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"Supercell is funding it entirely for the first five years,"
Chief Executive Ilkka Paananen told a news conference at
Helsinki's Slush startup event, adding the total value of the
investment was estimated at between eight to ten million euros.
Paananen and several other Finnish top executives estimated
recently that there is an immediate need for 7,000 to 9,000 new
coders in Finland, hindering growth in tech-oriented companies.
Paananen said the new school, named Hive Helsinki, would intend
to attract students aged 18-30 from different backgrounds, and
would especially seek to bring women into the tech industry to
address a lack of diversity.
A report released on Tuesday at Slush by Atomico, which runs
Europe's largest independent venture fund, found that 93 percent
of all funds raised by European venture-capitalist-backed
technology companies in 2018 went to all-male founding teams.
"Coding is not just for mathematically-oriented,
engineering-inclined men," Paananen said, adding that the need
for software is spreading across society and throughout
industries from healthcare to fashion.
The new coder school will start accepting applications in
December and the first 100 students are to begin their
three-year long training next September, free of charge as is
customary in the Finnish educational system.
The school's curriculum will be based on that of Ecole 42, a
similar tuition-free nonprofit school based in Paris.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; editing by David Evans)
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