Centres of Expertise study reveals challenges in stimulating local innovation

	Mr Tapani Saarinen, Vice President of Business Development at the Turku Science Park, Finland.
	Tsietsi Maleho, Manager of Corporate Affairs at The Innovation Hub, welcomes participants at the workshop.

The Innovation Hub, in collaboration with the Cooperative Framework on Innovation Systems between Finland and South Africa (COFISA), conducted a feasibility study during May and June this year to investigate the development of a Centres of Expertise (CoE) Programme in Gauteng. Mr Tapani Saarinen, Vice President of Business Development at the Turku Science Park in Finland was contracted by COFISA to conduct the feasibility study.

Saarinen is a Centers of Expertise (CoE) Programme expert with 17 years of experience in creating and managing the science park concept and regional development in South West Finland. He is currently a Director of the Centers of Expertise Program in South West Finland and is in charge of over 100 Public-Private funded projects. He was a member of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) Board from 2002 to 2004.

The CoE Programme is a Finnish model of utilising top level knowledge and expertise as a resource for business operations, job creation and regional development, with the aim of identifying the region's strengths and creating economic growth. The Innovation Hub, in giving effect to its mandate to creating a high-tech cluster in Gauteng and growing its knowledge economy, has identified, in collaboration with COFISA, the CoE Programme as a tool to create a regional system of innovation in Gauteng. Saarinen interviewed stakeholders in the ICT, Biotechnology and Aerospace fields, including universities, research organisations, government and private sector in the province.

"The South West Finland Centre of Expertise promotes the development of fields that are important to the region. Since 1994 the Centre of Expertise has contributed to the creation of new jobs, promotion of product development and the launching of services that support research and business in South West Finland. 'Invention is putting money in to get knowledge out and Innovation is putting knowledge in to get money out', which therefore means that universities and research organisations must collaborate with industry in order to create new products and businesses for the region", says Saarinen.

Early in November, The Innovation Hub in collaboration with COFISA held a workshop at the CSIR Convention Centre to give feedback to the interviewees on Saarinen's findings.

A presentation by Lauri Kuukasjarvi, Chief Technical Advisor for COFISA, on the Finnish Innovation System and the role of Science Parks and CoE Programmes in such a system served as an introduction to Saarinen's presentation, which highlighted the following:

• The current South African National System of Innovation (SANSI) is a collection of fragmented narrow sectors connected to the whole innovation system.
• Many of the stakeholders interviewed did not recognise any existing innovation chains, the relevant players in the value-chain and existing tools in product development.
• There is a gap in the mindset and collaboration between researchers in industry and in universities. The current system is neither competitive nor sustainable because universities do not produce the research which industry can capitalise on.
• There is a huge demand for a national, sustainable, transparent, independent, neutral and well-resourced financial instrument to support innovation activities in the country.

The report concluded with recommendations that a pilot CoE Programme be established in Gauteng and coordinated by The Innovation Hub. The inception phase of the programme will be run from November 2007 to March 2008 in the three chosen sectors - Aerospace, Biotechnology and ICT.

Following the workshop, Saarinen had specific cluster meetings with key players in Aerospace, Biotechnology and ICT to plan for the inception phase. The aim of The Innovation Hub CoE Programme is to encourage collaboration among academia, government, research organisations and private sector through working on joint-innovation projects in the form of consortia. The Programme Coordination Team will publish terms of reference for project bidding in the Aerospace, Biotechnology and ICT sectors in the media by mid-January 2008.

To read more about The Innovation Hub's Centers of Expertise Programme, click here.
To view the feasibility study report, click here.