Finns kick off Suomi Finland 100 Singapore

On Friday 18 November the Suomi Finland 100 Singapore (SF100SG) programme kicked off at the residence of the Finnish Ambassador Paula Parviainen, with other Nordic ambassadors in attendance.

Also media and company representatives, event organisers and several friends of Finland joined to hear about SF100SG, while sampling a truly Finnish food experience brought to the tropics by culinary ambassadors Helena Saine-Laitinen and Marita Joutjärvi.

The SF100/Suomi Finland 100 Singapore is the campaign to mark Finland’s 100 years as an independent nation. Around the world to events will be held by Finnish Embassies, Finns living abroad, Finnish companies and local partners.

The aim of SF100SG is to strengthen the ties between Singapore and Finland in business, investments, education, travel and culture. Ambassador Paula Parviainen presented the key themes around which the SF100SG programme has been designed: healthcare and wellbeing, education, innovation and design, relevant themes both to Singaporean and Finnish people.

Recognizing the impact of an ageing population, the importance of technology and digitization to Singaporean’s everyday lives, and the investment opportunities in Singapore’s start-up culture, SF100 aims to embrace these issues and reinforce the synergies between the two countries.

“We’re excited to be following in Singapore’s footsteps after the tremendous SG50 celebrations last year. 2017 will see Finland celebrate a century of independence and continuous democracy and the programme in Singapore aims to strengthen ties between Singaporeans and Finns in business, investments, travel and culture,” said the Ambassador of Finland, Singapore HE Paula Parviainen.

“It will be a year when “Arctic meets Tropic” in many ways. We see many similarities between our two countries, most notably our population sizes, rapidly ageing population, excellence in education and design embedded in everything – both Helsinki and Singapore are recognised UNESCO cities of design – and hope SF100 will provide a successful platform for collaboration around our core themes and calendar of events.”

SF100SG has over thirty events planned for 2017. Highlights include:
15th – 20th January, Global Young Scientist Summit GYSS

March Inclusive Service Design for Health
SF100 organizes a collection of design activities and workshops for design professionals and industry representatives in conjunction with the Singapore Design week.

25th – 27th April Ageing Asia & Ageing Week
SF100 joins Ageing Asia, an annual event to promote active ageing and wellbeing of the seniors.

September SLUSH Singapore and Women in Tech
SF100 cooperates with SLUSH to bring the Finland born, Europe’s biggest start up event SLUSH to Singapore for a second year in a row. Women in Tech inspires more women to be tech founders and entrepreneurs and encourages more girls to the STEMs.

September Education summit
Insights into the 21st century skills required by children of today and how to remain relevant for jobs of tomorrow – a Finnish perspective.

12 – 15th October Finnish Film Festival at Projector

November- December Thematic Finland Fridays
Organized at “Huone”, a Finnish event rooms-only hotel concept at Clarke Quay.

December 6th, 2017
Grand celebration of Independence brings together all friends of Finland in Singapore.

The programme is available on the dedicated website www.sf100.sg

Corporate partners play a major role in making next year’s story a successful one.

“Abloy is looking to increase its brand and solutions offering awareness in Singapore and South East Asia. SF100 Singapore provides us the means to be visible through continuous flow of events during the 2017”, says Abloy Asia General Manager Pauli Jormanainen.

Photos courtesy of Marica Salokangas.