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Finland Surpasses United States in World Economic Forum Annual Report
Global Information Technology Report Finds Finland is Better Prepared to Leverage Information and Communications Technologies

Santa Clara, Calif. – April 4, 2007 – According to a report issued last week by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the country of Finland has surpassed the United States as measured by its political, cultural and industrial readiness to leverage new technologies. The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) report was produced by WEF in cooperation with INSEAD, an international business school, and was sponsored this year by Cisco.

“We are not surprised by the results of the WEF report,” said Pekka Pärnänen, Director of FinNode in Silicon Valley. “Even a casual look around confirms the report. Look at all of the technologies being developed in Finnish universities and start-up companies, not to mention the number of Finnish entrepreneurs and VCs who have come here to Silicon Valley to contribute their skills and resources to the technology community. That is the reason FinNode is here: to connect the best that Finland has to offer with the best that the U.S. has to offer.”

FinNode is a network designed to help Silicon Valley companies connect with partners in Finland and the U.S.

About the World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, Switzerland, has conducted the networked readiness surveys and published the Global Information Technology Report annually since 2001. The 2006-2007 survey examined 122 countries. According to the publishers, “the report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. The NRI is composed of three component indexes which assess:

• Environment for ICT offered by a country or community
• Readiness of the community's key stakeholders (individuals, business and governments)
• Usage of ICT among these stakeholders

and measures the political, cultural and industry readiness for and use of new information and communications technologies within each country.”

About FinNode
Comprised of members of the business and technology community, FinNode is a network designed to help Silicon Valley companies connect with partners in Finland and the U.S. With domain expertise in 23 different industries, FinNode provides resources for business development, internationalization, R&D, outsourcing, intellectual property licensing, venture funding and university partnerships. The FinNode community offers executive-level contacts and expertise relevant to Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups and universities. For more information, please visit www.finnode.com.

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U.S. Media Contact:
Juliet Travis
Rocket Science PR, for FinNode
+1 415.464.8110 x 5
juliet@rocketscience.com