Minister Risikko: Finland to be world’s top transport service developer

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Publication date 4.2.2015 15.22
Press release

Minister of Transport and Local Government Paula Risikko believes that Finland has the necessary prerequisites for the utilisation of digitalisation and to succeed in the development of transport services even in fierce international competition.

"Digitalisation offers Finland and Finnish expertise an enormous opportunity. In order to produce new services, there must be a way to test them. I believe that Finland has the potential to develop into a location where new transport services can be developed, tested and productised," Ms Risikko states.

"We have a well-functioning transport infrastructure, diverse transport services, the world's top technology expertise and a user-oriented approach to problem solving. It could be said that we are the world's leading country in the development of new, intelligent transport services," says Minister Risikko.

The Traffic Lab, which is headed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, is an excellent example of the cooperation network between the public and private sectors, which for its own part wants to see to the creation of a functional environment for intelligent transport actors. The activities of the Traffic Lab are based on Mobility as a Service (MaaS) a concept launched in Finland.

"The Traffic Lab is a collaboration forum, which is to be developed as an open development environment that new actors can easily join and where actors can find important partners. Transport is a fixed part of people's everyday lives. Therefore, it is a good idea to gather together different actors to come up with transport solutions for the future. The transport market is an international one, which means international networking is vital. We have already received numerous cooperation proposals from different parts of the world," says Ms Risikko.

Digitalisation to simplify integration of different forms of transport

Minister of Transport and Local Government Paula Risikko believes that digitalisation will simplify people's everyday mobility.

"Travelling from one place to another must be simple and flexible, which will necessitate the integration of different forms of transport. Digitalisation will facilitate this," Minister Risikko states.

A group of actors is currently in the process of establishing the world's first so-called mobility operator in Finland. This service will combine different forms of transport. Ms Risikko feels that this is a good example of a new way of thinking and of transport becoming a service.

"A mobility operator will help combine the transport services of different service providers into a more cohesive travel chain than ever before. The objective is that customers will get from door to door seamlessly regardless of all the forms of transport they require," Ms Risikko states.

Further information
Mr Sami Paatero, State Secretary, [email protected], tel. +358 295 530 353