The Kalevala Dragon

Finland’s National Epic Dragon

Image generated by an AI model provided by Microsoft Copilot.

Kalevala is Finland’s national epic. Its poems of creation, magic, lust, violence, and death influenced Tolkien’s Middle Earth. These days, it’s drawing parallels with Finland’s quantum ecosystem.

Finland’s national quantum institute, InstituteQ, published a 31-page report on Finland’s quantum workforce on April 14, aka World Quantum Day. The report makes recommendations to policymakers, quantum technology developers, quantum technology end users, and higher education institutions. “The Quantum Science and Technology Workforce in Finland 2035” doesn’t mention Kalevala, but Kalevala could’ve been an intriguing theme.

Status Reports

The report is partially a status report on the Finnish quantum workforce and includes appropriate charts and figures. Kalevala contains a series of “status reports,” in the sense that the narrative regularly summarizes current events, including progress made, setbacks endured, and challenges remaining.

Growth Trends

The report is chock full of charts and figures that forecast growth over the next decade. The workforce is…