Annual Innovation Policy Trends and Appraisal Report Finland 2006

The annual policy monitoring reports of Trend Chart on Innovation track policy developments in all 25 EU Member States, plus Bulgaria, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and Turkey. The country report at hand provides information on recent development and trends of innovation policy in Finland. As pointed out in the European Innovation Scoreboard 2005 Country Policy Briefs, the challenge Finland is facing is not so much to improve specific areas but to maintain its leading position and further forge ahead. Finland is facing a demanding international situation, which also casts a shadow over future economic growth. The country has developed a highly effective innovation environment, covering a wide range of technological expertise. The focus now needs to be on how to strengthen these foundations for future demands and simultaneously shift the emphasis towards a broad-based innovation policy focusing not only on so-called high technology sectors, but on the promotion of innovative solutions and applications throughout the Finnish economy and society. In fact, developments in this direction are already tangible