Q&A KRISTA KIURU
William Davis: Finland has consistently spent more, as a percentage of its GDP, on R&D than any other EU country. What motivates that commitment to research?
Krista Kiuru: As a small, export-driven country the success of Finland is based on the competence and knowledge of its citizens, industry and society. Research, innovation and high levels of competence are the basis for the strengthening of the national economy and support our vibrant industrial structure. Both public and private R&D funding are very
important when major changes in sectors such as mobile and electronic technology, the transformation of the traditional smoke stack industries such as pulp production and the establishment of new types of technology in many new areas all change rapidly and impact on our economic structure. We need to adapt to those changes and this requires investment.
WD: Finland also has more scientists and engineers per million of population than any other country in Europe. Why do you think that is and how do you encourage young people to take up a career in these disciplines?
KK: R&D is very important for the development of our country and therefore we need a high number of scientists to carry out the work. Furthermore, our economy is very much driven by the electronics, metal, forestry and chemistry industries, which explains
the high level of
engineers we have in the country. Finland has recently reformed the doctoral
education system, which enhances both the academic and financial support for our students. The career planning options include four-level career systems and universities have also increased the number of tenure track posts in their staffing strategies.
WD: How is your ministry helping to promote cross-sectoral cooperation in research and what benefits does this deliver?
KK: The public funding system in Finland has supported this aim for a long time. For instance, in
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com
order to receive funding from the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, research organisations must collaborate with the private sector. Recently,
the
Government approved a resolution on the comprehensive reform of state research institutes and how research funding is to be implemented in 2014–2017. In addition to the establishment of this new strategic research funding instrument and the merging of two research institutes with the University of Helsinki, the resolution has also given the Ministry of Education and Culture the role of coordinating and enhancing cross-sectoral cooperation between higher
education institutes and state research
institutes over the four-year period. Actions include enhancing the joint use of research infrastructures and open science, sharing best practices and the identification of legal, financial and other issues that may prevent closer collaboration.
“Finland has recently reformed the doctoral education system, which enhances both the academic and financial support for our students”
WD: In what areas of research do you think Finland excels and why do you think that is?
KK: Finland excels in many areas of research such as in mobile and programme computing, clean tech, bioscience, natural sciences, medicine and health. We also excel in technologies in special environments such as cold technology. For a small country, with the freedom of research
guaranteed by our constitution, it is only natural that the origins of many of the scientific strengths of Finland have originated from the interest of our researchers and grown over the generations into a strong tradition.
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