International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) designated Helsinki as the World Design Capital for the year 2012 on November 25th, 2009.
The first World Design Capital was Turin (Torino) of Italy in 2008. World Design Capital 2010 is the South Korean capital Seoul.
Helsinki’s World Design Capital year 2012 will comprise a wide range of events and projects related to design and its manifestations. In 2012 Helsinki will also celebrate the 200th anniversary of becoming the capital of Finland, when the country was a grand duchy of the Russian Empire.
More info about this here and you can watch a video about it here.