Staff perspective: Key takeaways from a visit to Espoo, Finland
Kista Science City’s Hanna Eldh visited Espoo to study how the Finnish city has developed one of the Nordic region’s most coordinated semiconductor ecosystems. In this firsthand account, she examines the national strategy, institutions and design choices that allow Espoo’s actors to produce results greater than their individual contributions, and what makes that level of coordination achievable.
Most semiconductor ecosystems share the same basic ingredients: universities, research infrastructure, startups and some form of public support. What my visit to Espoo made clear was that having these elements is not the same as having them work together.
The distinction between co-location and genuine coordination turns out to matter considerably. In Espoo, academia, research infrastructure, startups and public actors share more than geography. Research capabilities are directly linked to industry needs and support structures. Startups have access to serious development infrastructure. And through actors like Enter Espoo, the public sector plays an active, long-term coordinating role — setting priorities, targeting support and maintaining a clear ambition to strengthen the ecosystem across semiconductors and adjacent strategic domains.
A national framework as foundation
What makes this level of integration achievable is that it rests on something more than goodwill between institutions. Finland’s “Chips from the North” strategy provides a concrete national framework for what is unfolding in Espoo today. Set against a global semiconductor market expected to grow from €570 billion to over €1 trillion by 2030, the strategy identifies six areas where Finland has genuine capability to lead: chip design, MEMS and sensors, photonics, quantum technologies, advanced materials and process technologies. These are areas of existing strength, selected with focus rather than broad ambition.
But the strategy’s deeper function is coordinative. It aligns public and private investment, connects Finnish priorities with the European Chips Act and gives every actor in the ecosystem a shared reference point. In a complex, capital-intensive industry, that shared direction reduces fragmentation in ways that matter at every level.
What the architecture has produced
The practical results of this architecture are visible in the scale of what has been built. Kvanttinova — a new microelectronics and quantum technology RDI hub — builds on and significantly expands Micronova, already the largest micro- and nanotechnology facility in the Nordics. More than 20 companies have committed to the initiative, alongside €500–600 million in private investment and substantial public funding through both the Finnish government and the EU Chips Act. Finland’s participation in European pilot lines through VTT and Tampere University further extends this capability, keeping domestic development connected to the broader European semiconductor effort.
At the startup end of the pipeline, Aalto Startup Center operates as a hybrid accelerator, supporting around 70 deep-tech companies across incubator, accelerator and partnership programmes. The results are concrete: over 166 research-to-business projects, more than €90 million in funding raised and total portfolio investment reaching approximately €1 billion.
Espoo’s coordination logic also extends beyond semiconductors specifically. Initiatives spanning space, green technologies and defence — including collaborations linked to NATO DIANA — reflect the same underlying approach: interconnected hubs across adjacent domains, structured to enable both specialisation and cross-sector exchange. The architecture is consistent whether the domain is chips, materials or defence.
The question Espoo poses is not whether a semiconductor ecosystem needs strong actors — it does. The more interesting question is what allows strong actors to produce results greater than their individual contributions. With Kvanttinova scaling, strong startup pipelines emerging from Aalto and a clear national framework guiding development, Espoo offers something many ecosystems are still working toward: not just vision, but proof.
Text: Hanna Eldh, Project Manager Semiconductor Arena, Kista Science City
Photo: VTT
Related news
-
Semiconductors and Power Electronics -
Semiconductors and Power Electronics -
Semiconductors and Power Electronics, Talent