his book is a thorough examination of Genome Finland, outlined in the extract above. By ‘Genome Finland’ we refer to the predominant presentation of Finnish genetics as a success story, and Finland as a milieu of unique excellence for biomedical research. In this book, we study the content of the success story and the image, how they came about, and what lies beneath the surface. We present a historical narrative of the rise of medical genetics in Finland by describing phases of the development and tracing background events and initiatives back to the late 1960s. However, our purpose is not to write a detailed chronicle. Instead, our analysis provides a mapping of the multiple paths and pur-suits whereby the trajectory of genetics has evolved in Finland, resulting in an enabling environment for innovation. In a nutshell, this book follows paths from ‘heritage’ of rare biological and med-ical traits to an asset in scientific and commercial competition in global biomedicine. While doing this, we sort out the variety of stakeholders and driving forces in science, politics, and the economy influencing the development. We unpack the manifold dynamics between the stakeholders, their interests, and pursuits. Furthermore, we situ-ate the development and alleged success of Finnish genetics in an international landscape of developments in the science, social concerns, and business connected with new genetics and genom-ics.2 Our narrative from the 1960s to the present day closely reflects our own research interests and undertakings over the past 20 years, bringing together findings from our empirical published and unpublished sociological research conducted in a number of research projects. As such, we are aware of unavoidable omissions in our historical recounting of the development of Genome Finland.