Finland needs growth for our economy to reach a sustainable path and for us to have the prerequisites for well-being also in the future. At the same time, the world is changing rapidly, and geopolitical tensions have increased. In many ways, technological development is at the heart of all this.
Research, development and innovation (RDI) activities have a significant effect on the growth and productivity of companies. RDI investments enable productivity to rise, especially through innovations and technological improvements. Companies that invest in RDI activities on a long-term basis are able to adapt to market changes and gain a competitive advantage thanks to, for example, new products or more efficient production methods. It is particularly important to raise the level of competence and the company's ability to adopt and utilise new technologies.
Thanks to the parliamentary consensus and the R&D Funding Act, which has been in force since 2023, Finland will invest EUR 280 million more annually in research and development, until 2030. Companies are expected to increase their own investments by twice as much as the state.
The key word in all this is impact. How can investments be directed as effectively as possible so that they lead to the desired growth turn in Finland?
At the national level, we will only be able to assess the outcome well into the 2030s and beyond. However, while waiting for the long-term effects to materialize, we need to identify the relevant milestones that would contribute to the long-term goal and how these milestones could be measured. It is worthwhile for every actor to carry out this reflection. In the following, we describe how we evaluate the impact of VTT's operations.
What kind of value does VTT create for society?
VTT's mission is to promote the utilisation and commercialisation of research and technology in business and society. Our value proposition is that cooperation with VTT will affect our customers' ability to create and scale new, radical innovations and to grow their business and international networks. In addition to our customers, our operations have an impact on society at large and contribute to building a more sustainable world.
VTT is guided by a steering document drawn up for each government term, which describes, in accordance with the Finnish Government Programme, the state’s expectations for VTT's operations and its societal impact.
For 2024–2027, there are four societal impact targets for VTT that emphasize accelerating private RDI investments and sustainable renewal. The current progress of these goals is described in our recent impact review.
Objective 1: VTT accelerates business RDI investments and renewal
74% of VTT's customers say that cooperation with VTT has influenced their creation of new products, services, processes and technologies. The renewal of business is also supported by the fact that VTT promotes the internationalization of its customers: for example, 66% of the EU projects coordinated by VTT involve Finnish companies. Cooperation with VTT affects customers' ability to create and scale innovations.
Objective 2: VTT provides growth companies with unique expertise and the latest technology
VTT-based spin-offs have collected 8.5% of all start-up investments in Finland. VTT has an effect on the Finnish growth company ecosystem in two ways in particular: by supporting the capabilities of growth companies and by creating deep technology companies itself.
Objective 3: VTT develops solutions to sustainability challenges
VTT has 453 patent families, which is one indication of VTT's ability to create new solutions to technological challenges. On average, VTT patents about a third of VTT's inventions itself, and VTT's industrial partners also patent inventions made by VTT researchers.
Objective 4: VTT increases the amount of expertise and experts in Finland
42% of VTT's research personnel are doctors, some of whom move to companies and elsewhere in society every year. 13.5% of VTT's employees are non-Finnish citizens. VTT plays a significant role in producing expertise and attracting international talent.
How is impact assessment developed?
We monitor the progress of our impact targets systematically. In our impact review, we have identified entities for each of the four impact goals that have an indirect impact on the achievement of the goal.
Measuring impact has long been a challenge in RDI activities. At VTT, impact measurement has been studied by, among others, Kirsi-Maria Hyytinen and her Future Proof Societies team. Studies have found that traditional indicators do not capture the wide-ranging social, societal and environmental impact of RDI activities. New approaches are needed to make this complex phenomenon visible: VTT has developed broad-based indicators and new approaches that focus on long-term impacts and changes instead of inputs and quick results. Ecosystem thinking and diverse measurement techniques provide a more comprehensive picture of impact as well as support decision-making and leadership, and spur renewal.
Read more about the realization of VTT’s impact in our recent impact review (in Finnish). We continuously develop the measurement of impact and strive to understand and identify the different paths that lead to the materialization of our impact.
Read our impact review
Download our impact review here (in Finnish)
