Cool City – Hot sOulu­tions!

Oulu has a sol­id foun­da­tion for becom­ing a smart city; it is an edu­ca­tion and trade city with 50 years of know-how in radio tech­nol­o­gy.

We have a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary uni­ver­si­ty doing exten­sive research and prod­uct devel­op­ment, and, for cen­turies already, our city has had its place in inter­na­tion­al trade by export­ing tar, paper, and tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions. The prod­ucts of our north­ern, real-life liv­ing lab have not only made locals’ day-to-day lives smoother but also gift­ed the world with smart solu­tions. The advan­tage is, in addi­tion to our world-class know-how, of course, our unique agility—such as the seam­less col­lab­o­ra­tion between edu­ca­tion, research, busi­ness, and the pub­lic sec­tor.

We have rid­den many waves of indus­tri­al­i­sa­tion. Our city’s role in the recent his­to­ry of the mobile indus­try is proof of our abil­i­ty to devel­op as a community—ability that calls for cre­ativ­i­ty, courage, and a com­mon will. That is what lies at the heart of an Oulu­an. Jux­ta­po­si­tion strength­ens Oulu; urban cul­ture draws strength from nature and our close-knit com­mu­ni­ty is more inter­na­tion­al than ever before.

Cre­at­ing inno­va­tions that stun the world is every day for us, and we are also will­ing to exper­i­ment. In fact, Oulu is a pio­neer of exper­i­ments. When the city cel­e­brat­ed its 400th anniver­sary in 2005, it launched panOulu, an open wire­less net­work, as a gift to all cit­i­zens. Already then, the peo­ple of Oulu had Wi-Fi on the bus—and even on the fer­ry to Hailu­o­to! At the same time, dozens of pio­neer­ing mobile appli­ca­tions were devel­oped in Oulu, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with res­i­dents of dif­fer­ent ages, to improve the effi­cien­cy of ser­vices for young peo­ple and the elder­ly.

Today, our city serves as an open plat­form for inno­va­tion. In Oulu, urban plan­ning and con­struc­tion are devel­oped to be sus­tain­able, ener­gy-effi­cient and suit­ed to extreme con­di­tions. And, for our com­pact-sized city, decreas­ing car­bon emis­sions is a mat­ter of course: short dis­tances encour­age thou­sands of peo­ple to cycle all year round.

Our future Oulu is a car­bon-neu­tral and resource-friend­ly urban envi­ron­ment where well-being and age­ing, as well as know-how and cul­ture, are acknowl­edged. Using anthro­pocen­tric dig­i­tal solu­tions offers many oppor­tu­ni­ties, for exam­ple, for sup­port­ing the elder­ly in liv­ing at home. Through the inclu­sion of peo­ple and the use of new tools becomes pos­si­ble to cre­ate inno­va­tions that sup­port con­tin­u­ous learn­ing and devel­op work­ing life skills. We believe that the input of the entire urban com­mu­ni­ty is need­ed to cre­ate new dig­i­tal solu­tions and achieve the city’s car­bon neu­tral­i­ty goals.