The services of the Finnish AI Region, or FAIR, were officially opened at an event organized last Tuesday. The opening of FAIR gathered more than two hundred curious participants, a large part of which consisted of representatives of the Finnish business world.

Teemu Moilanen from Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, who was responsible for organizing the event, says that he was surprised by the positive reception of the event among companies.

According to him, the number of audiences shows that there is a clear need for a new artificial intelligence ecosystem.

“More than a hundred companies had registered for the event. It shows that there is a real need for our services in Finland. SMEs in Finland are serious about expanding and deepening the use of artificial intelligence in their business”, he reflects in a lively manner.

The keynote speakers of the event were Ilona Lundström, Head of the Enterprise & Innovation Department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, FAIR’s KalleToivonen from the City of Helsinki, and Microsoft’s Lukas Lundin, whose topics ranged from the importance of artificial intelligence to the use of ChatGPT and, of course, FAIR’s service offering.

After the speeches, it was time for a free discussion and networking, during which the participants could ask FAIR’s experts more about the services and possible collaboration.

FAIR consists of ten partner organizations that provide its services as a network. The cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, Aalto University, University of Helsinki, Haaga-Helia and Metropolia Universities of Applied Sciences, KIRA InnoHub, IT Center of Science CSC and European Innovation and Technology Institute EIT Digital. Enter Espoo acts as an affiliate partner.

FAIR’s associated Partners are ABB, Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District HUS, Microsoft, Siemens Healthineer’s Varian Finland, and the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council. FAIR is one of the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH). The network’s operations are funded by the European Union together with Business Finland and the Helsinki Innovation Fund.

You can find more information about the FAIR at: https://www.fairedih.fi/.