Finland Investment Institute brings key actors together to strengthen Finland’s investment environment

Attracting investment requires a deeper understanding of the dynamic factors that shape the investment environment: the speed of permitting processes, the predictability of regulation, the availability of expertise and skilled talent, and how capital finds its way to new projects.

This is the challenge addressed by the Finland Investment Institute (FII). The initiative has been developed by the University of Vaasa in close dialogue with Borenius, Sitra and other key Finnish actors committed to strengthening Finland’s investment environment.

The institute is both a research unit and a collaborative platform. It identifies and helps address barriers to investment and builds a comprehensive, research-based picture of Finland’s investment environment for researchers, business leaders, investors, public officials and policymakers.

The institute will be based at the University of Vaasa and will serve as the university’s new multidisciplinary research platform. The opening seminar takes place on 20 May, in Helsinki. The work will continue during the summer with a SuomiAreena discussion organised by the University of Vaasa on 23 June and an expert event organised in cooperation with Sitra at Wasa Future Festival in August.

– International competition for investment has intensified. To strengthen national economic growth, we need to examine the investment environment as a whole. An investment decision is not an isolated event – it is part of a chain in which regulation, expertise and finance come together. The stability and predictability of the investment environment are created by the way these factors interact, says Minna Martikainen, Rector of the University of Vaasa.

– The institute has been established to bring together different perspectives on the investment environment and to provide decision-makers with an up-to-date, research-based overview, Martikainen continues.

Finland Investment Institute connects data and decision-making

The institute will focus on the dynamics of investment: understanding how global flows affect Finland’s competitiveness. The institute will produce research, expand education, and collect data and indices that provide strategic recommendations to help strengthen Finland’s position as an investment destination.

The launch of the institute has been prepared in close dialogue with different stakeholders.

– Finland needs investment in the future. For growth and productivity, it is crucial that research, expertise and new ideas are translated more effectively into innovations, investments and new business. The Finland Investment Institute will produce much-needed research-based knowledge on why investments happen – or fail to happen, says Atte Jääskeläinen, President of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund.

– Developing a successful and predictable investment environment requires many different factors to work together. Finland needs an independent actor that can identify new perspectives and previously unexplored topics, while promoting dialogue on the key themes that determine whether Finland succeeds in attracting investment, says Casper Herler, Doctor of Laws and Partner at Borenius, a Finnish corporate law firm.

Professor Bonnie Buchanan to coordinate the Finland Investment Institute

Internationally recognised finance professor Bonnie Buchanan, who will join the University of Vaasa in the autumn, has been appointed as the coordinator of the Finland Investment Institute. She brings world-class expertise in sustainable finance, fintech and the role of artificial intelligence in finance and investment.

– Buchanan’s role in bridging academic research and the practical investment environment is significant. She brings together academic excellence and a deep understanding of financial markets in practice in a way that makes the Finland Investment Institute a unique initiative, Martikainen says.