MAYOR JUSSI PAJUNEN’S WELCOME ADDRESS

Dear Delegate,

As Mayor of Helsinki I am pleased to warmly welcome the 7th Annual Meeting of the International Network for SMEs (INSME) to our city on 23-26 May 2011.

INSME plays an important role in promoting transnational cooperation and public and private partnership in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs. Respectively, SMEs in their turn play a crucial role in the favourable development of cities all over the world. It is therefore in our very core interest to have healthy and prosperous companies of all sizes in our city.

Helsinki is the commercial, political and cultural capital of Finland. Moreover, we are located at the heart of the Baltic Sea Region, which is a rapidly developing market of more than a hundred million people. Thanks to excellent intercontinental connections, Helsinki is developing into an important business hub with functional access to all global markets.

The greater metropolitan area produces over 40 percent of the revenue of all business activities in Finland. There are about 74,300 enterprises in the Helsinki Region, which altogether employ nearly 470,000 people. Our welfare society is fundamentally based on the capability of businesses to provide jobs, thus creating tax revenues to fund public services.

A sector that is clearly gaining in importance within the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is design. Helsinki’s passion for designing good life for our citizens received a great recognition, when we were nominated to carry the title of World Design Capital in 2012. Thanks to a uniquely broad consortium of private and public partners Helsinki was able to present a shared vision and will in its bid.

The world design capitalship will focus on using design as a tool in cultural, social, economic and sustainable development. Service design will be applied to make welfare services more user-oriented, efficient and innovation-friendly. In city planning the urban texture and the face of the city will be redesigned as several regeneration projects are launched in former harbour areas.

A functioning partnership between the private and the public sector will be critical in making the year a success and to ensure the attractiveness of Helsinki to do business in. The INSME Annual Meeting 2011 is an excellent example of how the private sector and the city can work together.

I look forward to welcoming you in Helsinki!

Jussi Pajunen
Mayor of Helsinki