Finnland auf dem Weg zur Wissensökonomie – Von Pfadabhängigkeit zu Pfadentwicklung [Finland’s Way Into the Knowledge-based Economy: From Path Dependency to Path Creation]

The current techno-economic paradigm change represents a great challenge to evolutionary innovation research. Instead of concentrating on the aspect of path dependency, research needs to focus more on the process of path creation. This change in the research perspective is dealt with in the first part of the paper; a conceptual framework has been developed to analyse the process of path creation. The second part analyses the development of a new growth path in Finland. This small Nordic country managed to transform itself from a resource-based into a knowledge-based economy in a rather short period of time without any major cutbacks in the highly developed welfare state.