In 2024 we have had the chance to be involved in several EU assignments, particularly in the area of research and innovation policy. For this brief we have picked some highlights from our recent projects – all of which have strong linkages also for national and regional level innovation policies and actions.
European Innovation Scoreboard 2024: evaluating progress and emerging innovation leaders
The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024 provides a comparative analysis of the research and innovation performance of all European and selected non-European countries. The EIS 2024 country analyses show that Finland continues to demonstrate strength in innovation and digitalisation, though it faces challenges in maintaining SME-driven innovation and improving its green transition.
Improving R&D collaboration between research organisations and the private sector in Finland
Launched in September 2024, the Policy Support Facility (PSF) Country Finland is an independent expert review that will explore the obstacles that could hinder public-private R&D collaboration within Finland’s research and innovation ecosystem.
PSF Country is an in-depth assessments of a country’s Research & Innovation system carried out by a panel of experts and peers, leading to actionable policy recommendations to the national authorities on reforms necessary to strengthen their R&I system.
While public-private R&D collaboration used to be one of the strongholds of Finnish research and innovation system, during at least the last decade collaboration has decreased. Therefore, it has been considered vital to assess the challenges, bottlenecks and obstacles.
As a national expert, Kimmo Halme from 4FRONT has supported the international expert team by providing background information on the Finnish research and innovation system. The report, being an important input and a starting point for the PSF Country Finland review, provides a comprehensive overview on e.g. Finnish R&I performance, R&D Expenditure and Funding, and R&I Collaboration.
The final report of the PSF Finland Country review, including concrete recommendations, is set to be published by June 2025.
Supporting Cities with Local Green Deals
Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) is a major initiative by the European Commission to accelerate the green and digital transition of European cities by developing and adopting Local Green Deals (LGDs).
4FRONT experts are currently supporting the City of Pori in their ICC process in two specific topics: Carbon Neutral Industrial Ecosystems and Sustainable Tourism. The Local Green Deals are formal joint commitments between the City and the local industry with the aim to reduce carbon emissions through specific actions.
