Nomovok Ltd, a producer of Open Source solutions, is actively seeking a footing in the Japanese market. It has received help from Octopus Network, a wireless technology network managed by Oulu Innovation, which offered it and a number of other ICT and wellness companies from Oulu and elsewhere in Finland an opportunity to participate in the Wireless Business seminar in Sendai, Japan, on September 7. In addition to Nomovok, Solution Space Oy also took up the offer.

“The seminar and Oulu Innovation’s contacts in Japan brought us new customers and expanded our network of contacts. The assistance is important because in Japan, it is vital that you’re introduced by some official organization. It’s considered to lend credibility and reliability to a business,” says Pasi Nieminen, Nomovok’s CEO.

The Wireless Business seminar was organized by Sendai Industrial Promotion Organization (SIPO) as a part of the global event The 12th International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications. The University of Oulu was one of the organizers of the symposium. The theme was wireless technology in Japan and its future and its speakers included representatives of Japan’s Cabinet and its top companies. There were also Finnish speakers and Finnish businesses came to seek contacts with their Japanese counterparts.

“Japan is the world’s second largest market right after the United States. It offers a lot of business potential for Finnish companies but it takes years to build the credibility and reliability you need for business relationships in Japan,” says Eero Laine, who heads the Octopus network.

Octopus’s contacts and bringing wireless telecom expertise to Japan were a new milestone in building relationships between Japan and Oulu. Octopus Network has collaborated for a year with Yokosuka Research Park, a wireless communication technology research center in Yokosuka, Japan.

In 2002, the City of Oulu signed a co-operation agreement with the City of Sendai to start building a network in Japan. In addition, Oulu Innovation has collaborated especially with the businesses and universities in the Sendai area for nearly a decade. The most visible form of this cooperation is the Sendai Finnish Wellbeing Center; Oulu Innovation contributed to its launching along with Finpro and National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

“Our aim is to also help businesses from other industries, whether they are based in Oulu or elsewhere in Finland, to form business contacts in Japan. We will gradually expand our cooperation to cover all of Oulu’s top hi-tech industries,” says Olli Löytynoja, Vice President of Oulu Innovation.

Further information:
Eero Laine, Octopus Network, tel. +358 40 506 2120
Olli Löytynoja, Oulu Innovation Ltd, tel. +358 40 034 0028
Pasi Nieminen, Nomovok Oy, tel. +358 40 737 3907

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