I think a few factors/explanations, based on what I remember from colleagues on EFNet... - Teachers/professors have a more actualized social selection/prestige

I think a few factors/explanations, based on what I remember from colleagues on EFNet... - Teachers/professors have a more actualized social selection/prestige; the pay is better (especially comparing to a similar US university) so there is more incentive for talented people to stay in education vs go into private sector. - Finland has a high level of government programs to help industries in various ways. As an example from another industry, Children of Bodom recorded many of their albums in a government owned/sponsored recording studio. - Finland also has free education. I'm betting a lot of people saw the possibilities, it was likely a bit easier to break into back then. That said, If you look at the late 80s and early 90s, Finland was a sleeping tech giant. IRC, Linux, InnoDB, Symbian (love it or hate it) all are products from that era...