Preparation of South Savo’s regional roadmap for Research, Development and Innovation (RDI)

One of the four key priority areas in South Savo’s regional strategy 2030 and the regional programme 2022–2025 is the acceleration of research and development (R&D) activities and the renewal of industries and companies. Increasing R&D expenditures and ambitions in respect of R&D activities and the strengthening of the region’s dynamic capabilities have become crucial goals in South Savo. In order to respond to the challenges of the changing operating environment while at the same time tapping into these emerging opportunities, a regional roadmap for Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) has been prepared in South Savo. It is necessary to strengthen R&D cooperation between companies, universities, research and educational institutions and other stakeholders. The regional roadmap is closely related to the implementation of the national RDI roadmap, where the goal is to increase the GDP share of Finnish R&D expenditures to 4 percent by 2030. 

MDI supported South Savo Regional Council in preparing the region’s RDI roadmap during spring 2023. The goal was to prepare a roadmap that identifies the guidelines for sustainable growth and wellbeing as well as increasing R&D expenditures and ambition in respect of these R&D activities in the region. The roadmap’s timeframe extends up to 2030. The roadmap concretised the region’s Smart Specialisation strategy into measures. The RDI roadmap described the current status and operating environment of South Savo’s RDI activities, the goals associated with the raising of the level of RDI activities and expertise, as well as the prioritisation and presentation of concrete milestones to attain the goals. It also outlined the implementation and monitoring roles and the cooperation operating model while, in addition, describing a toolkit which can be used to strengthen RDI activities. The work was carried out in an interactive process with the client (South Savo Regional Council) and its stakeholders. The roadmap was finalised by the end of June 2023.