解析芬兰国家创新体系
作者：潘琦
芬兰经济实现由要素驱动、效率驱动到创新驱动的转变，只用了二十多年。在欧洲经济衰退的环境下，2013年芬兰的国家竞争力排名仍然位居全球第三，创新力排名全球第二。为何这个北欧小国能始终保持稳步发展，并在创新领域取得突破性的成绩？FBK带您解开芬兰国家创新体系运作之谜。
关键字：科技，国家创新系统（NIS）理论，知识经济，研发，国家竞争力
“推动经济增长就好像烹饪更美味的菜肴，仅靠增加烹饪练习的次数是不够的，必须要有更好的食谱。”斯坦福大学经济学家保罗o罗默曾言。而创新就具有这样神奇的力量。
熊彼特在1912年出版的《经济发展概论》中认为“创新”是将一种新的生产要素和生产条件的“新结合”引入生产体系。在实践中，“创新”深入到技术、经济和社会等各个层面。不同国家对于创新有不一样的理解。例如，前苏联采取的是军事战略导向的创新体系，美国采取的是企业主导的自由创新行为，日本则以教育立国快速提升国家竞争力。
英国学者弗里曼在20世纪80年代首先提出了国家创新系统（NIS）理论。他指出，创新者包括工人、管理者、政府等，而国家在创新推动中具有核心作用。从20世纪80年代后期开始，芬兰成为全球第一个将NIS理论应用于实践的国家。
芬兰的林业资源丰富，在20世纪70年代初已具有一定的工业基础，但对于长久发展而言，其固有资源有限，国内市场小，需求不足。经过分析，芬兰政府设计了一套最适合自身国情的创新策略及其运作模式，概括起来即为资源整合、知识经济主导、注重国际合作。经过实践中的不断调整，形成包含教育和研发投入、企业技术创新、创新风险投资和提高企业出口创新能力的较为完善的创新体系。
芬兰国家技术创新局（Tekes）局长佩卡o索伊尼（Pekka Soini）在接受FBK专访时表示，“芬兰近年来取得的成绩，得益于其高效的创新体系”。这一体系给予初创企业、成长企业的充分而灵活的支持，正是促使芬兰经济持续发展、提升的源动力！
芬兰的国家创新体系庞大且功能齐全，复杂却井然有序，工作流程严密高效，自上而下可以分为六个层次：首要政治机构、政策解析与描述机构、政策调制与指导机构、研发创新执行机构、知识与技术转移机构、商品供应与服务供应机构。
1. 首要政治机构：国家创新体系的领导者
&&&&由议会、内阁、科学与技术政策理事会组成，是决定芬兰创新体系研发方向与方式的关键要素。其中芬兰科学与技术策略理事会是战略性行为主体，直接由总理组建，强调高素质大学教育和技术领域研究的必要性、增加国家研发投资的必要性和鼓励开放创新文化的必要性。
2. 政策解析与描述机构：中观调控
&&&&由教育部、贸易和工业部、贸易促进委员会组成。
1）教育部掌管所有的高校和芬兰科学院（如下一层级的四个研究委员会）。
2）贸易和工业部主要管理国家技术代理机构（如下一层级的Tekes）与部门内研究机构从事相关的研究。
3）贸促会是芬兰政府和企业共同参股，以商业服务形式向企业提供服务的机构，在促进芬兰企业出口提升方面起着重要作用。
3. 政策调制与指导机构：市场运作与政府意志的结合
1）芬兰国家研究发展基金（The Finnish
National Fund for Research and Development, Sitra）成立于1967年，是芬兰国会监管下的独立性公共基金会，致力于促进技术成果的商业化和种子项目的融资，还参与部分国家科技战略的研究和制订工作。
&Sitra是芬兰最大的风险投资者，同时也是催生新创意的思想库，对基础研究和教育提供资助，促进国家技术局的指导思想。它对中小企业创新的支持主要采用综合性计划和初创融资服务两种方式进行。此外，Sitra还在国内市场和国际市场上进行风险投资，以促进风险投资市场的发展。
2）芬兰国家技术创新局（Technology
Development Centre of Finland, Tekes）创立于1983年，是芬兰投资于研究和开发的主要国立机构，为公共部门和私营企业研发创新项目提供资助及网络支持，鼓励并推动企业和科技团体的合作，以及制造商、供应商、顾客和终端用户之间的合作。
&&&&以政府为主导、Tekes为核心机构的芬兰技术创新体系克服了科研、开发和应用的脱节，使国家科技事业走在“开放式、多层次、跨领域、实用化”的系统发展轨道上。Tekes聚焦某一特定领域，联合企业、高校和科研机构的力量，实施某项国家技术计划，时间一般在五年左右，推动产业群的形成。Tekes资助了包括诺基亚在内的所有成功的高技术企业。
3）芬兰发明基金会成立于1971年，负责支持和促进芬兰科技发明、保护技术发明、促进科技发展的商品化和促进技术发明在生产中的应用，在技术发明者、大学和研究所与市场和产业之间架起桥梁。&
4.&研发创新执行机构：研发执行中坚
1）芬兰技术研究中心（VTT）是北欧最大的多学科研究机构，建立于1942年，主要提供研发、测试、产品审批和认证、信息和风险投资服务，帮助客户开发新产品、更新生产方式和服务，开拓新的商业领域。其核心作用是从活跃研究出发，促进科研单位与工业产业相结合，促进科技成果转化，形成一个学术气氛活跃、商业气息浓郁的特殊环境，从而孵化出更多能投入使用的应用性研究成果。VTT上启贸工部、Tekes，下接企业、研究机构、院校，实现从基础研究、应用研究及企业技术研究三大体系的贯穿。
2）&教育科研机构具有以技术为中心的明显特点。其中，赫尔辛基技术大学、坦佩雷技术大学和奥卢大学是技术研究和开发的推进器和本地区技术研究与开发的中心。
3）&企业是技术创新的重要参与者，也是技术成果的直接受益者。芬兰企业多设有科学研究机构和技术开发部门。芬兰最大的20家企业的研发支出的总和是大学的2倍。
5.&知识与技术转移机构：基础研发与应用研发的融合
产学研结合“三位一体”的技术创新机制推动芬兰形成世界上最有效的国家创新体系之一。从20世纪80年代后期开始，全国性的技术开发区和专业研究中心网络在芬兰逐步建立，提供的服务包括初始分割计划和“孵化器”。众多获得国家技术局承认、通过国家研究开发基金投资的非合同式批准的、为中小新兴企业服务的企业投资有限公司形成了芬兰民间创新资本的主要来源。
6.&商品供应与服务供应机构：科技与资本的融合
包括私营制造和服务公司、公有服务部门——国家企业、商业银行、风险投资商等，主要以建立种子基金和发放启动资金的形式向处于启动阶段并具有创新能力的高技术企业和中小企业投资，并利用项目回报进一步扩大投资规模。&
【FBK点评】
芬兰是国家创新系统（NIS）理论的优秀实践者，充分运用“资源整合”思维，将创新思想贯彻于“人”，培养全民的主动创新意识。芬兰以自主创新研发为主导，掌控核心技术手段，从而带动科技进步和产业升级。为了有利于可持续发展，芬兰在政府与大型企业共同主导下，将大量研发经费投入于基础研究和应用研究。国家创新体系有两个单独的系统并存——在一个系统着重以教育和研究夯实创新基础的同时；另一个系统以技术和经济发展为导向，加快创新产业化的节奏。
芬兰国家创新体系为其他国家或区域创新体系的建设树立了标杆；而其经验是基于本国整体环境和战略形成的，只可借鉴，不可照搬。&
（本文部分内容编选自陈洁编著的《国家创新体系构架与运行机制研究——芬兰的启示与借鉴》。）
复旦-Tekes iLab合作项目：“借智”国际商学院 &&
对于很多政府机构和企业来说，“智库”的角色不可或缺，有了这些外部智囊团的帮助，他们会如虎添翼，使得战略更为明晰、决策更为明智、执行更有效率。芬兰国家技术创新局（Tekes）很早就开始走出国门，向全球顶尖商学院“借智”，并积累了不少成功经验。例如，1999年起，他们便与美国加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）安德森商学院成为合作伙伴，为该校的全球接入计划（GAP）提供帮助。
Tekes希望能把这种方式移植到中国，与中国的顶尖商学院进行合作，为芬兰企业开拓中国市场提供畅通渠道。今年1月16日，复旦大学管理学院与芬兰国家技术创新局签署复旦商业实验室（iLab）合作备忘录。作为一种全新的国际合作模式，此举开创了管理教育中官方机构、企业、复旦管院以及学生四赢的新局面。
复旦-Tekes MBA iLab合作备忘录签约仪式
在此之前，芬兰国家技术创新局和中国已经是“多年好友”了，它在海外的6个办事处中就有两个在中国，分别位于北京和上海，长期以来与中国在纳米技术、生物医药、信息通讯技术等多方面进行合作。而首次与中国在商业创新领域合作，Tekes对中国在该领域的具体发展情况并不熟悉，因此，它也希望通过“牵线搭桥”，将中国商业智慧与芬兰企业创新相结合。
在Tekes的支持下，今年有五家芬兰企业和复旦管院展开合作，分别是Stereoscape, Sintrol, Planray, Cesim和Confidex公司，参加iLab项目的20名复旦MBA学生组成了5支队伍，结合自己所学的管理学知识，为这些企业进入中国、开拓市场和寻找商业伙伴出谋划策，涵盖企业的国际战略、国内外融资战略、营销战略、组织架构计划、商业化建议、竞争格局评估等诸多方面。在五个多月的时间里，5个项目组的同学均到访过芬兰，对自己研究的企业总部进行实地考察，在当地进行了项目的中期汇报，受到了芬兰当地媒体的关注，“Kainuun Sanomat”用一整版的篇幅进行了报道。
7月3日，复旦-Tekes iLab项目终期报告会首次公开展示项目开展以来的研究成果，“经验、积累、收获”成为5个小组汇报的关键词。而这5个项目最大的亮点就是无一例外都包含有中国元素，主要讨论的都是芬兰创新企业如何进入和开拓中国市场的议题。
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English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and of the United States since the late 19th century, it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world.[7] It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organizations.Finland (Finnish: Suomi, Swedish: Finland), officially the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland), is one of the Nordic countries. It is situated in northern Europe, bounded by the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east. The &Aland Islands, off the southwestern coast, are under Finnish sovereignty while enjoying extensive autonomy.Finland has a population of five million people spread over more than 330,000 square kilometres (127,000 sq. mi) making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world (see List of countries by population density).Finland is ranked thirteenth on the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index.Contents 1 History 2 Etymology 3 Politics 4 Subdivisions 5 Geography 6 Economy and globalisation 7 Demographics 8 Culture 8.1 Miscellaneous cultural concepts 8.2 Public holidays 9 Miscellaneous topics HistoryMain article: History of FinlandAccording to archaeological evidence, the area now comprising Finland was first settled around 8500 BC during the Stone Age as the ice shield of the last ice age receded. The earliest people were probably hunter-gatherers, living primarily off what the tundra and sea could offer. Pottery is known from around 5300 BC (see Comb Ceramic Culture). The existence of an extensive exchange system during the mesolithic is indicated by the spread of asbestos and soapstone from eastern Finland, and by finds of flint from southern Scandinavia and Russia and slate from Lake Onega and northern Scandinavia. It has been postulated and held probable that the speakers of the Finno-Ugric language arrived in the area during the Stone Age, and were possibly even among the first Mesolithic settlers [1]. The arrival of the Battle-Axe Culture (or Cord-Ceramic Culture) in southern coastal Finland around 3200 BC may have coincided with the start of agriculture. However, the earliest certain records of agriculture are from the late 3rd millennium B.C. Hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.The Bronze Age ( BC) and Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1200) were characterized by extensive contacts with Scandinavia, northern Russia and the Baltic region. Inhabitants of Finland - like the famous Kvens - and their &kings& (probably local chieftains) are mentioned in some historic chronicles and other writings such as the Scandinavian sagas. There are also some written documents from the 13th century, but in general the Finnish history is not comprehensively documented before the 14th and 15th centuries.The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesized introduction of Christianity by Sweden's King Erik. However, archeological evidence points to prior Christian influences in southwestern and southeastern Finland and include both western and eastern Christian artefacts. Historically (more documented), the union began upon Birger Jarl's expedition to Finland in 1249. Swedish became the dominant language of administ Finnish chiefly a language for the peasantry, clergy and local courts in predominantly Finnish-speaking areas. Not until the 16th century were the first written works published in Finnish by Mikael Agricola.    Finland Portal The Swedish Kingdom strove to push the borders eastward, which led to wars of varying success with Novgorod. The expansion was halted by the unification of Russia and was eventually rolled back. During the 18th century, virtually all of Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces ( and ), known by the Finns as the Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. During this time &Finland& became the predominant term for the whole land area from the Gulf of Bothnia to the R both in domestic Swedish debate and by Russians promising protection from &Swedish oppression.& The earlier Finland - i.e. the south-western area - was from then on called &Finland Proper&.In 1808, Finland was conquered by the armies of Russian Emperor Alexander I and thereafter became an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. During this time, Finnish started gaining recognition by both the imperial court and the governing bodies, first probably to sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden and thereafter, from the 1860s onwards, as a result of a strong nationalist movement, known as the Fennoman movement. Milestones included the publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, in 1835; and the Finnish language achieving equal legal status with Swedish in 1892.On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia but the civil wars that followed in Russia and in Finland and activist expeditions (see Heimosodat), including the ones to White Karelia and Aunus, complicated relations.In 1918, the country experienced a brief but a bitter Civil War that coloured domestic politics for many years. The Civil War was fought between &the whites&, who gained support from Imperial Germany, and &the reds&, supported by Bolshevist Russia. The reds consisted mostly of leftist property–less rural and industrial workers who, despite universal suffrage in 1906, felt that they lacked political influence. The white forces were mostly made up of bourgeoisie and wealthy peasantry, politically more to the right. Eventually, the whites overcame the reds.The Finnish–Russian border was agreed upon in the Treaty of Tartu in 1920, largely following the historic border but granting Petsamo and its Barents Sea harbour to Finland.During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union twice: in the Winter War of
and in the Continuation War of
in accordance with Operation Barbarossa in which Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was followed by the Lapland War of , when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.Treaties signed in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union included obligations, restraints, and reparations on Finland vis-à-vis the Soviet Union as well as further Finnish territorial concessions (cf. the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940). Finland ceded most of Finnish Karelia, Salla, and Petsamo, which amounted to 10% of land area, 20% of industrial capacity and 400,000 evacuees. The reparations to the Soviet Union forced Finland to transform itself from a primarily agrarian economy to an industrialized one. Nevertheless, most trade was with Western countries. Even after reparations were fulfilled, Finland continued to trade with the Soviet Union in the framework of bilateral trade. (Russia has assumed a large part of the Soviet national debt which is slowly being remunerated in raw materials and electricity).After the Second World War, neutral Finland lay in the grey zone between the western countries and the Soviet Union. The &YYA Treaty& (Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance) gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics and included a guarantee whereby Finland promised to defend her territory and airspace against Germany or her allies, which meant in practice NATO. Many politicians, like President Kekkonen (1956–81), used their relations with Moscow to solve party controversies, which meant that the Soviet Union gained other people worked single-mindedly to oppose the Kremlin. The society had also a strong tendency of self-censorship regarding Finno-Soviet relations and the press was often reprimanded or given instructions in handling Soviet-related issues. There was virtually no criticism or objective discussion of communism or the Soviet Union in Finland during those years. This phenomenon of self-censorship was given the name finlandisation by the German press. However, Finland maintained a democratic government and a market economy unlike most other countries bordering the Soviet Union.The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. In all, the war-ravaged agrarian country was transformed into a technologically advanced market economy with a sophisticated social welfare system. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the bilateral trade disappeared overnight, and Finland was simultaneously hit by a &home-cooked& severe recession. This left a mass unemployment problem, but the economy survived and began growing at a high rate after the recession. Finland joined the European Union in 1995, where she is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.EtymologyThe name Suomi has uncertain origins but a strong candidate for a cognate is the Baltic word zeme meaning &ground, earth, country&. In another approach, Finnish suo means &fen&, which is one of the characteristic biotypes of Finland. Some etymologists have proposed that Suomi is derived from the word suoma, which means &god-given& or &a gift of mercy&.The exonym Finland has resemblance with e.g. the Scandinavian placenames Finnmark, Finnveden and Finnskogen and all are thought to be derived from finn, a Germanic word for nomadic &hunter-gatherers& (as opposed to sedentary farmers). How, why and when this designation would have started to mean the Finns in particular is largely unknown. Among the first written documents mentioning a &land of the Finns& are two rune stones. There is one in S&derby, Sweden, with the inscription finlont and one in Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, with the inscription finlandi dating from the 11th century [2].Politics Finnish Parliament House in HelsinkiMain article: Politics of FinlandFinland has a semi-presidential system with Parliamentarism. The President of Finland is formally responsible for foreign policy. Most executive power lies in the cabinet (the Finnish Council of State) headed by the prime minister chosen by the parliament. The Council of State is made up of the prime minister and the ministers for the various departments of the central government as well as an ex-officio member, the Chancellor of Justice.The 200-member unicameral Parliament of Finland is called the Eduskunta (Finnish) or Riksdag (Swedish). It is the supreme legislative authority in Finland. The parliament may alter the Constitution of Finland, bring about the resignation of the Council of State, and override presidential vetoes. Its acts are not subject to judicial review. Legislation may be initiated by the Council of State, or one of the Eduskunta members, who are elected for a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation through open list multimember districts.The judicial system of Finland is divided between courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and administrative courts with responsibility for litigation between the individuals and the administrative organs of the state and the communities. Their jurisdiction can be illustrated with an example: Parents unsatisfied with the school placement of their child would appeal against the board of education in an administrative court as the school placement is subject to an administrative decision. Finnish law is codified and its court system consists of local courts, regional appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The administrative branch of justice consists of administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court. The administrative process has more popularity as it is cheaper and has lower financial risk to the person making claims. In addition to the regular courts, there are a few special courts in certain branches of administration. There is also a High Court of Impeachment for criminal charges (for an offence in office) against the President of the Republic, the justices of the supreme courts, members the Council of State, the Chancellor of Justice and the Ombudsman of Parliament.The parliament has, since equal and common suffrage was introduced in 1906, been dominated by secular Conservatives, the Centre Party (former Agrarian Union), and Social Democrats. After 1944 Communists were a factor to consider for few decades. The Swedish People's Party represents Finland Swedes, especially in language politics. The relative strengths of the parties vary only slightly in the elections due to the proportional election from multimember districts but there are some visible long-term trends.The constitution of Finland and its place in the judicial system are unusual in that there is no constitutional court and the supreme court does not have an explicit right to declare a law unconstitutional. In principle, the constitutionality of laws in Finland is verified by a simple vote in the parliament (see Parliamentary sovereignty). However, the Constitutional Law Committee of the parliament reviews any doubtful bills and recommends changes, if needed. In practice, the Constitutional Law Committee fulfils the duties of a constitutional court. A Finnish peculiarity is the possibility of making exceptions to the constitution in ordinary laws that are enacted in the same procedure as constitutional amendments. An example of such a law is the State of Preparedness Act which gives the Council of State certain exceptional powers in cases of national emergency. As these powers, which correspond to US executive orders, affect constitutional basic rights, the law was enacted in the same manner as a constitutional amendment. However, it can be repealed in the same manner as an ordinary law. In addition to preview by the Constitutional Law Committee, all Finnish courts of law have the obligation to give precedence to the constitution when there is an obvious conflict between the constitution and a regular law. That is, however, very rare. The only other European countries that lack a constitutional court are the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (which does not have a codified constitution).After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland freed itself from the last restrictions imposed on it by the Paris peace treaties of 1947. The Finnish-Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance (and the restrictions included therein) was annulled but Finland recognised the Russian Federation as the successor of the USSR and was quick to draft bilateral treaties of goodwill as well as reallocating Soviet debts.Finland deepened her participation in the European integration by joining the European Union with Sweden and Austria in 1995. It could be perhaps said that the country's policy of neutrality has been moderated to &military non-alignment& with an emphasis on maintaining a competent independent defence. Peacekeeping under the auspices of the United Nations is the only real extra-national military responsibility which Finland undertakes.According to Transparency International, Finland has had the lowest level of corruption in all the countries studied in their survey for the last several years.SubdivisionsMain article: Municipalities of Finland, Sub-regions of Finland, Regions of FinlandLegally, Finland has two levels of democratic government: the state, and 432 municipalities. The municipality is the same as a &city& level of government, except that rural municipalities are not called &cities&. Since 1977, no legal or administrative distinction is made between towns, cities and other municipalities. Although a municipality must follow the laws set by the state, it makes independent decisions. That is, the decisions of a municipal council, if legal, cannot be appealed. People often identify with their municipality, although their nationality is usually more important.Municipalities co-operate in 74 sub-regions and 20 regions. These are governed by the member municipalities. The &Aland region has a permanent, democratically elected regional council, as a part of the autonomy. In the Kainuu region, there is a pilot project underway, with similar regional elections.Main articles: Subdivisions of Finland, Provinces of Finland, Historical provinces of FinlandThe state organization is divided into 6 administrative provinces (l&&ni, pl. l&&nit) The provinces are further divided into 90 state local districts. The provincial authority is part of the executive branch of the national government, and is not democratically controlled except through the national parliament. This system was created in 1634, and underwent few major changes until the redivision of the country into &greater provinces& in 1997. Since then, the six provinces have been:Southern Finland Western Finland Eastern Finland Oulu Lapland &Aland These provinces are merely administrative divisions. Western Finland, for example, spans four major linguistic and dialectal areas (Pohjanmaa dialect, Southwestern dialects, Savo in &Aht&ri, and some Swedish speakers in the area around Vaasa).The &Aland Islands enjoy a degree of autonomy. According to international treaties and Finnish laws, the regional government for &Aland handles some matters which belong to the province authority in Mainland Finland.Another kind of provinces are those echoing the pattern of colonisation of Finland. Dialects, folklore, customs, and people's feeling of affiliation are associated with these historical provinces of Finland, although the re-settlement of 420,000 Karelians during World War II and urbanization in the latter half of the 20th century have made differences less pronounced.The old provinces or counties () survive in the telephone numbering areas.Geography P&ij&nne, one of the largest lakes. Koli, one of the many national parks.Main article: Geography of FinlandFinland is a country of thousands
187,888 lakes (larger than 500 m²) and 179,584 islands to be precise. One of these lakes, Saimaa, is the 5th largest in Europe. The Finnish landscape is mostly flat with few hills and its highest point, the Haltitunturi at 1,328 metres (4,357 ft), is found in the extreme north of Lapland. Beside the many lakes the landscape is dominated by extensive boreal forests (about 68 percent of land area) and little arable land. The greater part of the islands are found in southwest, part of the archipelago of the &Aland Islands, and along the southern coast in the Gulf of Finland. Finland is one of the few countries in the world that are still growing. Owing to the isostatic uplift that has been taking place since the last ice age, the surface area of the country is growing by about 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi) a year.The climate in Southern Finland is a northern temperate climate. In Northern Finland, particularly in the Province of Lapland, a subarctic climate dominates, characterised by cold, occasionally severe, winters and relatively warm summers. Finland is near enough to the Atlantic to be continuously warmed by the Gulf stream, which explains the unusually warm climate considering the absolute latitude.A quarter of Finland's territory lies above the Arctic Circle, and as a consequence the midnight sun can be experienced — for more and more days, the further up north one comes. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days in winter.See also: List of towns in Finland, Population of Finland, List of lakes in FinlandEconomy and globalisation Headquarters of Fortum. The economy used to be dominated by large indu
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