The Journey to the Information Age Case Finland1

Helena TapperProgram Manager African Leadership in ICT

The Journey to the Information Age-The Finnish ExperienceInformation Society and Development (ISAD) Multi-stakeholder Forum

The Journey to the Information Age- Finland

• Small country (5,4million people) with limited natural resources (forest)

• Change from industrial to knowledge society in a relatively short time (in 20 years)

• Long-term investment in education • National strategies to build information society and globally competitive high tech (ICT) industry

• Nokia’s role in the Finnish economy


• Economic crisis in the early 1990’s : high level of unemployment, collapse of Finnish trade (with Russia) and in the international markets (pulp and paper products); financial crisis, low rating in international financial markets for Finland

• The way out: available resources were human resources, skilled labor in technology and engineering, common vision for the future (towards global player in ICT), deregulated telecommunications markets


• First national information society strategy in 1995: Towards Global Player in ICT

• Technology-driven approach to generate economic growth and employment

• Second national strategy in 1998: people centered approach, Quality of Life, Know-How and Competitiveness


• Third strategy in 2006: from China Phenomenon to Finland Phenomenon: Renewing, Human and Competitive

• Emphasizes quality of life, human capacity and global competitiveness


• Other policies: National science and technology policy, national innovation policy, strong investments in R & D and building National Innovation System

• Building social capital in the country: collaboration and networking

• Competitiveness-wealth-wellbeing of citizens


• Collaboration between stakeholders• Understanding the importance of knowledge-base for future development:

• investment in R & D and education

• National evaluation of innovation system in the global environment

• Competition + Co-operation

Finland’s Economy• Growth of productivity high and based on ICT-production

• Focus on long term investment in economic environment

• Innovation policy important• Government fiscal measures (taxation)

• Aging population • Recovery from global economic crisis

Challenges• Finland is internationally one of the top information societies based on information society indicators

• How will Finland manage to maintain its place in global environment in the future?

• ICT-skilled labour, what other skills?

• How to maintain services to citizens (health care)?

Challenges•University research and collaboration with industry•Internationalisation of research•How to maintain markets and compete in global mobile technology markets ?

Challenges• How to create top design-innovation for global markets? (Aalto University)

• Niche areas of knowledge and innovation in existing strong industries, pulp and paper, mining, boat building and new ones

• Information technology for services (aging population)

Thank you!

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The Journey to the Information Age Case Finland1

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