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The State and Quality of Scientific Research in Finland A Rewiew of Scientific Research and Its Environment in the Late 1990s Edited by Kai Husso, Sakari Karjalainen & Tuomas Parkkari Contents 2 Contents The State and Quality of Scientific Research in Finland A Rewiew of Scientific Research and Its Environment in the Late 1990s Edited by Kai Husso, Sakari Karjalainen & Tuomas Parkkari Contents Layout: PixPoint ky ISBN 951-37-2280-5 ISBN 0358-9153 Monila Oy / Erikoispaino Oy, Helsinki 2000 Contents Contents Introduction . 7 1 Science policy and scientific research: a changing environment . 11 1.1 Scientific research and universities in the national innovation system . 12 1.2 Changes in research resources in the 1990s . 14 2 Research funding as an instrument of science and innovation policy . 19 2.1 Developing the Finnish science system . 21 2.1.1 The role of competitive funding . 21 2.1.2 Developing international research co-operation . 22 2.1.3 Developing creative research environments . 24 2.1.4 Promoting professional careers in research . 31 2.2 Funding for technology research . 38 2.2.1 Research funding from the National Technology Agency . 38 2.2.2 Academy of Finland funding for the natural sciences and engineering . 39 2.2.3 Technical Research Centre of Finland . 40 2.2.4 Universities and faculties of technology . 41 2.3 Developing the innovation system by means of research cooperation . 41 2.3.1 Developing co-operation between universities and the business sector . 42 2.3.2 Government research institutes . 44 2.3.3 Role of national cluster programmes in the Finnish science and innovation system . 46 3 University structures, steering mechanisms and strategies . 49 3.1 Long-term development . 49 3.2 Change and transformation . 50 3.3 Steering system and structures . 51 3.3.1 Management by results . 51 3.3.2 Objectives of structural development . 53 3.4 Universities’ resources at the turn of the millennium . 55 3.4.1 Research expenditure and staff in the 1990s . 55 3.4.2 External research funding . 58 3.5 Strengthening universities . 61 3.6 The future role of universities . 65 4 Output and impact of research . 67 4.1 Forms and mechanisms of output and impact . 68 4.2 Evaluation of research output on the basis of publications and citations . 71 4.3 Scientific publishing in Finland and other OECD countries . 72 4.3.1 Finnish research in international scientific series 1981–1999 . 72 4.3.2 International comparison . 77 5 4.4 Impact of research . 94 4.4.1 Transmission of research impacts in the innovation process . 94 4.4.2 Regional impact of scientific work . 97 4.4.3 Technical and economic impacts of research and co-operation between universities and business companies . 99 4.4.4 Patents as an indicator of research impact . 103 5 The state and quality of scientific researchin Finland: summary and conclusions . 109 5.1 Resources, output and impact of scientific research . 109 5.2 Changes in research work and its environment . 112 Literature . 117 APPENDIX 1 . 129 6 Introduction The Academy of Finland gives a review of the state and quality of scientific research in the country once during the three-year term of its Research Councils. The previous report was published in 1997. The Academy’s responsibilities with respect to evaluation are spelled out in the Government’s decisions on the development of education and research (the current five-year development plan covers the period from 1999 to 2004) and in the Agreement on Target Outcomes between the Ministry of Education and the Academy of Finland. The Academy is also charged with the responsibility to conduct assessments of individual disciplines and research programmes and to develop indicators for evaluation purposes. The main target groups of this review are the organisations and the people who are involved in formulating science and technology policy objectives and in making decisions on the funding and development of the science system. For them, the review provides an opportunity to weigh the impacts of research and the science system from a social, economic and cultural point of view. It is also intended for researchers, heads of research organisations and scientific societies concerned with the roles and objectives of scientific research in a world of accelerating change. The total R&D expenditure has increased substantially in Finland since the previous review in 1997: this can be attributed to the Government’s additional funding programme (1997–1999) as well as a marked increase in funding from and R&D conducted by the private sector. The main purpose of this review is to look at the development of the Finnish science system in the late 1990s and at expectations of how the changes will impact research and development. More specifically, the aims of the review are to: − describe the current environment of science policy and research in Finland and the trends leading up to the current situation; − analyse the impacts of changes in the environment from the point of view of universities and basic research in particular; − examine the qualitative and quantitative development of Finnish research in recent years; − identify and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of Finnish research and the Finnish science system; − examine the mechanisms through which research exerts its impact in society and on the development of society. The report is divided into five chapters that support one another but that also read as independent pieces. Chapter One discusses the recent development of science and technology policy from a global perspective and analyses the role of scientific research in the national innovation system. Chapter Two describes the main objectives of Finnish science policy in the latter half of the 1990s and the ways in which those objectives have been pursued. Chapter Three looks at the changes that have happened in the research environment from the viewpoint of universities and describes their strategies of adaptation and change. Chapters two and three deal partly with the same issue from opposite angles, i.e. from the viewpoint of funding bodies on the one hand and that of Contents 7 research organisations, on the other. Chapter Four discusses questions of research output as well as the assessment of research impacts, and, by exploiting bibliometric data and methods, investigates how Finnish research compares internationally and how its output and quality has developed during the 1990s. The chapter also provides general assessments of the impacts of Finnish research. Finally, Chapter Five summarises the main findings and conclusions of all four chapters, providing a foundation for a discussion of how to go about the challenge of further developing Finnish research and the Finnish science system. The series of six reports that was published in 1997 on the state and quality of scientific research in Finland was chiefly concerned with exploring the situation in individual disciplines. This report looks at scientific research from the vantage-point of the science system as a whole. As well as shifting the focus from individual disciplines to the science system as a whole, this review differs from the 1997 evaluation in the sense that it involves more international comparison. For instance, research funding in Finland, the structure of the science system and research output are compared with the situation in other OCED countries. The review was prepared under the supervision of a steering group appointed by the Board of the Academy of Finland. Chaired by the Academy’s Director of Research Jorma Hattula, the other group members were as follows: Professor Markku Mattila (Chair of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering), Professor Aili Nenola (Chair of the Research Council for Culture and Society), Professor Terttu Vartiainen (Chair of the Research Council for the Environment and Natural Resources), Professor Eero Vuorio (Chair of the Research Council for Health), Secretary General Kauko Hämäläinen from the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council, Director Matti Lähdeoja (Science Policy Unit; during the initial stages), Director Arvo Jäppinen (during the latter stages) and Senior Adviser Marja Pulkkinen (standing in for the former two) from the Ministry of Education, and Project Manager Paavo Löppönen from the Academy of Finland. The steering group worked collectively to plan the report and to process draft versions. In addition, group members were consulted individually during the preparation of separate chapters. The material for the review was prepared and the actual text written by a project group chaired initially by Head of Development Jaakko Rusama and from the beginning of 1999 by Sakari Karjalainen, Secretary General of the Academy’s Research Council for Health. The following project group members were involved in preparing and writing this report: Project Secretary Tuuli Ahava (Chapter 3); Scientific Secretary Anneli Ahvenniemi (Chapter 2); Senior Researcher Kai Husso (Chapters 1, 4 and 5, and Appendix 1); Senior Researcher Timo Kolu (Chapter 2); Senior Researcher Hannele Kurki (Chapter 3); Scientific Secretary Annamaija Lehvo (Chapter 2); Scientific Secretary Tero Majamaa; Information Specialist Maija Miettinen (Chapter 4 and Appendix 1); Scientific Secretary Tuomas Parkkari (Chapters 2 and 4); Project Secretary Jaana Salmensivu (Chapter 4); Trainee Riikka-Mari Vehmanen; Scientific Secretary Helena Vänskä (Chapter 3). The project group’s secretary was Marjukka Terho. The report has been translated from Finnish into English by David Kivinen. Tuulikki Toivonen and Anu Kukkonen have assisted in proofreading. The final report was compiled and edited by Kai Husso, Sakari Karjalainen and Tuomas Parkkari. 8 Contents Contents 9 10 Contents 1 Science policy and scientific research: a changing environment Science policy and the environment of scientific research have changed quite considerably in recent years, not only in Finland but in many OECD countries. This Chapter provides an overview of these changes and examines the national innovation system in Finland, the political expectations attached to the system and the collaboration among the organisations involved from the point of view of scientific research and universities.

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