Evaluation of TULI Programmes - Tekes

The ownership of inventions made in HEIs was re-defined
by legislation entering into force in Finland on 1 January 2007:
Act on the Right in Inventions made at Higher Education Institutions
(369/2006). This Act sets basis for HEIs’ regulations
regarding exploitation of inventions made by university employees,
processing of invention disclosure notifications and
policies on rewarding inventors. The Act covers employees at
both universities and vocational universities.
Today all universities and many vocational universities
have designated innovation services (at least a single innovation
liaison officer or a research officer). Their key task is to
provide researchers the necessary commercialisation support
services and processes for practical matters, like IPR agreements
and invention disclosure notifications.
The Finnish university reform is part of European higher
education reform (“Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda
for Universities: Education, Research, Innovation”, Communication
of the European Commission, 2006). The key development
targets are internationalisation, clearer institutional
missions and positions, and diversification of the funding
structure. The main objectives of structural development of
HEIs emphasise ensuring quality and effectiveness, as well as
strengthening the role of HEIs within the innovation system.
The legal status of Finnish universities changed in the beginning
of 2010. The universities are now legal persons separate
from the State, either as corporations under public law or
foundations under the Foundations Act. The aim is to improve
the universities’ capabilities to operate within the surrounding
society and in an international environment.
According to an impact evaluation conducted in 2012,
the greatest effects of the reform are at this initial stage observed
in strategic management 22 . The reform has strengthened
universities’ strategic steering and management, financial
management, stakeholder cooperation and development
of internal organisations. The top management has played a
pivotal role in these changes, while the role of other university
personnel has been rather thin so far.
Encouraging the universities to develop their profiles and
select their strategic priority areas was one of the key aims
of the university reform. According to the impact evaluation,
several universities have already made some strategic choices
in their resource allocations due to the legislative change. The
upcoming financing model reform also aims at developing
a better, more efficient international university system with
stronger impact and a better defined profile 23 .
On the whole, it still remains too early to say how substantial
strategic choices the universities will make in the coming
years.
National policy regarding commercialisation of
research
Commercialisation of research – turning public investments
into competitive products and services – has not been a real
forte of Finland. When comparing the level and quality of
Finnish research to economic activity springing from this research,
experts have pointed out a discrepancy between the
high R&D input and relatively low innovation output, named
as the “commercialization paradox” 24 .
This is a recognised European-wide problem. EU countries
have not been able to close the so-called innovation gap
like international leaders USA, Japan and South Korea, and
emerging economies such as China, Brazil, and India have
been catching up over the past five years. 25 Flagship initiative
of the Europe 2020 strategy, called the Innovation Union, aims
at removing obstacles to innovation – like expensive patenting,
market fragmentation, slow standard-setting and skills
shortages – which currently prevent ideas getting quickly to
market, Member States are invited to carry out self-assessments
and identify key challenges and critical reforms as part
of their National Reform Programmes.
In Finland, national policy has been developed over the
last ten years to address the commercialisation challenge with
the aim of improving universities’ capabilities of transforming
leading research into commercially applicable innovations and
removing bottlenecks that prevent good ideas from reaching
the markets. At the same time, the Finnish innovation policy
has developed from a technology-driven approach to a broader
base. In commercialisation, emphasis has notably shifted to
22 “Yliopistolakiuudistuksen vaikutusten arviointi”, Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2012:21
23 Laadukas, kansainvälinen, profiloitunut ja vaikuttava yliopisto – ehdotus yliopistojen rahoitusmalliksi vuodesta 2013 alkaen, Opetus- ja
kulttuuriministeriö, 2011
24 ”Commercialization at Finnish universities”, Tahvanainen, Nikulainen, ETLA Discussion paper, 2011 and references therein.
25 http://ec.europa.eu/news/science/120208_en.htm
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