The Capital of Northern Scandinavia, Oulu sends this week a notable delegation headed by the mayor Matti Pennanen to New York City, US for the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Summit, where the winner of the intelligent community of 2012 will be announced this Friday, June 8th. The ICF Summit is an international gathering of mayors, chief administrative officers, chief information officers and economic development officers from cities, states and regions around the world. Oulu, Finland was the only European city out of all the 364 competition participants to reach the TOP7.
Besides city officials the Oulu delegation comprises of a group of Oulu based start-ups, and they will have their own event at the Consulate General of Finland, New York on June 5th. At this event companies like GIN, Zef Solutions, Wantlet, Minus Degree Mobile, FilmMe, Cyberlightining, Mobile Brain Bank, SingOn and TimerGPS will be introduced to investors and businesses.
Oulu activities in New York (local time (+7 h to Finland)):
Tuesday 5.6.2012 at 6.00 -9.00 pm.
Capital of Northern Scandinavia - introducing the most intelligent community of Europe 2012 with business highlights Reception at the Consulate General of Finland. (866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 250 New York)
Wednesday 6.6.2012 at 2.00 pm.
The Director of BusinessOulu, Juha Ala-Mursula will give a speech at the ICF-TOP7 meeting (MetLife Building, between 44th and 45th Streets on Park Avenue, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan.)
Thursday 7.6.2012 at 7:45pm.
The Mayor of Oulu, Matti Pennanen will give speech (Dibner Auditorium of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn, the "Left Bank" of New York City.)
Friday 8.6.2012 at 2.00 pm.
Intelligent Community of the Year Award Ceremony. (Steiner Studio Stage Six in the Brooklyn Navy Yard)
When rewieving the ICF award applicants, the international jury was especially impressed by the degree of close collaboration of business and research institutions on all levels in Oulu.
The Top Seven represent models of economic and social transformation in the 21st Century. Each community exemplifies best practices in broadband deployment and use, workforce development, innovation, digital inclusion and advocacy that offer lessons to regions, cities, towns and villages around the world. They are charting new paths to lasting prosperity for their citizens, businesses and institutions.
Top seven in 2012:
Austin, Texas, USA.
Oulu, Finland.
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
Riverside, California, USA.
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
Taichung City, Taiwan
Oulu delegation:
Matti Pennanen, Mayor, +358 44 7031110
Juha Ala-Mursula, Director of BusinessOulu, +358 40 5597020
Kyösti Oikarinen, The Chairman of the New Oulu Municipality Merger Board, +358 500 681089
Mervi Tervo, Member of the City council, + 358 40 5947426
Pauliina Pikkujämsä, Head of Marketing, +358 40 7434362
Outi Rouru-Kuivala, (ICF) Project Manger, +358 44 7031637
Ville Heikkinen, Venture finance specialist, +358 40 7507517
Christian Sundell,specialist IT ja Nano, +358 50 368 9609
BusinessOulu contact in Finland:
Alpo Merilä, editorial publicist, +358 50 591 8562
Company links:
GIN, http://www.go-gin.com/
Zef Solutions, http://www.zef.fi/en/
Wantlet, http://www.wantlet.com/
Minus Degree Mobile, http://www.minusdegree.net/
FilmMe, http://www.filmme.tv/
Cyberlightining, http://www.cyberlightning.com/
Mobile Brain Bank, http://www.mobilebrainbank.com/
SingOn, http://www.singon.com/games/karaokegame/
ICF related
Intelligent Community Forum
http://www.intelligentcommunity.org
BO press release in English: http://www.businessoulu.com/en/news-events/news/archive/oulu-is-named-in-the-top-seven-of-most-intelligent-cities-in-the-world.html