The seminar in Brussels on April 17th was arranged by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF), the Swedish Agency for Econimic and Regional Growth (NUTEK) and the Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies (ITPS).
Dr Jarna Heinonen , Director TSE Entre, Turku School of Economics (Finland) presented the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policies in Finland.
- Entrepreneurship policy
- Strong bottom-up AND top-down policy
- Several organisations involved necessitating co-operation both at national and regional level
- Wide perspective: " Everybody in the society "
- Innovation policy
- Explicitly top-down policy
- Narrower perspective: " Potential innovators "
- But what does this all imply?
- How is Finlands position not only among other countries but also content-wise?
Dr Jarna Heinonen continued her presentation by describing the IPREG research project. The main findings are: The systems do not solve the basic problem in Finland
- the level of entrepreneurial and innovative activity is low, especially the level of growth entrepreneurship
- Both use (in-flow) of and output from the systems need to be developed
- It is not only about fostering competitive approach (~market dynamics), but also about giving up the current structures and processes of the co-ordinated approach
A final thought:
Less is more! : market dynamics makes the difference, not the systems.
Ms Lois Stevenson , Professor, IDRC-International Development Research Centre (EGYPT) commented on the presentation. In Finland, it appear to have been a policy development during the last eight years. The government has reflected constantly on how well they are doing. She also commented on the value of the IPREG process:
- Great to include comments from external stakeholders about the report
- Finland is a good example regarding the horizontal approach
- What is the main barrier in terms of incentives?
Dr Jarna Heinonen pointed out that the problem is cultural; people are not willing to become entrepreneurs. Finland has been excellent in the horizontal approach.
Image: From left, Björn Falkenhall, Jarna Heinonen, Anders Lundström and Tom Cooney.