Tekijät

• Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA)

Asiasanat

innovation activities, innovation policy, municipalities, networks, organizations

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey is part of the larger INNOEVAL survey evaluating the Finnish National Innovation System from several angles. In this study, the opinions of municipalities on the Finnish National Innovation System were queried.

First, the respondents were not only asked to rate the current Finnish National Innovation System (NIS), but also the NIS as it was five years ago, and the NIS as it is expected to be after five years. Their views were probed on the role of public sector actors in the Finnish NIS from the point of view of their own municipalities. In addition, they indicated the importance of various actors (e.g. Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund), the Academy of Finland) for their organisation. The respondents were also asked to evaluate the orientation of the current Finnish innovation policy on a scale from "strong technology push" to "strong demand pull". Next, they indicated whether universities, polytechnics and public research organisations have successfully taken care of various tasks, such as international top-class research, research for the national needs, and the production of experts for the international business activities as well as for the needs of local business activities.

Views were charted on the innovation system's ability to support growth entrepreneurship. In addition, the respondents were asked whether they experienced that the NIS also promotes regional policy agendas, and whether the national innovation policy is equally effective in all regions of Finland. The respondents were asked about the importance of national and international networks on the activities of their own organisations, and they were presented with a set of attitudinal statements on the impact of the new Universities Act, the centres of strategic excellence (SHOKs), and the potential reform of publicly funded research organisations on the NIS.

The respondents were asked whether the municipalities provided various services (e.g. financing and information services) in order to support their local innovation activities, and whether their municipalities had an explicit strategy or agenda related to innovation activities. Finally, the respondents indicated whether innovativeness had been a central criterion in the selection of service providers or goods suppliers in their municipalities, and whether they thought it is possible to support the promotion of innovation activities through public procurement.