Finland’s economy is consistently ranked among the most competitive in the world. Two recent studies, “The Global Competitiveness Report” (WEF) and “The World Competitiveness Yearbook” (IMD), placed Finland at the very top of world statistics.

Historically, forests have been a stalwart force in Finnish industry. Although they are still the chief raw material source, metal and engineering are the leading industries in today's Finland.

The Finnish export structure has dramatically changed over the last few decades. Less than thirty years ago, wood and paper industries were responsible for half of all exports. Today, paper is just one of the major export sectors, electronics and machinery round out the top three.

The biggest success story of Finnish export business is the country’s rapidly expanding electronics industry. Its massive growth throughout the 1990s was primarily based on cell phones and other IT products. Currently, there are approximately 73 cell phones per each 100 people in Finland.

Internationally, the most well known Finnish technology innovation is, of course, Nokia. The success of this mobile phone giant, however, is only one example. Linux operating systems, Polar Electro heart rate monitors, and Swan luxury sailing boats are all world-class brands of Finnish origin.