Name in original language
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Initiative overview
Finland’s InnoCities initiative intends to tackle a common challenge: research and innovation activity is often fragmented, making it hard for regions to build globally competitive strengths. By coordinating funding and collaboration across all Finnish university and university-consortium cities, the programme seeks to pool capabilities, focus on shared priorities, and turn research into impactful solutions for businesses and society.
The main objectives are to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems, deepen cooperation between cities, universities, companies and public actors, and grow specific competence areas where Finland can compete internationally. Long-term agreements between the state and InnoCities set clear expectations for results and ensure that research, development and innovation (RDI) spending produces measurable impact across regions. In practice, implementation is largely financed through the EU’s 2021–2027 programme period for sustainable urban development.
