HOW DOES REGIONAL POLICY
SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT
OF CLEANTECH SECTOR
in Helsinki?
Overview of the Regional Context:
Overview of the Regional Context:



Approximately 1.4 million inhabitants in the Helsinki Region
City of Helsinki: 600 000 inhabitants
Around 40 000 enterprises in Helsinki (app. 60 000 in the metropolitan
area)







Approximately 250 000 jobs in the Helsinki based enterprises
7 universities, 6 universities of applied sciences
Most of the national / state research institutes are concentrated in
Helsinki
Around 90 000 students in the higher education institutions
GDP per capita in the Helsinki Region: 45 241 euros (2009)
GDP per capita in the EU (27 member states): 24 400 euros (2010)
45 per cent of population in the Helsinki Region have a tertiary level
education
Overview of the Regional Context:
Jobs by sectors in Helsinki
1.
Social and health care services
2.
Wholesale and retail trade
3.
Information and communication sectors
4.
Knowledge-intensive business services
5.
Public administration
6.
Education
7.
Industry
In relative terms (sectors which are strongly concentrated in Helsinki):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Film, TV, Radio etc.
Publishing
Communications
Finance and insurance
Information services, software etc.
The launch of Regional Policies to support cleantech
•
Which are the main strategies to support cleantech, implemented by means of regional
policies from 1995-2000 to date?
• Regional Strategic Plans and Regional Development Programmes
by Uusimaa Regional Council
• Economic Development Strategies at local level
• Competitiveness Strategy of the Helsinki Region (14 municipalities
in the Helsinki Region)
• Strategy Programme of the City of Helsinki 2013-2016 (being
prepared)
• “Growth Agreement” (forthcoming, spring 2013) between the Central
Government and the municipalities from the Helsinki Region
• The Centre of Expertise Programme, see http://www.oske.net/en/
• The Centre of Expertise Programme will be replaced by a new INKA
programme (Innovative Cities) from 2014 onwards
Regional Policy to support Investments
- Investment policies are drafted on local and national
levels in Finland
- City of Helsinki makes (cleantech related) investments
e.g. in connection with:
- New city districts (e.g. waste management, smart grids, energy
efficiency)
- Environmentally sustainable renovation of existing urban
infranstructure
- Energy production
- Public transport
- Implementation of innovative public procurement
-
Regional Policy to support Research
- In Finland, research policies are designed on national
level
- Main players are e.g. The Academy of Finland and Tekes
(the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation)
- R&D investment accounts for 4% of GDP, ~7 billion euros
(30% by the public sector and 70% by private sector)
- To some degree, local policies support research as well
- City of Helsinki supports (small scale) research related to:
- Urban research
- Innovation research which is linked to e.g. its own service
development
- Urban infrastructure development
Regional policy to support tools,
infrastuctures, clusters
• Cleantech cluster is developed currently within the Centre of
Expertise Programme (OSKE)
• OSKE programme is funded 50 % by the Finnish Government and
50 % by local governments
• The budget is set annually and the cleantech cluster’s part of this
budget is around 1.3 million euro, of which 220 000 euro in Uusimaa
region.
• With this seed money, the cleantech cluster has implemented
projects to a total value of 65 million euro (12 million euro in
Uusimaa region)
• In addition, national support tools of e.g. Tekes are available for
cleantech related RDI projects
The influence of the policies to support
cleantech on the regional system
• The activities of the national cleantech cluster (within OSKE
programme) have contributed to the creation of more than 500 new
jobs in the Finnish cleantech sector.
• In the last few years, the cluster has implemented projects to a total
value of 65 million euro (12 million euro in Uusimaa region)
• It is difficult to assess the influence of different local, regional and
national policies on the development of the cleantech business
sector
• The aim at national level is to increase the total turnover of the
Finnish cleantech sector from current 22 billion euros to 40 billion by
2018
Concluding Remarks
• In Finland, the policies related to research and support to cleantech
sector are mainly drafted on national and local levels rather than
regionally.
• Cities can potentially influence the development of the cleantech
sector (by investing in cleantech and developing procurement for
innovation)
• Physical, cleantech specific innovation environments / platforms are
missing
– E.g. Envipark and Energy Center in Torino
• The new national Innovative Cities (INKA) programme 2014-2020
will be implemented on regional level
– “Smart Sustainable City” is one of the thematic areas being prepared in
Helsinki Region
• Policies regarding incubators and their funding is changing at the
same time