Foreign:
Finland, Advancing World Technology

As the world moves to full digitalization and adoption of Artificial Intelligence in solving problems, Finland takes the lead


Finland, one of the most innovative nations on earth, despite its relative small population of less than six million, has been contributing greatly towards making the entire globe a better place for humanity. The Scandinavian nation is already making contributions towards making the world a better place in education, science and technology among other spheres.

One area the world is applauding the Fins for their innovations are in the textile industry and the associated problem of environmental degradation. As the global clothing industry struggles with a sustainability crisis, several Finnish companies are not relenting in their efforts to address the problems. They are offering solutions. The rest of the world was treated last year to what the country can offer the rest of the globe at an outdoor runway at Helsinki Week 2018. It was at the event that Infinite Fiber and WWF Finland showcased off New Normal, an array of clothing that uses cotton-like fabric made from textile waste.

The modern clothing industry is no doubt a marvel. In many fashion stores one can pick thousands of different items in huge variety of styles. Yet the industry is marked by its unusual unsustainability. Some of the most popular materials such as polyester are derived from petroleum which comes with a lot of environmental challenges. Plastic microfibers from synthetic fabrics end up in the oceans and enter our food chain. In turn, production of natural fibres such as cotton demands an amount of water.

The very nature of fashion encourages people to toss their old clothes in landfills, and possibly buy the next popular thing. It is a monumental problem which people are very much aware of. “Sustainability is becoming very important to the consumer today” said Anna-Kaisa Auvinen, Managing Director of Finnish Textile and Fashion, a textile and clothing industry organization. According to him, “In Finland, we have great fibre innovations that will help the industry be more environmental friendly. Increasingly we have new startups being formed in Finland with corporate social responsibility as the core of the company” she added.

Towards addressing the environmental challenge posed by the industry, several Finnish organisations have been working round the clock to address the issue for years. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Aalto University are currently underway, and some of them have graduated out of the laboratory. It is a milestone discovery that will hit the rest of the world in the next couple of years as Aalto University has been able to make wood into thread and fabric without producing waste or consuming chemicals. Another area of Finland’s innovation is in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is a sphere that the Fins are tapping into the vast opportunities provided, with the hope that sooner or later intelligence machines will be able to think, learn, and react like human beings.

Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science, which can perform demanding tasks, if taught and trained by humans. In the future, intelligence machines will be able to learn like humans, act like humans, and possibly think like humans. It is believed that the technology, if perfected, can free us from tedious routine work and will enable us to concentrate on more creative tasks that bring more value to our lives.

“The Finnish government is acutely aware that AI will change our jobs and careers, and wants to understand how it will affect individual people and our society” said Pekka Ala-Pietila, who heads a steering group that carved out a plan for the country’s AI programme. According to him, “Finland has huge potential to become one of the leading countries exploiting the benefits of AI. The idea is to make it easy for businesses to utilise AI, and to support the public sector in building predictive AI-powered digital services based on people’s major life events. We want to keep our country wealthy, our businesses competitive, our public sector effective, and our society well-functioning.” No doubt Finland has been working silently and tediously with innovations that will make this world a better place, now and in the future.