The role of science and technology policy in Finland's economic development

Abstract

Summary form only given. The development of Finland's technology policy from the late 1960s onwards can be divided on the basis of its content into three phases. The same conditions, instruments and operating modes of technology policy appear in each phase. The first phase, which began in the mid-1960s, can be called the period of research policy. The focus during the second phase, which began at the turn of the 1980s, was on the development of technologies and may be referred to as the period of technology policy. The latest innovation policy phase began in the early 1990s. Innovation policy involves both scientific and technological development being examined from the standpoint of innovations, taking account of innovation-promoting factors such as science and technology, and emphasising the perspectives of technology transfer, diffusion and commercialisation. The transition from technology policy to innovation policy was also shaped by economic crisis. At the beginning of the 1990s the Finnish economy experienced a dramatic dive into a deep economic crisis which was much more severe than the recession of the late 1970s. Even if the economic crisis of the early 1990s was exceptionally deep, Finland was already back on a positive growth track by 1994. Behind this sudden upturn was the fast growth of ICT (information and communications technologies) based industries.