| Otaniemi | |
| Main District: | Suur-Tapiola |
| Inner District: | Otaniemi, Keilaniemi |
| Population: | 3,496 (2006) |
| Finnish: | 82.6 |
| Swedish: | 4.3 |
| Other: | 13.2 |
| Jobs: | 12,826 |
Otaniemi (Otnäs in Swedish) is a district in Espoo, Finland. It is located near the border of Helsinki, capital of Finland.
Otaniemi is known as the silicon valley of Finland. The whole innovation ecosystem is present as Otaniemi is the home of most notable of (and synonymous for) the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) (Teknillinen korkeakoulu (TKK) in Finnish), The Finnish Innovation Center, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Micronova the Micro- and Nanotechnology research center, KCL the paper and pulp research center, CSC the IT center for Science, GTK Geological survey of Finland, MIKES. Business is represented in the area by the business incubator Technopolis Ventures, Technopolis and within a kilometer the Keilaniemi area is home to such world headquarters as Nokia, Neste, Kone and Fortum. Many of the finnish headquarters of large global companies are also in the area; such as Microsoft, MSD and Nissan.
Otaniemi hosts a vibrant - and at times rowdy - student community especially concentrated in the several blocks of student housing called Teekkarikylä. Some buildings of Teekkarikylä are owned by the student association of TKK, others are owned by HOAS.
Many buildings located in the Otaniemi campus area, including the main building of TKK, are designed by famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. For this reason, the area is protected as a national scenery, representing the modernist and functionalist architecture Finland is famous for internationally.
Otaniemi is located 15 minutes west of Helsinki, a stone’s throw from Nokia’s worldwide headquarters. The area is widely regarded as the leading technology hub in the Nordic countries, featuring a unique mix of world-class research organizations, academic institutions and over 600 companies from start-ups to multinational corporations operating around a compact 2 kilometer campus. Twice selected by the EU as one of the most innovative regions in Europe, Otaniemi is a community of over 32,000 people with 16,000 students and 16,000 technology professionals.
As late as the 1940s, Otaniemi was used for agriculture. In 1949, the Government of Finland purchased the lands of Otaniemi manor for use as the campus of the University of Technology - TKK and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. First to be built was the student campus of the Helsinki University of Technology, which also served as one of the Olympic Villages in the 1952 games. Several thousand students currently live in Otaniemi. The region has since been built up around TKK and VTT and is the core of Finnish science and technology activities. The area is architecturally unique, boasting buildings designed by leading Finnish architects including Alvar Aalto, Heikki and Kaija Sirén, and Reima and Raili Pietilä. Otaniemi is a prime example of how physical proximity and interconnectedness foster collaboration and innovation between public and private organizations.
Otaniemi has gained international recognition in ICT thanks largely to Nokia, but it also contains a host of other cutting-edge technology clusters, including mobility-based software and web ware, as well as nanotechnology and microelectronics. Companies, institutes and universities do world class research in a close-knit community that encourages collaborative R&D and commercial collaboration. Otaniemi also hosts multinational corporations like Nokia, Kone, Fortum, Neste Oil, Microsoft Finland and Nissan’s Nordic HQ. Hundreds of networking and matchmaking events and activities are organized, to help generate transactions between key players and their stakeholders and potential partners.
