Editorials and columns

Vertically Challenged

By Jussi Sinkko
Editor-in-Chief

High-rise construction is very much the talk of the town in Helsinki. With as many as 50 high-rise projects in the pipeline, the City authorities have worked hard to create some sort of ground rules for the industry players – a roadmap of sorts, showing all the hurdles one has to clear for a successful project. Hels...
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Helsinki Is Growing Inwards

By Hannu Penttilä
Deputy Mayor for City Planning and Real Estate of the City of Helsinki

The Agenda This year, Helsinki celebrates her 200 years as the capital of Finland and is proudly carrying the title of World Design Capital 2012. Cities’ development is no longer guaranteed by administrative decisions but their success is dictated by their ability to attract people of this millennium. Helsinki meets...
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Here Comes the Sun

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The aftershocks of the Fukushima disaster are still felt around the world – and will continue to be felt for some time into the future, as well. In the minds of the great public, this is very much like taking a time machine into the 1980’s, dealing with Chernobyl and wrestling with the ghosts of the Cold War all ov...
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The Mad Hatters

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

One of the biggest casualties of the earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima is common sense. There is no limit to the hysteria the nuclear accident has caused in the Western world, particularly in Germany. False information, political manipulation and hasty conclusions seem to be the order of the day. The nuclear acciden...
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Taking Charge

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

Electric cars are expected to make their mark in traffic in the years and decades to come. Hailed as champions in the fight against Climate Change by some, the electric cars are, at the moment, facing an uphill struggle. The price tag of an electric car is two or three times that of a comparable combustion engine car, ...
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The Rise and Fall of the G20

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
CEO, Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland

G20 Finance ministers met in Paris in February. They did not accomplish much. This was not surprising. The G20 is no longer a steering group for the world economy. It has become a debating chamber for two camps with competing economic ideologies. One camp consists of the BRIC-plus countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Chi...
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The Design Footprint

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

Architecture and design are presently experiencing a renaissance of sorts. In Finland, of course, this trend is highlighted by Helsinki’s designation as the World Design Capital 2012, but the phenomenon is really a global one – and it keeps intensifying. A good example of the changing attitudes is the mas...
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Decision Time for Europe

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

It was a refreshing experience to observe world events from Asia during a twoweek vacation in Thailand. This Asian Tiger is booming, while trying to keep internal pressures under the lid. India is rising and catching up with China. Although Japan is stagnant, Asia is the engine of world economy. China is spreading it...
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Cruise Control

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The global economic storm is finally fading out, but its repercussions will be felt for quite some time afterwards. For industries where the required investments are hefty, there is understandably still a prevalent wait-and-see attitude. A good example of this is the cruise industry which has been all about big, big bo...
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Nordic Model is So Last Century!

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
CEO, Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland

The Nordic Model was the talk of the town ten years ago. Now everyone wants to copy Singapore. What happened? Why did Singapore overtake Finland and the other Nordic states? And, most importantly, is there still life left in the Nordic Model? Who is the most influential person in the world? This is the question that I ...
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Last Train Out of Nimbyville

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

If someone wants to build a homeless shelter or a nuclear power plant, he can count on two things. First, the local community will not be thrilled. Second, the “local community” is very large indeed. This phenomenon was labelled NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) already a long time ago, and it plays with the old...
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If You Do Not Export Electricity, You Will Import It

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

As I predicted (NORDICUM December 2009), the Copenhagen Summit turned out to be a total catastrophe for the European Union. The EU was not even at the table, when the Copenhagen Accord was negotiated. Can there be a clearer sign as to who are running the world? It was a rude awakening. It is time to reassess both EU c...
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The Electric Horseman

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

Maintaining profitability in the midst of a global recession is difficult for any industry, but in the field of logistics the challenge seems almost insurmountable. The flow of goods has been severely damaged and recovery will take time. This is apparent also in Finland who stands removed from the main markets – ...
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Pipedreams and Nightmares

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin must be pleased. The construction of the Nord Stream, a gas pipeline the two leaders concocted in the 1990s, is about to commence. Hundreds of kilometres of gas pipes are waiting to be laid on the bottom of the North Sea. The governments of Russia, Germany, Poland, Finland and S...
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(De)sign of the Times

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

Christmas came early for Helsinki this year. The city won the coveted World Design Capital 2012 designation in November, almost immediately kicking off preparations for the special year. World Design Capital is a great honour for Helsinki – as well as the participating cities of Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and La...
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EU catastrophy in Copenhagen?

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

It is, by now, clear that no binding international agreement will emerge from the Copenhagen Climate Summit. From the beginning, expectations about so-called ambitious results were unrealistic. The United States was not going to change its approach 180 degrees from Kyoto, and the developing countries could not be expec...
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Air Supremacy

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

Business angels are often in a key role as start-up companies struggle to get off the ground. Our cover story offers some perspectives into the issue (see pages 8–10). In the interview, business angel Risto Siilasmaa credits the Ministry of Employment and the Economy for fresh thinking in this regard. The Ministr...
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NATO Goes North

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

The word North regained some of its lost political significance when Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently became the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aka NATO. This is likely to be followed by the membership of Finland and Sweden in the alliance. Sounds preposterous? It is not. Plent...
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Fearful Symmetry

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The economic crisis is making us hope for the best while we fear the worst. In this issue, Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen admits that his view of the future is murky as well. Uncertainty prevails.Ideologically speaking, the outlook is not quite as gloomy. We are not witnessing the death of the market economy as such, ...
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Time for decisions

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

The global economic crisis is being tackled with concerted action by all the major players. The G20 meeting in London on 3 March 2009 gave an extra boost to our confidence about recovery in the near future. Concrete action must follow: all governments should stimulate their economies more, regulatory reform cannot wait...
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Hammer Time

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The current economic crisis has a paralysing effect on business around the world. In a situation such as this, level-headed decision-making is required from the political powers-that-be. The Finnish Government has ruled the land rather wisely when the times were good, and, as a reward, finds itself in a relatively stab...
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It’s the End of the World as We Know It

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

An American rock band called R.E.M. had a big hit in the late 1980s. I remember the song very well because I was finishing my doctoral dissertation in the UK at the time. The song was called ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’. The lyrics seemed to describe what would happen if I did not finish ...
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Come Together, Right Now

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The Greater Helsinki Region is about to enter an interesting development phase. As the brand new Vuosaari Harbour commenced operations on 24 November, the old Helsinki harbours are no longer needed for logistical purposes. Dynamic new construction is being planned for the old harbour areas, with both residential and of...
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We are all in it together

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

In November 1977, in a speech to the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce in New York City, I quoted J.K. Galbraith’s two principles for understanding the American economy: Rule Number One: “Under all circumstances you should mistrust and hence ignore all official economic forecasts.” Rule Number ...
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Innovation vs. Imitation

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The Nordic countries have made a name for themselves as hi-tech havens which are rooted on excellent education systems. Finland is no exception in this regard: the Arctic Utopia has come to exist through hard work − and smart work. In the future, nimble brain power is needed perhaps more than ever before. Small ...
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Convergence of Economic Systems – Take Two

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

During the Cold War era, there was plenty of talk about convergence between socialism and capitalism. In the aftermath of Senator Barack Obama’s tour of Europe, there is talk about convergence between US capitalism and European market economy. This convergence may well prove to be more real than the previous one....
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Some Came Running

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The fight against Climate Change is experiencing a trickle-down effect. While the campaign is largely spearheaded by the EU, also the member states are acknowledging the severity of the situation. Beyond national level, however, it has seemed that the buck won’t stop until it hits the citizen-consumer. This is ...
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EU second thoughts on climate and energy policy

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

In spite of systematic campaign against its legitimacy, nuclear energy is coming back as an important element in European climate change policy. The statement of Energy Commissioner Andres Pielbags at the Foratom Conference in April made it clear: “Nuclear energy makes an important contribution to our fight again...
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New blood in the woods

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The present stagnation of the forest industry is not an easy issue to address. Even the socalled gurus of the sector remain divided on what is the right medicine in this situation. And even if the medicine works, it might kill the patient, the most pessimistic argue. The discord of the industry experts is quite visibl...
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State Capitalism in Finland

By Risto E. J. Penttilä
Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

Big lay-offs are always bad news. The news is even worse if the closed plant is the biggest employer in a remote corner of a country. The news becomes inflammable if the company behind the lay-offs is partially owned by the state. Stora Enso, one of the world’s leading forestry companies, ignited a storm of pro...
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Lead by example

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

The European Union wants its Member States to take a long, hard look at energy consumption. Transportation is a key area when one talks about curbing Climate Change. Unfortunately, Finland is one of those sparsely populated countries where distances are great – and logistics will always pose a challenge no matter...
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Soft Power against Gas Power

By Lasse Lehtinen
The writer is a Member of the European Parliament

“Gazprom has got a lot further than the Red Army ever did,” whispers one of the international wiseacres. “The USSR,” opines another senior member of the commentariat, “was a lot easier to deal with than Russia is today”. It’s true that Russia was much more predictable in the ...
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