Finland can cash in on data centre industry

Finland has the opportunity to gain much in economic terms from further developing the data centre industry, said a study report published on Thursday.

It said cheap electricity, well-functioning telecommunications services, a cool climate, stable ground conditions, high-quality ICT and information security, and a predictable and stable society are the key elements are contributing to Finland’s current attractiveness for the data centre industry.

Finland has already offered a number of competitive advantages for the data centre industry, and various international corporations have taken note of this fact. Google is one such company as it has established a data centre in Hamina, said an official press release.

The study was drawn up by the Copenhagen Economics on Finland’s economic opportunities from data centre investments. It was prepared at the request of Google and published at an event organised by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The study discusses extensively the role of data centres in an increasingly digital society and the potential ripple effects of the data centre industry for the Finnish economy. In addition, the study presents policy initiatives for developing the operating environment of the data centre industry.

“The study provides a comprehensive overview of the significance of the data centre industry in an increasingly digital world,” said State Secretary Paula Lehtomäki.

According to the study, Finland has the opportunity to gain even more in economic terms from data centres. In recent years, Finland has actively developed a stable and reliable operating environment for data centres. The study and its recommendations form a good basis for further talks on continuing to improve the operating environment in the future.

“Digitalisation is one of the leading factors of Finland’s economic growth. Finland needs a robust data centre infrastructure to store data, and fast and reliable data links to form the basis for digital business activities. This infrastructure also supports the government’s objective of developing the digital business environment and offering businesses highly developed public digital services,” said Lehtomäki.

The data centre industry will generate growth and economic activity. New foreign investments in data centres are being actively sought to enable Finland to benefit from the data centre infrastructure more effectively in developing digitalisation, robotisation and extensive exploitation of data, he added.