Finland, a forerunner in many fields, is famous for its innovation capabilities. No wonder that Zhongguancun Administrative Committee chose Greater Helsinki to set up its seventh international office – following Silicon Valley, Toronto, Tokyo, London, Munich and Sydney. The company will begin operations at Otaniemi’s Technopolis with the aim of helping Chinese hi-tech companies in investing in Finland and Finnish equivalents entering the Chinese market. This month Greater Helsinki Area shall be even more on everybody’s lips as Zhongguancun opens a science and technology park in Otaniemi.
Chinese-Finnish parklife
Zpark Finland’s opening ceremony on November 13th was hosted by Zhongguancun Finland Office and China-Finland Golden Bridge Innovation Center.
– Golden Bridge has been there for me and my organization from the very first day I entered Finland. Without their help I could not have blended into Finnish society and hi-tech industry this smoothly. And now, with our help, new Chinese ventures can easily find suitable business partners here, rejoices Zpark’s Industry Promotion Manager Ziqi Zhu.
Beijing-based, 232-square-kilometer Zhongguancun Science Park is the leading Chinese science park with a focus on electronics and information, advanced manufacturing, new energy and high efficiency as well as new material and biological medicine, aiming to be the world’s top science park and innovation center by 2020. Zpark is one of the leading parks specialized in IT and software under Zhongguancun Science Park – and responsible for the operation of Finland office since they have already cooperated with Finnish technology parks, well-known enterprises and governmental agencies for more than eight years, whilst Finnish software development companies, such as MyLab and Eficode, are successfully operating in China with the help of Zpark.
– It is easy to build mutual trust with Finnish people as they are very good at keeping promises. Government departments can also provide good services to the company, which will reduce their operational costs. For foreign companies, Greater Helsinki is one of the best places to invest: sound infrastructure, stable economic and business environment and innovation ability. Also links to China are easy with direct flights to many of our big cities, Zhu praises.
Innovative co-business, deeper mutual understanding
During its first year, Zhongguancun’s new office will offer a platform for facilitating interaction and finding new business opportunities for both Chinese and Finnish hi-tech companies. Once the platform is well-established and the amount of Chinese companies in Finland is on the rise, its role will change for an incubator, providing soft landing services to the Chinese.
– The more interaction there is, the more we understand each other both from business and cultural perspective. As I like to see it, the cooperation between our countries is going from market entry into joint R&D, and ZPark is here to speed up this process. We also believe that Finland and China – as the world’s leading technology hub and as the world’s largest consumer market – will create a powerful engine to foster innovation and feed the demand for new solutions for the changing world economy, concludes Zhu.
