White Biotech TP is funded by FP6
Finland
|
Download the country report in pdf
|
Send your contribution / modification to
|
Introduction
Since the mid 1990s, support for research and development and commercialisation of biotechnology has been a key policy area in Finland. This strong public investment in biotechnology and the entrepreneurial spirit of its industry has resulted in a fast growth in biotech. Tekes technology programmes and the Academy of Finland research programmes are central tools in the promotion of Finnish scientific and R&D work. The combination of knowledge, research, know-how, and a solid infrastructure has been encouraging to entrepreneurs. Most new companies in the field have emerged from research and innovation that originated in universities or institutes of technology. More than half of Finland’s biotech companies operate in the health sector but industrial biotechnology is also recognised as an important sector by the Government which has recently launched two large R&D programme for this field.
I. Research and Innovation
Modern industrial biotechnology is a relatively new discipline, with major areas of knowledge still to be explored. Public support to research as well as the establishment of pilot and demonstration facilities to scale-up individual processes will therefore help in the development of a European bio-based economy.
A. Public research funding
The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes, is member as a partner of the European Research Area for Industrial biotechnology (ERA-net IB).
Tekes is supporting two programmes in the field of research in industrial biotechnology.
SymBio - Industrial Biotechnology: this programme has a budget of €80 million for a five years period (2006-2011) and is funded by the Government (49%), private companies (48%) and research institutes (3%). The aims of the programme are:
- to create competitive industrial processes, new products and services using biotechnology;
- to enhance the environmental friendliness of industrial processes;
- to create new business opportunities in the fields of industrial production and environmental biotechnologies and
- to boost the transfer of research results into technology and new products
BioRefine: €137 million has been allocated to this programme from 2007-2012. It aims to develop innovative technologies, products and services based on national strengths as well as generate necessary new expertise. The programme also looks to develop biorefineries is examining the processing of biomass in general for the international market and is trying to promote the development and use of second-generation production technology in biofuels for transport.
B. Pilot and demonstration plants
A descriptive list of pilot and demonstration plants in Finland is available
here.
II. Policy
Public authorities can promote the quick take-up of industrial biotechnology innovations by implementing a number of “instruments” or policy initiatives. This can be the improvement of the regulatory framework; the integration of specification for bio-based products in public procurement; the establishment of standardisation, labelling and certification schemes to overcome perceived uncertainty about product properties and weak market transparency; the development of financial instruments and supports to increase investments into research, technology development and innovation as well as the elaboration of communication and information campaign to communicate the benefits of bio-based products to users.
A. Policies and regulations
No information.
B. Public procurement
No information.
C. Standardisation, labelling and certification
No information
D. Access to finance
VTT and universities as well as research organisations active in industrial biotechnology and biorefinery research, receive their basic financing for pilot and demonstration plants from the state budget as they are governmental bodies.
Investments for pilot-scale equipment and other test beds are normally financed from two sources:
- from the research institutes’ own budget (institutional money)
- from Finnish Funding Agency for technology and Innovation (Tekes), which grants money for such investment and related R&D work on the basis of competition. The R&D projects concerned are non-profit, pre-competitive projects – the so called shared-cost projects – that are supposed to benefit the society at large. The companies may also participate in such jointly funded projects (as financer and/or through R&D input).
E. Communication
Industrial biotechnology enterprises are represented at national level via the national association for biotechnology: Finnish Bioindustries.
Main Sources
| Finn KBBE-net delegate |