The snow squeaks under our boots as we walk through the Renforsin Ranta industrial park. When the Nordic Labour Journal visits in late February, it is minus 20°C and a cloud of steam rises from the Kainuun Voimas steam power plant which lies in the same area.
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“When the paper mill operated here, it had more than 500 employees. Now, with all the around 40 different companies that are operating here today, there are even more workers than before,” explains Johannes Aalto from the regional council of Kainuu, where Kajaani is the regional capital.
Running out of paper
Paper production was the cornerstone of the local economy, like in so many other traditional Finnish industrial societies.
In 2006, large paper producers like UMP, the owners of the Kajaani paper mill, started realising that things were really heading in the wrong direction for the sector.
Digitalisation had already come such a long way that demand for printing paper would continue to fall while costs would carry on rising.
Photo: Teollisuusvalokuvaamo Mannelin (Mannelin’s industry photo studio)/The Finnish Forestry Museum.
UMP, one of Finland’s two largest paper producers, embarked on a major restructuring programme which included the closure of the Kajaani production plant in 2008. 535 people lost their jobs and thousands more were directly or indirectly affected.
The story of Kajaani could have been completely different form the one we know today. The closure could have resulted in high unemployment and an exodus of residents. But in this small city, people took action.
“As soon as it became clear that this was where things were heading, local leaders decided to find alternatives to the paper production,” says Aalto.
Kajaani
Founded in 1651, some 550 north from Helsinki
Became a centre for Finnish tar export in the 1800s, later for timber and paper
The Kainuu region’s capital, with some 36 000 citizens
The paper mill was the cornerstone of the local economy until its closure in 2008
Plans for data centres were announced in 2010 and the first centre opened in 2022
In an interview in September last year, the City of Kajaani’s director of development Risto Hämäläinen explained that the restructuring process began immediately:
“When the UPM paper mill in Kajaani was closed, we met with the company’s management and city representatives the next day and agreed on cooperation.
“The company set up a business park organisation at the paper mill and tasked it with acquiring at least as many jobs – that is 535 – as there were outgoing employees,” Hämäläinen told CEMIS, a research and training centre that we will return to later.
Water and cold weather
The old paper mill and the rest of the industrial park lie on the shore of the Kajaani river, just a short walk from Kajaani city centre.
There has been industry here since the early 1900s when a sawmill was established on this plot because of access to cheap hydroelectric power.
More than a century later, renewable energy remains one of the reasons why the area was chosen to attract the data centre industry. There was also much more on offer than an empty industrial area.
In addition to access other renewable energy, Renforsin Ranta already had high-capacity electricity supply, railway connections and vast industrial buildings.
“We’re using hydropower and the cool climate means we have what you could call free cooling. It’s basically what you do in your own house by opening the doors and windows to let cool air in,” says Juhan Ahonen, head of data centre infrastructure at IT Center for Science, CSC.
The company is 70 per cent owned by the Finnish state while Finnish universities and
universities of applied sciences own the rest.
“The heat we produce and the infrastructure for the cooling of the data centre is connected to the district heating network here in Kajaani, to heat people’s houses and the water they are using,” says Ahonen.
LUMI – part of Europe’s AI strategy
The Nordic Labour Journal meets him inside one of the big halls where the paper mill once was operating. Now, the hall is filled by an enormous structure bathed in a deep, blue light. It is made up of angular, perforated sheets of metal held up by an enormous metal frame.
Inside this structure is what is already a key part of Europe’s plan to become independent from the USA and China when it comes to AI – the LUMI supercomputer. It is short for Large Unified Modern Infrastructure, but also the Finnish word for snow.
When LUMI was inaugurated in July 2022, it was Europe’s most powerful supercomputer. This area is developing fast, but LUMI remains the second-most powerful supercomputer in Europe, only beaten by Germany’s JUPITER computer, and is number 11 in the world.
“LUMI is as powerful as 1.5 million regular laptops,” Emmanuel Ory, CSC’s development manager, says with a smile.
Not built for cat videos
Those who make cute AI videos of kittens singing pop songs will never be allowed to use any of LUMI’s computing power. This supercomputer is “earmarked” for useful tasks, for example:
- Performing complex calculations in physics, chemistry and medicine
- Climate modelling, simulate weather conditions and analyse climate change
- Helping businesses with product development and research
- Training and developing large AI models
The last points is also one of the most important. Here in Kajaani, European researchers and businesses can access enormous computing power which they would otherwise have to approach US or Chinese technology companies to get hold of.
This way, Europe can develop its own AI solutions.
– LUMI is doing a very important job. Europe needs to be independent in the field of AI, and this is one of the main reasons why the AI factories have been set up in Europe to provide our own tools to our own companies, industries and science,” says Emmanuel Ory from CSC.
LUMI is now one of 19 so-called AI factories that the EU will use to create alternative AI models to those from the USA and China. In July this year, the EU launched a call for proposals to establish up to seven KI gigafactories in addition to these.
“World-leading technology”
One clear sign that Kajaani hit the nail on the head when investing in data centres and AI, is CSC’s newest project. In a huge 200 metres long former paper storage hall, right next to the building that houses LUMI, the future is being built.
CSC – IT Center for Science
Finland’s centre for scientific computing
Owned by the Finnish state (70 per cent) and educational institutions (30 per cent)
Runs the LUMI supercomputer in Kajaani
LUMI is one of the EU’s 19 “AI factories” which will help Europe become AI independent
LUMI-AI and LUMI-IQ are scheduled to be operational before 2030
Two different super computers will be installed here. They will eventually work in unison to make calculations that so far have been impossible to make, which should create new possibilities in research and for industry.
LUMI-AI will be a supercomputer made specifically to work with artificial intelligence. When it is ready for use in 2027, it will have around ten times the AI capacity of the existing LUMI supercomputer and will make scientific calculations in nearly half the time.
LUMI-IQ is an experimental quantum computer which will use the principles of quantum physics to process data and perform calculations. When both machines are ready, the result, according to CSC, will be world-leading. On their website, they say:
“LUMI-AI and LUMI-IQ will form the most advanced public research infrastructure in the world, combining quantum computing, supercomputer computing and artificial intelligence. This one-of-a-kind platform will open completely new horizons for research.”
Significant benefits for the local community
CSC and the other companies running data centres where the paper mill once operated, have created hundreds of jobs. And the knock-on effects for the rest of Kajaani and the Kainuu region are significant.
LUMI-AI and LUMI-IQ are being constructed behind huge wooden walls in the old paper hall, and the material is delivered by the Crosslam company from the village of Kuhmo, just over one hour drive from Kajaani.
“LUMI creates very special opportunities for businesses in the region. This is a completely open and publicly available data centre, unlike a lot of other commercial ones,” says Jani Moilanen, chairman of the Kainuu region chamber of commerce.
We meet him for lunch at the Wanha Kerho restaurant, housed in an old brick building that used to be the headquarters of Kajaani’s timber industry.
“Mining is still another important employer in Kajaani and the Kainuu region, but we say that mining is keeping people here while the technology sector is bringing people here,” says Moilanen.
Highly educated newcomers
Niina Ahtonen is one of those who has moved here. After working for nearly 20 years for the Geological Survey of Finland in the city of Kuopio, she wanted to learn something new and to meet new people.
“Today, I am the director of the CEMIS Centre for Measurement and Information Systems, which provides contract-based research and training, specialising in measurement technologies and data expertise,” says Ahtonen.
The centre gathers five research and development organisations in the Kajaani region, and CSC, the company running LUMI, is one of them.
“For me it was very important to find an environment where I could work with a lot of skilled and highly educated people, and not least to help Kajaani and the region develop further,” she says.
Special service for partners
The City of Kajaani created a new position last year which perhaps best illustrates that this place has succeeded in creating new jobs and to get people to move here.
The person is tasked with helping the partners of people who have found work in the data industry or elsewhere to find work themselves. The City of Kajaani’s website reads:
“Are you hiring a professional whose partner is also looking for work? We want to make sure new employees and their families settle into the area as smoothly as possible.
“We work closely with local employers to help new hires and their families find their place in Kajaani.”
Close links to education sector
A half-hour walk from SCS and LUMI takes you to KAMK – the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences. It focusses on computer technology and engineering and conducts applied research in close collaboration with industry.
On the first floor, the technology department has constructed its own little server room.
“Here, students can gain hands-on experience in operating and maintaining the equipment,” explains teacher Juha Hauhia.
“My course is called “Firewall basics” and we install firewalls in the server room, configure them and set up various firewall rules. Our students do everything from creating networks to installing equipment and servers.”
Hauhia believes the courses offered by KAMK can help more young people choose to stay in Kajaani, since there are now a lot of relevant jobs with employers like CSC.
In September this year, KAMK launched a new data centre training programme. The initial 100 spaces went quickly, and the university decided to open up a further 50.
There are already close links between CSC and KAMK, and both are members in the aforementioned CEMIS (Centre for Measurement and Information Systems).
Both CSC and KAMK are also part of the Kajaani Data Center Ecosystem, where educational institutions, technology businesses, data centre operators and the City of Kajaani cooperate on research, investments and jobs.
“The hunger land” has been given new meaning
The fact that the people of Kajaani chose to embrace the very technology that spelled the end of the industrial success story which had provided the city with its livelihood, fits very well into the region’s long history, believes Johannes Aalto from the Kainuu regional council
“I think it is in our national ethos to always turn adversity into success. The Kainuu region was always known as “the hunger land”,” he says.
The name stems from Kajaani’s and the Kainuu region’s tough climate, poor soil and the fact that the area is relatively isolated from Finland’s agricultural and production centres.
“In 1911, the author Ilmari Kianto wrote the text for what would become Kainuu’s regional anthem, Nälkämaan laulu, or “The song of the hunger land”.
“The text celebrates the resilience and pride of the local people, and through the anthem, “the hunger land” was turned into something positive,” explains Johannes Aalto.
“And now, we are hungry for success!”
