Finnish AI Competences and How to Make Them Stronger

This policy brief describes the artificial intelligence (AI) competences in Finland in the areas of research, education and the corporate and public sector. The main finding of this study is that Finnish competences in AI are on par with those of similar countries. Our key recommendations for strengthening AI competences are as follows:

Formulate a clear national AI competence strategy based on ten sub-fields of AI, and improve the efficiency of research & development by decreasing the effort needed for applying for research project funding.

Move away from congested mainstream AI topics to niches where Finland can be strong.

Make all AI-related university courses open, visible and accessible to everyone.

Start piloting and using algorithm-based decision making in non-critical tasks.

Integrate AI as part of all public sector digitalization plans.