This high tech expert is an ambassador of Finnish values

For one reason or another the local branches of Canadian Friends of Finland often serve as a point of contact between the new emigration from Finland and Finnish Canadian traditions. There were new faces again at a CFF picnic in late August 2009 in the Montreal area. One of them was Riku Seppälä, 25, still an industrial engineering and management student at the Helsinki University of Technology, but already a high tech entrepreneur in Canada. - A company is being launched with a couple of friends, he explained.

Riku Seppälä lives in Montreal with his Canadian girl friend. They met during a year-long language course in Shanghai.
His program of studies in Finland (Industrial engineering and management) belongs to the premium level of Finnish academic opportunities. It has a reputation of being difficult to enter - and attracting the best students. Graduates of the program usually find themselves in fast track careers.

In Finland, the national education system is equality oriented in terms of making the success of a student dependent on qualifications and effort, not on the wealth of the student or the family. There are no tuition fees in Finland, for example.

It is not rare, however, to hear somewhat haughty comments from the students of the high end subjects, in particular. At times one gets the impression that the national consensus on education would actually be on the decline there. But nothing of that kind from Riku Seppälä! To the contrary, he underlines the positive values of the Finnish system. And says he is not very confident about the the US alternative: - That system does not provide equal opportunities.
- Finland is the other end then, he says and admits that, of course, also there the children of affluent families have it easier, even in Finland. But the difference much smaller than in, say, the US.

In the extra curricular field, Riku Seppälä has been active in the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society. That is a an organization committed to assisting students in starting up businesses. - The AES has become a larger operation than originally envisaged, Seppälä says, with some pride. - Had I not chosen to come to Canada, I would probably be more involved in the AES . A workshop is to take place in Stanford in October, for example.
Aalto University is a newly created Finnish university resulting from the merger of three Finnish universities   the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design and the Helsinki University of Technology. Aalto University will begin operating in January 2010. The name refers to Finnish architect Alwar Aalto.

Riku Seppälä’s diploma thesis deals with data systems and corporate strategies. And his business plans here in Canada are somewhat parallel to that.
- We are producing custom made data system solutions. And with the difference that our production is largely automated. - To create a program you need not hire expensive specialists. The system is also very flexible and changes are easy to make, as if you would be at the level of basic programming.
In terms of his immigration status here in Canada Riku Seppälä says that he is still a visitor. - But the paper work has been done for a permanent resident status, within the skilled labor category. He says he does not know how long the process will take though.
Riku Seppälä says he appreciates the quality of living in Quebec. This is not his first stay in Quebec, he was there earlier as an exchange student. He has past experience also from life in Ireland, Denmark and China - besides Finland. And Quebec compares favorably among them.

Riku Seppälä says he underwrites the view that Europeans easily adapt to life in Quebec.
That is something several newcomers have told Vapaa Sana. Of course, providing that the French language is not an obstacle.
- But we plan to live in Finland as well, Riku Seppälä adds.
JN