Semiotics has enriched my life tremendously. Since 1988 I headed the International Semiotic Institute (ISI) at Imatra in eastern Finland until 2013, when the Ministry of Education ceased to fund it. The Institute in Imatra had in its time forged a truly academic brand. It was the source of the series Acta Semiotica Fennica, it paid host to the 10th World Congress of Semiotics, and it led the national university network for semiotics between 2004 and 2007.

For many young scholars, the Imatra congresses  were the first actual opportunity to present papers in an international symposium, in Imatra’s ‘nurturing environment’, to borrow Thomas A. Sebeok’s phrase. ISI’s significance for education has been enormous.

As Finland no longer wished to continue this kind of innovative and international centre, I moved it to the University of Technology in Kaunas. The Lithuanians were delighted to take charge of this operation and international network, and with good reason. ISI is now thriving there as an independent institution under the directorship of Dario Martinelli.

I gave my first introductory course in semiotics at the University of Helsinki in 1990. The large lecture hall in the Porthania building was packed and the event was covered by the press. Many would have liked to write their doctorates on semiotics if at all possible. The Faculty of Arts however had no wish to make it a subject. Instead the University continues to offer a study programme in semiotics. And the professorship also won some time with funding from the Imatra ISI.