Explaining Technical Change in a Small Country

Technical change is produced by the interaction of a large
number of technical, economic, social and institutional
factors. One of the starting points is the concept of
national innovation systems. The aim of this book is to take
Finland as an example illustrating the challenges faced by
small countries. The characteristics and performance of the
Finnish national innovation system of the last couple of
decades are analyzed. The Finnish experience is put in a
broader context by comparing it with a few other countries.
The development paths possible in the near future are
assessed.
According to the results, many problems remain despite
favourable developments in several technology indicators.
The rigidities of the social institutions created during the
1970s and 1980s seem to have become obstacles for economic
and technological development. There are fairly large
differences between the countries studied, and even between
the culturally and historically close Nordic countries.
However,Finland and Sweden seem to share the same kind of
encompassing collective risk-sharing systems, which may have
detrimental effects on, for instance, incentives related to
innovativeness. Increasing globalisation requires further
development of the national system of innovation. Technology
policy must be seen as one part of more encompassing social
and economic policies, and the role of factors such as
well-functioning institutions, appropriate education and
sound incentive systems is highly important.
The papers of this book are written by experts of various
research disciplines. They reflect the respective views on
the issue how technical change in Finland can be explained.
It is also discussed how Finland fares in comparison to
Denmark, Sweden, Japan and the United States.