How Helsinki succeeds determines the success of all of Finland. Helsinki needs more activity, vitality and growth, or in other words, new businesses, skills and investment. We are strengthening Helsinki’s role as an appealing city that generates knowledge, research, creative innovations and growth. We are actively working to ensure that people and companies in Helsinki can succeed. Helsinki must be the best possible place to develop innovative ideas and establish growing businesses.
We want the world to see Helsinki as a city of interest. Helsinki must become the most attractive place in northern Europe to establish a company and invest. Helsinki is a flexible and active partner to companies of all types and sizes.
To accelerate growth, we must identify Helsinki’s strengths and capitalise on them in a purposeful way. We take full advantage of the growth potential of businesses in the creative sector, while also recognising the importance of art and culture for the city’s vitality. We are doing our part to strengthen the start-up ecosystem in Helsinki. When it comes to the circular economy, we are a bigger player than our size suggests. We will strengthen and expand our Health Capital Helsinki programme that boosts collaboration and innovation in the health care industry. We are also prioritising our maritime identity in our economic policy. We are working to make Helsinki’s maritime cluster a global leader.
We support the growth of sustainable tourism and are strengthening our cooperation with operators in the tourism and hospitality industries. We invest in the marketing of Helsinki and its strengths. We will create the conditions for year-round tourism, events and experiences, including during off-peak seasons. We will attract high-profile international events and congresses. We are doing our part to promote a thriving food and restaurant culture in Helsinki. Concerts and festivals enliven Helsinki and make the city more pleasant and interesting. We will make sure that we have suitable venues for high-profile events and enough capacity to host large conferences. We will develop the necessary conditions for a diverse and lively nightlife.
We will ensure that the city always has space for growing and diverse business activities. Land use, business premise development and traffic planning should all support this goal. Helsinki is open-minded when presented with new initiatives and actively encourages the birth of new types of business activities. We will transform and expand our Innovation Fund to encompass a broader spectrum of investments that enable growth and vitality.
Everyone in Helsinki should have the opportunity to study and find work. We offer the best employment services in Finland, based on the genuine needs of companies and Helsinki’s working-age residents. We will boost the impact of employment services with increased cooperation between the city’s divisions and the Helsinki Employment Services municipal enterprise. We will develop our employment services by devoting special attention to services for young people, the resolute reduction of long-term unemployment and the promotion of employment opportunities for people with partial work ability. We will also strengthen our cooperation with Helsinki’s institutions of higher education.
We will invest in attracting skilled workers from abroad and helping them to successfully find their place in our city. We will devote special attention to ensuring that these skilled workers and their families feel at home in Helsinki. We will ensure that people moving to Helsinki have access to smooth, effective and accessible one-stop services for new arrivals. We will create a path and structures for more people to integrate into Finnish society using the second of our two official languages: Swedish.
A vibrant city centre is a key factor in Helsinki’s appeal and the calling card of Finland's capital. We want to develop the city centre into the true heart of Helsinki, a pleasant and inviting place that people want to visit.
The vitality of the city centre is created by its people, businesses and experiences – it is where things are happening. We will increase the number of people who visit and handle matters in the Helsinki city centre. We will provide more opportunities for people to live in the city centre and its immediate vicinity. We aim to increase the number of jobs and tourists in the city centre area. Success in this endeavour requires the close cooperation of all the entities that operate there. We will enlist the support of cultural institutions, property owners, hotels, restaurants, shops and operators in the event industry in helping to develop the city centre.
The development of the South Harbour bay and the planned Museum of Architecture and Design are key new developments that will add to Helsinki’s appeal. We are implementing the decision-in-principle to reorganise port operations in the city centre.
The Museum of Architecture and Design is scheduled to open in 2030. We will ensure that a charming new South Harbour bay environment will be ready by the time the museum opens. We will declare the opening year a jubilee year for architecture and design in Helsinki.
The Helsinki city centre should be attractive and enjoyable year-round. In order to boost the city centre’s appeal, we will invest in projects to develop the city and add to its vitality. We will improve and beautify our central squares and plazas. We will also add more greenery to the city centre. Property owners will be encouraged to come up with new and innovative solutions for attracting residents to the city centre in every season.
We want the city centre to be full of activity year-round. To this end, we will make city spaces available for a wide range of cultural activities and events, recognise the increasingly diverse and versatile field of different operators in the cultural and event sectors, and support the operating conditions of new and established operators in these sectors. We will also devote special attention to improving the operating conditions of downtown brick-and-mortar stores and small businesses. We will ensure that both children and their families find the city centre pleasant and attractive.
The Helsinki city centre must be accessible from every direction via various modes of transport. We will lower the threshold for people to come to the city centre by public transport or motor vehicle. We will draw up a traffic system plan to ensure the continued pleasantness and development of the city centre, while at the same time ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. We are seeking solutions to make full use of the service tunnel, including for the purpose of entering the parking halls from different access routes.
Helsinki’s proximity to the Baltic Sea makes it a distinctive and unique capital city, as the seawater surrounds the Helsinki peninsula on three sides. The nearby sea is an intrinsic part of the lives of Helsinki residents. We will ensure that Helsinki continues to be an attractive and smoothly functioning maritime city.
Helsinki’s maritime services and recreational opportunities should be accessible to everyone. We will promote the accessibility of Helsinki’s archipelago and develop water transport, while also strengthening the infrastructure of the beaches and islands, developing seaside services and improving recreational opportunities. We will improve the conditions for small boating and other water transport. We will resolutely nurture and protect our one-of-a-kind archipelago and marine environment.