Growth and Innovation Policies for a Knowledge Economy: Experiences from Finland, Sweden, and Singapore

Technical progress is at the heart of economic growth and development. New or improved technology can be achieved through own research and innovations or through the absorption and adaptation of foreign technologies. To facilitate such technical progress requires a complex system of supporting institutions and good economic policies. This paper analyzes technical progress and innovation policies in three small open economies: Finland, Sweden and Singapore. All three economies have transformed from depending on raw material intensive or labor-intensive production to highly competitive economies with a relatively high degree of technological knowledge. We find some common determinants to the transformation, such as large investments in physical and human capital and the importance of political or economic crises in forcing through good economic policies, but there are also many country specific aspects that have been crucial in the different countries. JEL Codes: O30; O38; O57