Leveraging Finland’s critical tech strengths to future-proof Europe
Europe’s prosperity and security now hinge on a handful of critical technologies*—from chips to AI, quantum, connectivity, supercomputing, space and cybersecurity. The EU has begun to deploy major programmes such as the Chips Act and EuroHPC, yet budget and market fragmentation still slows the leap from lab to production—and ultimately to global leadership. Our latest joint policy brief with The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland argues that the moment is ripe for a sharper focus on excellence, bigger company-led RDI missions and a regulatory environment that rewards, rather than restrains, fastmoving innovators.
These technology areas are identified as essential for economic security; they are enabling and transformative, with potential for civil–military fusion.
- Advanced semiconductors
- Artificial intelligence
- Quantum technologies
- Biotechnologies
- Advanced connectivity & digital technologies
- Advanced sensing
- Space & propulsion
- Energy technologies
- Robotics & autonomous systems
- Advanced materials & manufacturing
Technology Industries of Finland (TIF) views this challenge through a very practical lens: Finland already operates five EU pilot lines for semiconductors, hosts Europe’s LUMI supercomputer and has connected it to a domestic 50 qubit quantum computer, while Nokia steers global 6G standardisation work. These and other key assets showcased in our brief show what can happen when strategic public investment meets industrial ambition and a deep pool of talent.
Our recommendations therefore call on the EU to scale Finland’s ‘leadcompany model’ to European level, create a European Critical Tech Fund that can channel patient capital into deeptech scaleups, and use procurement and standards policy to create predictable demand for trusted solutions. Crucially, rules must be future-proof and ‘born digital’: legislation should be machinereadable from day one, enforcement coordinated across Member States and supported by regulatory technology (RegTech) so that SMEs can focus on innovation, not paperwork.
Finally, Europe’s competitiveness will rise or fall with its ability to attract the brightest people. By pairing streamlined ‘EU Tech Talent Visas’ with Finland’s proven approach to global recruitment and fast digital onboarding, we can turn today’s braindrain from other regions into tomorrow’s braingain for the Single Market. TIF’s call to action is clear: let’s pool our strengths, fund excellence at scale and build a regulatory climate that helps European companies lead—not follow—in the technologies that will define the next decade.
Policy recommendations for the EU
In the publication Critical Digital Tech from Finland: Driving Security and Growth in Europe, Technology Industries of Finland, Sitra and VTT propose that the EU should:
- Adopt Finland’s proven lead company model in the funding of research, development, and innovation activities.
- Significantly increase the focus on the development and deployment of critical technologies within the EU budget. Funding should be based on excellence rather than on levelling regional disparities.
- Establish a fund combining private and public capital to provide equity financing for European growth companies in critical technology sectors.
- Attract technology talent more systematically from around the world, capitalising in particular on the weakening pull of the United States.
- Future-proof and simplify EU regulation so that it serves as a competitive advantage—rather than a burden—for the development and application of critical technologies within the European Single Market.
- Create demand for solutions based on critical technologies by making greater use of innovative public procurement.
- Take a more active role in international technology standardisation.
- Enhance Europe’s global influence by supporting the development of secure digital infrastructure beyond the EU.
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