Czech-Finnish Technology Days
Present society faces many challenges. These include understanding the evolution of the world: massive changes in the economy, the threat of climate change, spiralling energy needs, growing shortage of drinking water etc.New technologies are essential for responding to such global challenge. To try and look for solutions researchers need to work together, it is necessary to complement efforts made at national level.
Finland is a success story, member state of the EU since 1995 and member of the Economic and Monetary Union since its foundation, Finland has developed from an agrarian outpost to its present position as a beacon of high technology. Finland is a sixth most competetive country globally in 2008 and the EU number one in research and development, innovation and sustainable development.
For a small country like Finland it is important that investments in research and development are driven by a clear strategic vision that is regularly updated to reflex new developments.
Education and research are 2 leading priorities in Finland, where educational standards are among worlds highest. Finland invested some 5 bilion Euro in research and development last year, equivalent to almost 3,5 percent of the country GDP, private companies generated over 70 percent of total research and development expenditure and hightech products accounted for nearly 20 percent of Finlands total exports.
The Czech Republic needs to strengthen the position of Czech research on the international stage and to involve Czech research in wider international cooperation. In this context the CFTD aim to create a favourable environment for a dialog between the Czech and Finnish experts in the field of research, development and innovation.
