Finland - Jyvaskyla Region - Final Self-Evaluation Report.pdf

Internal support units of HEIsThe Finnish HEIs have established separate support units to respond to the increasing importance ofinnovations and their commercialization and management of project activities. The general aim of these unitsis to assist the staffs of faculties and schools in certain issues which do not necessary belong to the basicprofessional skills of staffs.At the University of Jyväskylä a supporting system for innovations was launched in 2001. The ResearchServices unit is responsible for research administration and assists researchers with issues relating to projectplanning, cost calculation and collaboration agreements as well as exploitation of research results. It acts as alink between the University and companies and other organizations. The Innovation Manager promotesinnovativeness in general, gives advice on industrial property rights and innovations, seeks for innovativeprojects and evaluates them as well as contributes to the technical, productive and commercial exploitationof innovations. The Research Services unit cooperates with the Jyväskylä Science Park, which disseminatesits expertise, e.g., in the cases of new entrepreneurship. In the period of 2001-2004, ten firms based on theresearch carried out at the University of Jyväskylä were established with the assistance of the ResearchServices.The targets of Research Services at the University of Jyväskylä are transformation of inventions intopractical applications through a gapless innovation process, which will make possible the maximalexploitation of research results, appropriate administration of agreements, improvement of cost correlationwithin externally funded projects, as well as intensified cooperation with companies. In addition totechnological innovations, exploitation of social and cultural innovations is encouraged. The general goal ofall activities is project management respecting the interests of the University as a whole. The Universityinterviews revealed that the services provided by the Research Services unit are rather unknown and the roleof the service unit in the innovation process is not clear. This implies that its mission should be specifiedparticularly in relation to the regional intermediate organizations.In the Jyväskylä Polytechnic, the support unit for R&D was established in 2001 to coordinate and developthe project activities. Its tasks include, for instance, assisting in funding issues, devising the Polytechnic’sR&D strategy, planning and coordinating joint projects and defining the knowledge fields and clusters. Thequality assurance of R&D is also an integral part of the overall quality assurance system of the Polytechnic.The R&D quality assurance is based on the handbook of process descriptions and guiding principles, whichcomprise various operational tools for project activities and on evaluation practices, indicators, education ofstaff and continuous development of the assurance system.The Jyväskylä Polytechnic has also recently employed development managers for each school. Their tasksinclude systematic organization and coordination of development and innovation activities. Among the staff,the support unit for R&D is considered useful, particularly as provider of assistance in project management.The role of development managers is seen more as a link from the school to external actors, like the firmsand other stakeholders. They should be familiar with the projects in progress and able to coordinate theprojects of their school as a whole.Division of labour between the HEIsDue to the rather artificial division between basic and applied research, particularly in branches serving thelabour market and business, the complementary roles of HEIs in the region of Jyväskylä provide an excellentopportunity to respond to regional needs and benefit from synergies. The higher education institutions in theJyväskylä region produce a large body of high-level knowledge in different fields. The different knowledgebases within the HEIs and between them should not be seen as separate and isolated units but their interfacesshould be considered potential development fields which might open up excellent possibilities and breedingplaces for new innovations.Currently, the cooperation between the University of Jyväskylä and Jyväskylä Polytechnic differs markedlybetween their various units. In certain schools or faculties/departments the cooperation is advanced and it isactively developed, whereas in some other parts of the HEIs such cooperation has only a minor role or it istotally neglected. Promising experiences of closer cooperation between the HEIs have been gained in the56