The World Expo 2025 is being held in Osaka, Japan, from 13 April to 13 October 2025. The World Expo is a major international event where different countries, companies and organisations showcase their innovations, culture and solutions for the future, typically in country-specific pavilions built for the event.
The overall theme of this year’s Expo is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” and more than 150 countries are participating in the event. Finland is participating as part of the Nordic Pavilion, whose theme is “Together towards a better future”.
The aim of Finland’s visibility and participation is to showcase Finnish expertise and innovation, particularly in solutions related to education, technology, health, and culture. Finland’s participation aims to promote business relations and cooperation opportunities with the Japanese and Asian markets and to increase Finland’s attractiveness as a destination for tourism and investment.
Oulu participated prominently in the Nordic Pavilion’s Expo programme by organising a special Oulu Day on 4 June 2025 with the theme “Build a Better Future through Connectivity and Trust”.
During the morning, the topic was VisitOulu’s tourism and education prospects, and in the afternoon, BusinessOulu’s ICT and Health ecosystems were presented. During the afternoon, the Oulu companies participating in the delegation also had the opportunity to give speeches, and the University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences presented their solutions related to education and research themes.
In addition to the Expo day, a varied programme was organised for the Oulu delegation for the entire week in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
At the beginning of the week, the Birth-Lab side event in Tokyo brought together experts from Japan and Finland in the fields of education exports, startup ecosystem development and export cooperation. Side events held in Osaka and a company visit in Kyoto during the week raised the profile of Oulu-based companies and increased opportunities for cooperation between different cities, companies and organisations in Japan and Finland.
If you are interested in the Expo as an event, there is still time to participate! Due to the high popularity and crowds, we recommend registering for the pavilions in advance and purchasing your Expo ticket and badge in advance to avoid queues at the venue.
And a couple of words as greetings from Japan to end with: Although we are a small group of people here in the north, our innovation and expertise are at such a high level and provide such a refreshing Arctic breeze to the world that we can and should be proud of them.