Innovation impact assessment

Innovation impact assessment is one of the key tasks of Tekes. Assessment findings are used to develop Tekes operations and to help guide funding and programmes.

Tekes has defined target-oriented indicators for impact assessment.

Tekes monitors and assesses the results and impacts of the projects that it funds. For monitoring purposes, Tekes collects project effectiveness information at the beginning and end of each project and three years after its conclusion.

External researchers conduct various effectiveness studies on the Tekes project portfolio. Also, several separate assessments on various functions and Tekes from different perspectives have been conducted or commissioned.

External experts assess Tekes programmes when they are completed, and usually also halfway through and a few years afterwards. The purpose of assessment is to gain feedback on how the objectives of the programme have been attained, how effective the programme has been and what can be learned from it to improve the programme operations and strategies of Tekes.

Tekes follows international comparisons and reports, such as comparisons commissioned by the OECD, the EU and various organisations, and also conducts peer reviews of innovation activities in various countries.

In 2008, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy launched an international evaluation of Finland’s innovation system. The purpose of this assessment was to establish how the current innovation system and its structures and organizations could respond to changes in the international operating environment and the challenges they present. This assessment was completed in autumn 2009. The international evaluation experts identified modes of operation, processes and tools which the Finnish innovation policy can be designed and implemented with. The evaluation was conducted at grass-root level, and its findings provide means of generating better innovations and facilitating their adoption and diffusion.