The Fourth Pillar? An Assessment of the Situation of the Finnish Biotechnology

The success in constructing a flourishing information and telecommunication cluster has encouraged Finland to seek equal possibilities in other knowledge-intensive industrial branches. Presently, biotechnology is seen as an auspicious business area. Like in other parts of Europe, Finnish biotechnology concentrates mainly on pharmaceutical industries. More than 70 percent of the human resources of Finnish biotechnology industries is settled in this industrial branch. Despite large investments and financing, modern biotechnology industries are still a marginal industrial branch in the Finnish economy. Its turnover in 1999 was only one percent of the total GNP. The wide spectrum of Finnish higher education and the close relations of co-operation between universities and industries can open up promising prospects. Finland's technology-affirmative attitudinal climate works in the same direction. This progress can be delayed by a lack of highly skilled human resources, which is already a problem in the IT sector. The small size and minor experience in global markets have also limited the success of the Finnish firms.