Facts
about Australia and Finland
 Australia
Australia
is a modern western democracy with a population of
22 million. It has had one of the most outstanding
economies of the world having a high-growth, low-inflation,
low interest rate economy. Australia was, in 2005,
ranked the most resilient economy in the world for
the fourth year in succession (IMD WCY 2005) after
having 14 years of uninterrupted economic growth.
As generation of GDP increases rapidly in Asia, Australia
can serve as a springboard to Asia having strategic
time zone advantage. Australia's top four trading
partners are Japan, China, Korea and the United States.
The
Australian Government is committed to fostering a
world-class innovative culture and research and development
infrastructure, and is implementing an A$8.3
billion innovation  strategy
(Federal Budget, May 2005). It has made and still
makes large investment in social infrastructure, including
education, training, health and transport. Australia
has world class software development and is a test
bed for many companies testing new products for global
markets since it is characterised by early technology
adoption rates and strong B2B growth.
It
is good to start business with Australian companies
since Australia is the fastest place in the
world to start a new business with regulatory procedures
taking just two days (World Bank 2005). As far as
the skillfull workfoce is concerned, Australia is
ranked first in the Asia-Pacific for overall productivity
per person employed and second for the motivation
of its workforce (WCY 2005).
More
facts on Australia:
www.investaustralia.gov.au
www.abs.gov.au
(Australian Bureau of Statistics)
 Finland
Finland
is an advanced, well-balanced and dynamic industrial
country with population of 5,2 million. It
is one of the most competitive economies in the world
according to WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007.
It has been ranked best in knowledge transfer between
universities and companies (IMD 2006) and number three
globally in R&D spending per capita. With strong
developer communities and a domestic market ready
to trial new developments, Finland provides
ideal conditions for the innovative development and
deployment of ICT solutions and applications. Finnish
ICT industry is characterised by expanding of focus
and application areas beyond traditional ICT software
market (convergence) and specialisation in niche markets.
Finland's
public health care system has developed along the
lines of population-based responsibility and is statutory.
Primary health care and secondary care are networked
into a comprehensive system that includes central
hospitals (including university hospitals) and health
care centres. This network constitutes the most comprehensive
health care system in the world. The high quality
of Finnish education and training in medicine, electronics
and biotechnology has had particular benefits for
companies in health care-related fields.The Finnish
health care industry works in close  co-operation
with universities and research institutes as well
as venture capitalists allowing rapid development
paths from ideas into practical products. The key
characteristics of Finnish health care solutions are
innovation, cost-effectiveness and extensive use of
IT and communications technology.
Slightly
more than one million of the Finnish population are
aged over 60, and of them around 380 000 are over
75 years old. Finland is facing same ageing phenomena
as Australia and is rapidly developing advanced solutions
for the aged care.
More
facts on Finland:
www.investinfinland.fi
www.austrade.gov.au/Finland-profile/default.aspx |
