The complexity of contemporary innovation policy and its governance in Finland

Abstract

This article analyses changes in the Finnish innovation policy from the early 2000s to 2016. The contribution is twofold. First, we propose a framework to understand and characterise changes in and different approaches to innovation policy implementation. The framework highlights the evolutive nature of innovation policies and sheds light on often very conflicting trade-offs and tensions within and between various approaches to innovation policy. Second, drawing upon the Finnish case, we elaborate the complexity of contemporary innovation policy implementation and show how the focus has changed since the early 2000s. Based on these findings, we discuss emerging ideas framing the “new innovation policy” and implications to policy-making.