 It's Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I'm Jay Fidel. This is ThinkDec. This is Global Connections. And we have a very special surprise show for you from Helsinki, Finland. That is on the other side of the planet. It's 12 time zones away. And we have Laura Alto. And Alto means, Laura, what does Alto mean again? It means wave. Wave as in ocean. And we have Alexander Pelainen. Did I get that right, Alexander? That was perfect. OK, all right. And these guys are both associated with CAAs. Now, you may have heard of SAAs, which is software as a service. This is a city as a service, OK? And I guess it's part of the city of Helsinki. And Laura, you're the CEO, am I right? Yes. OK, and Alexander, you're of the city marketing company. Of the city marketing company. But that's either a contractor or part of the city government, yeah? It's part of the city government, yes. And Alexander, you're in the marketing arm also? So I'm behind the agency that was collaborating with in this project. How did you guys get into these careers? Are you trained for this? You know, are you specialized? This is kind of an interesting job. I mean, and I want your job. I want both of your jobs, actually. Well, I believe I have the best job in the world. I mean, this is a marvelous city to market. And this is making Helsinki visible around the world like in Hawaii. It's the best job that I can imagine. I'm looking around for photographs of Helsinki this morning. And gee whiz, there are so many beautiful photographs of the city, both light and dark, both morning and afternoon and evening. It was really hard to pick one that depicts the beauty of the city. But it goes beyond that. You guys have decided right now, 2019 or maybe 2018, that you want to make Helsinki special for the world. You want to promote it and you want to brand it as the first city as a service. So Laura, what is that? What is a city as a service? Well, simply put, we're there for people. I mean, we're there for the locals who live here, but also for the talent who wants to move to Helsinki or for the visitors who want to visit Helsinki. And I think it's a mindset and attitude. And it all comes like starts from the city's strategy, how Helsinki sees itself. And as you know, in the Scandinavian countries, in the Nordic countries, the cities and the governments, they pay quite a lot. They are responsible for a lot of services. And we do pay a lot more taxes than in the US. But we also get a lot for that. So we get the free education. We get the free health care. And I think it's important that the cities consider themselves as being there for the people. So we do get a lot in return when we pay the taxes. Now in the US and in the law, a city or a county would be responsible for those basic infrastructure services. And I will name them. Police, fire, water, trash, sewage. I guess that's really about it. And do you go further than that? You provide services other than those basic infrastructure services. Alexander? Yes. So I didn't know if I got it correctly in Helsinki or in Finland in general. We have health care and education. And the education system in Finland was awarded several times to be the best education system in the world. So that's at least like a one big major, major thing in addition to the basic infrastructure. Well, Laura said something about how, yes, you provide a lot of services. But you also have taxes that pay for the cost of those services. We have services. But we have taxes. We pay taxes. But we don't have the services you have. And I'm wondering about the equation. How do you make that work? It sounds to me very efficient that even with the high taxes, you can provide all those services. How do you make sure that a dollar or, well, what is it in Finland? Is it a euro in Finland? Euro. Euro. That a euro is getting what it's supposed to get. How do you keep it efficient? How do you avoid corruption? How do you avoid waste? Well, Finland is many times voted the least corrupted country in the world. And I think not only Helsinki, but the whole country of Finland, it's very much built on trust. There's a social, people trust each other. People trust government. People trust the kindness of others. And since we are a nation that is rather small, so there is 5.5 million people living in Finland and about 650,000 people living in Helsinki. So because we are so few, we need each other. An old notion here on Think Tech, caring for each other. And it sounds like that's what you're touching into. And by the way, Hawaii has a population of 1.2 million. And the population of Honolulu is something over 900,000. So we are one-fifth the size of Finland in general. And our city is just a little bigger, actually, by a third than Helsinki. That's so interesting to make that comparison. So you're also trying to attract people. It's more than just providing, as you said, for the residents, you're trying to attract people from all over the place. And I guess that includes Europe, all through the EU. I suppose it includes the US. It actually just sounds very appealing to me. And after the show, I want to get some application papers from you. In any event, who are you trying to attract? Is it only skilled science technology workers? Is it everybody? How do you choose? What do you want to do? So if I start very shortly and then Alexander can continue, may I ask in the beginning, what was your first mobile or cell phone that you ever had? Was it a Nokia phone? Yes, it was. Now that you say that, and that's from Scandinavia, isn't it? Yeah. That's Finnish, as a matter of fact. I know two things from Finland. One is Nokia, and the other is Frantzilla. OK. Oh, both right. Well, anyways, because of the so-called Nokia legacy, we have a very strong technology background here. There's a lot of knowledge around technology. And that when Nokia did something wrong and wasn't that major company anymore, so there was a lot of knowledge here. And that cost kind of like a startup boom in Finland. So there's a lot of very fast-growing companies that need ICT talent a lot. And that's why we've been working on this talent attraction lately a lot. And maybe Alexander, you can add something on this as well. Yeah, so for and like the first kind of like after Nokia or Nokia's company declined a bit. The problem in Finland was the lack of access to international venture capital, but not anymore. So that was like 10, 8 years ago. But now I think it was a few weeks back when it was announced that Finland actually attracts the most venture capital per GDP. So the Finnish companies are getting venture capital but the bottleneck has changed to global competition on the tech talent. And the biggest bottleneck for those companies is now how do they recruit talent and whether they get the best people to come so that they can grow. And the cities can play a huge role in this to support the recruiting of the companies because kind of like their reputation has a massive impact on the individuals or their family's decision to relocate. And that's kind of like how we first started the discussion on this project, CDS Service, where we're discussing quite randomly actually with one of the companies from Finland which is like very, very fast growing. And they said that this is a big problem for them. So the people have a wrong idea of what Helsinki is and we should do something about it, not alone but together with the city and with other tech companies. And that's kind of like how the discussion started of this new collaboration project. That's admirable and lovely. It's so optimistic and good-natured and everything. Now if somebody comes, if somebody comes from say Europe, I mean continental Europe, you are continental. Somebody comes from the southern part of Europe and they have some skill in technology. Are you gonna be able to provide for them all those benefits you talked about Laura right on arrival? I mean, for example, in Singapore, Singapore needs population, needs talent. They just order a million people from China and the million people are there the next day and they have housing and all the benefits you could possibly have, they can make a life instantly. Is that possible in Finland? Is it possible in Helsinki? Well, we're talking about CDS Service. We certainly can. Well, to be honest with, as Alexander has mentioned, there's a huge need especially for ICT talent and at the moment we're targeting a lot for instance to Eastern European countries where there's a lot, there's a very high quality on education, especially on technology education and Russia is very close by. So it's three hours by train from Helsinki, it's St. Petersburg, so close by. So really we're not looking for whoever to move to Helsinki, but especially with a certain background and with the ICT talent, that can be that the companies in the Helsinki area need that at the moment. And another point here is that actually what Alexander was mentioning earlier that the Helsinki lacks a lot the international awareness. So we consider ourselves a bit like underdog between among the other Nordic capitals. So Stockholm and Copenhagen have been booming a lot more in the recent years and Helsinki has been like a bit overshadowed by its Nordic neighbors. And I think this position of an underdog gives us a huge kind of benefits when putting together the marketing and the kind of like taking which position we're taking in our marketing and branding activities. So we kind of like, we play around a bit, we can take a bit more risks and that's always a wonderful position for a marketer. That's a great way to look at it, yeah. So you go out to Southern Europe, you go out to Eastern Europe, you go out to, I don't know, France, you go out to the UK, are you reaching out? Are you putting ads out there? You have agents who recruit for you, how do you do that? Alexander? So now the campaign is already over. So we got applicants from over 100 cities from the US, from Europe, from Africa, from Asia, so basically all over the world. And the main channel for this was, well, online as this is something for tech professionals. And I have to say that it was surprisingly good campaign in that sense that we didn't need to do that much of, or like we didn't need to push that hard because the concept itself was, it was rather creative because when you look at the, like how other cities are doing, these kind of campaigns, they're quite similar. So they lack humor, are they very generic? And like Laura mentioned, Helsinki had this like unique angle to it. So it was like something very, very new, it was something refreshing and it had humor in it. So like how we got, how the campaign got so good results was actually by the shares from the global tech community. So people found it from different online forums and they just share it kind of like organically with their own community. So that's how we reached then the best people that we kind of wished to reach as well. So that was like the ideal case for us. So we didn't need to push that hard, but like we trusted that the idea itself is good enough and it will get people talk about it and well, share it. Laura, do you have to market this in Helsinki itself and in Finland? Because, you know, on the one hand, you have an ethic that cares about people, a pride, a pride in the city and all that, but you know, if this was happening in the US, there'd be a certain number of people in Helsinki in Finland who would be behind it, they would see it as positive and there'd be a certain number of people who would say, are you spending all that money? Is there really a return on that? And they would be in opposition, you know, in democratic society, right? Do you have to sell this in Helsinki in Finland? Do you have any resistance over spending the money and taking the risk? Well, of course, there's always some resistance and that is always good to question, but I think we've been more systematically working on the city marketing and city branding for the past four years, so to say. And I would say the kind of approach people have to, the pride they have to their own city has changed during those years. So people kind of like, it's kind of like a very much more stronger pride and commitment to their own community and own city. And also not only asking what the city can do for them, but also kind of like being part of the urban movement and being part of making the city a better place to live in. And we like to think city as a platform for the community to work together. So Helsinki, whether it's towards the local community, whether it's towards the visitors or the talent who comes or whether it's towards the business community, we like to think of Helsinki as a platform for different people to come together and work together. And Helsinki is a rather small city, as I mentioned. So it's a well-functioning city. So there's a very good technology background, as I mentioned. So it's a good opportunity for companies to try out in Helsinki certain things that they can scale up in somewhere else. And this is kind of like, I would call it a can do attitude or the kind of like approach of being an active citizen is something that Helsinki is very strongly promoting, not only for the ones who live here, but also for the ones who want to come to Helsinki. That is so reminiscent of John F. Kennedy at his inauguration back in the 60s, where he said, ask not, what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Oh, we're doing that. So you have, you know, I mean, I told you before the show that I've never met a Helsinki person I didn't like. And Helsinki people are very friendly and I've always enjoyed that you know, it's predictable even. But you know, you have that, you have the notion of caring, the notion of pride, the notion of this branding that is actually taking root over four years. What about, you know, being copied, as they say in the patent business, being knocked off? I mean, you know, Copenhagen, successful, a lot of resources. Why don't they knock you off? And why don't they do the same things you're doing and try to achieve the same branding? Pull the rug out from under you. Are you having that experience? What do you think, Alex? Well, I think during the past few years, Helsinki's kind of pays of coming up with new, very, very interesting things to promote and like to build their brand has to be so fast. So it's, it's hard to catch up. So I'd say to Copenhagen or to Stockholm that bring it on. It's funny, what it means is if you're going to brand yourself as a special place, as a city, you know, as a service, you've got to keep ahead. You've got to, you've got to keep pushing. You always got to come up with new ideas, not only in, you know, the branding, but in the reality and how it goes every day and making life good for the people who arrive and who the people you're recruiting. So one of the things, go ahead. Yeah, exactly. And I think, I think it's a continuous dialogue between the locals and the visitors and the residents and the communities and the city. So for us, I think during the past four or five years we've been, what we've been working a lot on is the dialogue with different stakeholders. So that it's not the closed city hall that doesn't communicate to the outside community, but very much having the understanding that what people are actually expecting and what they are, what they wanting from the government and also really building the trust, as I mentioned before. The trust, lest we forget, very important, trusting and caring. So at the risk of revealing what you have in mind for the future as you evolve down this path in this fabulous initiative you've made, can you tell me, you know, what you have in mind? Where are you going with all this? And you know, and if you feel that you don't want to say anything in front of Copenhagen or Stockholm, you don't have to tell me. Oh well, I think there's room for all kinds of cities. But I think it's definitely, it's a city's, it's the era of cities. So the nation states are, can I say, becoming a bit old fashioned or people identify themselves with cities and like local identities. And it's definitely, I strongly believe so that Helsinki should not be the only city as a service, but there's a huge need for other cities to kind of like have this dialogue type of approach to its stakeholders and communities and to its people. So really bring it on. We have to share what we've learned in our path. Well, you speak of the very interesting concept and that is the concept that the emergence or reemergence of the city is a place to color less, it's a place to be proud of, it's a place to focus on and you know, sort of the, it's a local concept, but it's, we lost it somewhere in the 20th century, I think. And now you're demonstrating that it is important and it can be and should be and is being regained. Am I right? Yes, I believe it, I believe very strongly the way you describe it. And I think that, and it's also, if you look at the way how the visitor's industry, tourism is changing very, very rapidly. And so in the past years it was okay to go around the world and see things and now people want to experience things, they want to do things. So it's not enough only to kind of like, well, I went to Paris and I saw Eiffel Tower, but you really want to be part of the local community. And for Helsinki, one of the key things is that we want to be, I always say, we want to be more Helsinki, not less Helsinki. So we want to be as authentic as we can. And the city as a service campaign is definitely one of the, one of our ways of being, you know, really showing how we are and what's our approach to the local community and also to the ones who come here. What a lovely thing. So I just wonder, Alexander, you know, you mentioned, you know, these points of success and I wonder if there has been a notable, measurable success in the so-called, call it the gross city product of Helsinki. As you said, four years is going on now. Have you been able to identify a trend in the way the economy works and can you link that with cities, city as a service? Sorry, could you repeat the question again? Yeah, I mean, what effect has this had on your economy? After all, it is intended, at least in part, to bolster, improve, you know, vitalize your economy. So I think one, maybe like a very, very interesting data point to give from the past decade, like Laura mentioned, like we have a lot of tech talent. And if we go back 10 years from now, becoming an entrepreneur was not a carrier path for too many. And actually 1% of youth considered themselves or considered entrepreneurship as a carrier option. And now that number is 50%. So I think there has happened like a very, very tremendous jump for, like in the mindsets of young people and also the older generation towards more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship and technology. And I think that has led this like very, very big boost in the Finnish economy that there has been more and more very interesting companies born in Helsinki and also in other cities of Finland. And like nowadays, like the Finnish startup ecosystem represents one of the kind of like global leading startup ecosystem actually. So I think that has been quite dramatic change. Is it part of this, the bell curve, you know, the demographic bell curve of youth and age. And there was a piece on television here in Honolulu a day or two ago about Italy and about how no babies were born, virtually no babies were born in large parts of Italy. And so, you know, the demographic was going upside down which has a big effect on your economy. Is part of this initiative that you guys are working on an idea to bring young people to Finland because you need them? I'd say probably that can be like a one of the root causes why something like this has happened or like what the positive attitude towards entrepreneurship has happened already or started to grow already 10 years ago. That was one thing. But also the fact that new companies bring quite a lot of the new jobs. And I think it was, I would still have to check like what was the precise percentage of new jobs created back then. But that was like one of the main reasons why Finland wanted to bring more startup companies that are growing from Finnish economy. Laura, would you add anything to that? And by the way, is Vardsilla in Helsinki, is this part of your economy? Because I had some experience with our Vardsilla is world known as one of the top shipyard builders shipping ship builders in the world. So is that part of what you're doing? Yeah, we actually cooperate with them. Yes, I mean, this is, as I mentioned, this is a small city and a quite small country. So we, I used to say that everybody's within the reach of one or two phone calls. So I do have friends working there and I know people working for the wonderful company. Yeah. So you think Nokia is coming back? Oh yeah, big time. Yeah, they're very strong in networks at the moment. And... Good, good. Well, I have one last question for you guys. And it's, you know, I mentioned before the show that if you walked around in Honolulu and you said you see a city as a service, as a concept, you see this, you know, trust initiative, this caring for each other initiative, this pride in the city, you see that here. And I would say most people would say, no, we don't. No, we don't. We have too many problems and there's no community will, if you will, to improve it, to be proud of it and so forth. And I would guess that a lot of cities in the United States are just like that. They're blinded or, you know, they're just lack of energy, so to speak. And so the question is, can you actually deliver, propagate what you do to other cities? You think other cities will pick it up like in the US and you think this is the, you know, the trend and that maybe they'll say, oh gee, Helsinki, what a great city. We ought to do the same thing. Can you travel around and talk about that, you guys? Yeah, yeah. Oh, definitely. We want to kind of start a global movement of, you know, but honestly, for the governments, city governments, I think it's really important to think about people because cities exist for people. They don't exist for the government or they don't exist for the administration itself, but they exist for people. So the one and only thing that they actually should care about is how people see them and how they can serve people. So I believe each and every city should be a city of service. So what are your closing thoughts, your advice, to us in a city which may not have the same view, the same advantages that you have in this program? What would you tell us? Speak to the people of Honolulu now. I'll explain to you first. Okay, I'd say that this is a false statement that you don't have the same advantages. I mean, just look outside here. I'd say that our starting point was a bit tougher than to get people to Honolulu or to Hawaii. This is the sweetest weather in the world right now. So you just have to play what you have. Laura, what do you think? Well, I agree with Alex. I think each and every city should be more like themselves. They should be more authentic and really to kind of like understand what's the core values of that particular city. And people are excited about authenticity. It's not anymore the touristic, you know, interactions that get your attention, but you really need to be more you. And this is what makes people curious. What a lovely thought. Well, I hope you guys will find a way to get over here and talk to us. And I can guarantee you that if you can make it, I will set up groups that would like to hear everything you have to say. Wonderful. Laura, Alexander, you guys are great. How do you say farewell in Finnish? Oh, Finnish is a tough language. But you say Nakameen. Okay, Nakamee. Nakamee. Yeah. Aloha, we say. Thanks so much, you guys. Bye bye. Great to talk to you. Bye bye. Bye bye.