Benchmarking National - PRO INNO Europe

12. Foundation for Finnish
Inventions (FIN)
Country: Finland
Original title: Keksintösäätiö
Target group: SMEs
Coverage: National
(Pro-active) awareness raising measures/Public Relations
Information Provision Services
Category*: Training
Customized in-depth consulting and advisory services/
X
points
X Finance & Legal Framework
*classification system defined by the Austrian Institute for SME Research
12.1 Foundation for Finnish Inventions
in a nutshell
The main objective of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions is to foster Finnish
inventions by supporting private individuals and small entrepreneurs residing in
Finland to develop and exploit invention proposals and helping them with the
utilisation of the created inventions. Secondary goals are set i.e. to increase
employment, exports, and overall innovativeness and competitiveness of Finnish
companies at home and internationally. The service has been chosen as a case
study in the course of the underlying benchmarking exercise as it is an example of
an integrated service with well endowed resources resulting in rather high
outcomes, with a well established governance structure and with some unique
service elements (e.g., the prototype workshop).
The Foundation acts as a “One-Stop-Shop” in IPR matters as it offers a range of
IPR-related services: evaluation of new inventions, guidance, support in issues
related to protecting ones’ inventions, prototype workshops, legal counselling or
help with marketing. Almost all services offered by the Foundation are somehow
related to IPR. Expertise is pooled at the headquarters in Espoo, but there are
regional outlets in important organisations such as universities and economic
development centres.
The Foundation services cover a wide range of registrable IPR (patents, trademarks,
designs) and non-registrable IPR (e.g., copyrights). Providing information on
informal protection methods is not explicitly within the scope of the service
portfolio of the Foundation but depending on the expert giving advice to the
customer, informal practises such as trade secrets can also be subject of discussion
and consultation. According to the service providers, however, customers are
usually more interested in receiving information about formal protection methods
for their undertakings.
The Foundation activities are not tailored to specific technology fields or industries.
The organisation, however, has only SMEs and private inventors as customers. The
services are offered nationwide and cover all phases of IPR and IP protection
development and usage.
Background and Resources
The Foundation for Finnish Inventions was established in the early 1970s by a
private initiative. While the overall goal of the service stayed the same, the scope
of the activities has constantly increased since then. A further impetus to growth
was given in the 1990s, when the headquarters were moved into a technology
centre, namely Innopol (Espoo Technology Centre). The nearby University of
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ANNEX I – CASE STUDIES