Finland Has an Advantage in Arctic Maritime Technology

​CEO Tero Vauraste of Arctia Shipping sees three trump cards in the Finnish arctic strategy from the point of view of business and investment policy: maritime technology, mining and tourism.

At the moment, there are about a hundred icebreakers in the world and 60 of them were built in Finland. Most of the current icebreakers are rather old and it has been estimated that in the next few years there will be a need for even 150 new icebreakers.

Finland has great potential and technological know-how in the icebreaker business. The economy of Finland has always been dependent on the sea traffic at the Baltic Sea and it has been a prerequisite for the economy that the ships can operate in the arctic region all-year round.

– We are trying to bring the Finnish know-how and business we have gathered during several decades increasingly to the international market.

However, maritime technology is not only limited to ships.

– For example, we have a floating office and it is these kinds of new innovations that could be significant in the arctic region.

Rush to the Arctic Council

The Arctic Council has become an important body in the arctic region. At the moment, Canada is the chairman of the council, United States will be the chairman in 2015–2017 and Finland in 2017–2019.

According to Vauraste, the role of the Arctic Council has grown significantly.

– This can be seen in the number of applicants for the council. EU countries have been a bit overshadowed in the council: there are only two of them in it and EU has not yet been accepted as a member. It has been speculated that this partly stems from the fact that EU is opposed to seal hunting.

Defence is highlighted in the arctic strategies of different countries: United States stresses the defence of the whole arctic, Canada the autonomy of its own regions. According to Vauranen, Greenland’s vision has turned strongly towards the economy.

– There has been a definite change in the political atmosphere in Greenland. The new Government of Greenland is considering a separation from Denmark. However, Greenland needs funds to do this and they can get it from oil and gas, among other things.

Only a Little Finnish Research on Business in the Arctic Region

At the moment, interest in the arctic region is great, which can also be seen in the amount of research that is done on it. According to Vauranen, of the Finnish universities, University of Lapland, University of Oulu and Aalto University have been profiled in arctic research in their own areas of strength.

However, there are some areas that have not been much researched in Finland.

– In particular, business in the arctic region has great research potential and very little research is done on it in Finland. For example, we have no extensive research on the aspects of free trade in the arctic countries. One vision is a pan-arctic free-trade zone that could be a fruitful research topic.
 
Text: Hannu Aaltonen
Translation: Mari Ratia