Pohjoismaisten insinöörijärjestöjen puheenjohtajien ja pääsihteerien Nording-tapaaminen 22.8.–25.8.13, Helsinki

Avajaistilaisuuden tervetuliaispuhe

Dear Nordic colleagues, bästa vänner,

On behalf of the organizers it’s my pleasure to wish you all welcome to
the Nordic Annual meeting of 2013. Det är trevligt att träffas ni alla här i Helsingfors.

My name is Marjo Matikainen-Kallström, and I have served for about two years as the president of TEK, or “Teknikens Akademikerförbund”, as the Swedish name goes. Unfortunately I could not join you last year to Reykjavik, and that’s why we meet only now for the first time.

I’m civil engineer by education. The beginning of my career I worked for metal industry. After that I have dedicated my career to politics. I have been a member of the European Parliament for several years, and currently I’m a member of the Finnish Parliament.

The City of Helsinki celebrates Nordic annual meeting by organizing the already traditional Night of Arts festival tonight. The idea behind this event is to bring art from galleries and art institutions to an unusual environment in an unusual hour for everybody to enjoy. There are dozens of small artistic happenings going on all around the downtown area. Unfortunately the official programme sheet is available only in Finnish, but we have reserved a few copies of Hufvudstadbladet , Finland’s leading Swedish-language newspaper, on that table over there. In the centerfold you’ll find a summary of 30 events together with a map and timetable.

As for the program of the meeting itself, we have followed the wishes of last year’s meeting in Reykjavik. The common wish back then was to discuss about globalization. We have chosen to approach the topic through a case example. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to visit the premises of Nokia Solutions and Networks, which is one of the leading producers of mobile communication networks in the World.  – With this, of course, I don’t want to  say that LM Ericsson isn’t the other global leader.

NSN, formerly known as Nokia Siemens Networks, has gone through several, sometimes painful, sometimes successful phases from a small national manufacturer to a global player. At one point in their development it seemed that they might be moving their activities increasingly to the countries blessed with low labor costs, but they have recently re-discovered the value of Nordic engineering and are hiring R&D personnel in Finland
again.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank UIL, and especially their dedicated team led by Mikko Wikstedt who has been responsible for all the arrangements of this conference. I’m sure we are going to have an inspiring and educating event.

Once again, welcome, and enjoy the company of each other and the refreshments available – and later in the evening – enjoy the Night of the Arts and its diverse range of events. Hoppas ni alla trivs i Helsingfors.

Skål! Välkommen!

TEKin puheenjohtaja Marjo Matikainen-Kallström