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"HELSINKI \u2014 Helsinki, Finland, is in one of its coldest, darkest months of the year, but yet, some of the hottest startups and investors meet in the remote Nordic region annually at this time to discover the next big thing in tech. \nThe Slush startup conference \u2014 which was held in Finland\u2019s capital of Helsinki last week and founded five years ago by Finnish-based Rovio (Angry Birds) CMO Peter Vesterbacka \u2014 has become a gathering place for new businesses across Europe. Set up in the old space where Nokia did its research and made most of its phones during its heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, Slush kicked off the event with a keynote from Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, who wore (in true startup style) a blue hoodie as he discussed the need for innovation.\nSee also: 10 Best Indie Games on Android\nThe story of Finland\u2019s fascinating emergence as a hotbed for startups \u2014 quite possibly the next Silicon Valley of Europe \u2014 can\u2019t be told without looking at Nokia, the once hometown hero of the country. If you were to ask a Finnish child 15 years ago where they wanted to work one day, the answer was almost always \u201CNokia.\u201D\nBut as the company imploded in recent years \u2014 long before Microsoft acquired Nokia\u2019s mobile division for $7.2 billion in September \u2014 former executives and staffers who left or were cut loose started to build their own businesses. Soon, hundreds of new companies popped up across the country.\nThe startup scene in Finland has a unique flavor that matches the country\u2019s culture. In a nod to its love of saunas to keep warm during the cold months, many budding companies hold major meetings and negotiate deals inside heated vestibules, where it\u2019s encouraged to strip down to get to the bottom line in a relaxed environment. Some offices even have \u201Cmeeting saunas\u201D for this very purpose. \nYou\u2019re asked to take your shoes off when arriving at most startup offices too \u2014 a small effort to make employees feel at home, as much as it is to keep winter slush outside the office.\nThe gaming industry is especially flourishing in Helsinki, where even the graffiti acknowledges the trend. \n\nCompanies such as Rovio and more recently Supercell (Clash of Clans, Hay Day) continue to top the iOS mobile app charts and have reminded the Finnish it\u2019s possible to hit it big without Nokia on top.\n\u2018Too Big for Comfort\u2019\nWhen Nokia sold its mobile division to Microsoft this year, it was an emotional time for the Finnish who grew up with the manufacturer\u2019s phones in their pockets. But nearly anyone you ask about the deal in Finland will say the sale was best for the country.\n\u201CIt got to the point where Nokia made up 4% of the Finnish GDP and it was too big for comfort,\u201D said Alexander Stubb, the Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade. \u201CAt the end of the day, what happened is good news. I wrote on Twitter at the time that the news was going to be emotional for people, but we would be better for it.\u201D\n\nEven Nokia itself admits it got \u201Ctoo big\u201D for Finland, with the country essentially putting all eggs in one basket. \n\u201CIt\u2019s important for any country to have diversity,\u201D said Samuli Hanninen, Nokia\u2019s VP of product. \u201CThe move was a healthy one. Now, Finland has a strong Microsoft presence too, as well as growth from younger companies.  The goal is to build strong products, and it will be great to have more resources, too, so we can all work together.\u201D\nHanninen said Nokia\u2019s corporate culture in Finland hasn\u2019t changed too much following the Microsoft acquisition: \u201CWhen Steve Elop started with Nokia a few years ago, that changed the culture for sure \u2014 we became more productive, faster,\u201D he said. \u201CSo far, it seems Microsoft has the same sort of straightforward approach we have adopted, so it\u2019s been a seamless transition.\u201D\nEmerging Startups\n\nStubb \u2014 who, like so many in Finland, proudly uses a Nokia 1020 smartphone and considers himself pretty tech-savvy \u2014 attributes the Finnish success story from going from a top 30 country in the world in terms of education to the top three to the tech sector and the rise of Nokia. But he also said the restructuring of Nokia plays a key role in job and economic development across Finland.  \n\u201CWhen Nokia started to collapse, suddenly we had all of these intelligent engineers with seed money looking to build businesses of their own. Instead of just one tech giant here, it became a diversified tech hub.\u201D\nThe Finnish people, often stereotyped as shy, are branching out. And while it was once considered to be a last resort to start your own company \u2014 a fear most dreaded by parents who want their children to succeed \u2014 it\u2019s becoming \u201Ccool\u201D in the country. \n\u201CThe scene has been a slow build but recently exploded with such a force we have never seen before. After one company reaches success, others say, \u2018Hey, why can\u2019t I do that?\u2019 These startups are completely fearless too \u2014 they celebrate failures as much as they do success,\u201D he said. \nHis point is in line with Supercell\u2019s culture to drink beer to celebrate a successful launch and pop a bottle of champagne when products fail.\nNot to mention, Rovio finally reached success with Angry Birds after 52 failed games. \nPublic Funding\nPublic sector group Tekes is behind a lot of the startup success in Finland, helping hundreds of companies get their feet off the ground with funding resources. In the 1990s, it financed 26% of Nokia's projects and has also given financial assistance to Rovio and Supercell.\n\u201CIt\u2019s difficult to copy and paste methods from one country to another, and I am reluctant to give advice because every scene is specific,\u201D Stubb said. \u201C[The] public sector can be a really good thing as long as it doesn\u2019t become the norm. Rovio and Supercell have benefited from the public sector, but success is not always the case.\u201D\n\nIn addition to startup growth and Microsoft setting up data centers in Helsinki, Google has invested 450 million euros in the region, and Japanese investors have recently plugged into Supercell, too.\nEntrepreneurs are also working together. For example, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen is on the board for gaming company GrandCru, whose upcoming title Supernauts will enable players to build a new habitat on Earth once the ice caps melt. Favorable buzz around Supernauts could translate into Finland having another hit on its hands. \n\u201CWe are a small country with 5.4 million people, so if someone succeeds, it is great for all of us,\u201D Stubb said. \u201CThese startups view the world \u2014 not Finland \u2014 as their target market and competition.\u201D\nStartup Sauna\nFollowing Rovio\u2019s Vesterbacka success with Angry Birds in 2009, he handed off the Slush conference to Startup Sauna, a grassroots organization started by students at Aalto University in the suburbs of Helsinki. \nWhen a group of business and tech students took a class trip to MIT several years ago, they were inspired by the startup community at the school. With no ecosystem for startups in all of Finland, the students asked Aalto for the keys to an old warehouse on campus for aspiring entrepreneurs to meet. Rumor has it they never gave back the key and it evolved into the startup breeding ground it is today.\n\nIn addition to offering a free working space with Wi-Fi and coffee for anyone interested, Startup Sauna has a wildly successful seed accelerator program. About 12 companies are selected twice a year for its bootcamp program to receive personalized coaching from participating entrepreneurs, including the chairman of Nokia and executives at Rovio, F-Secure and Supercell. Lawyers and marketing managers are also on hand to offer tips to participants.\n\u201CPeople always want to know what\u2019s in it for the coaches, but many just want to help a program they wish existed when they started years ago,\u201D said Natalie Gaudet, communications director at Startup Sauna. \u201CMany coaches are investors, too, and they get to see a lot of the next-generation startups in the region before anyone else.\u201D\nThe average Startup Sauna entrepreneur is between the ages of 30 and 35, typically those who completed their education and decided to try something new after several years in the workforce. \nPopular app Wild Chords, which teaches people how to play chords in a game format, is among the successful startups to come out of the program. The team demoed their product on the main stage at Slush this year.\nEducation and AppCampus\nStubb also said teaching basic programming skills to young kids in the classroom is on the country's radar. The move would follow in the footsteps of neighboring country Estonia, which rolled out a program last year at 20 schools to teach elementary students basic coding. \n\u201CIt would be a great idea to have coding as a subject in school,\u201D Stubb said. \u201CKids today are growing up as natives to technology, and the sooner they get going, the better. It starts with games and familiarizing themselves with gadgets, and coding is a big part of that.\"\nFinland is embracing coding education at the university level, too, via Aalto University's AppCampus program outside Helsinki. The mobile app accelerator program is funded by the school, along with Nokia and Microsoft, and is set up to spur app development for Windows Phones.\nStartups from various countries around the globe, as well as founders of all ages, are now working with AppCampus to secure funding and become successful in the Windows Phone app store. They put a business card on a world map to mark the hometown of every participating startup in the program. \n\n\"Everyone knows that gaming is actually good for neurology and the brain,\" Stubb said. \"Long gone are the days where parents tell you to stop. We're really excited about how the gaming community has taken off here and you can expect more from Finland very soon.\"\nWhile Nokia's decline could have ushered in dark days for Finland, some careful planning, a willingness to adapt, boosts in education and some lucky breaks from Rovio and Supercell \u2014 the country is poised to ride a new wave of tech influence.\n\"Huge things are happening here,\" Stubb said. \"And it's still only heating up.\"\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\nImages: Mashable; Roni Rekomma/Getty Images; Odd Andersen/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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