Journal of the Knowledge Economy

, Volume 2, Issue 1, pp 117–144 | Cite as

e-Development and Consensus Formation in Finland

Article
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Abstract

The authors examine how Finland transformed itself in less than two decades from a resource-intensive into a highly competitive knowledge economy driven by the information and communications sector. Much of this transformation was accomplished during a major economic crisis in the 1990s. Building on a strong education system, highly skilled labor force, dynamic ICT sector centered on Nokia, comprehensive innovation system, and remarkable institutions for forming national consensus, the crisis was turned into an opportunity. Since the mid-1990s, three national information society strategies setting policy frameworks for the country’s e-development and action plans to implement them were developed in highly participatory processes involving all major stakeholders. Perhaps as important as the strategies themselves were the methods that were used to develop a national consensus the strategies to secure their implementation.

Keywords

Finland Information society e-Development Consensus formation ICT sector Innovation system Education system Competitiveness 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Telemática e DesenvolvimentoRio de JaneiroBrazil
  2. 2.CIM - Creative Industries ManagementHelsinkiFinland

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