12th FRUCT Conference: Practical Information

The 12th conference of the Open Innovations Association FRUCT provides an unmatched collaboration and education forum for all matters Finnish-Russian technological and educational cooperation in ICT. The conference brings together the best and brightest that the Regional communities have to offer, including core developers, administrators, end users, business executives, and operations experts - the best technical talent and the decision makers and industry experts who are involved in the community.

The conference is targeted to scale up cross-border cooperation between ICT experts and mobile developers from Russian and Finland, with particular focus on Oulu region and Republic of Karelia. The conference is organized by Center for Internet Excellence (University of Oulu), Petrozavodsk State University and Open Innovations Association FRUCT.

The conference program consists of 5 full working days. The first 2.5 days are reserved for trainings and intensive courses.

The main conference program starts at noon of November 7th and continue for 2.5 days. The program consists of invited lectures provided by industrial and academic experts, community presentations selected from the open call and demos given by the regional groups, invited FRUCT teams and selected from the open call. The key priority of this conference is community development so a lot of attention will be given to creation of cozy environment and possibilities for social interaction.

We warmly welcome you to take part in the conference, use this opportunity to your research finding and development results, find new friends and partners, and help in development of the regional ICT research and education ecosystem. Thanks to our sponsors, all participants can enjoy free registration to the event. The conference is a part of Karelia ENPI project KA179 co-funded by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland.

Practical information for participants

Oulu is located in the northern part of the Baltic Sea, about 200 km from the Arctic Circle. It has an image as an active city that is prosperous for business, and has also good public services, safe atmosphere and diverse natural environment. With an interdisciplinary university, many public and private research institutes and international corporations, Oulu is a university, science and technology city. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland (141 742 inhabitants, 2011 Jan.) and the sixth most populous city in the country. Map of Oulu

Transportation
Airlines - when arriving in Helsinki-Vantaa airport, 55-minute connecting flight to Oulunsalo Airport is one possibility to take. The following airlines have also several flights daily to Oulu, please visit: Norwegian, Finnair, Blue1 or AirBaltic.

Train - in case of travelling by train, first you need to take a Finnair bus to Helsinki centre, leaving every 20 minutes from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. The bus goes directly to the Helsinki railway station (cca 40 min.) From Helsinki to Oulu, there are seven trains a day (cca. 70 EUR, time: ~7 hours). For timetables, prices and tickets, please visit the website of Finnish Railways. If you have taken the train from Helsinki you will be arriving in downtown Oulu.

Bus - number 19 runs between Oulunsalo Airport and Oulu city centre. The route goes via the University of Oulu, every 20 minutes on weekdays. The distance between the city centre and the University of Oulu in Linnanmaa is cca. 5,5 km/10-15 minutes by bus. There are several bus connections during the day between the city centre and the university. Stopping  is on request at all bus stops along the way. A single ticket in the area of the city costs EUR 3,10. You can pay on the bus by cash or credit card. It is possible to change busses within 1 hour of the purchase of the ticket.
Oulu, Airport – Oulu, city centre
Oulu, city centre – Linnanmaa (University)
Linnanmaa – Oulu, city centre
Oulu, city centre – Oulu, Airport

Taxi - The trip from the airport to downtown Oulu takes about 20 minutes. From Oulu Airport to Linnanmaa (University)  is about 22 km and costs appr. 32 euros (1-2 passenger). From Linnanmaa (University) to Oulu city centre takes about 16 km and costs appr. 29 euros (1-2 passenger). Phone number: +358 600-30081, ordering taxi in advance from airport: +358 600 30087.

Map of Linnanmaa: http://www.oulu.fi/kartat/Linnanmaa_2010_English.pdf. Instructions to the campus map:

• Number 4 - IE, Center for Internet Excellence (C-door, Faculty of Humanities, 2^ndfloor)
• Number 2 - Restaurant Snellmania
• Number 8 - Restaurant Julinia

Visitors by car: Parking close to the entrance of the main library or the main parking lot at Erkki Koiso-Kanttila street