Computer Industry as a National Task The Finnish Computer Project and the Question of State Involvement in the 1970s
Petri Paju · 2007
This article studies a forgotten research project of recent Finnish his- tory of information technology by the name of Suomalainen tietokonepro- jekti, in English Finnish Computer Project (FICO). The FICO project was a government-sponsored research project initially aimed at producing a Finnish (mini) computer for international markets, especially in socialist coun- tries. Researchers carried out the project in 1975-1976. However, after the re- searchers had produced their preliminary study report in six months time, the project was not continued. I argue that historians have misrepresented the FICO project in recent research and when properly studied, the project can offer new perspectives to an early development phase of present-like science and technol- ogy policy in Finland. Notwithstanding FICO's topicality, this article focuses on examining what the involved people meant by the task of the pro- ject. I further argue that we can best understand FICO as a continuation of ear- lier ideas on building high technology, in this case electronics and computers, capabilities and expertise as a Finnish national project. Moreover, focusing on these distinct national projections in action might offer one key to understand- ing similar attempts at projects in other countries as well.