Finland's electronics industry is more than just ICT
Finland has previously been referred to as the world’s telecommunications test laboratory. With the history of Nokia and the rich ICT sector, it’s often believed that this is what the Finnish electronics industry has to offer – but it is actually so much more.
The advanced nature and history of the Finnish telecommunications market have allowed the country to create a strong and rich ICT sector, but the Finnish electronics industry contains every part of the electronics supply chain, from PCBs to semiconductors and complete end products. All of this was alive and kicking during Evertiq Expo Tampere on November 29, 2023.
During Evertiq’s third Expo in Tampere Hall, 43 exhibiting companies welcomed 144 visitors from 80 different companies. In total 123 different companies filled the Expo – covering the entire supply chain.
Highlights from the conference program included Edoardo Genovese, Technical Development Manager RF Europe at TTI Europe, who provided the audience with an overview of different embedded antenna technologies and information on how to choose the right one for your design.
Terho Koivisto, sales manager in Finland at PCB supplier Confidee AS, talked about the critical PCB design aspect which is the selection of materials, as it directly impacts not only the performance and reliability of the end product but also its longevity.
Evertiq also took to the stage to hand out its inaugural Evertiq Expo Scholarship. As the industry is fighting a skill shortage, Evertiq wants to play its part by supporting and encouraging students to pursue careers in electronics engineering. Janne Nousiainen was awarded the first-ever Evertiq Expo Scholarship for his bachelor thesis covering condition testing and condition monitoring processes of the batteries in the Tampere Tram. The motivation behind the thesis was to minimise the downtime and material costs of the tram system – which in today's environmentally conscious society was a perfect fit.
Conversations on the floor shifted from between major investments throughout the year to the struggles of finding skilled engineers and how domestic businesses should support other domestic businesses. Sustainability and environmental topics were also discussed as new potential limitations and restrictions on the usage of PFAS could present a challenge to manufacturers of electronics.
As stated earlier, Finland is more than just ICT, the country has a strong footing in photonics, MEMS, monitoring systems, Medtech, lasers, quantum chips, and major production machinery – the industry just needs a bit more confidence.
