The House of Finland is active in all things Finnish in the San Diego area. On Tuesday October 27th the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce (FACC), where HOF is also a member, held a meeting in Escondido. The Board was present to hear about FACC’s activities and to meet their brand new intern, Ilona Ahovuo. HOF has participated financially in this new marketing effort. Ilona will also be assisting HOF with marketing and hosting, but much more about her later after she gets settled in for her six-month stay in San Diego.
The consul general, Juha Markkanen, came to speak of the efforts of their 7-man office in LA, which covers the entire western U.S. to promote Finnish companies and ideas of cooperation in the areas of cleantech, health sciences and bioindustries. There have been a few successes already but more networking and outreach efforts were called for. Mr Markkanen made the point California is the world’s 8th largest economy, ahead of Brazil with 200 million people. He noted there are really three hubs in California – Silicon Valley which everyone knows, then LA and San Diego, which people in Finland have never heard of.
Other speakers included the bank of the West, and the Murrieta development council, who spoke of their efforts to educate and woo foreign companies to their respective business areas.
Networking, networking. Contact was also made with Teuvo Pulkkinen who heads up the Finlandia Foundation, another non-profit cultural organization with chapters nationwide. HOF has recently joined that as well. We look forward to more cooperation and news and information passing back and forth between our members and the Finlandia Foundation.
The consul general, Juha Markkanen, came to speak of the efforts of their 7-man office in LA, which covers the entire western U.S. to promote Finnish companies and ideas of cooperation in the areas of cleantech, health sciences and bioindustries. There have been a few successes already but more networking and outreach efforts were called for. Mr Markkanen made the point California is the world’s 8th largest economy, ahead of Brazil with 200 million people. He noted there are really three hubs in California – Silicon Valley which everyone knows, then LA and San Diego, which people in Finland have never heard of.
Other speakers included the bank of the West, and the Murrieta development council, who spoke of their efforts to educate and woo foreign companies to their respective business areas.
Networking, networking. Contact was also made with Teuvo Pulkkinen who heads up the Finlandia Foundation, another non-profit cultural organization with chapters nationwide. HOF has recently joined that as well. We look forward to more cooperation and news and information passing back and forth between our members and the Finlandia Foundation.
