Finland's competitiveness demands new creative strategies

SITRA calls for a centre to encourage culture in Finland

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Hard on the heels of the recent Swiss report that placed Finland lower in the World Competitiveness Yearbook comes a new book Towards a Creative Economy - Cultural Know-How as a Resource for the Future published by SITRA (the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development) on Wednesday.
      The main point made by the book is that Finland has to invest in creativity and cultural know-how and to realise that these are national strengths.
      The book is a result of a SITRA research programme started in 2000 that analysed the current situation of the interaction between the cultural sector and the economy and presented prospects for the future.
      The author of the book, Prof. Markku Wilenius, is the Director of the Futures Research Centre of the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration. In his book, Wilenius puts forward a number of strategies to improve national competitiveness, focusing on cultural know-how.
      Moreover, Wilenius proposes that a centre to encourage culture (Kukes) ought to be set up in Finland, and its prime task should be to invest in cultural innovations and cultural know-how.
     
Civil servants in the government's cultural administration have to familiarise themselves more closely with the direction that sponsorship is taking today, says Wilenius.
      Wilenius also points out that public-sector policies must be based on a longer-term view, for example when it comes to granting public money to the cultural sector.
      However, the biggest obstacle to sponsorship is taxation. According to Wilenius, the Finnish tax regimes should be re-assessed in a way that encourages culture. For example, companies should be allowed to deduct more than the present EUR 25,000 out of their taxable gains, when they make donations to culture.
     
Despite the fact that cultural sponsorship has more than doubled in the course of the last decade, it is still small compared with several other European countries.
      Some synergy between companies and cultural institutions exists already. We have world-class professionals in the field of culture and cultural personalities with vision. According to Prof. Wilenius, now is the time for Finland to realise that the country's competitiveness can only be ensured by broadening its know-how.
      Finland's development has hitherto been based primarily on the advance of its technological skills. Now Finland must find a strong potential for know-how and development in creative fields and make this the cornerstone of Finnish success in the future.
     
"What does my creativity spring from?" - an exhibition open from May 6 to May 18, 2004. Weekdays 9-17, weekends 10-17. Address: Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo, Töölönkatu 51b, Helsinki.


Links:
  SITRA: Cultural know-how the cornerstone of Finnish competitiveness (press release 5.4.2004)

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