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Digital transformation is a cross-cutting priority for City of Turku and region of Southwest Finland. Turku’s flagship project Smart and Wise Turku aims to help the city to prepare for climate change and the challenges brought by urbanisation and ageing population with the use of digitalisation and the data it produces. Southwest Finland has a strong ICT cluster and the region is Finland’s most significant hub for health technology and life sciences.
Green transition is a top priority for the City of Turku and the region of Southwest Finland, which can be seen in the ambitious climate and environmental policies. Turku aims to be carbon neutral by 2029 and climate positive from there onwards. The region holds strong expertise in circular economy, sustainable food-based innovations and cleantech solutions.
Located by the Baltic Sea, region of Southwest Finland has strong historical roots in the maritime business. Today, Turku region is the most important production cluster of Finnish maritime industry. Sustainable blue growth is key as Turku and Southwest Finland strive to protect the vulnerable Baltic Sea and to preserve the unique biodiversity of the Archipelago Sea. Turku systemically promotes cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region and is an active member in many Baltic Sea related organisations.
The strong maritime cluster of Southwest Finland, Turku's ambitious work for climate mitigation and enhancing circular economy, as well as smart solutions in urban context and in businesses – these are the topics we are good at.
Our focus areas are
We are a Blue, Green and Smart City and Region.
City of Turku
Turku is a vibrant and steadily growing city by the Baltic Sea. Founded in 1229, it is also the oldest city in Finland and the former capital. Nowadays, the City has almost 200.000 inhabitants. The Turku region, comprising Turku and neighbouring municipalities, has approximately 330.000 inhabitants which makes it the third biggest urban region in Finland.
Turku-Southwest Finland European Office (Turku EU Office) represents City of Turku and Regional Council of Southwest Finland bringing together all 27 municipalities in the region. The office has been active in Brussels since 1998.
The main mission of Turku EU Office is to act as interlocutor between our region and Brussels – we bring EU closer to the region and serve as regional contact point in Brussels. Our main task is to support our stakeholders to implement their strategic priorities at the EU level.
Our main activities are
Turku was the only city in Finland's delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference. In her speeches, Mayor Minna Arve particularly emphasised the importance of cities in the fight against climate change.
A campaign arranged by the City of Turku between December 7–10 to help residents of the city of Kharkiv brought in large amounts of electric and heating equipment. A total of 122 donors, ranging from private individuals to groups of friends and companies, participated in the aid campaign.
Turku can, for a good reason, be called the imaging capital of Finland and even the entire Europe. The city is home to both the headquarters of the Euro-BioImaging research infrastructure and the national Turku PET Centre, one of the continent’s most important medical imaging centres.
The state-of-the-art building “Tyyssija” (Eng. “Haven”) opened its doors to student tenants in the beginning of 2022.
Starting from October, the regional cooperation of EU countries bordering the Baltic Sea has a joint coordination hub in Finland and Germany. The newly established Baltic Sea Strategy Point will act as a support unit for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
Plans to build the world’s first climate-neutral cruise ship are underway in Turku. Moreover, a new textile refinement plant will be built in Turku, making Finland the first country in the world where post-consumer textiles are obtained nationwide for reuse and recycling. These unique projects have received financial support from the EU recovery funds.
European union Mission on 100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities in Europe by 2030 aims to support at least 100 cities to become carbon-neutral by the end of the decade. The City of Turku was selected as one of the 100 frontrunner cities.
