Finland is known as a country where the share of research and product development in GDP has been at the top level globally for a long time, the Finnish population is highly educated, and Finnish innovation activities is of the European top level.
Pekka Huhtaniemi, a specialist in the image of Finland, and the Suomi 100 Finland Ambassador of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, says that the Millennium Technology Prize is an important element of the image of Finland.
“Making people aware of an individual prize abroad would be a major challenge to any country. When I was the Finnish ambassador in London, I witnessed closely how people quickly became aware of the prize in the UK in 2014”, says Huhtaniemi.
At that time, the prize was granted to Stuart Parkin, the “father of big data”. He was already the fifth Brit to be granted or nominated the grand prize.
The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy awards the Millennium Technology Prize sum of one million euros. The Ministry also sees the advantages of the prize.
“The starting point of the Millennium Technology Prize is an extensive social impact by science and innovations, which may even touch all of mankind. It also paves the way for various applications”, says Petri Peltonen, state under-secretary at the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
He says that the goal is not only to promote Finnish interests. The goal is that the rest of the world would also benefit from the practical Finnish mindset.
This is the seventh time of distributing the Millennium Technology Prize. The ceremony will take place on 24 May 2016 in Helsinki. The prize is distributed every second year. Nominees are sought from all around the world, in all fields of technology, excluding military technology.
The prize is awarded by the Technology Academy Finland foundation. It is backed by the Finnish science community, state administration and the business sector. The prize sum is one million euros.
Helsinki Airport promotes image of Finland
Over time, Helsinki Airport has become an airport that has won several international awards and recognitions, and Finns can be proud of the airport. The airport has gained fame with its excellent service quality and its leading Finnish snow-how.
Being Finnish is the backbone of Helsinki Airport service development and innovation. Helsinki Airport highlights Finnish food and gift items, as well as Finnish design, art and materials. The Finland brand shows heavily at the airport; annually, fairly over eight million foreign passengers pass through it.
As a result of powerful strategy work, Helsinki Airport has turned into a significant hub of air traffic between Europe and Asia. Helsinki Airport’s superior location at the junction of east and west makes sure that the shortest and fastest way between Europe and Asia passes through Helsinki.
All Finns benefit from the development of the main Finnish airport. Frequent and regular flight connections all around the world are important to passengers choosing their holiday destinations and to the Finnish business sector. The expansion of Helsinki Airport gives a boost to tourism and the economy and employment of entire Finland.
Please visit our website to look up Helsinki Airport flight connections.
More information about the Millennium Technology Prize and Finnish innovations
