Lessons from Finland on key drivers for Science Parks

	Ltr Dr Martti Launonen, Vice President of Technopolis Plc, Jeanette Morwane, Project Officer at The Innovation Hub, Mervi Kaki, Director of Technopolis Consulting, and Gopolang Setumo, Business Support Coordinator for Maxum Business Incubator.
Technopolis is the largest company in Finland specialising in the provision of operating environments for high-tech companies. and one of Europe's largest technology centres. It offers a comprehensive service package that combines modern business premises with business support and development services. The company operates in six cities in Finland, namely Espoo, Jyvaskyla, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Tampere and Vantaa, as well as in St. Petersburg in Russia.

In October this year, Gopolang Setumo, Business Support Coordinator at the Maxum Business Incubator and Jeanette Morwane, Project Officer for Corporate Affairs at The Innovation Hub, attended the Technopolis Open Training for Science and Technology Park Executives in Helsinki, Finland. Their attendance was sponsored by the COFISA (Cooperative Framework on Innovation Systems between Finland and South Africa) Seed Fund.

As the capital city of Finland with a population of 1.2 million, Helsinki is the country's administrative centre and indisputably also its hub for trade, cultural and scientific endeavours.

The Technopolis Open Training for Science and Technology Park Executives focused on Science and Technology Parks as key drivers of economic growth and emphasised the following elements based on the Finnish experience:

Finnish Innovation Policy

The Finnish national system of innovation is characterised by a good quality education system, constructive relations between education, research and industry, and strategic Centres for science, technology and innovation. The approach is to strengthen strategic areas of science and technology development, stimulate cross-disciplinarily research and innovation, focus resources and increase international visibility. The Finnish Innovation Policy is also strengthened by the country's increasing public investment in R&D, which is aimed at 4% of GDP and is catalysing growth in corporate investment in the R&D sector as well.

University-Industry collaboration and technology transfer

Finland's R&D strength lies in encouraging university, research and industry collaboration, which promotes technology transfer. This is supported by a public sector and corporate environment with:

• A spirit of self-reliance and a "can do" attitude
• Strong industrial traditions
• A strong tradition of public-private partnership
• Common trust in universities and research Centres
• Consensus-building work ethics.

The incubation concept

According to Mr Tuomas Maisala, Deputy CEO of Technopolis Ventures, a business incubator is the soul of a Science Park. He highlighted the following success factors of business incubation:

• Selection criteria and classification for the incubator - "what you take in affects what you get out"
• A service palette matching client needs and incubator resources
• Defined follow-up and graduation to give direction to the incubation process
• Differentiated short term targets and long term goals.

The role of Science Parks in the Finnish Innovation System

Science and Technology Parks are seen as key players in the Finnish Innovation System. Currently 29 Science Parks in Finland are members of TEKEL, a Finnish Science Park Association. TEKEL regards Science Parks as drivers of industrial and innovation policy through entrepreneurship, employment, regional development and international competitiveness.

Regional development programmes

Science Parks serve as operational platforms for the development of regional innovation system programmes such as Centres of Expertise Programme. These programmes are based on a Finnish model that utilises top level knowledge and expertise as a resource for business operations, job creation and regional development. In Finland the programme was a fixed-term (1994-2006) special programme that, in accordance with its Regional Development Act, aimed to pool local, regional and national resources to utilise high-level expertise.

The programme supported the development of regional strengths and specialisation, and created cooperation between the various Centres of Expertise. The focus was on using expertise in selected, internationally competitive fields to develop business activities. It is not a funding instrument or a legal entity, rather a catalyst for creating new projects, cooperation and commitment.

The Turku Science Park

Jeanette and Gopolang visited the Turku Science Park situated in Turku, South West Finland. It is one of the leading Science Parks in Finland and takes pride in its ability to form collaborations, offer its residents an efficient operating environment and top expertise. The Park focuses on biotechnology and ICT clusters named Bio-Turku and ICT Turku. These clusters unite companies, universities, research centres and public services of South West Finland and have been strengthened by the Centres of Expertise Programme.

Jeanette and Gopolang also met with members of the Turku management team, including Mr Tapani Saarinen, Vice President of Business Development, Ms Katja Wallenlind, Director of Communications, and Mr Olli Mankonen, Business Incubation Director of Dio Business Centre and the Bio Incubator in PharmaCity to gain insight into the Park's clusters and Centres of Expertise Programme, it marketing approach and the way the Park runs its business incubation programme.

Find more information on the COFISA Seed Fund and on the Turku Science Park.