Sulake Wins Nokia Award
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Nokia Foundation has granted its 2008 award to Aapo Kyrölä and Sampo Karjalainen, the founders of the Sulake Corporation Inc., which is best known for its Habbo virtual world and online community.
The E 10 000 award was presented at the foundation's scholarship awards ceremony on November 18, 2008, an event at which the foundation also celebrated its 14th anniversary.
Over 100 million users have registered with the Habbo service. The Habbo virtual world and online community attracts close to 10 million unique visitors each month. Sulake has offices in 18 countries across five continents and employs over 300 people.
"Aapo Kyrölä and Sampo Karjalainen have been chosen for this award because of their contributions to collaborative media and social networking. The Habbo virtual world is loved by teenagers all over the world as an easy way to meet new people and keep in touch with friends. The design of the virtual characters is unique, and the constantly evolving features of the collaborative game have driven innovation in an area where competition is tough," said Henry Tirri, Head of Nokia Research Center.
"Research is what allows a company to not only survive economic turmoil, but actually thrive once the market has stabilized again. R&D can be considered an insurance policy, whose premiums are paid during good economic times, hedging against uncertainties in the marketplace. Those companies that are able to focus their efforts and continue to create new, innovative products will be best positioned as the situation improves," Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Nokia's Board of Directors, noted in his address at the Foundation's ceremony.
Congratulations Sulake!
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