Report: Finnish companies lead way in use of AI

Companies in the country have found success in commercialising solutions powered by artificial intelligence, encouraging others to introduce the technology into their strategy in a bid to promote business growth and development.

Samuel Kaski, professor at Aalto University and head of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI), viewed that Finland has “a good chance” to remain one of the pioneers, given the accelerating rate of artificial intelligence utilisation in business and society at large. What is worrying, however, is that investments in the domain have been on the decline.

“At the moment, one fear is that we will lag behind as a nation because Finland does not invest at the same level in artificial intelligence research as other countries,” he said in a press release.

The Nordics overall are pioneers in utilising artificial intelligence, according to the report published on Friday by Silo AI, one of the largest private artificial intelligence laboratories in Europe.

The region has roughly 24 000 companies that utilise the technology one way or another, including 4 500 that have incorporated it into their business. It is also home to about two per cent of artificial intelligence professionals in the world, with additional recruitments planned by 70 per cent of companies already using the technology.

“Our reports shows that more and more Nordic organisations are using artificial intelligence in their core operations, meaning that companies have incorporated artificial intelligence into their own products and services,” said Peter Sarlin, CEO of Silo AI. “In this way, Nordic companies will ensure that their products remain competitive.”

The technology is utilised widely by larger corporations, but its uptake is increasing also among small and medium enterprises. What is interesting is that the uptake is led by different industries in each of the four countries – by major export industries such as forestry and shipbuilding in Finland, energy in Norway, healthcare in Denmark and telecommunications in Sweden.

Although the Nordics have a common vision for the sustainable use of artificial intelligence and a well-established ecosystem fostering collaboration in the domain between public and private sectors, they lack a common vision for research, the report noted.

The State of Nordic AI is based on publicly available information and interviews of experts like researchers, company representatives, public officials and investors.