|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Greetings! |
this month there are several encouraging news: - Purchases of new houses rose in March from a record low as the weakest industry in the economy strained to recover. - New jobs are created in Palm Beach county by Shoes for Crews providing 30 jobs in the next two years when moving their Las Vegas Operations to West Palm Beach. - HUDstar providing instrumentation and communication systems for demanding applications such as Heads-Up display, is expanding its operations and currently offering 11 new jobs in West Palm Beach. We are pleased to welcome our newest Business members - Krogerus Ltd. Read more about Krogerus Ltd. in this newsletter. We continue looking into more ways of how we can offer value to our members and friends. Please join us for the various events we have during the summer months. Would love to hear from you! Lena President FACC, Florida |
|
 |
|
|
|
Economic News from Florida
| According to Enterprise Florida, nearly 1.3 million jobs in Florida depend on international business and more than 55,000 Florida companies export. This is the second largest number of exporters in the U.S. after California. The number of Florida exporters has grown by 76% since 2003.
Florida Origin Exports reached $55.2 billion in 2010 - 17.8% increase from 2009 levels.
Enterprise Florida reports that the top 10 Florida origin export destinations between 2008 - 2010 are: Switzerland; Brazil; Canada; Venezuela; Colombia; Mexico; Chile; Dominican Republic; Paraguay and Peru.
According to Enterprise Florida, Brazil, Colombia, China, Japan and Switzerland were the top 5 merchandise trading partners for Florida in 2010.
Enterprise Florida reports that Florida ranks sixth in the nation in terms of foreign direct investment employment with a total of 245,800 jobs supported by majority foreign owned companies. Approximately 25,000 foreign companies operate across the state.
Enterprise Florida reported that in 2010 Florida's services exports reached $29.9 billion and supported 418,000 jobs in the state. Read more of current Florida news here. Florida is one of the leading states in biotechnology and pharmaseutical startups. Florida ranks as 2nd in Biosciences industry startups, as well as new branches. Florida also ranks 3rd in the pharmaseuticals startups. For more information, read the full story here.
|
|
News from Finland
| PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Finland held its parliamentary elections in April where it chose the representatives to drive Finland forward for the next four years. National Coalition Party (NCP) took the position of the largest party with 44 seats of the 200 seat parliament while Social Democrats, a former opposition party, took 42 seats. However, the rise of the True Finns in the largest gain of seats in Finnish history, from 5 in 2007 to 39 last night, signals change in many ways. The rise of the True Finns could also effect startups and growth entrepreneurs in a very significant way. Read more.
ANGRY BIRDS FREE WITH MAGIC RELEASING AT WIMA
Angry Birds is set to get another title to boast about in its collection as Rovio announces the launch of Angry Birds Magic. The game is set to launch on Nokia smartphones powered by the current Symbian Anna update.The game will be released at WIMA NGS conference next week. 
|
|
Introducing New Members
| |
Business Member - Krogerus Ltd.
Krogerus is a leading law firm established in 1992 and is located in Helsinki, Finland and holds the place currently as one of the five largest law firms in Finland as the most commercially succesful.
The company offers a wide range of legal services to public, private and growth businesses as well as banks, private equity investors and other financial insitutions. The company has also consulted goverment and governmental bodies.
The main focus of the company lies on transactions, conflict management, competition and technology, media and telecommunications and energy and infrastructure.
Krogerus also operates in an international environment with clients in international organisations and strong co-operation with other international law firms. Krogerus currently employs approximately 150 people, of whom 83 are lawyers.
For more information, please visit http://www.krogerus.com/en/ .
|
|
Consulate Corner
by Honorary Consul Peter J. Makila
| 
We are pleased to announce that the mobile passport unit will be at our consulate office for passport applications.
The dates are from
Tuesday May 10
till Friday May 13, 2011.
Please call us to make an appointment and information at 561-582-2335
|
|
Fulbright-VTT Grant in Science, Technology and Innovation
- it is time to apply
|  VTT the Technical Research Center of Finland has recently established collaboration with the Fulbright Association in the USA in the form of a Fulbright-VTT Grant in Science, Technology and Innovation that aims at bringing up to five guest researchers to VTT annually. The Fulbright grant opens up new possibilities for researcher exchanges to Finland. The Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious awards programs in the USA. The grant is for American citizens and is awarded mainly for candidates with a PhD, but candidates with a M.Sc. degree and strong expertise in their field may also be considered. Professionals / non-academics with a minimum experience of 5 years in the field will also be considered. The Fulbright-VTT Grant can fund five grantees per year, with the duration of the research visit being 4 - 6 months. It includes: · Monthly stipend for the grantee of 2700 € per month for young post docs or 4200 € per month for professors or equally qualified experienced experts. · Travel allowance of $ 1,800 · Accident and sickness insurance for the grant period · Free housing The online application period for the Fulbright-VTT grant is now open on the CIES site in the USA, with applications due August 1, 2011. The first visiting researcher grantees will be selected in order to start at VTT as of September 2012. A short summary about the grant can be found in the PDF file attached here. Additional information, including detailed application instructions are available from the Finnish Fulbright Center and the CIES websites www.fulbright.fi > Grant Programswww.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards www.cies.org/country/finland.htm http://catalog.cies.org/viewAward.aspx?n=2210 (on-line application) |
|
|
|
HYRIA Education, Hyvinkää, Finland visiting Palm Beach State Collage, Lake Worth Campus May 3rd
|
Representative from HYRIA will meet with Palm Beach State Collage (PBSC) Dean, Dr. Gallon and other faculty members discussing possible future co-operation between these two collages. Hyria is a multidisciplinary educational institution providing vocational education for young people and adults and various training alternatives to corporate and community customers.
The visitors from Hyria are Director of Industry and Transport, Mr. Arto Lehtola and Vice President Ms. Kirsi-Liisa Virta, in charge of adult education and international relationships. Both collages want to strengthen their international relationships and naturally the whole larger community will benefit from such diversity and exchange of knowledge. More information about HYRIA at and PBSC.
FACC, Florida has been successfully involved in arranging the meeting with these two collages and wishes best of luck in the future negotiations.
|
"Tervetuloa Floridaan"- Welcome to Florida
| 
Stop by and get your Welcome to Florida, "Tervetuloa Floridaan" brochure while it last.
The brochure offers practical advice for new comers in many areas, such as how to start credit history, open a bank account, get drivers license, about traffic, schools, health care and much more.
It also makes a great welcome gift to your client and by adding your own logo to the back you can personalize this gift and make your clients feel welcome!
The brochure cost is $5.00/members and $6.00/future members.
Bulk pricing starting from $3.00 available for orders more than 10 pieces.
Inquire by sending an email to info@facc-fl.com or visit us at 523 Lake Ave, Lake Worth, FL
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISE HERE Send your message to over 200 readers of FACC-FL newsletter.
Special pricing for members
Inquiries info@facc-fl.com
|
|
We would love to hear from you if you have suggestions or ideas how we can better serve you. Don't hesitate to call or send a suggestion to info@facc-fl.com
Let us know how we can make your business more successful!
Sincerely,
Lena Hartikainen
Finnish American Chamber of Commerce
|
|
|
