Finland

Ostrobothnia is a region of Finland, located on the coast in Western Finland with a population of 180,000. The capital of Ostrobothnia, Vaasa is an industrial city, offering endless possibilities for research and development, and education especially in the international energy industry.

The largest energy technology cluster of the Nordic countries is located in the Vaasa region, and called EnergyVaasa. The cluster is made up of more than 140 businesses, which together employ around 11,000 employees, and some of which are market leaders in their field. The total business turnover of the cluster is around EUR 4 billion annually, with an export rate of over 80%, which makes up 30% of Finland’s total export in energy technology. As the world’s need for energy is growing rapidly, so is the energy technology market. This means that the EnergyVaasa companies are determined and focussed on developing innovative products and services designed for the changing markets. EnergyVaasa is renowned for its extensive investments into research and development, which has tripled during the last few years.

The Vaasa region is driven by research and development and invests a lot of time and resources into promoting improved energy efficiency, sustainable development of innovative energy solutions as well as investment into education. We combine our experts and expertise from different higher education institutions and our businesses in order to strengthen our knowledge and produce the best possible solutions.

Vaasa is the largest university city in Finland with more than 12,000 students, studying in three different languages, in six university organisations with more than 30 degree programs to choose from. The universities’ in Vaasa have very strong links to the companies within the region, specifically within the energy technology sector. Vaasa’s know-how and expertise are strengthened by the strong connections between our businesses and our universities.

The Vaasa region has the most companies comparative to population, boasting one of the best levels of employment in Finland. With high levels of education, good income levels with a reasonable cost of living, and the longest life expectancy in the whole of Finland, Vaasa is an attractive city to live in Finland. Vaasa is the most international region in Finland celebrating more than a hundred different nationalities, a vast majority of whom, study or work within the energy sector.

Vaasa’s strong belief and vision for the future has established a number of new development projects in Vaasa. It could be the region’s outstanding beauty and nature that makes Vaasa a key player in technological efforts to combat global warming and to develop globally respected energy technology solutions.

Finnish Cleantech companies