Mika Raunio

Nordic City Regions in the Creative Class Debate—Putting the Creative Class Thesis to a Test

The Nordic countries have a quite different urban structure and social systems than the USA. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden may then constitute a critical test of the empirical reach of Richard Floridas much cited creative class thesis beyond its empirical basis in the USA. This paper employs comparative statistics to examine the importance of the quality of place in attracting members of the creative class to Nordic city regions, and it analyses the role of the creative class for regional economic development. Floridas original study focused only on city regions with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Our statistical analyses mainly support Floridas results with regard to these larger Nordic city regions. The paper, however, also analyses smaller city regions, which are important in the Nordic urban structure. The findings are clearly less supportive for these smaller regions, which mean that the original creative class approach has to be considerably refined when used in the Nordic context.

One Size Fits All? Applying the Creative Class Thesis onto a Nordic Context

The creative class thesis put forward by Florida [(2002a) The Rise of the Creative Class and How its transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life (New York: Basic Books)] has in recent years been subject to vivid debate and criticism. This article applies the creative class thesis onto a Nordic context in order to examine whether Floridas theory proves fruitful in a context different from the US. Based on qualitative data, the paper analyses the role of people climate and business climate for the location of the creative class and firms in three different kinds of regions in four Nordic countries. The analyses demonstrate that the people climate tends to be of secondary importance to the business climate in explaining the location of the Nordic creative class. This should be seen as a result of the urban hierarchy within the Nordic countries as well as a strong welfare policy, which ensures an equal distribution of public provision and supports dual career households. Together, these factors diminish the role of people climate for location choices. The study also finds that the notion of people climate has different meanings in various places, and what attracts or repels the creative class depends on the life phases of the members of the creative class. The study raises concerns about the potential for applying the creative class approach beyond large city regions, which limits its usability in regional planning.

Transnationalizing innovation systems by transplanting innovation platforms

The feasibility of the concept of a national innovation system (NIS) in the globalizing world had already been questioned in its early days and recently long-time advocates of the NIS approach have also raised their doubts. Along with more traditional facilitating policy model, we propose conceptually platform-based policy models with four subcategories that can be considered as appropriate in relation to innovation policies that intend to deal with an increasing rate of border-crossing innovation activities. Building on the views of system and governance failure, we also argue that a community-oriented approach might provide more systemic and hence more efficient and self-sustaining linkages between regional innovation systems that are located in different countries. We will introduce some recent policy measures from the Nordic countries, especially from Finland but also from Denmark, in order to link the conceptual discussion to real-life policies. The purpose is by no means narrowly restricted to an empirical categorization of the Nordic cases, but to outline stylized policy models related to the internationalization of an innovation system that could be applied more generally when designing or analysing policies.

Transformation of regional innovation policies: from ‘traditional’ to ‘next generation’ models of incubation

ABSTRACT This paper explores a widely employed instrument of regional innovation policy: the innovation incubator. It proposes that incubation approaches are moving away from a ‘traditional’ approach strongly premised on physical infrastructure and high-technology, to a more interactive, participatory and social mode of innovation, in line with broader developments in innovation policy and theory. To practically illustrate this shift, we take two cases: a ‘traditional’ style of incubation in Wales, UK, and a ‘next generation’ incubation programme in Finland. This paper reflects on incubators as a mode of regional innovation policy, both past developments and future trends, to ensure that new policies and programmes learn from best (and indeed, worst) practice and build on, rather than replicate, past approaches.

Open Innovation Platforms as a Knowledge Triangle Policy Tool – Evidence from Finland

Open innovation platforms (OIPs) as a new tool fostering the convergence of innovation, education, and research activities have been gaining popularity over the course of recent years. Innovative activities are evolving towards more agile and user-driven processes. OIPs are the key mechanism for orchestrating these processes, providing a qualitatively new space for the interactions between science, education, and innovation. Platform actors have the opportunity to share knowledge and use the urban environment as a ‘living lab’. Using the case of Tampere (Finland), the paper explores OIPs’ role in the orchestration of joint innovation projects within the framework of the ‘smart city’ model. The functions of the platforms in coordinating innovation are illustrated by the practices of three universities implementing the ‘knowledge triangle’ strategy. The initial data for the analysis of the cases were collected within the framework of the Six Cities Strategy project. The authors were guided by a participatory action research (PAR) approach and directly participated in events aimed at the development of strategy. The results of the case analysis should contribute to the evolution of the OIPs concept both from the academic and policy perspectives. The authors highlight some tentative policy implications and recommendations.

Volatile Markets and Reluctant Entrepreneurs

Winston (1999) asks how well experience with the microeconomic theory of firms and commercial markets helps in understanding the economics of higher education. “That experience and those insights will be used by trustees, politicians, administrators, lawyers, reporters and the public, as well as by economists, to understand and evaluate the behavior of colleges and universities” (Winston, 1999, p. 13). What is interesting is who is not mentioned: faculty and students. This is because Winston’s purpose is to problematize the economic analogies of student and customer, as well as faculty markets and labor markets. Winton’s purpose is now very relevant in Finland. As of 1 January 2010, the Finnish government established the legal and administrative framework for the higher education system to pursue a market-driven model. However, as Clotflelter (1999, p. 3) points out, several aspects of higher education “remain incompletely understood and therefore interesting for their own sake.” These include saying something sensible about the costs of education, university competition, the institution of tenure, the institutional hierarchy and the relationship between higher education and society (Clotflelter, 1999). This chapter links these kinds of issues, with a critical examination of internationalization and Finnish higher education, particularly in terms of the mobility of university personnel.

The International SOLETM of Finnish Higher Education: A Virtual Vanishing Act

This participative inquiry critiques recent management trends in the Finnish higher education system. The six authors, presently working in three Finnish universities, focus on strategic internationalization policy to highlight the argument. Global trends in internationalization are introduced, followed by an experienced-based meta-analysis, drawing on several recent studies by the authors. This analysis points to significant challenges and blind spots that exist-well hidden-alongside the Finnish higher education systems best features. The increasing use of ICT-based management routines are called into question with respect to higher education practices, capacity and linked societal challenges. The analysis indicates these challenges remain unengaged-even obscured by-the rapidly proliferating number of ICT-based university management systems. Although none of the authors are specialists in Philosophy or ethics, the interpretive-level findings presented by this interdisciplinary group of scholars illuminates ways forward for the emerging field of specialists focused on ICT-based network-related ethics.