The new Finnish information society strategy and the roles of the public government organisations

Mr. Timo Kietäväinen, Deputy managing director
Association of the Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

Finland is divided into 452 municipalities and cities. Local authorities are primarily responsible for public services in Finland. Education, social welfare and health care, as well as maintenance of the technical infrastructure are the most important services.

Local government is based on self-government by the residents of a municipality which is guaranteed in the Finnish constitution. Residents elect the supreme authority—the local council, and local authorities are entitled to a degree of financial and administrative independence.

This means that

In terms of international comparison, Finland is at the forefront of information society development. It is estimated that two out of three Finns use information technology in their line of work, one in two has a mobile phone, and one in three has already used services available on the Internet. As a society, Finland makes a significant investment in education, training and R & D. Finland has an effective innovation system, does well in international competition, and provides favourable conditions for entrepreneurship. ICT products have significantly increased Finnish exports. Finnish communications policy has advanced competition and the development of a modern infrastructure.

At the same time, the ageing of the population, high unemployment rates and the shortage of a competent work force are an everyday reality.

The new Finnish information society strategy was published tree months ago. In this document the roles of the different actors are well defined.

The goal in the new Finnish information society initiative is

After the strategy, the role of the public sector is to create conditions for building an information society which meets the needs of both individuals and business enterprises by means of legislation, research and education. The public sector also promotes the development of serviceable technology and infrastructure. By means of strategic management, it will ensure access to information and promote the development of knowledge, an efficient innovation system, conditions for, and competition in, business activities, balanced regional development, the implementation of human rights, and equality, credibility and security in society. The public sector must constantly re-evaluate its own role and mission.

It is the administration’s task to strengthen democracy and improve citizens' access to information and opportunities for social influence by developing legislation and procedures and making use of the opportunities offered by technology. Legislation and legal control also promote the implementation of the individual's data protection and freedom of speech and improve the individual's status as a consumer.

Educational and research institutes play an important part in creating and transmitting information and anticipating future developments. The ongoing rapid change in the industrial structure highlights the importance of continuing education and retraining.

The progress in ICT makes it possible to develop coherent and cost-effective public services with due consideration to data security. The renewal of processes entails extensive cooperation between administrative sectors, local authorities and regions, as well as between the public, private and voluntary sectors. The public sector plays an important role in determining quality criteria for products and services purchased from other sectors.

The extent to which the information society is implemented in schools and libraries, health care, the promotion of business and industry and other administrative services, as well as enhancing transparent decision-making, largely depends on the decisions made and the measures taken by local authorities.

The information society initiative also intensifies international interaction between states and regions and other local authorities. Cooperation within the European Union and other international organisations is an important factor in efforts to develop favourable conditions for the information society and to ensure balanced development.

The renewal of public sector action models aims at improving the quality of activities and developing favourable conditions for the operations of individuals and business. Information society development is rapid and requires a susceptibility to change and an ability to anticipate. Decentralised decision-making highlights the need for management by strategies. ICT creates new opportunities for producing and distributing public services, but at the same time it entails the renewal of processes in cooperation with the private and voluntary sectors.

The renewal of processes based on clients' needs is essential for improving the cost-quality ratio. Information networks also empower citizens and make for transparent public administration. The public administration collects and produces a great deal of information which could be of great use in society, provided that the public and private sectors can generate synergy in the commercialisation of this information.

The opportunities inherent in the information society must be made equitably available to all. Heavy migration to growth centres causes problems and high costs. The information network enables local business and industry to find new markets. The development and expansion of distance learning, teleworking and electronic services cancel out long distances and improve the quality of life for all citizens, regardless of their place of residence. Through cooperation, local authorities can find, distribute and adopt the best practices without delay and thereby prevent the doubling of mistakes.

One of the reasons for the high penetration rates in the telecommunication is the fact that in Finland has always been several telecommunication operators. The monopoly has mainly existed only on the regional level. Just now private digital broadband infrastructure is covering the whole country. The future might anyway not be so rosy. The half of the Finnish area is sparsely populated. There are already signs that in the next years operators are more and more interested to develop the services only on those regions where the volume of the telecommunication is high enough. It means that a part of the local authorities must rethink their policy concerning the infrastructure. And some of them are already started projects where the municipality has an active role as a telecommunication operator. In the name of the regional development several municipalities will take care of telecommunication infrastructure in the same way as they work with roads and waterlines.

This development means that the regional differences will considerably increase and the regional projects are too isolated from the driving forces of the information society. That is why the horizontal local and regional information society spearhead project in the new Finnish information society has been warmly welcomed by the local authorities.

It is essential to promote synergy between the large number of ongoing projects, eliminate overlapping and doubling, and thus reduce costs. Development networks must be created between existing and starting projects in order to enhance knowledge and information transfer and the compatibility of the services being developed. More input into the utilisation of the results is needed. The spearhead projects, and the development networks relating to them, are a concrete way of promoting the stated objectives and principles of development.

The public sector must promote cooperation and make sufficient funding available to the spearhead projects in order to generate useful services, action models and other outcome, and promote wide-scale application of the results in society.

After the Finnish information society strategy, preparations must be launched for compiling ongoing projects and existing resources at least in the following spearhead areas:

The local information society

The aim of the local information society will be to collect and develop good practices in implementing regional and local information societies and to promote regional cooperation and interaction with a view to improving services and consolidating democracy. The project must promote the pooling of resources with a view to developing generally applicable solutions and products for both international and national markets. In addition, the project must produce a handbook on the best practices and create a supportive service for local and regional decision-making.