News

Beyond Helsinki-Uusimaa: Building Momentum for 2025

Published: 30.1.2025

In some parts of the world, people look for a single word each year to sum up their hopes and challenges. If I had to choose one for the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region in 2025, it would be “momentum”—or liikevoima in Finnish.

Momentum is not just movement—it’s the force that drives meaningful changes, builds strength through collaboration, and fuels purposeful progress. It captures the essence of what the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council strives for: shaping a competitive, resilient, and future-ready region.

Helsinki-Uusimaa is a powerhouse, contributing over one-third of Finland’s GDP and drawing significant foreign investment. Its progress shapes not just the region but the country’s trajectory. But as we grow, we must ensure our progress stays within planetary boundaries, aiming for development that is both sustainable and inclusive.

2025: A crossroads of opportunities

As we step into 2025, Helsinki-Uusimaa stands at a unique intersection of global shifts, EU priorities, and local innovation. One of our tasks as regional developers is to connect dots and align policies to build resilience and foster sustainable growth for our region. This raises some big questions:

How do global trends influence our future?
How can we ensure they work in favour of our regional ambitions?

Let’s explore these dynamics across three key levels: global, European and local.

Global shifts: riding the waves of change

Last year, political and policy shifts dominated the global landscape. Elections across countries represent 54% of the global population and 60% of the global GDP. Finland’s presidential election, the European Parliament elections, the U.S. presidential election, among others, set new directions for policy and economics. As we enter 2025, we observe that the race for technical leadership between the United States, China, and Europe intensifies while we navigate changing trade patterns, new alliances, and the growing influence of emerging economies like India and Southeast Asia.

While North America remains a major trading block for Europe, the EU now closely watches the return of the Trump presidency and unpredictable trade, climate, technology and security policies. This raises concerns about future economic stability and potential ripple effects on Europe. Meanwhile, China deepens its ties with emerging markets while reassessing its approach to the West.

Regional administrations may not have a direct link to value chains and industries, but we play a crucial role in creating the conditions for businesses to thrive. For Helsinki-Uusimaa, this means preparing for uncertainty and finding opportunities in these shifts. Some questions we need to answer:

What role can we play in helping businesses navigate the changing trade and investment landscapes?
How can we help businesses strengthen ties with global markets, for instance, North America and the Global South, while building independent supply chain capabilities?
How can we use EU, Finnish, and regional policies and resources to strengthen the EU single market and foster innovation ecosystems that enable businesses to remain resilient amid growing technological competition?

Navigating Europe’s Next Chapter: Opportunities for Helsinki-Uusimaa

With a new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen, the EU is gearing up for major initiatives in 2025. The Competitiveness Compass, built on the pillars of the Draghi Report, aims to close Europe’s innovation gap and strengthen strategic autonomy.

In parallel, the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034 will shape Europe’s financial architecture, including the Cohesion Policy and the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). This framework is critical for advancing innovation and collaboration across Europe.

These developments bring opportunities and responsibilities for Helsinki-Uusimaa:

How can we advocate for innovation-driven, place-based solutions in the MFF to address regional needs and global priorities?
Can we ensure FP10 promotes synergies between EU funding instruments and regional innovation ecosystems, enabling Helsinki-Uusimaa to lead in areas like green technologies, health, AI, and quantum computing?
How can we leverage these tools to drive balanced and sustainable development in our region and across Europe?

Local vision: Strengthening Helsinki-Uusimaa’s economic vitality

At home, Helsinki-Uusimaa Region remains Finland’s economic engine. In 2023, we attracted 128 new foreign investments— 52% of all FDI to Finland. However, global challenges such as supply chain disruptions, competition for critical materials, and the race to lead in climate mitigation and adaptation test the region’s resilience. These pressures and Finland’s slower productivity growth and exports emphasize the need to look beyond the region to find new opportunities and strengthen our economic foundation.

On a national level, Finland faces high unemployment and budgetary cuts that impact multiple industries. Nevertheless, the government has also introduced targeted support measures for research, development, and innovation (RDI) which provide new opportunities for regions like Helsinki-Uusimaa and its actors to drive sustainable growth and long-term competitiveness by leveraging RDI investments. Considering that the region will integrate the Research and Innovation Strategy of Smart Specialisation as part of its regional programme starting in 2026, the Helsinki-Uusimaa region must look beyond the border and the obvious to scout and nurture the innovation and competitiveness of the region.

As we prepare the 2026–2029 Regional Programme, we must ask:

What do we mean by the vitality of the region? How can we strengthen collaboration among municipalities, cities, businesses, research institutions, and stakeholders in shaping our future?
What kind of business will we have in the future? How do we future-proof those industries, such as clean energy, circular economy, digitalization, service, and advanced manufacturing?
What is a good quality of life for our citizens? Are we doing enough to prioritize education, workforce development, quality of life, and inclusivity to nurture, attract, and retain the talent needed for progress?

Momentum for 2025: Moving forward together

Momentum isn’t just about moving—it’s about moving forward together. Helsinki-Uusimaa is committed to connecting regional and local efforts with global opportunities and aliging with European priorities.

The real question isn’t whether we will move forward—it’s how far we can go when we move forward together.

As we navigate uncertainty, I invite colleagues across European regions, cities and policymakers to join us in fostering collaboration and innovation. By actively engaging with the EU’s agenda and aligning it with local priorities, we can channel this momentum into creating a future built on resilience, innovation, sustainability, and shared success across our regions and beyond.

The real question isn’t whether we will move forward—it’s how far we can go when we move forward together.

Helsinki-Uusimaa on the lookout – key milestones for 2025

Helsinki-Uusimaa
– September: Draft of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Programme 2026–2029.
– December: Political adoption of Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Programme 2026–2029.

Finland
– Follow up on Finland’s Industry policy, Clean Transition Aid Scheme, National Circular Economy Green Deal, amongst others.

European Union
– January: Launch of the Competitiveness Compass.
– February: Adoption of the 2025–2026 Work Programme and Clean Industrial Deal.
– July: Proposal for a new Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034

Global Context
– January: U.S. presidential inauguration—prepare for potential impacts of Trump 2.0 policy on global trade, technology, security and other areas

More information:

Beyond Helsinki-Uusimaa

Beyond Helsinki-Uusimaa is a blog series that takes a closer look into the megatrends, initiatives, partnerships, and frameworks shaping the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region beyond its borders. The series explores why and how the region is positioning itself as an influential player within EU networks and global innovation ecosystems, now and in the future.

Christine Chang

The writer works as a Senior Advisor on EU Affairs. With over a decade of experience in Taiwan, the USA, and Finland, she leads EU-funded initiatives, driving sustainable growth and innovation in Helsinki-Uusimaa and across Europe.