Innovation Gives Finland A Firm Grasp on Its Future

Sirpa Jalkanen, director of the MediCity Research Laboratory at Turku University and one of 26 "professors of the academy" in the country, a title reserved for the finest scholars, said Vihko's reforms brought an entirely new spirit to Finnish science. "There's a lot of enthusiasm, much more money," she said. The academy and other funders of basic research "are really supporting science at an international level."

Vihko's victims -- many of them prominent older members of the scientific community -- were furious, she said, but "Reijo is a person who is afraid of no one." In a lesson for Old Europeans who contemplate undertaking comparable reforms in their societies, Jalkanen said she learned from watching Vihko that proponents of fundamental change "get so much opposition, you have to be very strong and really believe in what you are doing."

The Finnish Academy now provides about $240 million annually for basic science in Finland.

Funding from public institutions constitutes only about a third of R&D expenditures; the rest comes from businesses. This, according to numerous Finnish business leaders, reflects the consensus in society that only by staying ahead intellectually and technologically can Finland hope to sustain its standing as one of the world's most successful countries.

Finland's ability to perform with the best in the world also depends on its educational system, widely recognized as the finest in Europe. It, too, was reformed under the leadership of one forceful personality, Erkki Aho, supported by key political leaders and, ultimately, a strong consensus in the society. Aho, now 68 and retired, was director general of the Finnish National Board of Education.

Finns are proud of their accomplishments over the last generation, when their country largely reinvented itself. But with characteristic modesty, they shy away from a visitor's suggestion that Old Europe can learn from their example. "Italians aren't linear thinkers like us," observed Finland's ambassador to the United States, Jukka Valtasaari, interviewed in Washington, "and the French are a melting-pot country" far different than the homogeneous Finns.

But a bigger difference may be the Finns' willingness to change. Today, Finns talk nervously about whether the country can reinvent itself once again in the next 30 years or so. Some fear complacency. "The perception is we don't have to change right now," said Risto Siilasmaa, 39, president of an Internet security firm called F-Secure that he founded in 1988.

Esko Aho, the former prime minister, said he is worried that "people are so satisfied with the present. We can turn out like France and Germany today if we aren't careful. We have to wake up now before it is too late. It's time to rethink our national strategy again."

Staff researcher Robert Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.