Stageblog - Yannick Schimmel - September 2024

Moi! Mina olen Yannick, and in this blog I will take you along in my 6-month internship at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Helsinki. With this blog, I hope to provide some further insights into the work the Embassy does, as well as into the daily life in the Finnish capital. I study Cybersecurity Governance at the University of Leiden, and have a background in International Relations and European Studies. This blogpost is the first out of six and is about the month of September.

Arriving in Helsinki

Cliches exist for a reason, and I can truly say that my first month in Helsinki has flown by. I arrived on a Saturday, with temperatures of no less than 25 degrees; no better way to start! Since then, the maximum daytime temperature has only seldomly dropped below 18 degrees, and all temperature records are being broken one after the other. The Finns are visibly amazed, and also I did not expect this when packing my suitcase. I managed to find a nice studio in the neighbourhood Kallio, which turns out to be a very lively, urban and 'hip' part of the city. In general, the city has a very positive atmosphere, and I have already very much come to appreciate the local way of life. The city is full of nature and water, is extremely clean and well-maintained, and the people are very friendly and calm (with an admirable level of patience for red traffic lights and queuing!).  

An exciting first month at the embassy

On day 1, I arrived at the embassy, which is located beautifully in the city centre, with some healthy nerves. These quickly disappeared, however, when meeting my colleagues, who gave me a very warm welcome and truly operate as a team. The tradition of going out for lunch with the whole team once a week is only one example of this. I spent my first week familiarizing myself with my colleagues and the work they do, the key focus areas of the embassy, and Finland more generally. Then, it was time for more action. 

One of the main topics the embassy is working on is the promotion of the circular economy. During a visit of Nordic regional business developer Els Berkers to the Embassy, I could attend various meetings and work visits with relevant Finnish actors regarding this topic. It was very interesting to learn about the opportunities and challenges involved, and to see the complexity of this topic, covering entire value chains. The program also included a visit to recycling facility Remeo, where innovative technology is used to separate and recycle waste. This was certainly the most photogenic session (see photo).  

Design Diplomacy, International Day of Democracy, TechNet etc.

Another highlight was the embassy's participation in a concept called 'design diplomacy', organized in the context of the Helsinki Design Week. For this event, a Dutch and Finnish designer were invited to the residence, where they exchanged experiences by playing a card game. The audience clearly enjoyed the discussion, as well as the drinks and snacks offered at the balcony of the residence. In the same week, I also attended a seminar on the topic of EU-enlargement, as well as a debate between parliamentarians in the context of the International Day of Democracy, organized in the Parliament. 

Finally, last week was filled with two very interesting conferences. I had the great pleasure of attending TechNet Europe 2024, which is a 2-day conference on the interplay between digitalization and defence. The conference was preceded by a visit to the headquarters of Finland's icon Nokia, which has shifted from cell phone production to network technology. At the conference itself, the list of high-profile speakers included representatives from NATO, the EU, the tech industry and the Finnish Defence Forces. Through a series of keynotes and panel discussions, I learned a great deal about topics like resilience, the future of warfare, protecting critical infrastructure from hybrid threats, cybersecurity and AI, and supply chains. A full program indeed. The second conference I attended focused on sustainability and critical raw materials, another highly relevant topic. Again, the conference included a visit, this time to a potential secondary raw materials site. I really enjoyed learning about Finland's potential in this field, and also the bus ride through the beautiful green landscapes. 

In my day-to-day work, I get to focus on a variety of different topics. My main focus, however, will be on researching the Finnish concept of 'comprehensive security’ and societal resilience against security threats. More on this in the next blogs! 

Busy weekends

Since the weather has been so nice, I spent my first weekends trying to see as much as possible from Helsinki and its surroundings. On top of my list was the UNESCO-heritage sea fortress Suomenlinna, situated on a group of islands in the archipelago. Throughout history, this island has played a key role in defence for subsequently the Swedes, the Russians and the Finns. I also visited Porvoo, a city characterised by its colourful wooden houses, and the home of national poet J.L. Runeberg. Another highlight was the ferry to Estonian capital city Tallinn. Crossing the Baltic Sea only takes about 2 hours and Tallinn's beautiful, fairytale-like Old Town was therefore of course a must-see. We have a group chat with interns from the various embassies here, and we regularly see each other for sometimes more and sometimes slightly less work-related activities. 

Fortunately, there is still a lot left to discover. Also at the embassy there is again much to look forward to in the next month, including a dinner with the Honorary Consuls and a Dutch wind mission delegation coming to Finland. Stay tuned!