Export earnings from the mobile phone business, which had long supported our economy, have disappeared, the significance of Russia has diminished, while importance of countries such as Germany have increased. Despite the difficulties of the recent past, the forest industry is still one of the pillars of Finnish exports alongside the heavy engineering metal industry, and high tech electronics.
Software industry, like online games, creates a lot of revenue, but employ relatively few people. [Slide 3] Finland’s growth performance was exceptional between 1995 and 2007. It was fueled by Finland’s long tradition of investing heavily on human capital and education. The focus on engineering helped too.