LIITO Renewing Business and Management Program Heli Kukko Technology Director The Finnish Funding Agency of Technology and Innovation LIIKE2 Program Seminar The Academy of Finland 10 February 2006

Can we turn business knowledge into a stronger additional source of national competitive advantage?

The Agenda  Tekes’ renewing strategic emphasis  Underlying changes in business environment  Challenges in current business research  The LIITO program  Questions  Summary

New strategic emphasis on business competence  Focus from technology to technology & innovation  Service and business innovations included  New emphasis on developing business competences  Implemented through various means, e.g. LIITO program Commercialization of research results Start-up financing and business competence SME growth and internationalization Applied business research

Underlying changes in business environment  Competition becoming increasingly global  Shorter time to market  Value networks with new logics of value creation  Increasing need for strategic foresight  Increasing need for market and customer knowledge  More efficient implementation  Distributed management framework

Challenges in current business research  Serving the needs of companies  Research problem definition  Cooperation with the innovation system  Research resources

Research problem definition We have:  Academic problem definition  Backward looking  Discipline oriented

Research problem definition We have:  Academic problem definition  Backward looking  Discipline oriented We need:  Address companies’ business problems  Forward looking  Cross-disciplinary

More cooperation with innovation system  More cooperation with companies  More interuniversity cooperation  More international cooperation  New structures to support cooperation

Research resources  Little research funding

Research funding M€

Research resources  Little research funding  Little funding from companies

Funding by domestic and foreign companies M€

Research resources  Little research funding  Little funding from companies  Too many small and fragmented units

The LIITO program  Implementing Tekes’ new strategy  Focusing on challenges created by globalizing business environment  Influencing the challenges in business research

Mission statement  The LIITO program improves the international competitiveness of Finland-based companies by creating new business knowledge and new operations models  The LIITO program creates in Finland high quality applied business research that is carried out in continuous close cooperation with companies

Target group  Companies doing business or aiming at global markets  Growth companies and company networks  Universities doing business and management research  Also research in e.g. industrial design, business law and behavioral sciences  Independent of business branch

R & D focus  Creating new knowledge on business and management  Applied in new operations models and methods  Industry relevant research themes Strategic management Marketing and customer oriented management Innovation management Knowledge management Management of networks and partnerships

Encouraging cooperation  Applying funding criteria to improve cooperation  Funding to support international academic exchange  Program services to further cooperation oProgram seminars oThematic groups oInternational contacts  Cooperation with LIIKE2 program of Academy of Finland

Duration and funding volume  Planned duration 5 years from 2006 to 2010  Mid-term evaluation after 2 years  In M€ pre-funding for 10 research projects  Tekes funding 75-95% of project costs  Planned Tekes funding for universities total 27 M€  Planned Tekes funding for companies total 17 M€

Questions?

Summarizing LIITO program  Implementing Tekes’ new strategy  For universities and industry  Creating new industry relevant knowledge on business management  Focusing on applied business research  Aiding business renewal  Encouraging cooperation  Providing new resources

Thank you for your attention Additional information: Ilpo Ihanamäki Program manager Tekes