Innovation-friendly regulation 

Major social changes and rapid technological development have increased the significance of regulation in enabling innovation activities and introduction of new technologies and business models. Innovations and new technologies may also involve risks and ethical issues that regulation needs to address.  

A regulatory environment favourable to innovations has become an important competitive factor internationally. The significance of regulation in creating preconditions and incentives for innovation-friendly activities is increasingly recognised in Finland too.   

Innovation-friendly regulation has been promoted on the basis of the National Roadmap for Research, Development and Innovation (2020-2023). With regard to innovation-friendly regulation, the aim was to promote new regulatory practices and assessment of research and innovation impacts. 
 

Regulatory experiments

The project ‘Practices of innovation-friendly regulation in growth sectors’ (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment publication 2022:1, in Finnish with English Summary) examined the preconditions for regulatory experiments and their implementation in Finland. The report contains practical information and guidance for authorities to consider the suitability of regulatory experiments and to prepare them in different administrative branches. Key issues that should be taken into account in the preparation are also included in the MEAE guide 2021:4 (in Finnish). 
 

Developing the assessment of regulatory impacts on innovation 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment conducted a pilot for assessing the impacts of regulation on innovation in 2021, which produced information on practical challenges and bottlenecks in assessing innovation impacts and developed ways to identify and assess the impacts that regulation has on innovation. The Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and Communications participated in the pilot. On the basis of the pilot, MEAE guide was prepared for law drafters to assess the impact of innovations. The guide supplements the Government’s general guidelines on impact assessment in legislative drafting and more detailed guidelines on impact assessment issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. 

Assessment of regulatory impacts on business   

What is innovation-friendly regulation?   
Promotion of innovation-friendly regulation in the EU and internationally     
 

More information:

• Innovation-friendly regulation: Current state and good practices (Government analysis, assessment and research activities, 2020:27) - Executive Summary  
• MEAE/Press release: Study: Innovation-friendly regulation: Current state and good practices  
• Practices of innovation-friendly regulation in growth sectors (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment publication 2022:1, in Finnish with English summary) 
• Fit for Future Platform of the European Commission     
• Recommendation of the Council for Agile Regulatory Governance to Harness Innovation     
• Report on the High level Conference on Innovation Principle – Developing an innovation-friendly legislative culture  

Further information:

Kirsti Vilén - kirsti.vilen(at)gov.fi