A strong commitment to innovation and R&D by both the public and private sectors has played a crucial role in Finland's development into one of the leading knowledge-based economies in the world. Finland's R&D expenditure has consistently been above 3% of GDP since the turn of the millennium. As a result, Finland is now ranked among the most R&D-intensive countries globally.
In 2008, total R&D expenditure in Finland was €6.871bn – or 3.72% of GDP – in 2008, according to Statistics Finland. The share of business enterprises from the total expenditure was 71.4%, or €4.847bn, while the share of the university sector was 18.9% and the public sector 9.7%.
Finland and Sweden are the only countries that have reached the 3% target for research intensity set by the EU. In 2009 and 2010, Finland's R&D expenditure has been around 4% of GDP, which is also Finland's target rate for the year 2020. The private sector takes the lead in financing domestic R&D activities; in 2009, Finland had the highest gross domestic expenditure on R&D financed by business enterprises at 2.7% of GDP. Private sources contributed 68.1% of the gross R&D expenditure in Finland, compared to the EU average of 54.8%.
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