- Tampere seizes creative economy

Finland 

European fusion programme 

ROVIR’S FIRST CUSTOMER 

CREATIVE 

DYNAMICS 

- Tampere seizes creative economy 

Kalmar focuses on 

intelligence and automation 

Bioabsorbable healer 

on its way

CONTENTS 

TAmpere business science and life 

AUTUMN 2005 

18 

There are only a small number 

of manufacturers of spiral bevel 

gears in the entire world. Ata 

Gears Ltd is one of them. 

14 

Laser Competence Centre 

Finland has begun 

operations in Tampere. The 

centre’s activities consist 

of a training and service 

centre for the industry, 

laser pilot factory and 

training initiative. 

22 

Vendor of information 

systems and services for 

clinical laboratories Mylab 

Corporation has its sights 

set on growth in the US 

and Chinese markets. 

6 Creative dynamics – Tampere seizes creative economy 

28 

Bodega Salud has received 

acclaim as an institution 

in Tampere. Hannu Wiss 

created the famous pepper 

steak while establishing the 

restaurant, which is why in 

many patrons’ minds Salud 

is synonymous with the 

juicy offering. 

10 Aiming for the leading edge in remote operation and virtual technologies: 

European fusion programme ROViR’s first customer 

12 The integration of IT with industrial machines and equipment is generating new 

service business – remote monitoring. The Pulp Center operating in the Tampere 

unit of Metso Automation is alert around the clock. 

programme is a research and development 

programme for the years 2001-2005, 

launched by the City of Tampere. Its 

objective is to transform Tampere into 

one of the spearhead cities of global 

knowledge society development by 

strengthening the knowledge base, 

creating new business and developing new 

public online services that are accessible 

to all citizens. The eTampere programme 

is an extensive cooperation initiative 

into which the region’s educational 

and research institutions, business life, 

organizations and communities bring 

their own expertise and development 

input. Despite the challenging operating 

environment of the ICT sector, eTampere 

has reached its quantitative targets 

during its four years of operation. One 

of the key achievements is a functional 

cooperation model between the business 

world, universities and government. 

This operational model is of particular 

importance in the development of the 

operational culture of the knowledge 

society on the local level. 

In an interview on 25 January 

2005, Finland’s Minister of Transport 

and Communications Leena Luhtanen 

stated that knowledge society policy and 

its emphases should be re-evaluated. 

According to Luhtanen, the use of ICT 

has been a central factor in economic 

growth in the United States, but similar 

effect has not been achieved in Europe. In 

Europe, knowledge society policy has not 

managed to turn the use of information 

17 Kalmar Industries focuses on container handling intelligence and automation 

21 Bioabsorbable healer on its way 

30 “Even though I’ve already seen 17 times how nature in Finland comes to life and 

turns green in the space of few short days in spring, I still see it as a miracle,” 

says Claudia Hallikainen. 

Finland 

Tampere 

2 Tampere Business • Science • Life

technology into productivity growth 

throughout the business world nor in the 

government, and for this reason its areas 

of emphasis should at least be partly reevaluated. 

who presented the new eEurope 

programme in May, also calls for change. 

According to Reding, the key element 

in technology development in Europe 

until 2020 will be the changeover from 

technology-oriented development to 

consumer-oriented society. Engineerorientation 

should be cast aside and 

one should listen to what citizens need. 

Small companies should be involved, not 

forgetting culture. 

The need for change is clearly manifest 

in these statements. The management 

of this change and taking the role of a 

pioneer are a challenge to Finland and 

the Tampere central region. In eTampere, 

work for this change 

has been consistently 

bugc- 

The BUGC operational 

model is a foundation 

for further development 

activities in Tampere. 

carried out from the 

start: the activities of 

eTampere emphasize 

the development 

of processes and 

enhancement in the 

use of new technology 

in both the public 

and private sectors. Cooperation between 

research, government and companies has 

produced results. However, the cultural 

change applies to society as a whole and 

takes time, sometimes longer than some 

jarmo viteli 

Director of eTampere programme 

eTampere 

From knowledge society to network society 

would wish. Tampere has already advanced 

far along the new road but there is still 

much work to be done and processes must 

be further developed and enhanced. One 

must also have the courage to cancel 

functions and projects that don’t work or 

respond to expectations. The innovation 

environment, too, should be further 

developed to support the emergence of 

new ideas and, above all, their transfer into 

products and services. 

(BUGC) operational model is 

a foundation for further development 

activities in Tampere. 

The advantage of broad-based 

coordination and steering applies while 

expertise is accumulated through tight 

networking between key stakeholders. 

As networks and networking don’t come 

into existence without encouragement, 

it is important to have the right kinds 

of facilitators for 

these different kinds 

of cooperation. This 

is where the attempt 

to equally bridge the 

different aspects of 

business, university and 

government comes into 

play. 

The main question 

of strategic importance is therefore down 

to the personnel, as it is necessary for 

those acting as successful facilitators 

within the BUGC constellation to have 

strong backing from their stakeholders as 

well as access to credible and broad-based 

networks, both locally, nationally and 

internationally. One of the main issues 

within the eTampere context is that of 

fi nding personnel who have genuinely 

managed to bridge the gap between 

technology and the social sciences and/or 

humanities. As cooperation between 

these two areas has only begun to be 

seriously developed in recent years, such 

persons tend to be few and far between. By 

strengthening the image and attractiveness 

of Tampere as a university centre however, 

eTampere has contributed to ensuring that 

suitable human resources are available for 

recruitment. 

There is strong support among the 

programme’s stakeholder organizations for 

the continuation of a programme-based 

development policy. The City of Tampere 

has engaged planning work for the creation 

of a new development programme with 

a working title of Creative Tampere. 

The new programme will develop the 

operational models already familiar from 

eTampere and promote cooperation 

between business life, city administration, 

citizens and the research world within 

the next prevailing spearhead fi elds of 

innovation, technology and development 

activity. 

EDITORIAL 

Tampere founded 1779 • 200,000 inhabitants • 3 rd biggest city in finland 

TAMPERE BUSINESS, SCIENCE AND LIFE 2 • 2005 

PUBLISHER City of Tampere Information Office EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Johanna Heikkilä, Marketing Manager, City of Tampere Information Offi ce 

EDITING AND LAYOUT Viestintätoimisto Tammisto, Knuutila & Tammisto Oy TRANSLATION Violetti Valas Viestintätoimisto 

PRINTED BY Uusi Kivipaino Oy, Finland 2005 CIRCULATION 10,000. Additional copies: Johanna Heikkilä johanna.heikkila@tampere.fi 

phone +358 (0)20 716 6652, fax +358 (0)20 716 6710 COVER PHOTO Sulzer/Ari Ijäs 

Tampere Business • Science • Life 3

up 

what´s 

autumn 2005. The Tampere Club will be held on 5-6 September. 

Professor Bruno S. Frey has been invited to give the IV Tampere lecture. Football 

World Cup qualifier Finland vs Macedonia will be played at the Ratina stadium 

on 7 September. Ambience 2005 – a conference on smart clothing and textile 

intelligence – will be held on 19-20 September. Europe’s second largest trade 

fair in the field of industrial subcontracting, Subcontracting 2005, will pack 

Tampere Exhibition Centre Pirkkahalli on 21-23 September. The eBRF conference 

on 26-28 September will focus on three larger themes: the Electronization of 

Business, the Management of Information and Knowledge, and Strategizing in 

the Knowledge Society. The National Police Museum will be a guest exhibit at the 

Vapriikki Museum Centre with an exhibition entitled ‘Finpol – Safety, technology 

and investigation’. The exhibition celebrates the 75-year history of the Mobile 

Police. Tampere Jazz Happening takes place on 4-6 November, and the multimedia 

festival MindTrek on 7-12 November. Manhattan Transfer will perform at Tampere 

Hall on 10 November. 

AIR QUALITY 

continually monitored 

Tampere is the first European city to 

continually monitor particle concentrations 

in the air. Measurements are carried out using 

the outdoor ELPI (Electrical Low Pressure 

Impactor) analyzer developed by the Tamperebased 

company Dekati Oy. ELPI is used to 

monitor the size and number distributions 

of particles from 0.007 to 2.5 micrometers 

– the size of viruses and bacteria – around the 

clock. The data can be read over the internet 

in real time. 

Tampere-based expertise in air quality 

monitoring is also being applied in St 

Petersburg, Russia. Tampere is participating 

in a project funded by the Finnish Ministry of 

the Environment in which the St Petersburg 

air quality monitoring system is being 

renewed to comply with EU standards and 

guidelines. 

Finland has again topped the 

Environmental Sustainability Index 

commissioned by the World Economic 

Forum (WEF). Among the 146 participating 

countries, Finland’s strengths include 

water and air quality, the high level of 

science and technology and the efficiency 

of environmental administration. The 

comparison was carried out for the fourth 

time and Finland has topped it consistently. 

The index is produced by the Yale and 

Columbia universities in the United States. 

Photo: Veikko Lintinen 

Tampere’s illuminations were inspired by 

those in Essen, Germany, and the lights were 

lit for the first time in 1965. During the fifth 

Tampere Illuminations in 1970 more than 

32,000 spots of light were aglow in around 

180 display pieces. 

JOY OF LIGHT 

In the darkness of autumn 

The Tampere Illuminations celebrate their 

40 th anniversary this autumn. Every year 

approximately 200 display pieces gleam 

above the city centre’s main shopping streets 

during the darkest time of year from October to 

January. The association Tampere Tunnetuksi 

ry, the arranger of the Illuminations, the Flower 

Festival and Tampere Christmas, also celebrates 

its 40th anniversary this autumn. 

People-centred 

WEB PROJECTS 

Millennium Special Recognition 

Awards were given this spring to 

the Netti-Nysse internet bus, an 

internet-based system for making 

appointments at laboratories in the 

Pirkanmaa Hospital District and 

the mathematics programme at the 

Päivölä Adult Education Institute. 

The recognitions were awarded to 

innovative, human-centred projects in 

Tampere and Oulu utilizing the World 

Wide Web and the internet. 

The winner of the first Millennium 

Technology Prize in 2004, developer 

of the World Wide Web Tim Berners- 

Lee, was a guest of honour at the 

award ceremony. Today Berners-Lee 

works at the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology (MIT) in the United 

States. He focuses on improving the 

usability and efficiency of the web 

and the development of the semantic 

web, which would enhance data 

processing among other benefits. 

The semantic web is one of the 

key development areas of the World 

Wide Web. Berners-Lee also believes 

that a major effort will be required in 

the development of the usability of 

the mobile web. He doesn’t believe 

in the collapse of WWW or its use 

becoming restricted to adults or 

children. 

“The problem lays in the fact that 

when you ask people what is proper, 

everyone has a different answer. It 

would be unfair if someone decided 

it for us. Instead we should develop 

filtering software.” 

At one million euros, the 

Millennium Technology Prize is the 

world’s largest technology award. It 

is presented every two years, next in 

autumn 2006. 

More meeting facilities at TAMPERE HALL 

Building and renovation work at the Tampere 

Hall concert and congress centre is to be 

completed this autumn. The technical 

specifics of the facilities there have been 

improved and attention has been paid to the 

adjustability of the amenities so that they 

can be used more easily as independent 

units. In addition to the renovation work, 

800 square metres of new meeting and 

exhibition space has been built. 

Completed in 1990, Tampere Hall is 

the largest concert and congress centre in 

the Nordic countries. It has repeatedly been 

evaluated as Finland’s best congress centre. 

World Wide Web developer Tim 

Berners-Lee infused faith in the 

web’s development opportunities 

whilst participating at the 

Millennium Special Recognition 

Award ceremony in Tampere. 


FEELING and 

atmosphere 

Tampere Flamenco Week 

celebrated its tenth 

anniversary in July with stars 

such as Grammy-winner 

vocalist Diego el Cigala and 

the star of new flamenco, 

dancer and choreographer 

Rafaela Carrasco and her 

group. Dancer Katja Lunden 

represented Finland’s finest 

in flamenco. 

Brilliance. Compania Rafaela 

Carrasco performed the work Una 

Mirada Del Flamenco, designed and 

directed by Carrasco, at the 10 th 

Tampere Flamenco Week. 

Many happy returns, Moomintroll! 

Time marches on. Moomintroll, 

created by author-artist Tove 

Jansson (1914–2001) turns 60 this 

autumn and the Finnish language 

Moomin comic strip celebrated 

its 50th anniversary earlier in 

spring. Abroad the comic strip 

is a little older with the English 

language Moomin first published 

in September 1954 in the London 

paper The Evening News. Since 

then, Moomin has been published 

in newspaper strips around the 

world. Over all, it is internationally 

the most successful Finnish comic 

strip ever. Tampere Art Museum’s 

Moominvalley is celebrating the 

anniversary year with an exhibition 

of Tove Jansson’s Moomin comic 

strips and sketches from the years 

1947–1959. The objects on display 

include comic strip originals, album 

covers and some sketches from 

the museum’s own collection. The 

exhibition will be displayed under 

the name ‘What’s this?’ until March 

2007. 

Tampere Art Museum’s 

Moominvalley is a unique Moomin 

world. It is based on Tove Jansson’s 

original Moomin production: 

Moomin books, illustrations and 

three dimensional tableaux. The 

jewel of the collection is a blue fivestorey 

Moomin house. 

Hot topic. When? For what term? Who selects and whom? 

The renewal of the city’s management structure, which correlates with 

the city’s new operating model, has raised discussion in Tampere. Will 

the result be that a mayor will be selected to replace the city manager 

at the city’s helm? When would the mayor begin his or her work and 

how should the mayor be selected? The City Council eventually decided 

that a mayor and four deputy mayors will be selected to manage 

the city. These full-time elected officials will be selected by the City 

Council from among the councillors. The first ever term of the mayor 

and deputy mayors will run from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2008. 

Subsequent terms of office will be the same length as the tenure of 

the council, at four years. 

Photo: Jesús Vallinas 

Tove Jansson: 

A cover 

illustration for a 

Moomin comic 

book from the 

Moominvalley 

Collection at 

Tampere Art 

Museum. Photo: 

Jari Kuusenaho. 

11 European cities are cooperating in the development of 

electronic services in the eCitizen project. The project’s 

kick-off seminar in Tampere in May brought together 

Information Technology Department Director Osvaldo Panaro 

from Bologna (left), Director of the eCitizen project Minna 

Hanhijärvi from the Baltic Institute of Finland, Manager of 

Municipal Democracy and Participation Outi Teittinen from 

the City of Tampere, and Manager Piret Arusaar from the 

Tartu Business Advisory Services Foundation. 

The challenge of eCitizen 

eManagement, eServices, eParticipation. These are the issues 

promoted in the EU project ‘Challenge of eCitizen – Promoting 

eGovernment Actions in European Cities’. The project 

involving 11 European cities is directed by the Tamperebased 

Baltic Institute of Finland. Using cooperation between 

European cities as the means, the project aims to enhance 

local government and opportunities for citizens to participate 

in decision-making. One particular challenge is the utilization 

of new information and communication technology in the 

public sector for the promotion of eBusiness, eGovernance and 

internet-based participation. 

The project partners include leading European cities in 

the development of electronic transaction and governance. 

The Finnish partners are Tampere, Turku and Vaasa; they 

are developing new internet-, mobile- and smart card-based 

services for residents. The English partner, Sheffi eld, is a pioneer 

in the development and adoption of electronic participation 

and democracy in Europe. The Italian partners, Bologna and 

Trento, are advanced in electronic document management. In 

Estonia, Tartu has been unprejudiced in adopting mobile and 

internet-based services in the public sector. Other Baltic cities 

participating in the project are St Petersburg, Vilnius, Kaunas 

and Odense. 

“Tampere has already been engaged in concrete cooperation 

with St Petersburg, particularly in the development of an 

eCard for residents of the city,” explained Alexander Demidov, 

chief of the analytical department of communication and the 

information committee, at the project’s kick-off seminar. 

He welcomed the international partners to participate 

in St Petersburg’s ICT projects, the development of wireless 

communication and healthcare IT and the creation of call 

centres. 

The infrastructure for e-business in St Petersburg is 

under development in a project led by the Baltic Institute 

of Finland. The partners include the Finnish information 

security companies Instasec, Avain Technologies and Access 

International Consulting, and the smart card company Setec. 

The smart card pilot comprises a metro card and electronic 

social services. The project is part of knowledge-society related 

cooperation between Tampere and the city of St Petersburg, 

which has also included the transfer of the eTampere programme 

model to St Petersburg. 


up 

what´s 

“Industrial heritage is of great significance to the development of a 

creative Tampere, whether as stories that create historic capital or in 

the form of a concrete, physical environment,” Harri Airaksinen says. 

Behind Airaksinen is the 105-year-old Sulzer steam engine, 

still located in its original machine room in the Finlayson area. 

It produced power for the Finlayson cotton factory which in the 

beginning of the 20th century was the largest industrial workplace in 

the Nordic countries. 

Tampere seizes 

&FAME 

MAGNETISM 

Tampere has the best image as 

a travel destination according to 

a survey conducted by market 

research company Taloustutkimus 

in spring 2005. The survey 

assessed the image of 31 Finnish 

cities. 

Tampere has also been 

named the best university city, 

and Tampere University of 

Technology the best university in 

an assessment of prerequisites 

for studying conducted by the 

National Union of Students 

in Finland. In addition, a 

Taloustutkimus survey has found 

that young people in Finland 

are of the opinion that Tampere 

Polytechnic has the best image 

among Finnish polytechnics. 

In 2004, the City of Tampere 

came first in an image survey 

comparing the largest cities in 

Finland. It was also the most 

attractive city among Finns who 

plan on moving. 


In the early 20th century, the largest steam engine in Finland, Sulzer, ground out power for the 

Finlayson cotton factory. In the Tampere of today, old industrial tradition melds with new innovation, 

technology and business as the city harnesses creative economy as the resource of its future. 

IVE ECONOMY 

Asix-year development programme, 

Creative Tampere, is to be 

launched in Tampere with the aim 

of building the Tampere central region 

into a magnetic environment that 

inspires people and businesses alike into 

creative activity. 

“The concept of creativity is 

easily associated with culture-related 

fi elds like art, architecture or media. 

The Creative Tampere programme, 

however, is based on a broad and open 

interpretation of creativity, one that 

emphasizes innovation in all areas. 

In practice, for example, this means 

combining Tampere’s existing highstandard 

competences and strengths in 

various fi elds in new ways,” describes 

Harri Airaksinen, who set the 

programme in motion. 

Creative economy with the 

Tampere approach will emerge around 

three themes: technology, business, and 

environment and culture. Airaksinen 

says that the programme’s fi rst projects 

are to be launched in the beginning of 

next year. 

“Tampere leads the way in the 

development of technology. Many key 

technological innovations have already 

been made. From the perspective 

of information and communication 

technology, mechanical engineering 

and automation, media services and 

health technology clusters of expertise, 

for example, creativity might mean 

an increasingly versatile utilization of 

these innovations to boost business 

– whether in the same fi eld in which 

the innovation originates or in other 

fi elds – as well as making use of the 

results to benefi t the man on the street 

in Tampere.” 

In addition to identifying and 

developing creative fi elds themselves 

and business opportunities related to 

culture, sights will be set business-wise 

on the emergence of novel service 

expertise. Airaksinen also raises the 

issue of an increase in entrepreneurship 

education in the region’s universities 

and polytechnics. 

The third theme, environment 

and culture, will bring creative 

Tampere most tangibly within reach 

of citizens. According to Airaksinen, 

attention will be directed particularly 

to the built-up environment. The real 

estate refi ning project implemented 

at Finlayson during the last decade 

provides a good example to follow 

for improving another city centre 

environment, the Tulli area. In 

addition, creative solutions have already 

been implemented in the planning of 

the Vuores area. 

“The aim is to achieve an active 

and attractive urban environment. 

In addition to improving the city 

landscape it means arranging various 

cultural events, including those 

intended for children, the young and 

minority groups, and the development 

of tourism.” 

Strong magnetism also 

internationally 

Harri Airaksinen believes that the 

foundation for implementing the 

Creative Tampere programme in the 

city is strong. The eTampere initiative, 

which concludes at the end of the year, 

has generated functional cooperation 

between businesses, the public sector, 

associations, providers of training and 

research institutes. 

“These stakeholders will also 

produce the content for the Creative 

Tampere programme and the reception 

has been enthusiastic throughout. Some 

of the methods of operation created 

in eTampere may also continue as part 

of the new programme,” Airaksinen 

says, citing as an example the further 

development of citizens’ online services. 

According to Airaksinen, eTampere 

has also produced the necessary 

international visibility and credibility 

for the city as well as networks that will 

be of use when the Creative Tampere 

projects kick off. He points out that 

Tampere is also already known as a 

versatile city of culture and tourism. In 

image surveys of recent years, Tampere 

has repeatedly risen to top positions. 

The city’s magnetism doesn’t need to be 

created from scratch, simply intensifi ed. 

The Creative Tampere programme’s 

sights have been set at 2011, when 

Tampere might act as the European 

Capital of Culture. In Harri 

Airaksinen’s view, Tampere holding 

the position of culture capital would 

be a perfect conclusion to the creative 

project. 

“In any event, the Creative 

Tampere programme will develop 

Tampere in the right direction. The 

coinciding pursuit of the culture capital 

position brings additional benefi ts 

to the programme, for instance by 

intensifying cooperation between the 

city’s cultural players and businesses and 

by creating tangible projects such as 

landmark renovation.” 

“By strengthening the prerequisites 

for diverse creative activity, the 

Tampere central region will strengthen 

its own position in the face of 

tightening global competition for 

experts and companies,” Airaksinen 

summarizes. 

Harri Airaksinen launched 

the Creative Tampere programme 

as Tampere’s Director of Business 

Development. In autumn he leaves for 

future challenges as Deputy Mayor of 

Porvoo, responsible for business and 

development issues. 


Both operating in Tampere, the Neogames 

development centre in the fi eld of games and the 

Centre for Open Source Software COSS, a 

service centre for business utilizing 

open source, are centres of 

high-standard competence in 

their fields in Finland and on 

the international scale. In 

the beginning of next 

year, a centre focusing 

on the research and 

application of ambient 

intelligence and 

ubiquitous technology 

will begin its activities 

in the city. 

CREATIVE 

TECHNOLOGY 

on human terms 


The games industry, open source and ambient 

intelligence all share the concept of creative 

technology. Tampere therefore already 

has a strong grip on creative technologies that 

unlock future possibilities. But what does creative 

technology actually mean? 

According to Ilkka Kaakkolammi from 

Technology Centre Hermia Ltd, any technology 

that combines elements in a new and creative 

manner can in principle be defi ned as a creative 

technology. In the ICT sector – most of all – creative 

technologies and their applications are humanoriented 

as opposed to traditional development that 

has advanced in a more technology-pulled manner. 

Kaakkolammi directs both the Tampere Region 

Centre of Expertise Programme for Information and 

Communication Technology and Neogames. 

“The essential issue is how a technology serves 

its user and how applications of a technology ease 

people’s daily lives at home and in their place of 

work. When services and applications are expressly 

the driving forces, one abandons both technology 

push and thinking based on strict industrial 

boundaries,” Kaakkolammi says. 

The upshot is that the development of creative 

technologies doesn’t concern the ICT sector alone; 

it helps build a competitive advantage extensively in 

many industries and in the entire urban region. 

“A creative application of technologies sets 

demands on the operating environment. Tampere 

is an expanding city that continuously attracts new 

residents and hosts an extensive range of education 

and research, from technology to humanistic studies 

and the School of Art and Media. In addition, 

the city’s versatile business structure facilitates the 

exposure of new areas of application. This is where 

Tampere’s great opportunity lays.” 

Gameliness opens interaction 

Neogames has operated in Tampere for two years. 

It has brought together stakeholders from the 

Finnish games industry as well as from the media, 

content and technology industries. It has created 

both strong games industry expertise and a broader 

understanding of gameliness. 

“When speaking of creative technologies, I 

particularly emphasize the importance of gameliness 

as it also expands game features such as playability 

and use based on trial and error outside the actual 

games industry. In the interaction between a user and 

a technology, gameliness enables ways of action that 

humans fi nd natural,” Ilkka Kaakkolammi says. 

Possible areas of application range from digital 

media to industrial automation. Usability and 

communication on human terms are also in a key 

position in the research of ambient intelligence and 

ubiquitous technology. According to Kaakkolammi, 

usability expertise at the University of Tampere and 

the electronics research at Tampere University of 

Technology, for example, form a good foundation for 

the ambient intelligence development centre, which 

will launch its activities in the beginning of next 

year. 

“Today our environment is full of technology 

whose use we have to manage because technology 

doesn’t do anything by itself. By defi nition, 

ubiquitous technology is unnoticeable: humans can 

communicate with devices by means of speech for 

example, without awkward keyboards or monitors. 

With ambient intelligence, devices are also able to 

adapt to their environment and can partially operate 

themselves.” 

In practice, an application of ambient 

intelligence may mean an intelligent and remotely 

controlled home or offi ce environment, a smart 

garment that monitors and reacts to human body 

functions, a guide that is conscious of location or a 

product that can tell a consumer about itself from 

the retail shelf. 

“Creative solutions like these make it possible 

for a human to have genuine interaction with 

technology without having to concentrate on the use 

of devices and the management of technology. As 

such, a service produced by a technology need not 

be complicated as long as it genuinely reaches the 

citizen,” Kaakkolammi says. 

Global creativity in reach of Tampere residents 

Finding and creating possibilities for creative 

applications requires a new way of thinking from 

companies, too. Globally and openly operating 

developer communities are an excellent example 

of a new kind of creative operation. Communities 

that break company and industry as well as state 

boundaries are richer than traditional closed 

innovation teams. 

“A unique innovation model and way of 

operation has evolved around open source. 

This model can also be utilized outside software 

production in content production, for example. 

Open source applications could, for instance, 

promote the proliferation of ambient intelligence 

solutions by bringing them within reach of everyone 

in an equal and easy manner,” says Director of COSS 

Petri Räsänen from Technology Centre Hermia Ltd. 

COSS is currently establishing its activities 

in Tampere. According to Räsänen, COSS has 

succeeded in creating an extensive network of 

companies and research institutes which has also 

led to COSS taking a distinct international role as a 

promoter of the use of open source and its business 

potential. There are currently several companies 

offering open source services in Tampere. 

“For example, in future the number of machine 

and equipment manufacturers utilizing OS solutions 

will increase and there will be a lot of demand 

for expertise related to open source. The initial 

enthusiasm created by Linux has already somewhat 

settled. However, there is now an increasingly clear 

awareness that business utilizing open source can be 

lasting and profi table.” 

Petri Räsänen points out that as new user 

applications emerge, new models for OS business 

will be found. Among others, a variety of application 

rental services have been established in recent 

years, based on the use of open source. According 

to Räsänen, potential user groups could be found 

particularly in government and services as well as the 

SME sector. 

“The task of open source, like that of other 

creative technologies, is to bring the information 

society seamlessly into people’s daily lives. Through 

open source, for example, Tampere residents are 

also able to be part of global creativity and, at 

best, be visible as individuals or companies in the 

international operating environment,” Räsänen 

envisions. 


Tampere aims for the leading edge 

in REMOTE OPERATION and 

VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGIES 

Construction work for the international Remote Operation 

and Virtual Reality Centre, ROViR, is currently underway 

in Tampere to serve research and industry. The centre’s 

establishment was triggered by a decision by the EFDA, the 

coordinator of the European fusion programme, to locate the 

DTP2 development and test facility for the maintenance of the 

ITER experimental fusion reactor in Tampere. 

With the DTP2 facility, ROViR will also serve companies 

in addition to the fusion programme. The aim is to 

transfer virtual technologies that enhance productivity and 

competitiveness, as well as competence in remote operation 

created during the design of the fusion reactor’s maintenance, 

into industrial use. 

Remote operation has numerous applications. It 

is particularly well suited to production in demanding 

conditions, such as offshore oil drilling activity, the mining 

industry and power plants. 

EUROPEAN FUSION PR 

ROViR’s 

International fusion research took a 

giant leap forward in June when the EU, 

Japan, Russia, the United States, China 

and South Korea reached an agreement 

after years of deliberation over the location 

of the International Thermonuclear 

Experimental Reactor, ITER. The world’s 

fi rst experimental fusion reactor will be 

built in Cadarache, France. The competing 

location was Rokkasho in Japan. 

News of the decision was received 

with enthusiasm at Tampere University of 

Technology and VTT, which have been 

selected to design and implement ITER’s 

maintenance. 

“Research and development related to 

the fusion reactor’s maintenance and the 

establishment of the ROViR centre would 

have continued regardless of which way the 

decision fell. However, as our work is based 

on the fusion programme, things becoming 

more tangible naturally added momentum 

to our activities too,” says Development 

Manager Arto Timperi, who is responsible 

for the ROViR centre. 

Tampere is in a good state of readiness 

to launch the construction of the fusion 

reactor’s maintenance test facility. 

“We called for tenders already last spring 

for the construction of the DTP2 equipment 

to be located at ROViR. There are three 

large elements in the equipment and the 

supplier for one of these has been chosen. 

The metal structure will be supplied by the 

Tampere-based company TP-tekniikka Oy. 

We are advancing according to a schedule 

that has ROViR completed by the end of 

2006,” he says. 

Setting off across a broad front 

The European fusion programme will be 

ROViR’s fi rst customer. It will link the 

centre’s activities to one of the world’s 

largest research initiatives and to an 

international network of top research. 

The EU will provide funding of 10 to 

15 million euros for the DTP2 facility and 

ROViR centre over the course of fi ve years. 

In addition to the EU, VTT and TUT, the 

contributors include the City of Tampere, 

the Tampere Region Centre of Expertise 

Programme for Mechanical Engineering 

and Automation, and the national funder of 

demanding technology projects, Tekes. 

“Our own funding ensures that we will 

be able to utilize the basic equipment outside 

the ITER project for the needs of industry in 

general. The implementation of the ITER 

maintenance is an enormous pilot and the 

accumulated expertise will in the future be 

transferred to benefi t companies that wish 

to enhance their competitiveness through 

remote operation and virtual technologies,” 

Timperi says. 

“A company forum is being established 

in connection with ROViR and has already 

attracted a great deal of interest. The forum 

comprises well-known companies that have 

development aims in the fi elds of remote 

operation and virtual modelling. The 

objective is to be a partner for companies 

particularly in their innovation processes 

and provide support during the early stages 

which are known to be laborious,” Timperi 

explains. 

An investment in the future 

Research into remote operation and virtual 

technologies is on a high level in Finland. 

For example, the DTP2 maintenance 

equipment is one of the world’s most 

demanding applications of remote operation. 


Photo Ari Ijäs 

OGRAMME 

fi rst customer 

“Its development raises us to the worldscale 

apex of expertise in remote operation, 

and this also offers a front row seat for 

Finnish industry. Securing the reliability 

of remote operation devices also requires 

that we combine various kinds of existing 

technologies and develop new ones, at least 

for condition monitoring, fault diagnostics, 

control, force sensing and the collection of 

environment data,” says Senior Researcher 

Mikko Siuko from Tampere University of 

Technology. 

Finnish companies are also among 

the world’s fi nest in their application, but 

competence is also to be found elsewhere. 

“These days all globally operating 

companies apply remote monitoring, collect 

failure data and monitor the operation of 

machines and devices over long distances via 

data networks. The training stage is over and 

now the focus is on increasingly intelligent 

devices and systems. A good example of a top 

next-generation application is the automated 

port developed by Kalmar in Brisbane 

Australia, where machines move around 

assisted by radars and satellite navigation 

systems,” Arto Timperi says. 

“Gaining the test laboratory for 

the ITER maintenance came 

down to solid international 

substantiation. Through 

ROViR, the latest research 

will be quickly at the disposal 

of companies,” promise 

Development Manager Arto 

Timperi (left) and Executive 

Director Jouko Suokas from 

VTT, and Professor Matti 

Vilenius and Senior Researcher 

Mikko Siuko from Tampere 

University of Technology. 

The massive test equipment 

displayed in the picture will be 

built in VTT’s research hall. 

Dr Michael Pick from the EFDA is satisfied 

with the cooperation with IHA and VTT. 

EXCELLENCE, ENTHUSIASM 

and VISION 

ROViR is founded on TUT’s long-term research 

investment and contacts inside the European 

fusion programme as well as the decision by the 

programme coordinator, the European Fusion 

Development Agreement (EFDA) to locate 

the second-generation development and test 

laboratory (DTP2) for the maintenance of the ITER 

experimental fusion reactor in Tampere. 

“It was a combination of an excellent previous 

track record, the enthusiasm of the local team here 

in Tampere and a vision beyond the DTP2 project 

itself that won the day for Tampere – to create what 

we all hope will be a major centre in support of the 

European effort towards energy independence,” 

said Dr Michael Pick, Field Coordinator, Vessel- 

In-Vessel Systems, EFDA, when the launch of the 

ROViR centre was announced. 

According to Dr Pick, the EFDA has enjoyed a 

very good working relationship with IHA for many 

years within the field of ITER remote handling. 

When the prospect of the DTP2 project developed, 

and given IHA’s deep involvement with the facility 

design, there was a desire on both sides to step up 

Finnish involvement in the program and consider 

the possibility of taking on the responsibility for 

constructing and operating the facility in the long 

term. 

“Hence the partnership between VTT and IHA 

was born. This partnership of Finnish institutions 

competed with all other European contenders to 

host DTP2. The proposal presented by Finland 

was the best offer. In particular we realized that 

we have a unique presence of a stable and well 

established technical infrastructure here within 

VTT, coupled with a source of young, enthusiastic 

and well trained engineers from Tampere University 

of Technology.” 

According to Dr Pick, a major point in 

Tampere’s favour was VTT’s desire to think beyond 

the DTP2 project itself and seek to create a much 

larger centre, ROViR, which also involves industry 

in the development of technologies required for 

remote operations. 


Photo: Metso Automation 

PULP CENTER 

The integration of IT with industrial machines and equipment is 

generating new service business – namely remote monitoring – for 

suppliers of equipment and software. A case in point is the Pulp Center, 

a remote monitoring centre operating in the Tampere unit of Metso 

Automation. From the Pulp Center, every single process can be monitored 

in pulp mills anywhere in the world. 

Metso Automation is one of the world’s 

leading suppliers of automation systems 

for the process industry and has been 

developing remote monitoring for pulp mills 

since the beginning of the 1990s. 

“Our remote monitoring is based on 

the optimized controls we’ve developed. 

These are applications that fi ne-tune pulp 

making and all the mill’s processes to meet 

the customer’s production, quality, energy 

Photo: Metso 

MATA HARI, the fi rst black box 

Mata Hari, the 

world’s first 

black box from 

the 1940s. 

The equipment in all passenger aircraft 

today includes a black box that records 

events and conversations in the cockpit 

during flight. The world’s first black box 

was made in Tampere in 1942. 

The device was developed to record 

events during test flights by Veijo Hietala, 

a graduate engineer working in what was 

then the State Aircraft Factory’s meter 

repair shop. He built the device in order 

to acquire information on the behaviour 

of aircraft destroyed during test flights 

and to have a means of finding out the 

reason even if the pilot had been killed. 

The device, which air force test pilots 

named Mata Hari, used a light-sensitive 

paper to record data on the aircraft’s 

speed, flying altitude, ascending velocity, 

G-force, outside temperature, engine 

speed, supercharging pressure, cylinder 


The Pulp Center has the same operation monitors as the 

customer at the pulp mill. Process information arrives via 

data connections to a server at the Pulp Center where it is 

gathered for analysis. Manager of Specialist Services Jukka 

Puhakka (front) and Application Specialist Timo Laurila 

assess some of the received data. 

consumption and emission targets,” explains 

Jukka Puhakka, Manager, Specialist Services 

Pulp Mill Automation Solutions, from Metso 

Automation. 

Many other automation suppliers now 

offer optimizing controls. However, Metso 

Automation has taken the service a step 

further by offering development contracts for 

its applications. 

“The idea of the development contracts is 

to remotely monitor the production process 

in real time and react to changes quickly 

– preferably in an anticipatory manner so 

that the customer would be saved from 

costly production failures and shutdowns,” 

Puhakka says. 

Process data stored 

“During any process, changes always take 

place in the equipment and raw materials, 

reducing the performance of optimized 

controls. The development contract is an 

agreement concerning the maintenance 

of the optimized controls’ performance. 

This is implemented by gathering 

process information from the facility and 

transferring it via data connections to the 

Pulp Center for analysis and possible further 

measures,” Puhakka explains. 

Monitoring isn’t carried out only at 

the Pulp Center through data networks; 

it is also conducted close to customers in 

local branches where Metso’s application 

experts are at work. They are responsible 

for the practical measures required by 

the development contract and visit 

mills regularly. Should a problem arise, 

notifi cation is sent via mobile phone, for 

example, so that problem-solving can begin 

immediately. Through the Pulp Center, a 

production facility can be contacted from 

any location worldwide. 

In addition to Tampere, Metso 

Automation also has remote monitoring 

centres in Atlanta in the US and Sorocaba, 

Brazil. 

Remote monitoring is partnership 

“Another reason why the Pulp Center is a 

valuable link to us is that the process data 

gathered through the development contract 

can be utilized in product development with 

the customer. In the long term, all parties 

benefi t,” Puhakka says. 

“It can take up to a year to create 

optimizing controls, and during this 

time we gain an in-depth knowledge of 

the customer’s production process. A 

development contract goes even further 

than that: it is in fact an agreement of 

partnership in which Metso and the 

customer company share a common goal 

of achieving a high-quality and productive 

process.” 

Metso Automaton has delivered more 

than a hundred optimizing controls to the 

pulp industry, more than half of which 

have been delivered to Finnish pulp 

manufacturers. The development contracts 

amount to 30 and involve production 

facilities run by Metsä-Botnia, Stora Enso 

and UPM Kymmene, among others. In 

Germany, the causticizing process of ZPR 

Rosenthal is also remotely monitored by 

Metso. 

In addition to Metso Automation, 

the parent company Metso Corporation 

comprises the world’s largest supplier of 

paper manufacturing lines, Metso Paper, 

and the market leader in rock and mineral 

crushers, Metso Minerals. They, too, are 

increasingly striving to offer lifecycle 

services. Metso Paper has Paper Center 

remote monitoring centres in Jyväskylä, 

Järvenpää and Pori. 

“All of Metso Corporation’s remote 

monitoring centres are networked and 

expertise is transferred from one centre to 

another,” Puhakka explains. 

temperature and, when needed, one 

additional value. About a dozen devices 

were constructed, one of which is kept safe 

in the Central Finland Aviation Museum in 

Jyväskylä. 

The rights to Mata Hari were sold to 

France after the Second World War. In 

return, the factory gained the necessary 

foreign currency to acquire desperately 

needed machine tools. There is no 

knowledge about how the French buyer 

used or further developed the device. 

After the war the State Aircraft Factory 

was incorporated as part of Valmet Oy. The 

company’s aircraft manufacturing traditions 

continue to this day at Patria Aviation in 

Jämsä, where parts are manufactured for 

Airbus aircraft, among others. The factory’s 

meter repair shop grew into the factory’s 

precision mechanical department, later 

the supplier of automation systems for 

the paper and process industries, Metso 

Automation. Veijo Hietala’s career in the 

company lasted close to four decades, 

during which time he produced many other 

significant inventions. 


Bronto Skylift Oy’s 

virtual environment 

has been used to 

simulate the safe 

erection of an aerial 

platform and to 

provide training in 

the use of control 

systems. 

Photo: Bronto Skylift/Mikko Aarnio 

An agile 

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT 

moves from one place to another 

Avirtual environment has been developed at Tampere University 

of Technology with superior characteristics to existing virtual 

solutions. 

“The novelty value of our virtual environment is its mobility 

and low cost, factors which enable simulation to be utilized to an 

increasing extent. The system can be dissembled and assembled in half 

an hour and it fi ts into the boot of a car,” describes Professor Karri 

Palovuori from TUT’s Institute of Electronics. 

Palovuori and his team have been studying implementations of 

virtual reality for more than a decade. 

“There has been a lot of fuss about virtual environments and 

simulation in their time. The wildest visions have calmed down 

and technologies have been developed on the quiet. At TUT we’ve 

focused particularly on the implementation of low-cost virtual 

environments based on stereo protectors,” Palovuori says. 

“The agile virtual environment consists of an ordinary PC, a 

combination display of one or more stereo projectors and a screen, and 

a positioning system. The basic package can also be expanded with an 

audio system for instance.” 

Reacting to viewers’ movements 

In TUT’s innovation, the virtual environment is not a three 

dimensional panel view but a window that reacts to the viewer’s 

movements. When the viewer moves, the view moves too. The effect 

is that regardless of the direction from which an object is viewed, the 

view always corresponds with reality. 

Today virtual reality is most commonly used in architectural 

visualization and industrial design. The number of potential 

applications is almost unlimited, but for ordinary companies 

virtual environments are too expensive to utilize in their product 

development and training. 

TUT’s mobile virtual environment is well suited to use by 

companies. It has so far been brought into play at Bronto Skylift 

Oy among others, a Tampere-based company specializing in truckmounted 

aerial platforms. The virtual environment has been used to 

simulate the safe erection of a platform and to provide training in the 

use of control systems. 

Innovations by Palovuori’s team are also being utilized in the 

planning of Tampere’s newest suburb, Vuores. In Vuores, a variety 

of methods are being piloted to improve opportunities for citizens 

to have a voice and to stimulate interest in urban planning. Virtual 

visualization is the best way to illustrate extensive environmental and 

building plans to laypersons. 

Laser Competence Centre Finland 

(LCC Finland) has begun operations in 

Tampere. The centre’s activities are based 

on laser technology developed at the 

Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) 

and institutes of Tampere University of 

Technology. 

LCC Finland consists of a training and service 

centre for the industry, laser pilot factory and 

training initiative. The ORC-administered 

service centre opened in 2004. The experimental 

laser factory, in connection with the Tampere 

University of Technology Institute of Production 

Engineering, begins operations this year and will 

focus on micro-machining applications. The 

training initiative, coordinated by Technology 

Centre Hermia, will also launch in 2005. 

“There is a tight link between research and 

production in Tampere. This has given rise to a 

new, rapidly expanding branch of export industry 

in Finland which is not very easily transferable to 

countries offering cheap labour. LCC Finland is 

the display window for Finnish laser competence 

as a whole, drawing knowledge in the fi eld as 

well as experts from researchers to end-users 

into increasingly close cooperation,” says ORC’s 

director, Professor Markus Pessa. 

At LCC Finland’s opening ceremony, 

Coherent Finland Oy donated a new 

semiconductor reactor to ORC to boost laser 

research and product development. The reactor 

enables the manufacture of optoelectronics 

components for research purposes increasingly 

faster and in larger batches than has been 

possible with ORC’s fi ve smaller reactors. 

There are no comparable semi-productive 

semiconductor manufacturing systems connected 

with any other University in Europe. Coherent 

Finland is a Tampere-based affi liated company of 

the American company Coherent Inc., which is 

one of the world’s largest laser manufacturers. 

Tampere strengthens 

its position in 

RE 


There are approximately twenty international 

research projects in progress this year at ORC. 

One of the centre’s employees, MSc (Tech.) Lasse 

Orsila, fits a fibre-optic measuring system. 

Photo: TUT 

A sought after 

PHOTONICS partner 

The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) in Tampere 

is among Europe’s largest laser diode and fibre laser 

research institutions and a much sought partner for 

international research projects by companies and 

consortiums. Currently there are approximately twenty 

international projects in progress at ORC. Among others, 

the centre coordinates three research projects in the 

field of photonics within the EU’s Sixth Framework 

Programme. 

Launched in summer 2005, the Natal project 

concerns VECSELs – Vertical Cavity Emitting Lasers, 

or lasers that emit light vertically – which are expected 

to partially replace the traditional, more structurally 

complicated and expensive laser sources currently on the 

market. 

New semiconductor lasers for local fibre-optic data 

networks are under development in the Fast Access 

project. Research in the Uranus project focuses on very 

high-powered fibre lasers that produce ultra-short light 

pulses, intended mainly for materials micro-machining. 

“On the global scale, the first commercial 

applications of ultra-short fibre lasers are coming onto 

the market. ORC has been one of the pioneers in the 

advancement of research and it’s for this reason that 

the industry in the Tampere Region has good prospects 

in the new market,” says Development Manager at ORC 

Lasse Paananen, who is responsible for the preparation of 

ORC’s research projects. 

ORC’s cooperation partners in EU projects are 

European companies and research institutions. 

“By acting as a coordinator, or otherwise as a 

sufficiently strong partner, ORC ensures that we have 

practical prerequisites for the utilization of technologies 

that emerge as research results. In this way we secure the 

advancement of research in Finland and in Tampere and 

the commercialization of the results.” 

Best practices for commercialization 

LASER 

SEARCH 

ORC’s research results are directly intended for the use of 

companies. The aim is to transfer new technologies into 

industrial applications as quickly as possible. To this end, 

the research centre has developed processes to support 

and stimulate the commercialization of technologies. 

ORC has contributed to the emergence of a number 

of optoelectronics companies in Tampere – Coherent 

Finland Oy, Modulight Oy, Corelase Oy, EpiCrystals Oy 

and RefleKron Oy. The companies directly employ more 

than 150 people and a significantly larger number are 

employed indirectly through subcontracting and service 

networks. 

ORC’s success in transferring research results into the 

use of industry has been acknowledged internationally. 

The research centre is participating as a technology 

expert in a joint initiative between five European 

regions to assess best practices for commercializing 

research results in the field of photonics. In addition to 

the Tampere Region, the participants are Scotland in 

Great Britain, Lombardy in Italy, the Hanover region in 

Germany, and Lithuania. 


NEWS 

NEW BUSINESS PARK 

on the Tampere-Nokia border 

The cities of Tampere and Nokia have 

engaged in a sizeable joint business park 

project. The new park, Kolmenkulma, will 

be developed next to the Myllypuro business 

concentration in Tampere’s western quarters. 

The total area of the new business park 

will be 800 hectares, making it one of the 

largest business parks in the Tampere urban 

region. The first plots in Kolmenkulma are to 

be handed over in 2007. 

Photo Nokian Tyres 

Changing up 

to the GREEN GEAR 

Switching to harm-free 

oils in tyre production 

was a challenge. To retain 

existing characteristics or 

further improve on them, 

the tyre mixes had to be 

redesigned and tested. 

Wet-grip characteristics 

have been achieved by 

taking into use entirely 

new polymer types, for 

example. Harmful oils in 

winter tyres have been 

replaced with Finnish 

rapeseed oil, which 

improves grip on ice and 

in the wet as well as tear 

resistance. 

Tampere hosts MACHINE 

VISION CONFERENCE 

The European Machine Vision Association, EMVA, 

will hold its next annual conference in Tampere on 

30 June and 1 July, 2006. The congress will be attended 

by management from European, US and Asian machine 

vision companies as well as sales and marketing experts. 

Key themes at the conference will include the prospects 

in machine vision markets, new areas of application and 

the Nordic machine vision market. 

EMVA was founded in Barcelona in 2003 to act as 

an umbrella organization for European machine vision 

companies and national associations in the field. 

Tampere is a fitting host for the machine vision 

congress due to its strong research and technological 

expertise. Research into machine vision is conducted at 

Tampere University of Technology and the VTT Technical 

Research Centre of Finland. The technology itself is 

utilized in large, internationally operating Tampere 

companies such as Metso Automation and Fastems, 

which supply factory automation systems, and in 

mechanical engineering companies like Kalmar. Several 

growth companies utilizing machine vision or digital 

imaging have also emerged in Tampere in recent years. 

“Machine vision has traditionally been used in the 

electronics industry in the quality control of increasingly 

small components. In Finland, camera-based measuring 

has been applied since the 1970s, particularly in the 

sawmill and paper industries,” says Pertti Aimonen 

from Atostek Oy, a company that designs machine 

vision systems. Aimonen is responsible for the congress 

arrangements in Finland. 

“New application prospects are offered by fields such 

as medical imaging and automatic digital imaging, for 

example in automated traffic monitoring. Tampere also 

has exceptionally strong optoelectronics research and 

hosts spin-off businesses that utilize machine vision in 

their production and manufacture components for the 

industry.” 

Nokian Tyres has changed over to an increasingly 

environmentally friendly tyre manufacturing 

method and relinquished the use of HA oils 

entirely. In its own production the company 

now uses only purified oils which replace high 

aromatic oils now classified as harmful. The 

change applies to all products manufactured by 

Nokian Tyres: passenger car tyres, heavy vehicle 

and work machine tyres and Nokian’s Noktop 

retreading materials. Nokian Tyres is the only 

tyre factory in the world to manufacture products 

using only purified oils. The purified oils used 

by Nokian Tyres have fewer PAH (Polycyclic 

Aromatic Hydrocarbon) compounds than required 

by an impending EU directive. The directive 

comes into force in 2009 or 2010 at the latest 

and obligates tyre manufacturers to switch to 

purified, harm-free oils. 

MOLOK’S environmental 

technology to Brazil 

The Nokia-based developer of deep waste collection 

technology Molok Oy has achieved a significant opening 

in the Brazilian waste management market. Comlurb, 

a waste management company operating in the Rio de 

Janeiro area, has approved Molok containers for use in 

real estate and parks. The deep containers have also 

been taken into use in the capital, Brasil. 

Comlurb opted for Molok’s deep collection 

system due to its high collection capacity, cleanliness 

and odour-freeness. To date Molok has delivered 

approximately 40,000 deep collection containers to 

Finland and other Nordic countries as well as to Brazil, 

Spain, Canada and the Arab Emirates, among others. 


Photo: Kalmar Industries 

Automated, unmanned straddle carriers handle 

the transfer of containers between the wharf, 

stockyard and truck loading area at Fisherman’s 

Island, Brisbane, Australia. Both the straddle 

carriers and their control system have been 

supplied by the Tampere factory of Kalmar 

Industries Oy Ab. 

FOCUS ON 

CONTAINER HANDLING INTELLIGENCE 

and AUTOMATION 

Kalmar has established a new dedicated business unit, Kalmar Intelligence & Automation, to focus on the 

marketing and development of on-board smart features for container handling equipment, integrated systems and 

remote maintenance products in cooperation with customers and partners. The move reaffi rms Kalmar’s leading role 

in the evolution of integrated intelligence and automation for ports and terminals. The new Tampere-based business 

unit started operations in spring 2005. 

Jorma Tirkkonen has been appointed 

president of the new unit. Prior to this 

appointment Tirkkonen spent more 

than eight years in the US as President of 

Kalmar Sales Company for the Americas 

and the Kalmar Trailer Logistics business 

segment. 

In addition to marketing and 

R&D activities, Kalmar Intelligence & 

Automation’s primary responsibilities 

include the timely and successful 

implementation of automation delivery 

projects and customer support on a 

24/7 basis. An improved effi ciency of 

operations, better machine performance 

and safety and environmental advantages 

are typical benefi ts customers can expect 

as a result of increased automation. 

More effi ciency, improved safety 

Kalmar is a pioneer in the automation 

of container handling equipment. It has 

created a large variety of intelligence 

and automation products, systems and 

services for the container handling 

industry. The fi rst signifi cant step towards 

the automation of container handling 

equipment came in the early 1990s when 

the company introduced Driver Assisting 

Features (DRAF). 

In association with Patrick Stevedores, 

in 2002 Kalmar accomplished its longterm 

goal of building the world’s fi rst fully 

automated straddle carrier terminal at 

Fisherman’s Island, Brisbane, Australia. 

Kalmar’s Smartrail ® automatic gantry 

steering system for RTGs is based on a 

Global Positioning System (GPS) which 

steers the crane along a pre-determined 

virtual rail. This enables the driver to 

travel at maximum speed between lifts 

and to concentrate fully on picking up or 

setting down containers. 

Smartpath ® is a container position 

verifi cation system for straddle carriers 

and RTGs. The system provides real-time 

position verifi cation for each container 

handled, enabling individual machines to 

be tasked in the most effi cient way. 

Remote Machine Interface (RMI) 

is a monitoring and maintenance 

system/software for all computerized 

Kalmar container handling machines 

and trucks. It enables a terminal control 

room to monitor the operation of a large 

number of machines and can be used for 

machine monitoring, maintenance tasks 

and reporting. Machines can also be 

monitored via the internet by Kalmar’s 

product support or design department. 

Customers are able to receive support and 

assistance directly from the factory. 

As an unmanned rail-mounted yard 

crane, the automated stacking crane 

(ASC) has won favour in high-throughput 

terminals where a combination of high 

speed and high stacking density is 

required. 


Photo: Ata Gears 

What do an ocean liner, engine, 

rock crusher and racing car have 

in common? At a minimum, they 

all need efficient and reliable 

power transmission. A key 

component is often a pair of spiral 

bevel gears manufactured by 

Tampere-based Ata Gears Ltd. 

GEARED for action 

There are only a small number of 

manufacturers of spiral bevel gears in 

the entire world. As the size of the 

required gear increases, the number of 

manufacturers dwindles further. Besides 

Ata, there are very few others in the world 

manufacturing gears with diameters up to 

2.5 metres. 

Ata focuses on demanding gears 

– smaller ones manufactured in runs 

of 15 to 40 and larger ones produced 

individually. The family run company with 

170 employees leaves runs in the tens of 

thousands, as required by the car industry 

for example, to others. The company 

doesn’t have a fi nished goods inventory 

at all since its products are tailored to 

customers’ needs. 

“Ata’s strength is its competence in 

the entire production process,” says Sales 

Manager Heikki Stranius. He particularly 

emphasizes the importance of design 

expertise. 

“We don’t just sell gears, we sell 

comprehensive transmission expertise.” 

According to Heikki Stranius, 

customers often already get in touch 

with Ata at the beginning of their own 

product development project. Usually a 

customer enquires about the minimum 

space required to accommodate the gear. 

As the size of the gear often determines 

the dimensions of the product as a whole, 

the customer can continue designing only 

after receiving the answer from the gear 

manufacturer. 

Around half of Ata’s production 

goes to the ship industry. Ata is the 

market-leading supplier of spiral bevel 

gears for the maritime industry; all 

signifi cant manufacturer’s of ship propeller 

mechanisms use Ata’s products. The heavy 

engineering industry represents another 

large customer group. Ata’s gears are used 

in various heavy conveyers, rock crushers, 

paper machines and power plant turbines 

among others. 

Ata’s third key customer group is the 

vehicle industry. The company’s gears 

transmit power in heavy special vehicles 

and railway machinery, for example. 

Racing cars are a category in their own 

right – their transmission systems require 

effi ciency, lightness and durability in one. 

“We’ve taken part in racing car 

projects before and we’re actively looking 

into a return. Our technical expertise is 

suffi cient and we’re currently assessing 

whether we can fi ne-tune our own 

organization to answer the industry’s 

hectic demands,” Heikki Stranius says. 

On the top level, the transmission is built 

specifi cally for each competition and track 

and new parts might be required delivered 

at a few hours’ notice. 

Staying on top through 

product development 

Ata has quite a long history. The company 

was established in 1937. During the 

Second World War the factory was 

relocated away from Tampere’s city centre 

to protect it from possible air strikes. The 

new factory was built outside of the city in 

the middle of a forest. The current factory 

was last expanded in 2004. It remains in 

the same location, but instead of forest the 

company is surrounded by its namesake 

suburb, Atala. 

Ata manufactured its fi rst spiral 

bevel gears in the 1940s and the fi rst 

export deals were made to Sweden in the 

1950s. The company’s exports reached 

a signifi cant scale in the 1970s, fi rst to 

Scandinavia, to Central Europe in the 

1980s and in the following decade to the 


SPIRALS boost the power of 

transmission 

As the name suggests, the teeth of a spiral gear follow 

the shape of a spiral. Whereas in a straight-cut gear the 

gears are in contact with each other one tooth at a time, 

a spiral-tooth bevel gear provides simultaneous contact 

with several teeth. More extensive contact results in better 

transmission ability. However, the tooth shape of a spiral 

gear makes design and manufacture more demanding and 

expensive than ordinary gears. 

USA and Asia. Today, trade with China is 

the fastest growing export area. 

Ata exports approximately 75 percent 

of its production itself, and the main 

part of the rest makes its way abroad in 

products supplied by Finnish machine 

manufacturers. Less than fi ve percent of 

Ata’s production remains in Finland. In 

2004 the company had a turnover of 22 

million euros. 

Today the company focuses solely 

on spiral bevel gears. Previously Ata 

also produced small hydroelectric power 

stations and entire gear systems. 

Ata conducts active product 

development to maintain its market 

position. A good example is a doctoral 

dissertation on noise prevention in 

transmission currently being written by 

Gábor Szánti, who previously worked 

at Tampere University of Technology. 

Silent-running transmission is among 

the fi rst requirements that customers list 

and a complex issue. A gear pair on a 

test bench can run almost silently, but 

the prevailing vibrations and resonances 

in the environment where it is used may 

trigger a decisive change. 

Photo: Ata Gears 

NEWS 

INVESTMENTS in 

the Tampere Region 

• The manufacturer of bevel gears and gear 

systems, Ata Gears Ltd, has invested in new 

machine tools and factory expansion. 

• One of the world’s leading suppliers of technical 

textiles, Tamfelt plc, has built a new belt factory. 

• The largest wholesaler of information technology 

and entertainment electronics in Finland and 

the Baltic countries, GNT Group, has in the 

recent years invested in the warehouse facilities 

and automation system at its logistics centre in 

Tampere. 

• The Nordic countries’ leading manufacturer of 

ophthalmic drugs, Santen Oy, has invested in 

factory expansion. 

• The pioneer of hot-dip galvanizing, Galvanoimis 

Oy, has almost doubled its production capacity in 

the largest modernization and building project in 

the company’s history. 

• The manufacturer of metal and plastic IBC 

containers and the Nordic countries’ leading 

agreement manufacturer of rotational-moulding 

plastic products, Finncont Oy, is expanding its 

factory. 

• The manufacturer of aluminium profiles, Purso 

Oy, is erecting a new building for the needs of 

its powder painting shop and the refinement of 

aluminium profiles. 

• A member of the American Agco group, the 

diesel engine manufacturer Sisu-Diesel Oy is 

increasing its engine production. 

• The world’s largest manufacturer of hydraulic 

generators, high-pressure washers and 

compressors, Dynaset Oy, is expanding its factory. 

ASTROSOFT DEVELOPMENT 

opens office in Tampere... 

Astrosoft Development has opened a sales 

office in Tampere to be closer to its Finnish 

customers. Astrosoft Development is a Russian 

software development company aiming to break 

into the international market. The company is 

part of the Astrosoft Group, one of the leading 

IT companies in Russia. The company offers 

wide-ranging IT services such as software 

distribution, demanding integration, technical 

support and training. 

...and so does CC SYSTEMS AB 

CC Systems Ab, one of Sweden’s fastest 

growing companies, is establishing a product 

development unit in Tampere. The company 

develops and delivers control and automation 

systems for machines and vehicles used in 

severe conditions such as forestry, mining and 

harbour work and military use. 


PERSPECTIVES 

BioneXt and beyond 

Investment in biotechnology brings profit 

but it requires persistence. The results are 

now starting to show in treatment results 

as well as in the development of products 

and the company base. The clearest signs 

can be detected in the United States, 

where private investment in 2004 was 

on the level of previous best years. More 

than 200 new biotechnology-based drugs 

have been developed and last year in the 

US, for example, 20 new targeted drugs 

developed by means of biotechnology were 

registered for the treatment of cancer, 

insomnia, MS, chronic pain and kidney 

disease, among others. 

Investment also brings profit for investors. 

It is estimated that sales of the nine 

drugs approved last year, for instance, 

will rise to 2.5 billion euros already 

this year and to 6.5 billion euros in 

two years’ time. In addition to drugs 

development, biotechnology is utilized in 

the development of novel genome research 

based diagnostics, which have notable 

prospects in the prevention and treatment 

of disease. 

Tampere hosts active research related to 

molecular biology, immunology, cancer 

genetics and bioinformatics. For example, 

the Institute of Medical Technology (IMT) 

is an internationally respected research 

institution in the field of biotechnology. 

The latest recognition was the Descartes 

2004 research prize awarded to Professor 

Howy Jacobs’ research group for its 

Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Ageing and 

Disease (MBAD) research. Active research 

has already also produced several spin-off 

companies such as Vactech, FIT Biotech 

and Icuris Pharma. Together with Tampere 

University hospital, Technical University 

of Tampere and other research institutions 

of Tampere University e.g. the Institute for 

Regenerative Medicine, Regea they form 

the wide knowledge pool where different 

parts support one another. 

Vibrant business and research activities 

have also given rise to demand for services 

and companies manufacturing medical 

research equipment. Resources in the 

Tampere central region are therefore 

also being directed into computer-aided 

processing of biological information (Bio 

ICT) and services related to the tissue 

engineering. New industry has already 

emerged in this field, examples being 

Chip-Man Technologies, whose specialities 

include cell research instruments, and 

Histola, a specialist in histological 

services. 

The development of biotechnology in 

the Tampere central region has been 

most apparent in surgical applications of 

bioabsorbable materials. Tampere has for 

a long time been at the global frontline in 

the research of bioabsorbable materials 

and commercialization of bioabsorbable 

surgical implants. There are currently 

two international companies in Tampere, 

Linvatec Biomaterials and Inion, which 

develop, manufacture and market 

bioabsorbable implants. A good example of 

investors’ faith in the industry was Inion’s 

successful listing on the London stock 

exchange in 2004. Also emerging in this 

field are companies which have set their 

aims on next-generation products that 

actively affect the body’s healing process. 

One of the missions in Tampere is to 

combine expertise in biomaterials, tissue 

engineering and medicine to develop 

bioabsorbable implants containing stem 

cells together with the Institute for 

Regenerative Medicine, Regea. This would 

enable, among others, the repair of tissues 

that do not otherwise heal or where the 

healing process is extremely slow. 

Investment is now being directed into 

stem cell research and increasingly 

effective forms of treatment 

are expected as a result, 

particularly for Parkinson’s 

disease, Alzheimers’s and MS, 

spinal cord injuries and heart 

failures. Stem cell lines grown 

around the world are at this point 

in time mainly used in research 

with animals. The conditions 

of work at Regea and its GMPlevel 

laboratory and clean-room 

TERO VÄLIMAA 

Director, BioneXt Tampere 

The BioneXt Tampere programme strengthens biotechnology 

expertise in the Tampere central region. 

The programme’s focal areas are 

Implants and tissue engineering • Immunology • Bio ICT 

facilities make it possible to grow GMPlevel 

stem cell lines. This means that 

they would be directly applicable as cell 

transplants for humans. 

The stem cell research at Regea focuses 

primarily on cell and tissue engineering 

aiming at clinical applications. The 

mission is to develop cultivation 

conditions for the clinical application 

of stem cells and to utilize the strong 

biomaterials expertise in Tampere. The 

stem cell research is led by one of the 

world’s foremost researchers, Professor 

Outi Hovatta. According to Hovatta, the 

aim of Regea’s stem cell research is to 

develop cells for clinical applications of 

dentistry, neurology, heart disease and 

bone and cartilage tissue damages so 

that the cells produced comply with the 

quality requirements set by the EU’s 

tissue engineering directive. In this 

way, the cells will be applicable as cell 

transplants directly to humans. The cells 

will also be utilized in stem cell research 

in cooperation with several Finnish and 

international research groups. 

Success in the development of 

biotechnology is based on persistence and 

sustained effort. For Finland, it is worth 

continuing to invest in the development 

of high technology, and biotechnology 

is a field that offers market potential 

and unresearched areas long into the 

future. The development of recent years 

in the US is a good example. There are 

significant prospects in the field both in 

terms of economy and science. Due to the 

immensity of the field there is room and 

profit for those who have the will and the 

persistence to take things further. 

biotechnology 

Biotechnology offers market 

potential and unresearched 

areas long into the future. 


Bioabsorbable implants that release 

antibiotics and accelerate bone growth 

open up new treatment possibilities. 

Chief Scientifi c Offi cer of Bioretec 

Oy Pertti Törmälä believes that his 

company will be the fi rst in the world 

to bring onto the market antibiotic-releasing 

implants that degrade in the body. This will 

continue the pioneering work in biomaterials 

in Tampere: the world’s fi rst bioabsorbable 

implants were also made in Tampere, based 

on innovations by Törmälä’s research group. 

Bioretec’s bioabsorbable antibiotic 

implants will enter the market in a couple 

of years. Pertti Törmälä says that they will 

decisively improve the treatment of severe 

bone infections, for example, and they can 

also avert infection risk in the treatment of 

bone fractures. Antibiotic implants provide 

a means to supply an effective antibiotic 

concentration to bone surfaces and joints. 

Bioretec is a spin-off of the Tamperebased 

company Linvatec Biomaterials, 

emerging when research projects related to 

the use of drugs were separated from Linvatec. 

Bioretec manufactures new-generation 

bioabsorbable implants that are bioactive 

and multifunctional. The implants contain 

drugs and bioactive substances, among others. 

Examples of products under development by 

the company are several implants containing 

bioactive glass that accelerates bone growth. 

The fi rst products of this kind are intended 

for spinal surgery, such as treatment for 

discogenic damage. A bioabsorbable implant 

helps ossify a vertebral gap in the spine in the 

desired manner. 

“It is possible to strive towards a more 

effi cient treatment of bone fractures, too. For 

instance, the next step in the development of 

bone screws and nails used in bone fractures 

may be that an osteoconductive substance 

is added to them to accelerate the fracture’s 

ossifi cation.” 

Pioneering work 

Pertti Törmälä has been studying biomaterials 

since the 1980s and can be considered the 

father of Finnish success in biomaterials. 

Under his leadership, the Institute of 

Biomaterials at Tampere University of 

Technology has developed into one of the 

world’s foremost research units in its fi eld, and 

several companies have emerged in Tampere 

due to its innovations. 

“When word spread about our good 

research results in the mid-1980s, a large 

company manufacturing surgical steel screws 

contacted us and told us that it wasn’t 

worthwhile continuing any longer. Their 

engineers had studied the materials and 

found them unacceptable. Yet today the 

same company is itself also engaged in the 

manufacture of bioabsorbable implants,” 

Törmälä says. 

The pioneering work in biomaterials took 

a lot of hard trailblazing, and it took years 

for the researchers in Tampere to convince 

surgeons of the functionality of the repair 

parts used to treat bone fractures. The bone 

nails and screws made from bioabsorbable 

polymers were designed to last a couple of 

months to support a bone fracture, afterwards 

dissolving into the body. Surgical operations 

are reduced in number when the material 

intended to support the bone doesn’t require 

surgical removal. 

“Pointing ideas in the right direction” 

“We were always asked how it was possible 

that a small company from Tampere, Bionx 

Implants, today Linvatec Biomaterials, could 

succeed where international pharmaceutical 

giants with turnovers in the tens of billions 

had met with failure.” 

“Our success was founded on technical 

innovation and a novel combination of 

competences. Billions were not needed; we 

had suffi cient basic resources and we were able 

to steer ideas in the right direction.” 

The use of bioabsorbable implants became 

increasingly common in the 1990s and new 

companies emerged in the fi eld. The meniscus 

arrow developed by Bionx Implants, which 

signifi cantly enhanced the surgical treatment 

of ruptured menisci, is perceived to have been 

the breakthrough for the entire industry. 

Today, bioabsorbable implants are an 

established practice of treatment in areas such 

as facial and cranial surgery, orthopaedics, 

traumatology and sports medicine. 

At Tampere University of Technology’s 

Institute of Biomaterials, Researcher 

Minna Veiranto is the head researcher in a 

project developing an antibiotic-releasing 

bioabsorbable implant. At Bioretec Oy, the 

development of implants that release drugs 

and bioactive substances is the responsibility 

of R&D Manager Harri Heino (right) and 

Chief Scientific Officer Pertti Törmälä. 

BIOABSORBABLE 

HEALER 

on its way 


Vendor of information systems and services for clinical laboratories Mylab 

Corporation has its sights set on growth in the US and Chinese markets. 

In China Mylab is taking part in a wide-scale laboratory modernizing 

programme, while in the United States the company is striving to fi nd a 

suitable cooperation partner. 

GROWTH WITH 

clinical laboratories in China and the US 

In China, Mylab is seeking the role of 

laboratory IT expert in a project for 

the development of hospital laboratory 

systems in Shanghai’s suburban Pudong 

area. A rice fi eld only fi ve years ago, the 

area is now home to fi ve million Chinese. 

150 hospitals and health clinics have been 

swiftly built to manage their healthcare 

and, among other apparatus, the new 

establishments have a considerable amount 

of laboratory equipment in their use. A 

number of Finnish companies are in the 

process of launching a pilot project with 

the Chinese. In the project, Finnish clinical 

laboratories are utilized as models for the 

renewal of laboratory operations in the 

Pudong area. If the project is successful, 

the results could be duplicated elsewhere in 

China. 

Mylab is targeting the US market in 

cooperation with a suitable partner. 

“The most ideal partner would be 

a healthcare company with a global 

sales network. Through that network 

we could bring onto the market certain 

information systems products and services 

for laboratories, such as web technology 

applications. We are exceptionally strong 

in systems that connect various pieces 

of analysis equipment into a functional 

whole,” explains CEO Esa Soini. 

Mylab is one of the world’s leading 

companies in IT for clinical laboratories. 

The company has participated in 

internationally signifi cant information 

systems development projects in the 

laboratory fi eld. When the US Department 

of Defense reformed its healthcare system, 

Esa Soini was the chief engineer of the 

laboratory system project. Encompassing 

750 hospitals and clinics worldwide, the 

project delivered the world’s most extensive 

laboratory system with over 120,000 users a 

day. The billion-scale total project was the 

responsibility of a US engineering company. 

“Through this project we have remained 

actively in touch with US healthcare 

structures. The accumulation of expertise 

is a necessity in a knowledge-intensive 

fi eld, and long-term expertise pertaining to 

laboratory information systems is among 

Mylab’s strengths.” 

Efficient players operate 

like process industry 

Established in 1987, Mylab is the leading 

company in its fi eld in Finland. Almost 80 

percent of the approximately 50 million 

laboratory tests annually carried out in 

Finland go through systems which the 

company has delivered. 

Since the beginning of its operation, 

Mylab has focused on large clinical 

laboratories. The company’s customers 

include four university hospitals and a large 

number of central and regional hospitals 

and university research laboratories. 

Laboratory tests for health departments in 

several large cities are also processed with 

Mylab’s information systems. 

“The greatest benefi t provided by 

information systems is the automation 

of clinical laboratory activities. Results 

are gained faster, more reliably and with 

greater cost-effi ciency. A large amount 

of healthcare work couldn’t possibly be 

automated. However, laboratory activities 

are very much akin to process industry. 

Whereas it used to be manual work, samples 

are today processed by giant robots that 

prepare tens of thousands of samples an 

hour,” Esa Soini explains. 

With Mylab’s information system, 

analysts carrying out laboratory tests can 

see what a doctor has requested for analysis 

from a sample. From that point onwards, 

analyses are conducted fully automatically 

and the results are also sent automatically 

to the right place. The information system 

also controls each test result and checks 

the analyses with greater versatility than 

ever possible by a human. Samples that 

are suspicious due to the results or events 

during processing are directed to additional 

controls. 

“Quality control in laboratory tests 

in Finland has always been top class,” 

Soini says. “Mylab’s new result monitoring 


almost 

80 Almost percent 

80 percent of the 

approximately 50 million laboratory 

tests annually carried out in 

Finland go through systems 

delivered by Mylab. 

programme further facilitates the control of 

laboratory systems and in this way enhances 

quality assessment.” 

Mylab’s browser-based laboratory system 

user interface has introduced a direct link 

between clinics and laboratories, making it 

possible for doctors, for example, to check 

lab test results quickly and regardless of 

geography. Web technology also enables 

workstation integration, and this makes 

it possible to access the laboratory system 

directly from electronic patient records 

without even noticing that two separate 

systems are in use. 

Centralization and 

commercialization increase 

Clinical laboratory activities are undergoing 

strong centralization and commercialization. 

Still a decade ago there were approximately 

1,500 clinical laboratories operating in 

Finland. The number of laboratories has 

fallen quickly and it is estimated that in 

fi ve to ten years’ time there may be just 

20. Similar development is taking place 

internationally. 

While clinical laboratory activities 

have concentrated in large units that also 

operate in the same way as a commercial 

enterprise in the public sector, an increasing 

need for Point of Care Testing (POCT) 

has developed alongside. POCT means 

quick results analysis close to the patient, 

surgery and intensive care being examples 

where results are required immediately. New 

practices in outpatient care also call for an 

increasing volume of measurements carried 

out in patients’ homes, for example. 

“Though more slowly than anticipated, 

the use of POCT is rising. A key issue with 

these solutions is the quality control of the 

results since measurements are carried out 

with separate equipment and away from 

centralized laboratory activities. With 

Mylab’s information systems, the results can 

be gathered effi ciently and entered into the 

quality control of a centralized laboratory 

system,” Esa Soini says. 

“National cooperation 

between large clinical 

laboratories in Finland 

has promoted the field’s 

information systems 

development to the highest 

class internationally. 

Together with our partners’ 

laboratory experts we’ve 

been able to implement 

systems that have delivered 

extensive benefits to the 

entire field,” Esa Soini says. 


NEWS 

The Trescape service depicts a street view from 

decades ago on a mobile phone. 

MOBILE SERVICES 

for congress guests 

Mobile phone content services for use by 

visitors are under development in Tampere. 

One particular target group comprises the 

approximately 5,000 conference and congress 

guests who visit Tampere during the year’s 

busiest season in summer. Mobile multimedia 

services are being piloted during this autumn’s 

congresses. 

“The mobile services are divided into 

three sections. The mobile web pages 

contain congress information and additional 

materials. The Navitres tourist guide facilitates 

orientation in the city, and the third section, 

Trescape, presents Tampere’s cultural 

heritage,” describes Project Manager Minna 

Ilmén from the company developing the 

service, Media Tampere Ltd. 

Navitres assists congress guests with 

their leisure time activities by providing 

information on current events, sights, dining, 

accommodation and shopping locations as well 

as opening hours and addresses in Tampere 

and its neighbouring municipalities. 

Trescape a window into history 

The Trescape mobile service presents 

Tampere’s cultural heritage in Finnish and 

English with a portrayal of how the cityscape 

has changed over the decades. 

“Tampere’s city centre has been divided 

into four zones in the mobile site. Each zone 

has walking routes marked where visitors can 

use their mobile phones to check what the 

place looked like perhaps a hundred years 

ago,” Minna Ilmén explains. 

Trescape has been developed in 

cooperation with Museum Centre Vapriikki, 

which converts old photo archives into digital 

format. 

Photo: Media Tampere 

“T 

his is one of my 

favourites, perhaps 

the festival’s keynote 

presentation,” notes Ulrich 

Haas-Pursiainen, project 

manager of Backlight 2005, the 

7th International Photography 

Triennial in Tampere. He is 

looking at a work entitled Images 

of Alzheimer’s by the young 

German Peter Granser. 

“I just read in the paper 

how Alzheimer’s is becoming a 

national disease among Finns. 

But the issue concerns people 

everywhere; we all get old. 

It’s high time we focused our 

attention on it.” 

Haas-Pursiainen has many 

other favourites during the 

festival this autumn, and he 

estimates that all in all the 

triennial has brought together 

a high-standard group of 

participants. 

“We received applications 

from a total of 500 artists, 

enormously good material. The 

volume is considerable and it 

shows that Backlight is taken 

seriously.” 

An estimated 600 to a 

thousand photographs by 50 

international and 10 Finnish 

photo artists were selected 

for review. The festival will 

extend beyond its home base, 

the Nykyaika Photographic 

Centre at Finlayson, to Tampere 

Art Museum, Museum Centre 

Vapriikki and the Sara Hildén 

Art Museum as well as smaller 

galleries. 

Documentary photography 

The history of the photography 

triennial goes back to 1987 when 

the fi rst exhibition presented 

works mainly by Finnish 

photographers. Since 1995, more 

and more international artists 

have been invited to participate 

in order to portray a cross section 

of European photographic art. 

The festival has been organized 

under the Backlight name since 

1999. 

“One of the ideas of 

Backlight is to follow the 

documentary line of photography 

as well as the times. It is arranged 

every three years so that it 

BAC 

sheds light 

is possible to see how things 

change and how the perception 

of documentary photography 

changes too,” Haas-Pursiainen 

says. 

Another of Backlight’s 

schemes is to provide a theme for 

the exhibition. 

“The theme is very open, the 

kind that allows photographers to 

present their own interpretations. 

In 1999 the theme was 

Documents and Identities, in 

2002 Critical Authenticity. This 

year’s theme is Untouchable 

Things.” 

Backlight’s primus motor 

is the Photographic Centre 

Nykyaika, but many museums 

and educational establishments 

in Tampere also participate in 

the cooperation. International 

partners represent Italy, 

Luxemburg, France, Lithuania 


“Besides presenting documentary photographic 

art, Backlight aims to produce a cross section of 

modern photography,” says Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen, 

project manager of the International Photography 

Triennial in Tampere. 

7th International 

Photographic Triennal 

in Tampere 

Backlight 2005 

2 Sep – 16 Oct 2005 

• Sara Hildén Art Museum: 

Gerhard Richter – Survey, 

paintings and photographs 

• Photographic Centre Nykyaika: 

Series of work by five students of 

Professor Thomas Ruff’s master 

class at the Düsseldorf Art 

Academy. 

15 Oct 2005 – 15 Jan 2006 

Untouchable Things 

• Tampere Art Museum: 

Spells of Childhood 

www.backlight.fi 

KLIGHT 

on multifaceted reality 

and Austria. The German state 

of Nordhein Westfalen is also a 

signifi cant cooperation partner. 

Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen is 

pleased that the EU has already 

consecutively supported the 

triennial three times. The event 

isn’t without an audience: 35,000 

people visited the 2002 triennial 

arranged at Museum Centre 

Vapriikki. 

The spell of nature and art 

Backlight’s steady growth has 

made it the largest photographic 

art festival in the Nordic 

countries. Ulrich Haas-Pursiainen 

has a vision of its further 

development and the emergence 

of cultural tourism. In addition to 

international and Tampere-based 

partners, he intends to enhance 

cooperation with other Finnish 

cities such as Turku, Kuopio and 

Oulu. 

“In Finland there is space, 

nature and culture. This could 

all be exported to the European 

market. September to October 

is a good time to combine art 

and holidaying under the spell 

of photography, nature and art. 

At least Backlight’s international 

guests have had a good time. 

They are keen to return, and 

when they do they always ask to 

step into a sauna again.” 

“We have open cooperation 

with the City of Tampere and 

ideas are under development, 

but it would naturally be good 

to have much more support 

and resources. Now would be 

a fi ne time to generate cultural 

tourism as Tampere applies for the 

position of European Capital of 

Culture for 2011.” 

Greek Stratos Kalafatis photographed nature and 

people on the island of Skopelos between 1998 

and 2002 for his project entitled The Journal. 

Backlight’s presentations include striking 

photographs of people with Alzheimer’s disease 

by Peter Granser. 



G 

IN THE 

Photo artist 

JARI ARFFMAN 

When photo artist Jari Arffman 

(b. 1965) was deliberating the 

nature of work as a photo artist 

on today’s international art scene, 

he contacted the directors of art 

museums in Tampere. One advised 

him to photograph Tampere, 

and Arffman took on the task 

of photographing every one of 

Tampere’s 70 districts. The aim of 

the initiative, Documentary project 

Tampere, is to strengthen Tampere’s 

identity and document an era for 

future generations. 

Arffman has done much 

of his photography abroad and 

participated in exhibitions 

worldwide. His photographic career 

has had him living in places like 

Barcelona and Los Angeles, but 

locality and Tampere are now 

the most powerful forces on his 

photographic horizon. 

“Powerful locality is a 

prerequisite for being strong on 

the global scale. In general, local 

sources of identity have become 

important to people in a globalizing 

world. As an artist I must have 

a contact surface with the 

surrounding reality. And on another 

point, our life here is as valuable 

to photography as anywhere else in 

the world. People in Tampere are 

beautiful!” 


VISITING 

BODEGA 

SALUD 

Bodega Salud, Finland’s first Spanishstyle 

restaurant, was established in 

Tampere 30 years ago. “Best known 

for its steaks and specialties, seafood 

is also to be found on the menu,” 

say restaurateur Hannu Wiss and 

restaurant manager Lea Wiss. 

Photo: Ari Ijäs 

A legend on a plate. A national poll 

arranged by a Finnish magazine last 

spring revealed Salud’s pepper steak to 

be the classic restaurant dish. 

Photo: Ari Ijäs 

A breeze from the MEDI 

SPORTS welcome 

In 2006, Tampere will host the biggest gymnastic 

event of the year, SUN SVOLI, and IFAGG’s 

World Wide Championships in Aesthetic Group 

Gymnastics. Close to 400 gymnasts from 20 

countries are expected to the events. Tampere will 

also host the Judo European Championships and the 

Karate World Championships. 

In 2009, Tampere will set the scene for the 

Youth Olympic Festival. The European Youth 

Olympic Festival (EYDF) is a competition event 

for young European athletes, created by European 

Olympic Committees and arranged under the 

protection of the International Olympic Committee. 

GoTampere! 

From this autumn onwards, visitor 

services in Tampere and the Tampere 

Region will be sold under the label 

GoTampere! The company behind the 

brand is Airpro Oy, which has begun the 

sale and mediation of tourism services 

in connection with Tampere City Tourist 

Office. The activity is related to the City 

of Tampere’s new buyer-producer model in 

which the Director of Tourism acts as the 

buyer of services and the Tampere City 

Tourist Office and Airpro, whose selection 

was competed, as the producers. 

Photo: Sorin Sirkus 


The small restaurants lining the alleys of Santa Crutz in Tenerife were an important infl uence behind the opening 

of Finland’s first ever Spanish-style restaurant in Tampere three decades ago – Bodega Salud. 

“In the early 1970s I worked as the chef on a Finnish cruise ship whose home port was Tenerife. Like all chefs, 

I dreamt of having my own restaurant,” recounts restaurant keeper Hannu Wiss. 

Back then, the idea of a restaurant 

offering genuine Spanish meat dishes 

and Mediterranean delicacies in an 

inland Finnish city was somewhat daring. 

Hannu Wiss and his wife, restaurant manager 

Lea Wiss, had to work incredibly hard to 

make the dream a reality. Acquiring various 

ingredients was at times highly excruciating 

due to numerous import restrictions which 

weren’t removed completely until Finland 

joined the EU. 

“It was hellishly diffi cult in the 

beginning,” describes Hannu Wiss in his 

colourful manner. “We had to recruit every 

friend of a friend holidaying in Spain we 

could to get bags full of sausages and air-dried 

ham to Salud.” 

Patrons of the restaurant were 

enthusiastic just the same. Finns were 

already seasoned package tourists at the 

time of Salud’s establishment and interest 

in European food culture was growing fast. 

Salud’s introduction to Tampere was a breeze 

of Mediterranean ambience. 

Finland’s most popular pepper steak 

Bodega Salud has received acclaim as an 

institution in Tampere, a view supported by a 

national poll arranged by a Finnish magazine 

last year. In the poll, Salud’s own pepper 

steak was selected as the classic of Finnish 

restaurant dishes. 

Hannu Wiss created the famous pepper 

steak while establishing the restaurant, 

which is why in many patrons’ minds Salud 

is synonymous with the juicy offering. Wiss 

estimates that 60 percent of diners order the 

pepper steak. Today it is made solely from 

Brazilian or Argentinean fi llet of beef. 

“Meat from free-pasturing cattle that 

have a continual supply of fresh grass is 

superior in quality and taste. The pepper 

steak is accompanied by a sauce seasoned 

with brandy, cream and spices – a sauce 

that many have attempted to copy,” Wiss 

explains. 

Salud has received several recognitions 

for its high-quality offerings. It is a Eurotoque 

restaurant, it has the Chaine de Rôtisseur 

plate and, unique in Finland, it has been 

awarded by the Spanish state for promoting 

Spanish gastronomy and culture. It’s of little 

wonder that Salud is a perennial favourite 

among Tampere residents and visitors. 

“Delegates from international congresses 

are nowadays a big customer group,” notes 

Lea Wiss. 

Discoveries from around the world 

In its time, Salud has established exotic tapas 

dishes and shellfi sh in the Tampere restaurant 

scene and introduced specialities like gnu, 

rattle snake, kangaroo, alligator and bison. 

New discoveries are continuously coming 

from Hannu Wiss’s culinary travels, which in 

recent years have taken him more and more 

often to South America. 

In Salud’s kitchen, ideas are adjusted to 

Finnish tastes. Lea Wiss jestingly points out 

that it is she who puts her foot down when 

the spirit of innovation surges beyond the 

bounds. 

She admits, “The fact is that to renew 

oneself one has to travel around and try new 

things.” 

Kobe on the menu, the caviar of meat 

Salud’s latest specialty is kobe ox. Bred 

today in the United States, the kobe ox is 

originally a Japanese bovine whose breeding 

and handling are a source of many stories. For 

example, they are fed with beer and molasses 

and massaged by hand every day to make the 

meat more tender and distribute muscle fat 

evenly. 

“Kobe is the caviar of meat,” Hannu Wiss 

commends. 

“It’s extremely tender and its taste is that 

of pure meat. It is also very expensive – you 

can get several kilos of best beef for the price 

of one kilo of kobe. Kobe is at its best as a 

quickly fried steak or carpaccio. 

Catalonian at heart 

Spain and particularly Catalonia remain close 

to Hannu Wiss’s heart. He is a member of 

the Catalonian cod fraternity. In addition to 

Wiss, only two other non-Catalonians have 

been invited as members, namely Iceland’s 

former President Vigdis Finnbogadóttir and 

King Olav of Norway. 

“The fraternity fosters food made of 

salted cod, which fi rst travelled to southern 

Europe with the Vikings. It was used in 

place of fresh fi sh in the mountain villages of 

Spain, Italy and Portugal,” Wiss explains. 

TERRANEAN 

The mission of Sorin 

Sirkus is to raise 

awareness of the art of 

circus and to maintain 

and develop an interest 

in circus art particularly 

among children and 

youths. Ulla Tikka and 

Andreas Muntwyler are 

among those promoting 

interest in the art of 

circus and circus as a 

profession. They will 

also be performing at 

the celebration show. 

Life’s A CIRCUS! 

Sorin Sirkus, the Tampere-based youth circus, 

celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The year will 

be highlighted with a special celebratory show running 

in December and January, to which Sorin Sirkus has 

invited back the circus professionals it has sent out to 

the world at large. The young performers have acquired 

circus training in Paris, London, Stockholm and Berlin 

and they have for years performed as professionals in 

European circus arenas. 

Almost 250 children and youths regularly attend 

Sorin Sirkus’s circus school. Over the course of 

two decades, young artists from the circus have 

received more than a hundred awards at Finnish and 

international circus festivals. 

JONNE AARON 

rock star of the year in Japan 

Positive news from Negative. Jonne Aaron, 

front man of the rock group Negative, has 

been voted rock star of the year 2004 in 

Japan. The Tampere resident has joined 

a prestige club – rock stars of the year 

previously selected by readers of the 

Japanese rock magazine BURRN include 

Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx (2002) and Jon Bon 

Jovi (2003). 

Tampere Business • Science • Life 29 

NEWS

NEWS 

ASIA BUSINESS ACADEMY 

develops Asia competences 

Finland’s first Asia Business Academy (ABA) has 

established its activities at the University of Tampere 

School of Economics and Business Administration. 

The Academy focuses on research, education and 

development projects related to Asian trade and 

government. Within the University of Tampere itself, 

and more widely in the Tampere Region and Finland, 

ABA coordinates and brings together projects in the 

fields of education in Asian trade and administration, 

management training, research, and business 

cooperation. 

“The Asia Business Academy answers the 

strategic needs of Finnish companies and the need 

to develop competences related to Asian business 

among students. At the same time, ABA promotes 

Finland’s opportunities to benefit from the prospects 

that have begun to open in the Asian marketplace,” 

says director and founder of the Asia Business 

Academy, Najmal Hasan. 

Starting from autumn 2005, ABA will 

arrange various training programmes on business 

opportunities in different Asian countries. Under 

planning for 2006 are a priming programme for the 

Indian market intended for companies, Findia, and a 

programme to analyze the combined possibilities of 

the Chinese and Indian economies, Chindia. 

“Even though I’ve already seen 17 times how nature in Finland 

comes to life and turns green in the space of few short days in 

spring, I still see it as a miracle,” laughs Claudia Hallikainen. 

Daily life 

Claudia Hallikainen has lived in 

Tampere for close to two decades. In 

her view, the city’s residents share 

common ground in nature. “One of the 

best times to start a conversation with 

people here is a sunny day in early 

spring on the ice of Lake Näsijärvi. 

Everyone smiles and even strangers 

greet each other,” she says as she 

sipps coffee in the Amuri museum of 

workers’ housing, her favourite place 

in the city. 

Model country for UPPER 

SECONDARY EDUCATION 

The operation of Finnish upper secondary schools 

and the content of their teaching are raising interest 

in China. Between 200 and 300 Chinese rectors are 

to familiarize themselves with work in Finnish upper 

secondary schools in Tampere during a three year 

period starting in autumn 2005. A similar number 

will also visit the Helsinki region. 

The rectors will choose between a one or twoweek 

training period during which they will monitor 

everyday school activities and the work carried 

out by Finnish rectors and school authorities, 

and familiarize themselves with the training of 

rectors. Training for the Chinese rectors in Tampere 

is the responsibility of the National Centre for 

Professional Development in Education, Opeko. Also 

participating are the University of Tampere, upper 

secondary schools in Tampere and upper secondary 

schools in Ylöjärvi, Toijala, Huittinen and Parkano 

that have been engaged in cooperation with China. 

“The agreement will probably be continued 

beyond the initial three years. The success of 

Finnish pupils in the PISA assessment of OECD 

countries has been noted in China, but interest in 

Finnish upper secondary schools and cooperation 

with Finland’s National Board of Education have 

a longer history. One manifestation of the serious 

intent of the Chinese to develop their upper 

secondary education based on the Finnish model 

is that they have translated the basics of the 

Finnish curriculum into Chinese,” says Director of 

Education Liisa Löfman from Opeko. 

Claudia was born in East Germany and has 

lived in Tampere since 1988. She most 

likes the closeness of the forests and lakes 

that makes nature an integral part of daily life 

in Tampere. 

“Getting out into nature has become 

important to me, too. Almost every evening 

after work I walk the Särkijärvi forest path in 

Hervanta. There are beautiful parks in many 

European cities, but getting out into the forest 

requires a weekend trip,” she compares. 

Claudia moved to Tampere from what 

was then East Berlin after marrying a Finn. 

Though the marriage ran its course, Tampere 

has remained Claudia’s hometown. 

“It’s a safe and peaceful place, which is 

something I really value. When I had just 

moved here and my son Marcus was very 

small, one thing that surprised me was that I 

could leave his toys outside in the yard with 

no worries.” 

Claudia thinks that during her almost two 

decades in Tampere she herself has become 

more serene whilst the city has expanded 

and the restaurant scene, for example, has 

become livelier and more versatile. Claudia, 


for me 

tampere 

“I’ve been surprised by the way Finland 

is known everywhere as a country of high 

level education that has succeeded in the 

PISA assessment. In Finland everyone has 

uniform schooling until the ninth year of 

comprehensive school. This provides the 

same learning opportunities for everyone. 

In contrast, in Germany, for example, 

parents choose the kind of schooling from 

alternatives of varying levels after four 

years’ comprehensive school,” Claudia 

compares. 

Enthusiasm for new technology 

in Tampere 

TO NATURE 

who enjoys reading historic literature, found 

her favourite place to be pertinently in the 

heart of old Tampere at the Amuri museum of 

workers’ housing. 

“The Amurin Helmi café has a wonderful 

atmosphere from times gone by. Besides, 

Helmi is one of the few cafés where the 

second cup of coffee is still free,” Claudia 

advises. 

Newspapers for language 

and local affairs 

A Leipzig University graduate, Claudia 

worked in Germany as a history and German 

teacher in secondary education. Since 1992 

she has taught German language and culture 

to young engineering students at Tampere 

Polytechnic as well as to adults studying 

alongside work. 

“Before I taught German as a native 

language to Germans and now I teach it as 

a foreign language to Finns. I’ve noticed the 

importance of cultural understanding from 

the perspective of learning a language. This is 

why I familiarize students on my courses with 

German theatre and literature, for example.” 

Claudia has herself studied Finnish on 

language courses arranged by the University 

of Tampere and in private tuition. She says 

newspapers have provided a good means both 

for learning the language and fi nding out 

about local life. 

“I read at least one article from Aamulehti 

every day, regardless of how long it took me 

to understand the content. I speak Finnish 

with a German accent, which sometimes 

results in communication problems. Once I 

tried to explain to a bank clerk that my bank 

card had been swallowed at a cash point in 

Hervanta, and because of my German letter r 

she thought my card was in Havana.” 

In addition to teaching, Claudia’s days are 

fi lled with various projects. The EU-funded 

SPIK – Sprachhandeln in Konfl iksituationen 

project, which reaches its conclusion this 

autumn, has produced multimedia teaching 

material to help those going to study or work 

in a German-speaking country to manage 

everyday situations of confl ict. Claudia directs 

the project spanning three years and has 

travelled around Europe to present it. 

“In my own work I’ve noticed that an 

increasing number of Finnish students are 

interested in learning other languages in 

addition to the generally mastered English. 

Compared to ten years ago, there are now 

more students who have begun German 

language studies, for example, early on in 

comprehensive school,” Claudia says. 

There is also enthusiasm towards 

language studies in the region’s small 

companies to which Claudia teaches 

German through her business. In her view, 

Finnish business life is pleasantly informal. 

According to her, German workplaces such 

as educational institutions are signifi cantly 

more hierarchic than in Finland. 

“Here I can knock on the boss’s door 

when I walk by or I can phone him. Usually 

a conversation can take place without 

reserving an appointment. The staff here 

also have a suitable amount of responsibility 

and power of decision,” Claudia describes. 

She says that Germans are conservative 

compared to Finns, who are eager to try 

anything new. Claudia has noticed that 

especially the latest technology quickly 

fi nds its way into Finnish homes and 

workplaces. In Tampere, rapid advances 

in the development of information society 

have brought the winds of change to 

language teaching, too. 

Claudia says that she doesn’t normally 

perceive differences between nationalities 

through stereotypical views because she 

herself is annoyed by the undeveloped 

image of the former East Germany that still 

exists in the minds of Europeans. 

“Apart from that, stereotypes are often 

wrong – people in Finland are not quiet 

or introvert, they are slow warming. At 

least the Tampere people I know laugh, 

dance and sing more than any of my other 

acquaintances,” Claudia smiles. 


TOP 

EXPERTISE 

in the Tampere Central Region... 

get in touch 

City of Tampere 

Business Development Centre 

phone +358 (0)20 71 100 

MECHANICAL 

ENGINEERING 

AND AUTOMATION 

INFORMATION AND 

COMMUNICATION 

TECHNOLOGY 

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY 

...and a working network of people. 

Tampere International 

Business Office 

Director Vesa Kaasalainen 

phone +358 (0)50 5702329 

vesa.kaasalainen@professia.fi 

Tampere Central Region 

EU Office in Brussels 

Senior Delegate Markku Valtonen 

phone +32 2 503 1489, 

+358 (0)40 776 3446 

markku.valtonen@tampereoffice.be 

Technology Centre Hermia Ltd 

Managing Director 

Mikko Seppälä 

phone + 358 (0)3 316 5218 

mikko.seppala@hermia.fi 

Finn-Medi Research Ltd 

Managing Director Matti Eskola 

phone +358 (0)3 3116 4020 

matti.eskola@finnmedi.fi 

Oy Media Tampere Ltd 

Managing Director Jarkko Lumio 

phone +358 (0)3 316 7878 

jarkko.lumio@mediatampere.fi 

Professia Ltd 

Managing Director Kari Kankaala 

phone +358 (0)3 3137 0381 

kari.kankaala@professia.fi 

Tampere Science Parks Ltd 

Managing Director Timo Laine 

phone +358 (0)3 366 6509 

timo.laine@tamperescienceparks.fi 

www.tamperebusiness.com

- Tampere seizes creative economy

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?