| Series Title | European Voice |
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| Series Details | Vol.9, No.35, 23.10.03, p37 |
| Publication Date | 23/10/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 23/10/03 RECENTLY appointed European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice-President Sauli Niinistö, (see Movers & Shakers, below), has signed two major loans in his native Finland. Niinistö, whose responsibilities at the EIB also include Sweden, the Baltic states and Russia, signed deals worth €30 million for hospital infrastructure and health care investments in Helsinki and Uusimaa, as well as a further €45m for the expansion of science parks in Finland. The latter will allow Technopolis, a firm listed on the Helsinki stock exchange, to support a three-year investment programme involving the construction and/or renovation of laboratory and research premises in Oulu, Espoo and Vantaa. The facilities will be leased to research-intensive companies active in sectors such as biotechnology, electronics and the environment, as well as research institutes such as VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and higher education institutes such as Espoo-Vantaa Polytechnic. All three science parks qualify as national "centres of expertise" and form an integral part of the government's technology policy and regional development programme. The centres aim to create a favourable infrastructure for business, boosting the prospect of commercial success for innovations. The programme aims to maintain Finland's position as one of the leading EU countries in terms of R&D as a proportion of GDP. The EIB financing for the science parks falls under its innovation initiative (i2i), a key priority for the bank. The prolongation of the i2i programme as far ahead as 2010 reflects the long-term ambitions of the Lisbon and Barcelona objectives, aimed at fostering the development of a knowledge- and innovation-based European economy. The hospital investment programme in the Uusimaa region (located in the south of Finland) includes a number of small- and medium-sized schemes - both new buildings and refurbishment of existing buildings - as well as the purchase of IT equipment and diagnostic, therapeutic and research installations. |
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| Countries / Regions | Finland |
