Title: Place-Based Innovation Ecosystems: Espoo Innovation Garden & Aalto University (Finland)

The case study identifies key success factors in the Espoo innovation ecosystem, with particular attention to the role of Aalto University as an example of an entrepreneurial university.

It seeks to inform policies aimed at supporting the strengthening and emergence of existing or new place-based innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurial universities in other EU regions and cities.

The report starts by defining what a place-based innovation ecosystem is intended to be, and identifies a conceptual framework that can operationalise the study of concrete cases.

The study continues with a presentation of the main local actors and pre-existing enabling factors, progressively moves to the catalysers that have made this innovation garden flourish and finally analyses its Quadruple Helix collaboration model and the way the whole ecosystem is orchestrated.

The publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.

Download the publication through this shortlink: http://bit.ly/2q6USiv

Publication information in The European Commission’s science and knowledge service: http://bit.ly/2r2yJit

JRC Science Hub: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc

Picture on cover page above: sketch illustration based on aerial photo of Espoo by SARC OY Architects and SRV OY