Looking at the crystal-clear lakes, smoky sunrises and lush thick forest surrounding the historic city of Tampere in southern Finland, you could be forgiven for thinking that you’d stumbled on the hideout of Moomins.
While it is true that the city’s shops are packed with merchandise related to the corpuscular hippo-like characters (author Tove Jansson, a Finn, had links to the city and donated much of her original artwork to a museum there in the 1980s), the city has been known as a hub of manufacturing and new technology development since the 1800s when an entrepreneur named James Finlayson set up a large, mechanised and electrified textiles factory, the first of its type in the Nordics.
Since then, many companies have set up in the region, which can loosely be placed in two categories: heavy industrial (such as Sandvik and Konecranes) and electronic technology (of which Nokia is the most famous, but there are plenty of other examples).
This level of trade and industry meant the region required its own airport. Tampere-Pirkkala opened in 1936 and today handles around 140,000 passengers annually. While commercial services remain, notably through airBaltic's Riga hub, traffic levels are far below those seen during the low-cost carrier boom. At its peak prior to the financial crisis, when Ryanair and Wizz Air were expanding aggressively across Europe, the airport recorded approximately 700,000 annual passenger movements.
Beyond Passive Connectivity
For Business Tampere CEO Harri Ojala, the lesson of the past decade is clear: air connectivity cannot be taken for granted. Following the 2008 financial crisis, structural economic shifts, including the decline of Nokia’s dominance, exposed vulnerabilities in the region’s accessibility.
In response, Tampere launched the Access Tampere programme, bringing municipalities together to co-invest in routes and airline partnerships. This marked a shift from passive reliance on market forces to a more proactive aviation strategy.
“Aviation is both capital-intensive and consumer-driven,” Ojala notes, requiring sustained investment and coordinated regional effort.
Today, the focus for city management has broadened beyond passenger traffic to include air cargo development, underpinned by Tampere’s manufacturing base. The airport’s ecosystem is strengthening, with logistics players such as DHL and DACHSER, alongside the Finnish Defence Forces’ logistics command, creating the foundations for a competitive freight hub.
Connectivity as an Investment Driver
For international investors, connectivity is often a deciding factor rather than merely a convenience.
Oliver Hussey, Head of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at Business Tampere, highlights that airline access consistently appears alongside energy, labour, and infrastructure in site selection criteria. Importantly, the relevance of Tampere Airport extends well beyond the city itself, serving a wider catchment across central and northern Finland.
“When we get requests from industrial clients regarding information about labour availability and infrastructure, airline connections are always there as a requirement, and a data point that they want to understand,” Hussey explained.
“So it's important for our region, but interestingly, having spoken to people that live north of our region, it is also very important for them to have the connectivity without having to go all the way to Helsinki.
“There are investors for whom having a local airport is essential,” adds Markus Sjölund, Director of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce. “For some global companies, if you don’t have an airport, you’re not on the map.”
This is particularly true for Asian and North American investors, who may view reliance on Helsinki—located roughly 170 km away—as a disadvantage. While business travellers may tolerate connecting journeys, proximity and efficiency increasingly influence both investment and operational decisions.
Local industry continues to push for restored and expanded European connectivity, with Stockholm and Copenhagen identified as priority routes due to their hub function for onward global travel.
A Diversifying Investment Landscape
Tampere’s investment profile has evolved significantly in recent years. Historically a centre for R&D investment—particularly in mobile imaging technologies linked to Nokia’s legacy—the region is now attracting a broader mix of projects, including industrial-scale developments.
Chinese investment, once prominent in R&D, has declined due to a mix of technological maturity, nearshoring, and geopolitical factors. In contrast, the United States remains a consistent investor, particularly in high-tech imaging and security sectors. Recent examples include drone manufacturer Skydio, which established its first European R&D presence in Tampere, alongside technology firms such as Flock Safety, Axon and Amazon Ring.
These investments typically start small, often with teams of fewer than 10, but scale over time, reinforcing Tampere’s reputation as a high-value R&D environment.
One of Tampere’s most compelling advantages lies in its energy ecosystem. The region offers low-cost, reliable, and increasingly clean electricity, which can be a decisive factor for investors.
This has driven growing interest in energy-intensive industries, including hydrogen production, e-fuels, and potentially sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Supporting assets such as biogenic CO₂ capture and district heating networks—allowing waste heat to be reused—further strengthen the business case.
An anticipated project is the planned large-scale e-methane facility in the nearby city of Nokia. Known as Freija, the project is planned in three phases. Each phase would add 0.85 TWh of renewable e-methane production capacity annually, equivalent to around 58,000 tonnes.
Alongside energy and imaging devices, Tampere has long been associated with manufacturing heavy industrial equipment. Sandvik is a well-known local firm producing a range of machines for mining and forestry applications.
Events, Visibility and Economic Impact
Beyond industry, Tampere is leveraging major events to boost international profile and economic activity. According to Perttu Pesä, Head of Major Events at the City of Tampere, global sporting and cultural events are both a visibility tool and an economic driver.
The city has already achieved notable success, ranking among the world’s top event destinations despite its relatively small size. However, Pesä emphasises that attracting international audiences depends heavily on accessible air links, particularly within Europe.
“There’s a direct link between air connectivity and a city’s position on the global events map,” he notes.
Infrastructure investment is ongoing, including tram expansion toward the airport, while long-term ambitions include enhancing venue capacity to support year-round events.
Despite its strengths, Tampere faces structural challenges. A tightening labour market—driven by demographic decline—is expected to re-emerge as a constraint once current economic uncertainties ease. Both the Chamber of Commerce and Business Tampere highlight the need to attract international talent to sustain growth.
At a broader level, stakeholders point to slow planning and permitting processes across Finland and Europe as a competitiveness issue. Compared with faster-moving global markets, lengthy development timelines risk deterring investment.
The Case for a Stronger Secondary Hub
Underlying all discussions is a shared belief that the aviation sector underestimates Tampere’s role as a ‘second city’ hub. Finland’s industrial base is geographically dispersed, and a single dominant gateway at Helsinki may not fully support regional economic needs.
For Tampere, the argument is not to compete with the capital, but to complement it—offering efficient, close-to-market connectivity for business, cargo, and events.
Tampere's challenge is not attracting industrial investment, developing new technologies or building a competitive energy ecosystem. Those foundations already exist. The question is whether its aviation connectivity can evolve quickly enough to support the ambitions of one of Northern Europe's most dynamic secondary cities.
