Why look at smart mobility in Helsinki?

The creation of new smart mobility solutions has been made easy in Helsinki and Finland. The government and the capital region cities are committed to further enabling future intelligent mobility. The legislation is favourable for new experiments and the recent heavy deregulation makes it easier for new types of transportation services to enter the market.

Helsinki also offers several urban testbeds to pilot and scale your solutions in a real-life environment. And, Helsinki is the home of the first open-mobility-as-a-service ecosystem in the world.

We at Helsinki Partners, are focused on helping foreign companies find possibilities within autonomous vehicles, car sharing and integrated mobility (MaaS) in Helsinki. However, should your interest be anything within the sphere of smart mobility solutions, our team of business experts are dedicated to helping you find your mix. From top R&D possibilities, product development opportunities, unique piloting platforms, global expansion, university and research collaboration, funding, talent and partners – we’ll help you tap into the Helsinki region smart mobility ecosystem, free of charge.

The region is famous for bringing together the whole ecosystem for smart mobility development projects, from public and private sectors, as well as from academia and citizens. It’s a great place to pilot and test new mobility innovations that lead to globally scalable business solutions. Helsinki also takes an active and leading role for global and international smart mobility and smart city projects.

1. FinEst Twins will build the first global centre of excellence focusing on developing solutions for cross-border smart cities. These are to be tested and implemented first in Tallinn and Helsinki, then scaled globally. It is a joint project with Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Aalto University, Forum Virum Helsinki and the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

2. Traffic Lab at Aviapolis is a market-test area, offering potentials for creating new businesses. Development of solutions is promoted by partnering between more than 30 public and private players, as well as by encouraging national and international players to test concepts. The objective is to find new sustainable solutions for traffic, commuting and logistics, that are expandable in other areas in Finland, as well as internationally.

3. RoboBusLine. A scheduled robobus service in regular traffic, on roads in the Kivikko district of Helsinki. The RobobusLine project prepares for commercially viable, automated bus operation in Helsinki.

4. The FABULOS (Future Automated Bus Urban Level Operation System) project focuses on how cities can use self-driving minibuses in a systematic way. The goal is to procure the operations of an automated bus line. In Helsinki, the autonomous bus line pilot was launched in the Pasila and Kalasatama area in 2020. Companies can receive up to 5.5 million euros to support their R&D work in developing systems capable of operating fleets of automated minibuses.

5. Sohjoa Baltic. The project works towards increasing the attractiveness of public transport by improving offered services and introducing automated driverless electric minibuses, especially for the first and last mile of the journey. Sohjoa Baltic aims to bring autonomous, small buses to drive demo routes in six Baltic Sea Region cities in the coming years.

6. Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab supports innovation and business development. It aims at generating better mobility solutions for the region and beyond, while building a strong network for collaboration and co-creation. The focus of supported pilots and solutions are on improved traffic flow, sustainable modal choices, mitigation of traffic violations and accidents, and improved air quality.

7. LuxTurrim5G is a Nokia Bell Labs driven ecosystem project developing and demonstrating a fast 5G network, based on smart poles with integrated antennas, base stations, sensors, screens and other devices. This joint project opens new digital services and business opportunities for a real smart city.

8. bIoTope lays the foundation for creating open innovation ecosystems. It does this by providing a platform that enables companies to easily create new IoT systems and to rapidly harness available information using advanced Systems-of-Systems (SoS) capabilities for Connected Smart Objects – with minimal investment. A dozen smart city pilots will be deployed in three major European cities, Brussels, Lyon and Helsinki.

9. 6Aika – Six City Strategy. The six largest cities in Finland share the same challenges of urbanisation. In the Six City Strategy, Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku and Oulu tackle those challenges together to develop better services. In the Six City Strategy projects, companies test products and services in urban environments, the advantage of which, is that they get feedback from real users. which directly helps develop even better services.

10. mySMARTLife is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Under the coordination of CARTIF Technology Centre, 27 partners from 6 countries are collaborating to make sustainable cities, with smart people and a smart economy, a reality. Helsinki´s demonstration area Vanhankaupunginlahti (old Town Bay) is representing the history, present and future of smart energy systems in Finland.

11. Bio100. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area’s buses, heavy equipment and trucks have transitioned to using mostly waste and residue-based biofuels. This reduces carbon dioxide and particulate emissions.

12. HAQT (Helsinki Metropolitan Air Quality Testbed). Finnish expertise in air quality and atmospheric research combine with cutting-edge technological know-how in a two-year project that aims to tackle the global problem of bad air quality. HAQT consists of a dense network of air quality monitoring sensors that covers the entire Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

Take a sneak peek of the Helsinki ecosystem:

To get to know the ecosystem and the opportunities on a national level in Finland, check out futuremobilityfinland.fi

MaaS operators

Shared mobility

Autonomous driving

Connected vehicles, software & consulting

Electrification

Other smart mobility related companies (weather, sensors, parking etc)

Industry & public organizations