Tekijät

• Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA)

Asiasanat

innovation activities, innovation policy, networks, organizations, public sector

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 Finnish regional intermediaries 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 what kind of entity public sector actors in the Finnish NIS form. 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 about the types of services (e.g. financing, information services, and promotion of international labour mobility) their organisations provided to other actors of the Finnish innovation system. They were also asked whether they experienced that other public and private actors provided similar services and whether the co-operation between service providers is effortless. Further questions charted the share of the respondents' personnel that had a university or technical university degree. In addition, they were asked about the primary users of their services or financing.

The respondents also evaluated the innovation system from the point of view of promoting private enterprise and innovation activities, and told about their organisations' sources of funding. Finally, the respondents were asked how their organisations had reacted to the new national innovation strategy published in July 2008, and whether the strategy requires changes in the activities of their organisations.