Aker Arctic helps design new Canadian icebreaker

Aker Arctic Technology has been chosen to join a team led by STX Canada Marine to design the Canadian Coast Guard’s future flagship, the CCGS John G. Diefenbaker. Design work, based on a conceptual design produced by the Canadian Coast Guard, is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete, and the vessel will be built by Vancouver Shipyards... Read more

Finnish supermarket chains among the world’s top 100 retailers

Finnish supermarket chains S-ryhma and Kesko have made it to the Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing 2012 survey which ranks the world’s 250 most powerful retailers around the world. S-ryhma is ranked as number 85 and Kesko as number 91 in the world based on their retail sales. According to the report, S-ryhma’s retail sales in 2010 were... Read more

Ixonos launches smart phone platform

Mobile phone manufacturer Ixonos has launched a mobile phone platform utilizing the Android 4.0 operating system.  The Ixonos Smartphone Platform has been developed with an eye for those consumer brands, for example, who plan to launch smart phones and aim for a low total cost base. — We can develop smart phones to suit our customers’... Read more

Nokia launches new phones and services

Nokia has unveiled a new, low-end Lumia phone, three new phones designed for emerging markets and a new Symbian phone with a 41 megapixel camera sensor, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona The Lumia 610 will be Nokia’s lowest-priced Windows Phone yet. The company said it will cost 189 euros and will be available worldwide in the second... Read more

Finland ranks fourth in Global Cleantech Index

Finland has ranked fourth in The Cleantech Global Innovation Index produced by WWF and the Cleantech Group. The report praised Finland’s supportive environment and high concentration of new cleantech companies, though it said the country could do more to scale-up entrepreneurial cleantech companies to wider commercial success. Thirty-eight... Read more

Kone delivers elevators to veterans’ medical centre in New Orleans

Kone is delivering elevators to veterans’ medical centre in New Orleans. The company will install 43 elevators in the new Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System Replacement Hospital. Kone’s work on the medical centre will begin in the fourth quarter of 2012, and the facility is scheduled to open in 2015. — Our expertise and experience... Read more

Ranua zoo’s polar bear cub stumbles out of its den

The polar bear cub born at Ranua zoo on November 18th, 2011 padded its way out from its den on February 23rd this year for the first time.  The cub’s mother, Venus, has been caring for her cub for three months inside and the cub now weighs around seven kilos.  The event was followed closely by a group of media representatives. It was decided... Read more

Angry Birds head to final frontier

Two years after its terrestrial launch, Angry Birds is heading into outer space. Rovio, the Finnish company which created the Angry Birds empire, says Angry Birds Space will be released simultaneously in mobile gaming, animation, retail and publishing on March 22. — It's one small fling for a bird, one quantum leap for birdkind, the game maker... Read more

Finland claims world’s number two spot for mining jurisdiction

Finland is the world’s number two spot for mining investment after Canada’s New Brunswick. The Fraser Institutes Survey of Mining Companies: 2011/2012 reveals world’s top ten jurisdictions for mining. On the third place is Alberta (Canada), fourth Wyoming (USA), fifth Quebec (Canada), Saskatchewan (Canada), Sweden, Nevada (USA), Ireland and... Read more

NSN launches technology that saves 15 percent in operating costs

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) is launching a Self-Organizing Networks (SON) technology that automates core network operations. The new technology helps operators to automatically and rapidly allocate core network resources to meet unpredictable voice and mobile broadband demands. According to Nokia Siemens Networks, the automated technology... Read more

ThingLink brings new possibilities to Facebook fan pages

The Fenno-American start-up ThingLink has launched a net based tool for companies and artists that will allow them to embed various on their Facebook pages. Among those using the new ThingLink tool include big names in the music business such as Iggy Pop, David Lynch Foundation Music, the Walter Isaacson Agency and the music journal NME.... Read more

Paris exhibits Akseli Gallen-Kallela

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is holding an exhibition devoted to Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.  The exhibition, which has transferred from Helsinki Art Museum, is the first ever show in Paris devoted to his work. Gallen-Kallela, who was born in 1865 and died in 1931, was a key player in the drive to create a national identity before... Read more

Nokia’s Lumia has made a good start in Europe

Nokia Lumia has made a good start in the UK smartphone market. According to Kantar World Panel, the sales of Nokia’s Windows 7 Phone have grown 450 percent year-on-year and Lumia has now 2.2 percent market share in Britain. The New York Times blog writes that Lumia has been selling well also elsewhere in Europe. According to NYT, Nokia Lumia... Read more

Raute secures largest order ever

Raute says a recent order for plywood mill machinery and equipment from Chilean-based Paneles Arauco is the biggest-ever in the company’s history. Valued at over 50 million euros, the equipment will be used to rebuild Paneles Arauco’s Nueva Aldea plywood mill, which was destroyed in a fire in January. The order includes two state-of-the-art... Read more

Travel to Finland on the rise

The number of foreign tourists staying in Finland grew around ten percent in 2011 compared with the previous year.  This percentage increase was the largest in the Nordic countries as Denmark, in second place, experienced an increase of around six percent. During the year some 5.5 million foreign tourists registered overnight stays in Finland,... Read more