Recent developments in a number of Nordic & Baltic IT companies, particularly across Finland, have resulted in a vast pool of skilled IT professionals taking up new challenges and opportunities, particularly in the Internet of Things/Industrial Internet area. At the same time we can see Nordic Data Center investments growing, fuelled by the exponential global increase of data being generated by uptake in Cloud services and the burgeoning Internet of Things industry. Traditional industries are turning to Industrial Internet & Cloud solutions to gain competitive advantage, seeking to create opportunities to combine their existing strengths with the very best in new technologies.

The Nordic Digital Business Summit was first launched in September last year, with an event that saw 600 Finnish and international attendees join in Helsinki for a one-day conference and exhibition that brought the Data Center and Digital Services industries together. Now, in 2015, the Nordic Digital Business Summit is gearing up to bring us an event that promises to deliver an outstanding line up of Nordic and international speakers across the Data Center, Cloud and IoT sectors. The event, which takes place on 24th September in Helsinki’s Kaapelitehdas, will feature two seminar areas and twin exhibition areas to allow delegates to immerse themselves in their preferred industries but also allow them to explore the other industries that are currently impacting upon the whole value chain.

Anastasia McAvennie, NDBS Event Director, said “We can see the potential of companies in Finland and the Nordics to really drive developments in these industries so we are committed to delivering a platform for traditional industry and IT to come together as an ecosystem, to proactively learn from each other, identify business opportunities and develop international connections. One of the key strengths of NDBS is our strategic partnership with DIGITICE Finland, whose work in these industries initiated the first event in 2014. That partnership ensures that NDBS has the full force of the Finnish national data center and digital business cluster behind us to create this international event in Helsinki.”

The Nordic Data Center industry has received a significant amount of international attention recently, with large investments by companies such as Google, Facebook, Yandex and Apple. Finland’s potential for data center growth is fuelled by the availability of infrastructure that was built to support heavy industry, such as paper mills, and the skilled engineering and IT workforce who are moving into this area. According to the Nordic research company Oxford Research in their recent publication Finland’s Giant Data Center Opportunity, “Over the next decade, the Finnish data center cluster could create an estimated 32,000 ─ 50,000 years of employment and generate a total economic impact of EUR 7 ─ 11 billion.”

Industrial Internet is also currently a high profile topic in Finland with Konecranes’ CEO Pekka Lundmark telling Kauppalehti that he believes Finland has the potential to become the “Silicon Valley of the Industrial Internet”. He went on say that "this would require a functioning ecosystem of start-ups, large companies and venture capital."

This echoes the principals being put forward by the Nordic Digital Business Summit, which is aiming to bring a mix of large, established companies together with SMEs and innovative start-ups. NDBS is due to announce their Rising Stars campaign in May, which will make available 32 mini-exhibition spaces for young, growth companies working in fields related to the event.

The event also features a new and improved “smart networking” system that will make registration and finding new business leads a straightforward process. Anastasia said, “Rather than creating a networking tool for a day, like so many other events, we are building a community that gives our partners and delegates access to each other from the moment of registration, to get networking and set up meetings for the day of the event, then continue to network with the people they didn’t manage to speak to long after the event has finished.”

Early sponsors and partners include DIGITICE Finland, Schneider Electric, The Finnish Data Center Forum, Granlund, Vattenfall, Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, Hardware Hel, Media Grus and Ite Wiki. Further sponsors and partners will be announced regularly as the event draws nearer and we know that there are some exciting announcements to come. DIGITICE Finland takes the role of Host Sponsor this year, which means that all DIGITICE members can take advantage of significant discounts on sponsorship and exhibition packages.

Early Bird Registration is open until 30th April at a very reasonable 200€ + vat, going back up to 300€ + vat in May, so it is worth considering registration now for maximum benefit.

For further information please contact Anastasia McAvennie, Event Director, Nordic Digital Business Summit

+358 (0) 45 868 3983
anastasia@ndbsevents.com
http://www.ndbsevents.com