Building of Central Finland’s NATO value network starts
In early 2024, City of Jyväskylä Business Development Services investigated the strengths of Central Finland in terms of the business opportunities introduced by Finland’s NATO membership. Jyväskylä’s identified strengths are military performance and crisis resilience in Arctic conditions. Now, the City of Jyväskylä is managing the building of a value network to assist companies in finding business and growth opportunities based on the NATO membership.
The more specific areas of military performance are human physiology, tools and equipment, human-machine interaction, and accessibility and design, while the highlighted crisis resilience themes include emergency communications, security of supply in winter conditions, the circular economy, and new fuels from the security of supply perspective. Other identified themes include information security, cybersecurity and comprehensive security, the performance of tools and equipment in Arctic conditions, and dual-use from the perspective of improving crisis performance.
Central Finland’s special expertise and the actors in the region excellently complement the national knowledge network
“Jyväskylä and Central Finland have excellent expertise in precisely these key areas. The fact that there is both a Finnish Defence Forces hub and a strong IT and cybersecurity cluster in Jyväskylä make the competent region highly attractive. That is why operators in the sector have a good chance of finding new business opportunities from the Central Finland network,” says Ari Tolonen, Director of City of Jyväskylä Business Development and Employment Services.
“Our aim is to bring togehter companies and defence industry operators to find new business and growth opportunities, as well as to open up NATO networks to SMEs in Central Finland. Gaining a foothold in the defence industry is challenging, and this is where networking can help. The NATO membership allows us to globally export Central Finland’s top expertise,” says Sanna Laakso, programme manager from City of Jyväskylä Business Development Services.
Jyväskylä needs to identify such business opportunities and create a company network. The work will be done with specialists, and the partner of the City of Jyväskylä is KPMG Oy.
“Jyväskylä’s initiative to establish a NATO value network offers a great opportunity for companies in Central Finland to boost their expertise and jointly exploit the extensive business opportunities that the NATO membership brings with it. By combining the expertise and strengths of the value network, we can create new business opportunities, promote innovation, and ensure that Central Finland’s excellence in areas such as the above-mentioned spearhead themes will gain international visibility in NATO networks. I believe that the cooperation will open up new growth opportunities for participants both in Finland and globally,” says Kim Lehto, Director of KPMG Advisory Services.
To sign up for the Central Finland NATO value network, complete this form, or send an email to programme manager Sanna Laakso at sanna.laakso@jyvaskyla.fi or project manager Taija Lappeteläinen at taija.lappetelainen@jyvaskyla.fi.
Additional information:
Ari Tolonen, Director of Business Development and Employment Services, City of Jyväskylä
+358 40 556 7822, ari.tolonen@jyvaskyla.fi
Sanna Laakso, programme manager, ICT & Cybersecurity, City of Jyväskylä Business Development Services
+358 40 547 8299, sanna.laakso@jyvaskyla.fi
The value network is part of the development project Jyväskylän kansainvälinen kasvu (Jyväskylä’s International Growth), realised by the City of Jyväskylä Business Development Services. The project aims to build and strengthen networks to support international growth and develop the internationalisation capabilities of local businesses. The project is funded by the Regional Council of Central Finland (ERDF funding, 2023–2025).
The project supports the innovation ecosystem work done by the City of Jyväskylä, which is carried out within the framework of a Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment ecosystem agreement for 2021–2027 in collaboration with the region’s universities and other developers.
