion

Star­tup Sta­tion is a hub offe­ring ins­pi­ra­tion, know­led­ge and networ­king for aspi­ring ent­repre­neurs and ear­ly-sta­ge star­tups through events and trai­ning pro­grams. Our pre­mi­ses inclu­de a stu­dio, an event space and tem­po­ra­ry co-wor­king for the mem­bers.

Read more about Star­tup Sta­tion (opens in a new tab)
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Deal­room

The Oulu Deal­room data­ba­se con­tains infor­ma­tion about star­tups, new inno­va­tions, inves­tors, fun­ding rounds and many other mat­ters concer­ning busi­ness ope­ra­tions in the Oulu region.

All star­tups, inves­tors, and other sta­ke­hol­ders in the eco­sys­tem can add infor­ma­tion about their com­pa­nies and orga­niza­tions to the data­ba­se, as well as cus­to­mize their pro­fi­les as nee­ded.

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Busi­ness and inno­va­tion eco­sys­tems

Take a clo­ser look at our networks and eco­sys­tems. You’re welco­me to boost your busi­ness with us!

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Lea­ding digi­ta­li­sa­tion and ICT

A pio­nee­ring city for digi­ta­li­sa­tion, Oulu boasts 50 years of exper­ti­se in wire­less tech­no­lo­gy. Eve­ry day, clo­se to 3 bil­lion people glo­bal­ly use mobi­le tech­no­lo­gies deve­lo­ped in Oulu. A lot of the much tal­ked about 5G tech­no­lo­gy has been crea­ted in Oulu, and the visio­na­ries at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu alrea­dy have their eyes on the next wire­less gene­ra­tion – 6G.

In recent years, the eco­sys­tem of the tech­no­lo­gy industry of Oulu has chan­ged into a hub of tens of glo­bal pro­duct deve­lop­ment units. By com­bi­ning exper­ti­se and wire­less know-how to dif­fe­rent sec­tors, like health and life science tech­no­lo­gies and the industry, smart ICT solu­tions are int­ro­duced to deli­ver advanced, per­so­na­li­sed, and con­nec­ted ser­vices for all busi­ness sec­tors.

Read more about ICTOu­lu (opens in a new tab)
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Pio­nee­ring health tech­no­lo­gy

The Oulu region is the second lar­gest hub of health tech­no­lo­gy in Fin­land. Health and life science com­pa­nies, research ins­ti­tu­tions and the public sec­tor ope­ra­te as a network cal­led Oulu­Health. The aim is to crea­te new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties, boost the deve­lop­ment of com­pa­nies, and, of cour­se, to offer bet­ter solu­tions for deve­lo­ping healthca­re ser­vices and well-being around the world.

Oulu’s com­pe­ti­ti­ve advan­ta­ge lies especial­ly in seam­less com­bi­na­tion of health tech­no­lo­gy, life science, medici­ne, and dif­fe­rent aspects of engi­nee­ring. The Oulu­Health eco­sys­tem is at the forefront of digi­tal health by con­ver­ging health and life science solu­tions with ICT. As one result, the world’s smar­test hos­pi­tal is being built in Oulu and comple­ted by the year 2030.

Read more about Oulu­Health (opens in a new tab)
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The futu­re of auto­mo­ti­ve industry

The Oulu Auto­mo­ti­ve Clus­ter is one of the most rapid­ly growing natio­nal busi­ness clus­ters. It is an open eco­sys­tem whe­re com­pa­nies and research ins­ti­tu­tes co-deve­lop solu­tions for auto­mo­ti­ve elect­ri­fica­tion, auto­no­mous traf­fic, and new busi­ness models for mobi­li­ty. The clus­ter helps small and medium-sized com­pa­nies to find cus­to­mers and part­ners in the auto­mo­ti­ve industry.

Exper­ti­se in ICT, world-class educa­tion, and unique co-crea­tion ser­ve as fuel for inno­va­tion and busi­ness Oulu has been lea­ding the glo­bal deve­lop­ment of 5G tech­no­lo­gy and is alrea­dy spear­hea­ding the futu­re of 6G (opens in a new tab). Oulu is also home of prin­ted elect­ro­nics (opens in a new tab) which is dra­ma­tical­ly chan­ging the way in which auto­mo­ti­ve industry is desig­ning, deve­lo­ping, and manu­fac­tu­ring cars.

Read more about Oulu Auto­mo­ti­ve Clus­ter (opens in a new tab)
Virtual city silhouette

MetaCi­ty

MetaCi­ty is a leap to a novel gene­ra­tion of smart city concept to acce­le­ra­te the evol­ve­ment of digi­tal and vir­tual city ser­vices and gover­nance to the next level of the post-pan­de­mic era, after the tran­si­tion to vir­tual coo­pe­ra­tion. The cor­ners­to­nes of MetaCi­ty are in the high-tech­no­lo­gy but strong focus of co-inno­va­tion is in the ser­vices.

Read more about MetaCi­ty