Riihimäki is building a new kind of cooperation in the defense industry - NATO opens up new opportunities

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

The world's security situation has been in a major upheaval over the past year. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and Finland's NATO membership have raised national security to the top of the priority list in the minds of both decision-makers and ordinary citizens. This will certainly be reflected in how much security and its development is invested and resources are allocated both in the public administration and in the business world.

As challenging as the world situation is, it also creates new opportunities for economic growth for Finland. In addition to material security of supply, we have a huge amount of know-how potential, which we should utilize through versatile cooperation.

It is possible to build an efficient ecosystem in the defense sector, which binds public administration actors, companies, universities and research institutes together. Through this kind of cooperation, we have the opportunity to generate new business activities and open financing opportunities through both the EU and NATO.

Riihimäki's competence center is a strong foundation for the ecosystem

The city of Riihimäki wants to be a pioneer in this development. Riihimäki has a very strong competence center of the Defense Forces in the area of ​​digitalization and cyber defense. The Finnish Defense Forces Research Institute, the Management Systems Center and the Electronic Warfare Center (Elso) are examples of centers of excellence with high expertise. These units provide training for conscripts, train new personnel, conduct research and develop new solutions for the Defense Forces. There is a concentration of around 600 jobs in the area of ​​the Riihimäki garrison alone.

The largest rifle manufacturer in Europe and part of the Beretta Group Sako's recent news about new rifle shops also mean new investments and dozens of new jobs for Riihimäki. When we look at the entire Kanta-Häme province, we are talking about a cluster of thousands of jobs in total.

This strong knowledge base enables the building of an ecosystem focused on innovation in the defense sector, which cooperates extensively with various actors both in Finland and internationally. Our goal is to form an entity focused on high-tech business and innovation, which can be joined by companies already operating in the area and Häme University of Applied Sciences (Hamk) in cooperation with other universities and colleges.

Of course, we also need new players who are interested in developing innovations that support national defense and developing dual-use products, i.e. solutions suitable for both military and civilian use.

The Defense Forces is ready for experimental cooperation

Innovation activity has been raised as one of the most important tasks in the defense forces of many countries. Cooperation with the surrounding society and the business world has been found to produce results in increasing the defense solutions of each country and the activities that support it.

A recent report based on interviews commissioned by the Ministry of Defence Breakthrough technologies and national security: Is Finland ready for the challenge confirms the same thing. According to the EU's impact assessment, Finland is the world's leading country in cooperation between universities and companies and in cyber security capacity. As a legacy of the Nokia cluster, we have a strong foundation on which to build.

In Finland, the Armed Forces have always been an integral part of the rest of society. General military service is an important link here: during the service, people performing their military service acquire significant new skills on top of previously studied skills or skills learned on the job. This potential should not be left unexploited from the point of view of economic growth. Here, too, we see an opportunity to create something new: innovation and entrepreneurship training and an innovation challenge will be organized in Riihimäki next fall for cyber conscripts selected through a special group search. The purpose is to give conscripts additional skills for innovative thinking and problem solving.

The purpose of the experiment is to find out whether the training creates the kind of innovation and solution-solving ability that, at its best, produces the seeds of startup business operations. At the same time, the training indirectly supports the success of cyber conscripts in their main tasks.

The experiment provides grounds for further evaluation and possible expansion of the operation. It is clear that we need more experiments of this type in the future. An excellent example here is the state of Israel, whose cyber conscripts include, among others Helsingin Sanomat wrote an extensive story under the title Startup Soldiers in April 2022.

The city of Riihimäki is preparing for the opportunities brought by NATO membership

Finland's recent membership in NATO also brings new opportunities for growth and the utilization of Finland's know-how for the entire alliance. Riihimäki would be an excellent place For NATO's Center of Excellence.

The core of the competence center would be the units of the Defense Forces in Riihimäki. NATO lacks a competence center focusing on technical management systems, and the Finnish Defense Forces' expertise in this area is internationally recognized. Many structures are already ready and large initial investments would not be necessary. A competence center focusing on high technology would also bring more growth to the already strong Finnish business field in the area of ​​digitalization.

The city has already reacted to concretize the possibility. Together, we draw up a road map for developing innovation activities, building a network and engaging actors in cooperation.

We are organizing a roundtable event at the end of May, to which we have invited representatives from the Defense Forces, the defense industry, the private and public sectors, and the academic world to discuss a new kind of cooperation. We have also intensified the dialogue with the Riihimäki units of the Defense Forces and the leadership of the Armored Brigade.

Cities play a key role when building new platforms for cooperation in order to achieve vital growth for our national economy. Finland's NATO membership is seen in Riihimäki as an enabler of such growth. Riihimäki is ready for the challenge and a new kind of cooperation to promote innovation in the defense sector.

Jouni Eho
mayor
The city of Riihimäki

Ilkka Korkiamäki
lieutenant general evp
Riihimäki city management advisor