Market Openness, Trade Liberalisation and Innovation Capacity in the Finnish Telecom Equipment Industry

This case study examines how recent trade and investment patterns (including “trade in tasks” resulting from supply chain fragmentation) and Finnish and global policies that promote market openness and free trade have affected the innovation process in the Finnish mobile telecom equipment industry. It illustrates, first, how regulatory, trade and investment policy choices have helped, alongside other key policies, provide the adequate framework conditions for innovation in this country of 5.2 million people. Secondly, it examines how the private sector, and more particularly Nokia, has taken advantage of those conditions to enhance its innovation capacity. This case study does not constitute an in-depth evaluation of the effectiveness of Finnish public policies nor of Nokia’s business strategy, but provides an illustration of how certain public policy choices and business strategies can contribute to a country’s innovation performance. Keywords: Innovation, trade reform, intra-industry trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), deregulation, Finland, Nokia, telecom equipment industry, information and communication technologies (ICT), R&ampD investments, Information Technology Agreement. 