While it is true that one company has enormous influence on the Finnish economy, that influence is not necessarily direct. Nokia has moved a lot of manufacturing stuff abroad. What it has created in Finland is an enormous amount of know-how now spread out amongst thousands of small companies (as a top Nokia guy told me once "All we have is brains and trees")

That know-how has rapidly filtered thru other large companies in different areas of 'hi-tech'. Konecranes eg is a global leader in lifting technologies and the largest servicer of cranes globally. Former sister company Kone lifts (elevators) has introduced new technology. I could give a long list of companies large and small that have prospered in Nokia's wake, but are now completely independent of Nokia fortunes.

I put VTT (the Technical Research Center of Finland) as the seed of all these developments - including Nokia. Talk to senior people there and you realise that they are deciding how mobile networks are going to look in 10 years time. They are way ahead of the game. They have huge budgets and the very top people. And it is not just IT technology - it's building, nano, foods, safety etc etc

http://www.vtt.fi/indexe.htm

You can't be me, I'm taken