Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2014 | Page 56

Photo: C&J Architects / Hartela / City of Turku

pointing such areas – and turning raw data
into globally successful products.

ICT Comeback
The other strong anchor at the Science Park
– information and communication technology – is the second biggest business sector
in Southwest Finland at the moment. But
haven’t the recent struggles of Nokia impacted the sector negatively? Jouko Turto
says that, actually, the change has not been
that bad.
“Many people who have left Nokia are
starting their own companies and it is clear
to see that a new kind of ecosystem has started to evolve here.” Interestingly enough,
many of the ICT veterans tailor their products and services for the Life Sciences industry, he adds.
The power of ICT lies largely in the
fact that it is one of those sectors which can
give a boost to just about any industry. At
Turku Science Park, applied ICT is linked
to – in addition to Bio/Life Sciences – also maritime and metal industries. Other upand-coming areas include electronics, digital
media and speech and language technology.

How Green Is Your City?
Still, the City is pushing for the development
of areas outside Science Park / Itäharju, as
well. The strategy here is to create greenedge communities, with future city districts
of Skanssi and Linnakaupunki, leading the
way. The carbon dioxide emissions of these
new neighbourhoods can be significantly decreased by utilising intelligent technology.
54 Nordicum

This will also increase the citizens’ quality
of life, and several of the solutions will soon
pay for themselves.
The second phase of the strategic cooperation between the City of Turku and Siemens was launched in autumn 2012, when
the sustainable urban planning project was
introduced.
“We want future city districts that are
innovative, ecological environments, as well
as engines of economic growth,” Turto lays
out the game plan.
Skanssi and Linnakaupunki are still in
their planning stages and they are believed to
benefit from “toolkit” approach which can
be used to construct city districts based on
the principles of sustainable development.
Siemens and the Cit Hو\