Imagine establishes European operations in Finland

Imagine specialises in the manufacturing of graphene, a material that could revolutionise several industries and solutions. The company built the world’s first commercial graphene manufacturing plant in Australia in 2014 and has since applied the super-material to conductive coatings and leak detection geotextiles.

“We’re among the first companies in the world to commercialise graphene,” statesJaakko Kaidesoja, the newly-appointed managing director of Imagine Intelligent Materials Finland, “Our coatings can be fitted with sensor systems and analytics tools. This way we can produce intelligent surfaces, which provide information in real time.”

Chris Gilbey

, CEO at Imagine Intelligent Materials, visited the Slush technology conference in Helsinki last year and met Kaidesoja, who was excited about the technology. Gilbey made a follow-up trip to Finland last spring and was impressed by the Finnish technology ecosystem.

“I met with heads of R&D and strategy for a number of Finnish companies and the responses were amazing. [It] seemed like we were at the right time, right place, right opportunity,” says Gilbey. “I have a belief that if you want to build a business based on excellence, you are better off starting with excellence.”

The company will focus primarily on product development in Finland, and use its base here and as a leaping off point fromthe European market. Business Finland

played an important role in bringing Imagine to Finland.

Good News from Finland

is published by Finnfacts, which is part of Business Finland.