Almost every month a new biotechnology company is created in Finland. Most of them originate from universities and are generally situated near major biocentres in different parts of the country. Many bioindustry companies have their eyes fixed directly on international markets.

There are more than 120 bioindustry companies in Finland. Finland accounts for about 10 per cent of the bioindustry companies in Europe. Three out of four of these were established in the 1990s. During the past three years dozens of new companies have been created.

The new companies focus to a great extent on the development of medicine and diagnostics. The biggest growth centre at this moment is the Helsinki region, where most of the new companies are being created. Many of them owe their origins to the university and are research-oriented. Gene and molecular biology are perhaps the areas that are most typical of Helsinki.

Bio Valley at Turku is also expanding rapidly with the growth in companies. There are more than 40 biotechnology companies in Turku, the biggest of which are situated in Bio Valley. The traditional areas of know-how in Turku are medicine, diagnostics and functional (health-promoting) foods. Turku is also investing in the development of biomaterials.

Of the other major biocentres, Tampere concentrates on health technology and Oulu's special field is molecular and cell biology. At Kuopio Biocentre there is a great deal of bioindustry relating to farming and pharmaceuticals development.

Finland's bioindustry is young and almost entirely under private ownership. BioTie Therapies, which develops pharmaceuticals based on biotechnology, and Biohit, which operates in the biotechnology and high-tech fields, have a listing on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Bionx Implants, which produces surgical implants from biomaterials, is listed on Nasdaq.

The combined turnover of the Finnish bioindustry companies in 2000 was more than EUR 660 million. They employ more than 4,200 people. If the pharmaceutical plants are included, the figures rise to EUR 1,860 million and 10,800 jobs.

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