Files
Abstract
Public policy actions to promote innovations related business based
house construction and related wood use enhancement have been wide in
Finland from the mid 1990’s on but without many commercially successful
innovations. This paper discusses national public policy activities in the two
major clusters, real estate & construction and forest & wood product forest
industry respectively. Major focus is in the challenges related to cross
sectoral innovation processes that do not have position in cluster based
national innovation policy favoring supply (technology) push innovation
processes in financing in Finland from the mid 1990’s up to the mid 2000’s.
Real estate & construction cluster enterprises tend to be risk averters in
connection to new process and material solutions but have gradually from
the early 2000’s started to adapt customer orientation, networking and
building information models based on shared information and
communication networks into their business models. Challenges to climate
change mitigation and new carbon sinks have improved the potential
competitive advantages of wood frame construction with respect to concrete
and steel frame solutions. Innovation processes by wood product industry
firms imply new orientation if they aim to BtoB demand segment outcomes.
Recent Living Business program, characterized by cross cluster center of
expertise networks is part of the new innovation policy approach. This try
to counteract the prior low interests on cross cluster interactions, that have
weakened innovation attempts to react on demand signals.