THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN URBAN POLES: A PRE-VISIT VIEW OF TAMPERE, FINLAND Cities are widely recognised as playing a fundamental role in the promotion of the knowledge economy, but most research and policy has focussed on large cities with world-class educational and research institutes and advanced clusters of economic activity. There are clear and significant gaps in the knowledge of how smaller sized cities, with different levels and types of knowledge institutions and different levels of economic activity can compete within the knowledge economy. Yet such cities are recognised within European Union policy as a playing a vital role in the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda. This report has been produced by the URBACT II network RUnUP in advance of a study visit to Tampere in Finland between the 13th and 14th October. The information has been researched and drawn together from a number of internet based resources (City of Tampere Website, Council of Tampere Region, Wikipedia, Hermia Science Park) and edited into one document. This report highlights the key support features linked to the objectives of RUnUP that will be visited during the Study Visit and the questions that the study visit is seeking to address. INTRODUCTION TO TAMPERE Tampere is the third largest city in Finland and the largest inland centre in the Nordic countries. Currently there are over 200,000 inhabitants in Tampere, and almost 300,000 inhabitants in Tampere Sub-Region, which comprises Tampere and its neighbouring municipalities. Tampere’s population density is 390 per square kilometre. Tampere is one of the three most rapidly developing regions in Finland. In 2004, the City of Tampere came first in an image survey comparing the largest cities in Finland. It was also the most attractive city among Finns who plan on moving. Tampere’s city centre is surrounded by lake and ridge scenery, sited on an isthmus between lakes Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi. The Tammerkoski rapids run through the city. Pyynikki, which was formed by the action of ice and sea more than 10,000 years ago, is the world’s highest gravel ridge. At its highest it rises 80 metres above Lake Pyhäjärvi and 160 metres above sea level. There are 200 lakes and ponds in Tampere, and a total of 450 in the entire region. 24 per cent of Tampere’s surface area is water and 76 per cent land. 18.5 per cent of the land has a town plan. There are numerous nature reserves in Tampere. Pyynikki and Viikinsaari near the city centre are the best known of them. Parks and green areas amount to 2,400 hectares, approximately 100 square metres per inhabitant. The city also has four allotment areas. The Hatanpää allotment, established in 1916, was among the first in Finland. Approximately 17,500 enterprises operate within the Tampere central region, of which 80 per cent employ less than ten persons. The unemployment rate in the Tampere central region is slightly higher than the national average, at approximately 12 per cent. The gross national product per inhabitant is approximately EUR 24,000. STUDY VISIT KEY QUESTIONS A visit to Finland exploring the role of universities and the wider development of innovation and enterprise inevitably raises a range of critical questions: • To what extent is Finland driven by the Nokia Effect? • Would the Finnish economy have been as successful without Nokia? • Is Finnish success based solely on large-level investment in Research and Development? • On what platform is the success of a Small and Medium Sized Finnish city like Tampere based? • Can such success be replicated elsewhere? • What next for Tampere and Finnish Innovation? THE REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM The most important actors in the innovation system are the ones who create and use the new knowledge. These are the large R&D oriented companies and universities and research organisations: e.g. Nokia, University of Technology (TUT), University of Tampere (UTA) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Nokia has an important part of the private sector’s knowledge base in Tampere Region, because it has one of its largest research centres located in Tampere. (Kautonen et al. 2004, p. 179) In addition to the universities, there are numerous educational institutions in Tampere Region which provide skilled labour force for private and public sectors. These are Pirkanmaa Polytechnic, Tampere Polytechnic, Häme Polytechnic with one unit and many vocational institutions. Also contracts of apprenticeship are provided. In the 1980s and 1990s a number of intermediary and financial institutions were established in the innovation support infrastructure of the Tampere Region (Schienstock et al. 2004, p. 143). The most important intermediary organisations are Hermia Technology Centre, FinnMedi Research Centre, Professia Ltd and Innovation Research Development Tamlink Ltd. There are also several institutions that function as bridges between higher education and industry. These include for instance Digital Media Institute and Optoelectronics Research Institute. (Schienstock et al. 2004, p. 143) There are many public and private organisations that finance innovation activities. These include for example municipalities, the Council of Tampere Region, and privately own Sentica Partners Ltd, Tutor Partners Ltd and other private venture capital companies National organisations that operate in Tampere Region regarding finance and innovation support are Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), Finnvera and regional EEDC (Regional Employment and Economic Development Centre. These are the three most important public innovation support organisations for companies (Kautonen et al. 2004, p. 183). In the innovation system of Tampere Region the importance of interaction and cooperation is emphasized. The innovations are produced in social interaction and the interaction creates dynamics that is composed from the interaction on three levels: regional, national and international level. On regional level the linear and interactive models are complementing each other. The Innovation process develops through constant learning and producing scientific knowledge. Thus innovations are produced in an interactive process where science, technology, learning, production and demand are interacting. The regional relationships have a great effect on producing innovations and the relationships are frequent and two way. This is the case especially between the large companies and universities and VTT. In Tampere Region the regional relationships and contacts play a major role in producing innovations. In Tampere Region the enterprises have large vertical and horizontal networks that include subcontractors, research organisations, clients etc. The enterprises get the knowledge needed for the innovations from the universities and research organisations as scientific information, from the clients and subcontractors as information on markets and production. The interaction and innovation platforms and arenas are often composed according to the hierarchy of the organisations that are involved. In practice this means that the interaction about decision making, foresight activities and discovering possibilities has taken place between the executive level persons. The operational level is dealing more in the innovation areas where mutual learning and transfer of “silent knowledge” takes place. These levels are not sufficiently interlinked and sometimes they do not come across at all. In the future the strategic level discussion and interaction should be enhanced to involve more actors. One of the future development needs related to the regional level is the need to increase cooperation regionally and between universities, research organisations and enterprises. In addition the cooperation between public administration and other actors (especially with the enterprises) should be strengthened. The networks of the universities, research organisations and global companies outside the region are important and these networks should be strengthened. The universities provide important information on the global challenges to the region. Also the enterprises of the regional innovation system have important links nationally and internationally. It’s important to note that also the contacts and links of other actors can serve as a start to the cooperation between research organisations and enterprises. E.g. intermediary organisations can operate as creators of networks and contacts. In addition, the financiers are important partners on the national level. The Tampere Region innovation system can be classified in three different ways. Firstly it can be classified as an international research and development midpoint, as the network composed by research organisations and technology enterprises is especially strong and well developed. Secondly it can be classified as an environment for inner growth and innovation, as knowledge based enterprises are constantly evolving to the region. And thirdly is can be seen as a environment for constant learning. This is based on the fact that innovation is created as a result of the mutual learning process in the value network of enterprises. The knowledge from the universities and research organisations should be increased to these networks and the cooperation could involve also other than technology enterprises. In the classifications of type one and two there is a need to develop business development services. Both of these environments require also a strong science and technology basis. In the second classification there