CEO’s annual review: Helsinki-Uusimaa was the second most innovative region in Europe in 2023

It is time for the CEO’s annual review of 2023. Last year, Forum Virium Helsinki was heavily involved in building the competitiveness of the Helsinki-Uusimaa region and renewing the services of Helsinki. In recognition of these efforts, the Helsinki-Uusimaa region was deemed to be the second most innovative region in Europe in 2023 in the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) maintained by the European Commission. The region assessed to be the most innovative in Europe was Hovedstaden in Denmark, with Oberbayern in Germany coming in third.

The Uusimaa region has set the goal of becoming the most innovative region in Europe. The region has been particularly successful in making use of Horizon Europe funding, with Uusimaa’s higher education institutions and VTT playing a particularly important role in obtaining EU funding. 

Forum Virium has also been highly successful in the EU’s open calls, having received EUR 3.1 million in EU funding in 2023. The innovation and development projects carried out with this funding have focused particularly on R&D&I and pilot activities between companies and the City. 

The aim of Forum Virium’s pilot projects is to facilitate new smart city services and provide foresight for the City of Helsinki’s divisions. The aforementioned funding also helps to promote the development of solutions to globally significant problems and support the competitiveness and vitality of companies. Last year, a total of 80 companies participated in Forum Virium’s projects. Of these companies, 20 piloted urban solutions in Helsinki. 

In 2023, Forum Virium and its partners piloted both social and technological innovations in almost ten city districts, with NASA robot technology, worksite robots, sharing services and other smart solutions all contributing to the development of a functional city. These pilots helped businesses develop their operations, provided city residents with glimpses into the future and helped the City’s divisions to find directions in which Helsinki should be developed. Together with our extensive network of partners, we contributed to the development of a smoother everyday life in a broader range of areas than before.

The customer satisfaction of our projects remained high in 2023 with a rating of 4.8/5. Our media coverage remained at a good level and our social media channels continued to steadily increase in popularity. Job satisfaction at Forum Virium was at a good level with a rating of 4.2/5. The total annual budget of our 34 ongoing projects last year was EUR 27 million. Our total number of employees was 57. Our employees are committed and competent, providing a good foundation for future activities.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Directors, the outgoing Chair Mikko Rusama and the new Chair Hannu Heikkinen for their good and constructive cooperation.