The researchers' own city
Helsinki and the entire Helsinki metropolitan area offer researchers and their families a wonderful place in which to live and work.
The large academic community at the universities, research institutions and knowledge-intensive companies in the area creates a fruitful environment for exchanging ideas and offers a variety of career choices.
Examples of the variety of academic communities in the area include the biggest technology cluster in the Nordic countries in Otaniemi, the R&D activities of Nokia and other information technology companies, the University of Helsinki's Institute of Biotechnology and the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (within the human and social sciences) and the business and economics research conducted at the Helsinki Business Campus.
The universities, research institutions and companies form a close-knit unit that allows researchers to move between the public and private sectors. In fact, Finnish research is known for the close contact between companies and universities in research and development operations and in using innovations.
The Helsinki metropolitan area is built on a human scale, a place that is easy to get around in and good to live in. There is a harmonious balance between urban rhythm and serene natural landscapes, and both are easily reached.
The Helsinki metropolitan area offers researchers an interesting environment outside work, too. The area has a wide variety of arts and culture to offer. It would be hard to find another city of this size in the world that can offer music and theatre of the same standard.
Helsinki is a pluralistic and tolerant city, where creativity is highly appreciated. The area is relatively sparsely inhabited and consequently it can also offer excellent places for finding inner peace, enjoying a moment of solitude or charging your batteries; the area has a wide archipelago, and there are also many outdoor recreation areas, some of them adjacent to housing districts, and then there is the Nuuksio National Park, only half an hour's drive from the centre of Helsinki. The Helsinki metropolitan area's northern location, with distinct seasons and snowy winters ensures that both the climate and the natural landscapes contain a great deal of variety.
Travel distances are short in the Helsinki metropolitan area. For example, the distance between the area¿s university campuses is about 15 kilometres at most. The area has a good public transport network comprising commuter trains, a metro, trams and an extensive bus network. The area also has a good network of streets and roads, making it easy to get around both for work and leisure-time activities.
There is also a wide variety of other services, both public and private, available in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Children's day care and schools are of a high standard, there is a comprehensive network of libraries and other services, and health-care services are well organised. Helsinki is a safe and peaceful area to live in, and there are different housing alternatives available, anything from urban living in the city centre to new and comfortable blocks of flats in the suburbs, peaceful neighbourhoods of one-family houses and even some rural village communities.
Text: Mikko Toivonen
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
