Yeah, it is a nice country full of forests, lakes, and saunas. Here are just a few examples of the popular attractions that we like most.

If you want to hold the wedding ceremony, I believe that both the Cathedral and Temppeliaukio Church are wonderful. The Cathedral is a distinct landmark in the central Helsinki, with a tall green dome surrounded by four smaller domes. The church represents the neoclassical style with long history. It looks attractive and gorgeous. The Temppeliaukio Church is very special that it is quarried out of the natural bedrock. It doesn’t have the spire and bell tower as the normal church. The interior walls are created by the rock and the dome is made of the copper wires. This church is often used for concerts, because of its excellent acoustics. It is simple, nature with unique charm and deserves to visit!

If you like sports, you can try canoeing in Espoo. We tried almost 1000 meters in the lake and went to the island for rest. We drank tea, ate snack, chat and enjoyed the nice views. In Finland, all of the islands are free open to the public. If interested, you can also pick berries roadside. Another choice is to the Levi’s adventure park. It tests your physical strength and inside courage. When I went to the third rank, my legs were shaking on the swing. The coach encouraged me to continue. I moved step by step nervously and nearly fell off on the last step. At that moment, I felt the power of love from the hand of my husband.
If you love animals, there are the reindeer, polar bear, husky dog, and wild boar in Finland. The most interesting was to see the alpaca in a farm, looks like the new Chinese character囧. It was also the first time for us to ride on the horse in the forest. People swung by the horse walking rhythmically. I imagined that we went back to the eighteenth century like the British aristocracy.
If you like fairy tales, Lapland has the mysterious Christmas Village. We visited the Santa Claus and sent a crystal gift for him. He wrote the wishes on our Expo passport, which also means the footprint of 2010 expo reached the Arctic Circle. Both my husband and I were missing the little baby during the travel. It was fantastic to send the postcards from the Christmas post office.

Next time we want to try the Glasshouse on the peak of Levi. Lying on the bed, you can look at the stars from the glass of dome. In winter, there is aurora across the sky. What the graceful feeling! Another part is the SPA for me, water park and science center for my baby in Vantaa. Who can imagine that I am able to lift the car? It is true in the science center and I want to take my baby to experience more. Taking a ferry to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress and so many other things are also on my plan.

Happy time is always short! It is pity that we have limited time to visit Finland. Hopefully we will come back in the near future.

During the visit to Finland, I am very curious about kindergarten as a new mum. The Master and the teacher sincerely gave us the nice introduction.

First, it doesn’t carry on any interview to select children from kindergarten. On the contrary, children and parents choose the kindergarten by preferences.

Second, it fully respects child as individual. At home, sometimes we could see such a scene that the child is crying loudly when he is dragged into kindergarten by the parent. In Finland, there is a program called ’soft landing’, that is, in the first six weeks, parents can accompany the child in the kindergarten together, watching them eat, sleep and play. On one hand, it lets the child feel safe, slowly get familiar with new environment. On the other hand, it also allows the adult further check the nursery is really appropriate to the child. In addition, children can bring the mother’s photo, his favorite toy, and so on. It makes him feel at home. Everyone has the typical growth plan.

Last but not least, all the teachers in the kindergarten hold the master degree. One teacher is only responsible for the average of seven children. The little baby will get more care that is counted more than one child. Before the child enters into the kindergarten, the teacher visits the child’s home, talks with parents and get familiar with the habit of the child. It is no formal classroom training, but a lot of ‘play education’ instead. For example, the teacher lets the children know the leaves, grass and insects when they play in the forests. It is flexible to educate among different environments.
We had a nice conversation at that morning. The children were playing sands, swing and toys outside the house. We can see their smiles, listen to their laughs and feel their happiness. I believe that the happiness is most important for childhood.

With the meticulous arrangements from Finnish side, I was able to experience very substantial innovative trip for one week. I was accompanied by Mr. Kimmo Heinonen, Innovation Development Manager of Culminatum Ltd Co. He arranged every meeting very scrupulously, and his professionalism and attentiveness were very impressive.  I visited almost every important agency of Finnish national innovation system. However, most important among those were the following institutions: Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Aalto University, Tekes, VTT, Vantaa Innovation Institute, Culminatum Innovation Ltd, Sitra, and others.  Besides, I also visited and learned about Chinese-owned start-up company, several science parks, and enterprises there as well.

Finland is the world’s first country which applies the theory of National Innovation System into practice.  At present, Finland has become one of the most innovative and competitive countries in the world.  By 2020, Finland will become one of the leading knowledge-based societies in the world.  Overall, the national innovation system has been established successfully in Finland, it has formed an effective operation of the system from which China can learn.  The Innovation Department of Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy is responsible for implementation of the national innovation strategy and coordinates various agencies of the innovative services.

Following is the summary of the main institutions:

TEKES (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) is the main public funding organization for research (basic or long-term research), development and innovation in Finland.  It gives funding to various institutions – be it enterprises, universities or institutes, and it requires integration of production, teaching, and research, which eventually generates a series of achievable innovations that could drive the formation of industrial clusters.

SITRA is an independent innovative funding agency, which is mainly responsible for fostering the transformation of technologies and providing financial support for commercialization.

VTT is the national technology research center which is also the largest multidisciplinary research institution in Nordic countries.  VTT provides one stop services starting from innovative concept to the scientific research, and also outsourcing services.

The main function of Culminatum is managing the expertise clusters in Helsinki region.

At noon of March 8th, I visited the headquarters of Greater Helsinki Promotion (GHP) accompanied by Mr. Kimmo Heinonen, Innovation Development Manager of Culminatum Ltd Co. and Ms. Zhang An, Chief Representative at GHP Shanghai rep. office. CEO of GHP, Mr. Tatu Laurila gave us a presentation of the general functions of GHP.

The main purpose of GHP is to attract the investment and development to greater Helsinki region from all over the world.  So far, the well-known Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, and BYD have set their R&D centers in Helsinki.

GHP is active in searching further co-operation with relevant ministries in China to help more Chinese enterprises to expand their businesses to Nordic markets.  Golden Bridge is a very important bilateral cooperation initiative between Chinese and Finnish governments.  Currently, Greater Helsinki Promotion Ltd acts as the project leader from Finnish side, co-operating with S&T bureau and also high-tech incubator center of its first Chinese partner Shenzhen Nanshan.

In Finland, there are many innovation talents, and country provides excellent innovation atmosphere.  Chinese enterprises could consider setting their affiliates or R&D centers in Finland if they would like to enter Nordic market.

In the morning of March 8th, accompanied by Mr. Kimmo Heinonen, Innovation Development Manager of Culminatum Ltd Co., I visited and learned about the innovation centre of Aalto University called Design Factory. Director of the Design Factory Mr. Veijo Ilmavirta and Mr. Kalevi Ekman not only gave us a very thorough presentation, but also guided us on a tour through the whole design factory.

Aalto University was officially established on January 1, 2010, and it is a combination of three Finnish universities after their merger – Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology, and The University of Art and Design Helsinki.  The ambitious goal of the new university is to become one of the leading institutions in the world regarding research and innovation in its own specialized disciplines.

Design Factory is an interactive platform of product design and learning hub, which brings students, teachers, researchers and business people together.  Design Factory is an experimental platform of Aalto University, started in October 2008.  Another Design Factory, Aalto Tongji Design Factory is under establishment within the cooperation between Aalto University and Tongji University in China, and is planned to be started in March 2010.

An innovative city like Shenzhen should also strengthen cooperation with Aalto University in order to create a better innovation environment for innovators, providing concept generation and sharing the inspiration for innovative ideas.

Pixelache Roundtable talk 1/2 from LAB on Vimeo.

# Presentations and discussions (propose a topic below!)
# Two exhibition openings
# A selection of installations by Pixelache participants

Introduction

Camp Pixelache
Friday 26 March @ Kerava Art Museum

wiki.pixelache.ac/10kerava/home

Camp Pixelache from LAB on Vimeo.

interview Marita Muukkonen & Ivor Stodolsky 1/2 from LAB on Vimeo.

THE RAW, THE COOKED AND PACHAGED – the archive of perestroika art.

interview Marita Muukkonen & Ivor Stodolsky 2/2 from LAB on Vimeo.

Kaapeli 电线工厂 from LAB on Vimeo.