Finland 100: 17 – Tech Head

When it comes to the mobile tech industry, Finland must have one of the most tech savvy populations in the world, with the Nokia generation seeming to have being brought up to use a mobile phone not long after being weaned from their mother’s breast. This may go some way to explaining the massively successful Finnish gaming companies like Rovio (Angry Birds) and Supercell (Clash of Clans); and it seems there’s never too long to wait for the arrival of new big players like Seriously’s Best Fiends. If you look a little deeper, you’ll find a whole eco-system in place to encourage tech startups here in Finland, and not just for gaming platforms. Apart from government funding, even I’ve heard of Slush, the place where tech heads and investors can gather in Helsinki to try and come up with the next big thing. All it takes is for your one thing to take off but, before that can happen, you have to put in the hard graft, the hundreds, the thousands of hours…

This image of some good old-fashioned analogue tech at Hietaniemi, Helsinki’s main beach, is just to show that sometimes the old ways work just fine too and time is just as well spent going for a long walk in the great outdoors, preferably with a camera!