NEW HONORARY CONSUL OF FINLAND IN CLUJ-NAPOCA
Finland is proud to have two honorary consuls in Romania, Ms Elena Lotrean in Sibiu and Mr Mircea Hotoleanu in Cluj-Napoca. Mr Hotoleanu has just entered his term as an honorary consul, so let’s get to know him!
“I graduated the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in 1989 as an Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer and had my PhD thesis at the same university in 2007 in the field of specialty optical fibers and lasers. After teaching 10 years at the university I joined a start-up company in Finland (Liekki Oy) as R&D engineer and later as member of the top management team. Today, I am running my own company developing AI software applications for industrial and medical customers.
I love to play tennis, travel around the world, read history (Mika Waltari’s Egyptian is on the top of my list) and sci-fi books, listen music and gardening."
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What is your connection to Finland Mr Hotoleanu?
-I visited Finland for the first time in 1998 when I was invited for a research project to NK Cable, in Vantaa. I returned in 1999 for a similar project. In 2001 I joined Liekki Oy in Lohja as senior research engineer. Later I had various vice-president roles in that company. In 2009 I moved to Beneq Oy in Vantaa for a special research project.
I made many friends in Finland and I enjoyed all Finnish traditions: sauna, midsummer lake side retreat, vappu, independence day celebration, but also salmiakki, karelian piirakka, kotikalja, and, of course, a lot of salmon.
What Romanians should know about Finland? And what do Finland and Romania have in common?
-Because of the distance and lack of direct flights, Romanians do not know much (or enough) about Finland. In my current role I am working to fill this gap in the knowledge.
Romanians should learn how hard work, honesty and trust brought Finland to be one of the most successful country in terms of technology, education, green economy and life style. They should learn from Finland that lack of corruption and wise use of resources can build a healthy society and economy.
Also, Romanians should know that Finland has so many beautiful landscapes: countless lakes and endless forests. In spite of rumors, the weather can be very nice: beautiful summers, warm but not hot, and incredible white winters.
Even though Finland and Romania are quite far apart, they shared rather similar history in the dramatic 20th century. They both had the most important events at the end of WWI: Finland independence on December 6th 1917 and Romanian big union on December 1st 2018.
Both countries suffered loss of territories due to Soviet Union invasions at the beginning of WWII. They both fought to get them back. And, at the end, both have been considered defeated countries and paid heavy price to Soviet Union. The only dramatic difference is that Romania did not escape and fell under the iron curtain.
Living significant period of time in both countries, I can say there is another important common trait between Finns and Romanians: they are both warm and welcoming people. In Finland I was received and lived like any other member of their community. I made so many friends and I keep a warm connection with them. I know that Romanians have the same hospitality and are always open to meet people all over the world.
How are you able to help companies?
I have two main fields of expertise: technology and business management. I will use these to promote cooperation between Finnish and Romanian companies, research centers and universities. Compared with other EU countries, Finland is not very much present in Romania with companies or major projects, and vice-versa. However, knowing the Finnish economical strengths, I am sure there are a lot potential opportunities for Finnish companies to enter Romanian market. The same, Romania in general and Transylvania in special has many companies that could provide services and goods to Finland.
Where do you see room for cooperation?
The cooperation starts with knowing each-other. The first thing to do is to facilitate the direct interaction between companies. Cluj-Napoca is recognized a strong center for digital technologies, so I will have a special focus on facilitating the connection with Finnish IT companies.
Also, because of the large number of high quality universities in Cluj-Napoca, many large companies established operation in the area. I consider Finnish companies should also explore this possibility. The recent announcement from Nokian Tyres to build a production facility in Oradea (150km West from Cluj-Napoca) is a significant event and might be an important signal for other Finnish companies.
A special opportunity is the cooperation between education and research organizations. Romania has many things to learn from Finnish education system. Also, there are many research domains where cooperation between these two countries could be very successful.
City of Cluj-Napoca might not be familiar for Finns, tell us a bit more about it please
Cluj-Napoca is considered one of the most beautiful and most advanced cities in Romania. And I say that not only because I live in Cluj-Napoca. It is a very young city of about 400000 citizens out of which about 25% are students! The city is vibrant, but safe. It has many beautiful parks, sport resorts, elegant restaurants and relaxing bars.
Cluj-Napoca is the city of festivals. It hosts the largest annual music festival in Romania (Untold), the largest film festival in SE Europe (TIFF), an annual jazz festival and many other cultural and sport events. Not to mention that for 5th year in a row (now in 2022), our local team CFR is Romania’s football champion.
Cluj-Napoca is also known as the “Capital of Transylvania”. While we do not care that much about Dracula, we do love the mountains and lakes surrounding the city. Within one hour driving you may explore the largest salt mine in Europe, breath taking mountain gorges, spectacular caves, crystal clear mountain lakes. And yes, you may also ski in several excellent ski resorts. I am sure, Finnish tourists may enjoy excellent time in our city and region.
We wish all the best for our new Honorary Consul and his efforts!