Finland’s New Maritime Industry Strategy Highlights the Need for Leadership, Skills and Collaboration

Finland has published a new national Maritime Industry Strategy, setting out a vision for strengthening the competitiveness, growth and renewal of one of the country’s most important export sectors. The strategy recognizes the maritime industry as a key driver of economic growth and emphasizes the importance of innovation, skills development and long-term collaboration between industry, public authorities and educational institutions.

“The maritime industry has emerged as one of Finland’s leading growth sectors and has a significant impact on the direction of our national economy,” emphasizes Mika Nieminen, Chair of the Board of Finnish Marine Industries and CEO of Rauma Marine Constructions.

Prepared by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, the strategy identifies five priority areas for future development: innovation and technological leadership, skills and workforce availability, exports and new markets, government vessels and security of supply, and investments, financing and ownership.

It also highlights the role of the state and the importance of domestic ownership in supporting the sector’s development.

The vision is to ensure that Finland retains its capability to build the world’s most demanding cruise ships and passenger vessels, as well as its expertise in the design, technology development and production of vessels critical to the state, such as Arctic vessels, government and authority vessels, and naval ships. At the same time, the entire maritime industry ecosystem will be strengthened across the full value chain.

Another key objective is to significantly increase technology and service exports. The Finnish maritime industry is internationally recognised for its high level of expertise and advanced solutions, and the goal is to expand exports particularly through low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and high-technology products and services. At the same time, efforts will be made to ensure that domestic manufacturing maintains a strong role within the value chain.

Leadership and Talent as Enablers of Growth

The implementation of the strategy is expected to further strengthen the sector’s competitiveness, growth and renewal. While the maritime industry is already one of Finland’s key growth engines, significant untapped expansion potential remains and should be fully utilized.

Delivering these ambitions will require practical mechanisms for skills development and industry collaboration. In this context, LeaderSHIP can serve as a platform for implementing the skills and competence objectives of both Finland’s Maritime Industry Strategy and the EU Industrial Maritime Strategy, published in March 2026.

By connecting industry, education and European partners, the project can translate strategic goals into concrete training programmes, competence frameworks, micro-credentials and lifelong learning pathways that strengthen Finnish and European maritime competitiveness.

A Strategic Sector for Finland

With annual revenues of approximately €12 billion, the maritime industry is a strategically important and critical export sector for Finland’s security of supply. The industry directly employs more than 30,000 professionals. Finnish maritime companies export high-technology solutions for all vessel types worldwide, helping accelerate the green and digital transition in shipping.

The sector is known for shipbuilding deliveries and technology solutions for cruise ships, passenger ferries, and specialized vessels such as icebreakers and government vessels, as well as offshore operations. The industry encompasses the entire technology value chain, from shipyards and design companies to equipment and systems suppliers, turnkey providers, software companies, and material suppliers.