Prime Minister Katainen said that government financing organizations such as the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes and the Academy of Finland all expressed interest in the research project and decided to support it. However the original idea for the undertaking came from Prime Minister Katainen himself.
Katainen said that he “didn’t swallow” claims that the financiers of the project had been pressured into bankrolling the research report.
“Quite the opposite, at the time they were very much interested in getting involved. I am used to people saying “no” if they feel that something is not useful,” he added.
The research venture eventually cost the stakeholders 700,000 euros. Katainen refused to speculate on whether or not the price tag was reasonable.
Project the PM’s idea
Prime Minister Katainen claimed that there was nothing unusual about the project.
He said the idea was born when he held discussions with Himanen plans for a project on international economic growth, with Finland as one point of focus. At that time the cabinet wanted to commission a report on economic growth.
“I said that this would be a good opportunity to find common ground, so that they could exchange ideas on the question of sustainable economic growth in Finland. And that’s how it all started,” Katainen said.
Following this, Katainen said he discussed the project with heads at Sitra, Tekes and the Academy of Finland. According to the PM they were all interested in the opportunity. Then the cabinet’s counsel determined that this kind of project was not governed by procurement laws.
Sustainable economic growth fascinating
The premier stressed that he had no particular ties to lead researcher Pekka Himanen. However he said that was intrigued by the method of analyzing growth from the perspectives of ecological, social and economic sustainability used by Himanen and his fellow-researcher Manuel Castells.
Katainen described as “interesting” the Blue Book, which was published as part of the project last November. He said that he hoped forthcoming contents of the research project would also generate broad discussion.
“I am very much looking forward to new ideas from which Finland could possibly learn,” he added.
