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The MIT REAP team from Finland initially included eight representatives, including two from government and policy, four from regional and economic development, and two from universities. Finland’s team has co-champions, both from the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economy. To learn more about the team’s strategy please visit the “Team Strategy” tabs below.

Team Members

University
Government
Corporate
Risk Capital
Entrepreneur

Innovation Ecosystem Stakeholder Model

Pirjo Kutinlahti
Champion
Ministerial Adviser - Ministry of Employment and the Economy
Taina Tukiainen
Champion
Professor, Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Aalto University
Veli-Pekka T. Heikkinen
Project Manager - Joutsa Municipality
Lauri Lehtovuori
Senior Manager - PwC
Päivi Fadjukoff
Head of Planning & Development at the Agora Center - University of Jyväskylä

Team Strategy

  • Challenge & Opportunity
  • Strategy & Action
  • Ongoing Progress
  • For Finland, the main issues are improving the efficiency of the current entrepreneurship support networks and inspiring global ambition among Finnish entrepreneurs.
  • Scalable enterprises are often purchased by multinational companies and moved out of Finland.
    • One notable exception is Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds game, which remains headquartered in Finland with over 500 employees.
  • The team representing four local regions formalized a plan for raising entrepreneurship ecosystem development to the level of national policy.
    • “I got an inquiry from the Prime Minister’s office about making the startup issue one of the key development areas for next year. And now I have all the strategies and a system to show that we are working with this issue already,” said Pirjo Kutinlahti, Ministerial Advisor at Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland and the Finnish team champion.
  • The team worked with government representatives to launch Startup Finland—a common national platform for accelerators and incubators. Modeled after the MIT REAP program, the initiative was applied to organizations at sub-regional and local levels.
  • Strategic Intervention(s):
    • Launched Finland’s 30 M€/year Innovative Cities Program to create internationally attractive innovation clusters in Finland based on top-notch talent.
      • Innovation clusters include companies aiming for growth that can create brand-new products and services for the international market. The focused clusters are:
        • Bioeconomy, implementation responsibility: Joensuu,partners: Jyväskylä, Seinäjoki
        • Cybersecurity, Jyväskylä
        • Future Health, Oulu, Helsinki Metropolitan area, Kuopio, Tampere, Turku
        • Smart City and Renewable Industry, Tampere, Helsinki Metropolitan area, Lahti, Oulu, Turku
        • Sustainable Energy Solutions, Vaasa, Lappeenranta, Po

Coming soon!

Core Regional Metrics

Economic & Social Progress

Social progress and economic prosperity as a collective measure of development in a region.

UNDP
OECD
OECD
OECD

Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurial Ecosystems are regional environments that effectively support startups focused on addressing global markets based on technological, process or business model innovation.

Innovation Capacity

Ability to develop new to the world innovations from inception through to the market.

EXPAND ALL

Demand

-Nature of established companies in region

World Bank - WDI

Funding

-Funding for research
-Government programs

World Bank - WDI

Performance

OECD
WIPO
World Bank - WDI

People

-Pool of innovators
-Education in tech and commercialization

OECD

Policy

Coming soon!

Culture & Communication

Coming soon!

Infrastructure

Coming soon!

Entrepreneurial Capacity

Ability to start and build new to the world businesses from inception to maturity.

EXPAND ALL

Demand

-Government, corporate and consumer demand for new products and services

World Bank - WDI

Policy

-New business creation policy
-Business law and business policy

World Bank - WDI

Funding

-Accessibility of entrepreneurial capital (government, private, equity, debt, grants)

VentureXpert

People

Coming soon!

Culture & Community

Coming soon!

Infrastructure

Coming soon!

Performance

Coming soon!

Team News

June 1, 2014

Team Finland launches Finland’s Innovative Cities Program

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