It has been two yeas now that Ziqi Zhu has run the operations of the Chinese Zhongguancun Science Park in Finland. In those two years, he has helped bring two major Chinese investments to Finland and he does not plan to stop at that.
Zhongguancun Science Park started operations in the Greater Helsinki Area in July 2012. The park, known also as ZPark, helps Chinese companies enter the Finnish market and find Finnish partners and investment targets, and vice versa; it also helps Finnish companies enter the Chinese market. The head of ZPark’s Finnish Office, Mr. Ziqi Zhu, says that Finland has proven to be a good location.
— Finland and China have a very good relationship, and Finland is known for its innovations, technology and numerous excellent companies. Finland is also the best gateway for Chinese companies to access the European market, says Zhu.
Glowing track record
Zhu and ZPark have already helped two Chinese companies invest in Finland. Last year, Synergy New Energy Technology Ltd. acquired AAVI Technologies, a Finnish company that specializes in air cleaning technology and continues its R&D and manufacturing operations in Finland.
More recently, Zhu brought together the interests of two construction software companies when Finnish Progman became a part of Chinese Glodon Group and the center of the company’s European business development.
— ZPark’s strength is its unique method. There are some 20,000 companies that operate within the international Zhongguancun Science Park. A network of this capacity helps us find accurate matches between Chinese and Finnish companies. We have the hi-tech understanding and resources to target the right candidates and thus, can offer tailor-made services, explains Zhu.
Great prospects
ZPark operates in the Otaniemi technology hub and employs currently two people. It is running long-term cooperation programs with Finnish organizations, e.g. a Finnish ICT and digital business development company DIGILE Oy. Last year, ZPark organized a business event for DIGILE and other Finnish companies in Beijing to boost cooperation between Chinese and Finnish companies.
— Eleven Chinese companies showed strong interest in R&D cooperation with Finnish companies. One of them, ChinaCache, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nokia Solutions and Networks to jointly develop next-generation mobile content delivery solutions, says Ziqi Zhu.
ZPark is also helping Finnish healthcare companies find common interests with the China Life Science Park in an upcoming international elderly care summit in Beijing.
— In May, we will introduce two significant Chinese investment companies to Finland. With our continued effort, we expect 3–5 Chinese companies to invest in Finland and 3–5 Finnish tech companies to enter the Chinese market each year.
Mr. Ziqi Zhu, the head of ZPark’s Finnish Office, says that Finland has proven to be a good location.
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Text: Anu Jussila
