Innovation at the universities
Finland has been a pioneer in developing a national innovation system.
Economic globalisation leads to rapid changes in the business sector, in individual companies and in skills requirements. Knowledge and skills in all their various forms have become key factors for the development of communities and there is now competition for them.
The national innovation system refers to an extensive whole made up of the producers of new knowledge and skills, those who use these commodities, and all the various forms of interaction between these two.
The main parts of the innovation system are education and training, research and product development and knowledge-intensive business operations. International cooperation is a mainstreamed feature of the system.
The most prominent trends of the past few years in Finland have been strong growth, particularly in private research funding, work to improve the quality of operations and focused input into postgraduate education. International evaluation has found Finland's science and technology policy to be both consistent and successful.
The producers of new knowledge are the universities and polytechnics, research institutions, companies and others. Those who use the knowledge are usually companies, individual citizens and decision-makers and administrative bodies in charge of developing society. The intermediaries for using knowledge include the universities innovation services, national centres of expertise and other intermediary organisations.
The main role of the universities in the innovation system is to produce new information through basic research. Research of a high standard demands time, resources and international cooperation. Innovations that emerge as a result of research can be protected through patents, utilised through licensing or by setting up a company to develop and commercialise the product.
The universities innovation services support researchers in various ways, including by evaluating and identifying innovations and by providing advice on how to find the optimal solution for utilising them.
Links:
Science and Technology Policy Council
Text: Esko-Olavi Seppälä / Science and Technology Policy Council
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
