Good Practices in Nordic Innovation Polices

Presentation of GoodNIP Modules

Module 1 Survey of Nordic innovation policy measures

From the project proposal.

On the basis of material provided by the EU Trend Chart database, ministries and policy agencies, the researcher will establish a database covering all Nordic innocation policy measures that directly or indirectly are of relevance to SMEs (i.e. nearly all such measures). Each entry will contain information on the political background, the main objectives of the measure, what kind of companies and institutions are targeted, the agency or agencies responsible, funding, summaries of relevant evaluations etc. The database will include information on how policy agencies measure or evaluate the success of the individual measure, as this information may provide input to the management of similar instruments in other Nordic countries.

There will also be a short discussion of the instruments' place in the total set of policy instruments and to what extent it is based on a systemic approach to innovation.

Examples of instruments based on systemic thinking are The Research Council of Norway's BRIDGE/MOBI and FORNY programs, the Finnish National Workplace Development Programme and the Finnish cluster programs. In Denmark there are, for instance, a number of schemes under the heading Management, Organisation and Competence (Ledelse, Organisation og Kompetence) that seem inspired at least partly by modern innovation theory. In Sweden there has been a major reorganization concerning the organizational structure for public funding of RTD and support to business and regional development, which can be seen as an expression of a move towards a national innovation policy, most explicitly manifested through the establishment of the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA).

The goal is to include all relevant policy measures in the database. Some of these will be described in more detail and be compared with related measures in other Nordic countries. The database will be used to generate a catalogue of policy measures that can be published by the Nordic Industrial Fund or one of the participating institutions.

Module 2 Policy analysis

The researchers will try to map various trends in innovation policy in these countries and study to what extent the policy documents reflect modern systemic innovation theory. The research team will produce an analysis of the political reasoning underprinning these instruments, mainly based on information found in recent Nordic public policy documents and information material.

It is important to point out that there is no one-to-one relationship between economic and social theories on the one hand and policy development on the other. Policy makers are involved in a fierce struggle for influence and resources, and are often forced to use arguments that "sell" their cause at a particular moment. This partly explains why some policy documents may present arguments from both of the major camps of economic analysis: the more orthodox neo-classical economists and the more radical evolutionary systems-oriented social scientists.

Policy makers are not passive users of theoretical models. They are experts in their own field, and have a profound influence on the development of innovation research. Moreover, some of them may not be that interested in the scholarly debate in this field. Their work is rather based on "experience", "common sense" and inspiration from concrete policy measures developed elsewhere. Because of this, this study has to take the learning processes and the social and cultural environment of the policy makers into consideration.

The study should try to ascertain to what extent the new systemic thinking has influenced the actual execution of innovation policies.

Module 3 Overall analysis with examples of good practices

By comparing the various measures - and the experiences gained from them - one can identify strengths and weaknesses.

This module will contain an analysis of differences and similarities between the policies and instruments used in the Nordic countries, based on existing research on the characteristics of the different national innovation systems.

The researchers will develop a typology of types of innovation policy instruments, and sort the programs and measures accordingly. As a basis for this typology they will also include striking examples of relevant instruments used in countries outside the Nordic area. By using this typology the project will also reveal areas that are not covered by the innovation policy of the individual countries.

Selected policy measures will be presented in more detail as examples of - and models for - good practice that might be adapted by other Nordic countries, or that may serve as a foundation for transnational Nordic policy measures.

This analysis will discuss the relationship between the the unique characteristics of the various national innovation systems and the national innovation policies, as well as the cultural, politcal and geographical context that give the Nordic countries a common social and economic basis.

The analysis will discuss some popular concepts of what constitutes a modern, knowledgebased, innovative industry in a critical way. It will for instance touch upon the relationship between traditional industries like fisheries and forestry on the one hand and newer, so-called "high tech" industries on the other (e.g. information technologies and mobile phones). In the political debate there has been a tendency to herald the "high tech" technologies as the saviours of future wealth creations, and especially Sweden and Finland has invested heavily in ICT. On the other hand, research shows that knowledge intensive industries based on raw materials can document growth and profitability in countries like Norway and Iceland.

There is often a "historical shadow" to policy development, as the present policy makers inherit an institutional structure and a specific way of thinking developed for another age. These may not always fit the present industrial structure - not to mention a potential need for new and different kinds of enterprises. The study will in particular elaborate on this point when looking at the growth of the services sectors - sectors dominated by small and medium sized enterprises - and investigate to what extent these types of companies are covered by the present set of innovation policy instruments.

All Nordic countries have explicit objectives as regards the development of regional industry and trade, but often find it difficult to make clear definition as to what should be counted as "regional" as opposed to "national" policies. Moreover, policy makers struggle to define concepts like regional innovation systems, regional industrial clusters etc. This study will analyse how the various Nordic countries define their regional industrial innovation policies, and discuss how the policy measures fit this description.

Based on the mapping of Nordic innovation policy measures, the study aims at revealing significant patterns as regards what types of instruments that can be considered successful. In the case of instruments that have been less successful, we will investigate if there are common factors that seem to weaken the intended effects of the measures, and if there are valuable lessons that might be used by policy makers in all the Nordic countries.

The GoodNIP site is published by the Norwegian STEP Centre for Innovation Research. Editor: Per M. Koch, STEP, Hammersborg torg 3, N-0179 Oslo, Norway, phone +47 22 86 80 21, fax: +47 22 86 80 49.