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Riihimäki's profile as an international innovation and technology center is on the rise

26.6.2024 2024 Better than before Define Blog Mayor

Six men in suits stand in two rows close together and smile.
In the National Defense Arena on 7.6.2024 June XNUMX (left) Dennis Lewis, Fabian Sepulveda, Jouni Eho, Teemu Seppälä, Scott Sumner and Arto Räty. Photo: Juho Haavisto.

Ehompi is a story series in which the mayor Jouni Eho talks about his everyday life, work and Riihimäki.

In June, the international National Defense Arena was organized for the first time at Erämessi. The event was a continuation of the city's initiative to invest in new innovations and growth in the defense sector. Defense Innovation Network Finland (Define) has now been launched and the network is developing with concrete measures, such as the challenge competition (Hackathon) organized by Millog Oy and the Finnish Defense Forces in the fall, and the start-up of a business accelerator funded by Häme ELY Center. The National Defense Arena gave us faith that we are doing the right things. About two hundred participants gave positive feedback on the high-level program and networking opportunities, which were widely used.

The work bears fruit

We got an international tone to the National Defense Arena in the form of a high-level participant guard. Thorsten Claus, partner of NATO's one billion innovation fund, Kadri Tammai, director of Estonia's NATO Diana Accelerator, as well as Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Technical Program Manager Scott Sumner and Senior Advisor Dennis Lewis, who came all the way from the United States, handed out their business cards at a brisk pace.

What is most gratifying is that the city's activity is bearing fruit in the form of concrete business investments. Atle Defense Technologies, a Finnish company focused on dual-use technologies, decided to place its startup company in Riihimäki. Several negotiations are underway with new companies that will be located.

People in the hall on their chairs listening to the performer.
NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) partner Thorsten Claus got the public's attention with the 1 billion investment fund he represented. Photo: Juho Haavisto.

Profiling as a technology and innovation city is a long-term effort

The city of Riihimäki has invested a decade in robotics. In our urban strategy, we are the capital of robotics. We have established our position as the robotics capital of Finland with a robotics education model that practically means teaching robotics to every student in Riihimäki, from early childhood education through elementary school to secondary school and higher education.

The strategic choice of the city has involved the education and research activities of Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK). In autumn 2024, HAMK will pilot two new international engineering training programs in Riihimäki, ICT and Robotics and Sustainable Urban Design. According to preliminary information, a record number of students applied for these. With the two new education programs, we expect a total of more than a hundred students to the city.

HAMK's, Hyria's and the city's plan for new campus arrangements in Riihimäki is progressing. Last week, Hyria and HAMK announced a preliminary agreement in which Hyria would acquire campus property from HAMK, which in turn enables HAMK's plan to promote campus investment in the Riihimäki station area. HAMK will also strengthen its resources in services for startup companies, when a new startup expert will start at HAMK in the fall.

I dare to say that without the city's strategic choice to invest in robotics, the educational institutions in our region would not dare to profile themselves either. Joint choices strengthen the whole. A big thank you goes to Esa Santakallio, the city's Robotics Campus Development Director who retired last week. Technology and innovation director Teemu Seppälä is now following in Esa's footsteps, whose experience in the development of the city of Helsinki, Aalto University and international innovation systems gives us excellent resources to continue profiling to the next level. I personally see great opportunities specifically at the interfaces of radical technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence and the defense sector. I also don't think that Atle Defense Technologies will be the last business location in our city.

Read more

Atle Defense Technologies Oy is located in Riihimäki (City of Riihimäki 26.6.2024)

Director of Development Esa Santakallio retires (Robotics campus 14.6.2024)

Robotics Campus – Scale Up! -​the project accelerated the growth of Riihimäki's robotics innovation and expertise ecosystems (HAMK 13.6.2024)

Riihimäki's real estate deal, planned by HAMK and Hyria, progressed to a preliminary agreement (HAMK 11.6.2024)

Finland's first business accelerator for dual-use technologies will start in Riihimäki (City of Riihimäki 4.6.2024)

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