F knowledge
inland is one of the world’s leading investors
in knowledge-based
competence and as a foundation for this continued commitment aims to increase the overall
know-how, in turn standard of education.
Research is seen as the bedrock of and
promoting
sustainable economic growth and material welfare. Finland invests about 3.7 per cent of its GDP in research
and development, a total sum of
approximately seven billion euros. This is one of the highest investment percentages in the world and out of this, the private business sector accounts for approximately 70 per cent, with higher education and the rest of the public sector making up the remaining 30 per cent. Some 80,000 people work in research and development, more than a third of whom are women. The principal elements in the Finnish research and
innovation system are education, research and product development, coupled with a knowledge-intensive enterprise culture and an all-pervading interest
in
broad-based international cooperation. To strengthen this innovation system in the long term, Finland has set out to develop its education, science and technology policies - and the results of this are already clear to see. Finland has consistently been rated in international comparisons as a model country in terms of reading and comprehension skills. Increasing emphasis has now been placed on the need to develop scientific reading abilities, with responsibility seen to lie with the scientific community, the school system and the whole of society. This society-wide interest in science was evident in
a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture when compiling the recent Finnish Science Barometer report. Two out of three said that they follow science, research and technology-related issues with great interest. Of course, these numbers also need to be viewed in light of the fact that science is a board- based phenomenon; much like history, essentially it covers all walks of life. Be that as it may, the level of interest in science is remarkably high. Comparing the results of this recent survey with the
findings from a similar survey conducted three years ago
shows that the percentage of respondents
interested in science has increased by eight per cent but the respondents’ level of interest in the different fields of science has remained almost unchanged. Top of the list is general interest in scientific development, new research findings and inventions, which the majority of Finns (70 per cent) report as having. The respondents find medicine the most interesting
field of science. More than two-thirds state that they follow progress in medicine, such as the development of new drugs and treatments, perhaps natural since medicine can be viewed as the field of science which is closest to people’s personal lives. Research findings related to the state of the environment are a close second (66 per cent). Slightly less interest is paid to historical and cultural research
(47 per
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com cent), computers, IT and the Internet (47 per cent), and
genetic research and biotechnology (45 per cent). Based on the responses, the least interesting field of science is space research (36 per cent). Policies and funding issues related to science are
Some 80,000 people work in research
and development, more
than a third of whom are women
deemed the least interesting category of all scientific themes (24 per cent), because despite being important to the scientific community, the general public understandably has difficulty in forming an opinion on what is quite an abstract issue. The global competitiveness of Finnish science is deemed interesting by more than a third of the respondents (36 per cent). Women have more interest in medicine and genetics
than men, while men are more interested in IT and space research than women. Interest in all kinds of new inventions and research findings also seems to be more characteristic of men than women. Progress in medicine is widely followed by all population groups. Unlike other fields of science, it even appeals to population groups that are otherwise not particularly keen on science. Research data related to the state of the environment
turns out to have a wide audience, with fairly equal interest levels in all population groups. IT-related research has more variation in the levels of interest, as interest increases in line with education levels and decreases with age. Following genetic research is most common
amongst women and people with higher education. Historical and cultural research is more interesting to
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