Pho­to­nics is growing at a fast pace: faci­li­ties and experts are nee­ded

Joensuu is a remarkable center of photonics expertise in Finland

Along­si­de Tam­pe­re, Oulu and Espoo, Joen­suu is one of Finland’s four major hubs for pho­to­nics. The city plays a key role in the field’s deve­lop­ment. Approxi­ma­te­ly 15 pho­to­nics com­pa­nies cur­rent­ly ope­ra­te in the area. Pho­to­nics educa­tion has grown sig­ni­ficant­ly, and Joen­suu pro­duces near­ly half of Fin­nish pho­to­nics stu­dents.

The trai­ning of gra­dua­te engi­neers specia­lizing in pho­to­nics began in Joen­suu in the fall of 2023

This success is not a coinci­dence. It is the result of years of deter­mi­ned deve­lop­ment work in coo­pe­ra­tion with various actors in the field. Pho­to­nics is not a new field for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land. Research into the field has soon been car­ried out for 55 years, but in the begin­ning, acti­vi­ties were not recog­ni­sed as inter­na­tio­nal­ly sig­ni­ficant.

‘Back then, it was per­haps belie­ved that pro­mo­ting North Kare­lia wit­hin Fin­land would be enough – and we are indeed well-known. Later, we expan­ded our thin­king to deve­lo­ping an eco­sys­tem,’ says Juha Pur­mo­nen, who has a front-row seat to deve­lop­ments in the pho­to­nics field.

‘The idea behind our deve­lop­ment work has been that the lar­ger the com­pe­ti­tor, the clo­ser we must be to them. Through coo­pe­ra­tion arran­ge­ments, a role has been found for each actor, and this is also true for Joen­suu.’

He does not simply obser­ve, eit­her, but is also a strong par­tici­pant: Pur­mo­nen is the Deve­lop­ment Mana­ger of Pho­to­nics at the uni­ver­si­ty and Busi­ness Joen­suu. He is also the Execu­ti­ve Direc­tor of Pho­to­nics Fin­land.

‘The idea behind our deve­lop­ment work has been that the lar­ger the com­pe­ti­tor, the clo­ser we must be to them. Through coo­pe­ra­tion arran­ge­ments, a role has been found for each actor, and this is also true for Joen­suu.’

In Joen­suu, the­re is a wide varie­ty of equip­ment nee­ded for pho­to­nics pro­duct deve­lop­ment for com­pa­nies in the field.

Since then, the city’s pho­to­nics clus­ter has deve­lo­ped rapid­ly. Futu­re chal­len­ges inclu­de a poten­tial shor­ta­ge of experts as well as what is beco­ming an acu­te lack of faci­li­ties for a growing num­ber of busi­nes­ses.

Purmonen’s posi­tion has given him a lot of tra­vel oppor­tu­ni­ties, but also a great view into moni­to­ring – and influencing – the way in which the field deve­lops.

Deve­lop­ment mana­ger and execu­ti­ve direc­tor Juha Pur­mo­nen belie­ves that the results of the work speak for them­sel­ves.

‘If the­re ever was a front-row seat, this is it. We are able to speak for Fin­nish pho­to­nics as a who­le, we are fami­liar with busi­nes­ses ope­ra­ting in the field and we are also able to work for tho­se busi­nes­ses. We are sort of like a natio­nal team for pho­to­nics,’ Pur­mo­nen says.

‘I think it’s great that we succeed in pho­to­nics through actions rat­her than procla­ma­tions!’ 

This mate­rial was pro­duced as part of the acti­vi­ties of the City of Joen­suu Inno­va­tion Eco­sys­tem Agree­ment (ERDF), co-fun­ded by the Euro­pean Union and the city of Joen­suu.

Aiheeseen liittyviä uutisia