Innovation under the spotlight at international Science Park Conference
Innovation policy and the promotion of innovation were high on the agenda at the 2006 IASP (International Association of Science Parks) World Conference, held in June this year in Helsinki, Finland. As the only full IASP member in Africa, The Innovation Hub was represented at the Conference by CEO, Dr Neville Comins.
The Helsinki event marked the 23rd gathering of the Association, and was the largest and most widely attended IASP Conference to date. More than 600 guests from over 65 different countries descended upon the Finnish capital to attend this annual Conference. The theme for this year was "Helping innovative companies to succeed and communities to prosper", and according to Dr Comins there were a number of lessons to be learned - particularly from the host country, Finland.
"Over the last ten to fifteen years, Finland has become rated as one of the world leaders in innovation", he said. The country made a miraculous recovery from a deep recession in the early 1990's that saw the unemployment rate rise from 3% in 1990 to 16% in 1994. Since 1995, productivity of work has increased in Finland twice as rapidly as in the other affluent European Union Member States. Finnish cellular giant, Nokia, began its meteoric rise to domination of the world mobile phone market in the depths of this recession and it is Nokia and the ICT industry that has evolved around it that were the greatest single factor in the country's productivity upturn.
Another factor that has contributed to the success of the Finnish economy has been its national innovation policy. The council which formulates national science, technology and innovation policies is headed by the Prime Minister and its members come from both the public and private sectors. In 2003, these sectors made a combined investment of around €5bil in research and product development, equivalent to approximately 3.5% of the GDP. Numerous technological programmes have also been launched and extensive innovation and technology funding is provided through organisations such as the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (Sitra)
According to Dr Comins, the learning was not only provided by the Conference host. "There were a number of lessons from around the world, especially with regards to running a Science Park. I noticed a surprising commonality of experience", he said. Among these lessons were those offered by Dr Comins himself when he chaired a parallel session on "Providing Customer-Driven Science Park Services".
A further opportunity for sharing was created at the IASP Pre-Conference Workshop on the 'Do's and Don'ts of Science Park management'. Dr Comins was one of five Science Park Managers invited by IASP to present to this learning workshop.
Also highlighted at the Conference was the widely shared view that Science Park communities need to begin by creating local clusters before they can position themselves internationally, and Dr Comins says that Africa is not too far behind in this regard. South Africa's representation at the Conference also included the Limpopo Department of Trade and Investment and some delegates from the Eastern Cape, while Namibia and Kenya also had their own delegates - all of which indicates quite a groundswell in African interest in the Science Park model, added Comins.
These African players even went so far as to hold their own parallel meeting on the last day of the Conference - the purpose of which was to begin a coordinated effort to identify other players in the region and eventually develop a position paper for the lobbying of their respective national ministries. "This is heartening evidence that we're not alone in this. Now is the time to mobilise ourselves", said Comins.
The next IASP World Conference will be held in Barcelona in 2007.
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