Cooperation Across Borders seminar attracted over 160 participants

FinCEAL and UniPID organized a two-day seminar to discuss and reconsider the different cross-cutting issues of international research, innovation and development cooperation addressing global challenges on November 12 – 13 2014 in Helsinki Congress Paasitorni. We were happy to see that the seminar gathered together over 160 participants from different sectors to share experiences, debate and network over the two days.

COOPERATION ACROSS BORDERS – COMPREHENSIVE RESPONSES TO TRANSECTING GLOBAL CHALLENGES?

FinCEAL and UniPID organized a two-day seminar to discuss and reconsider the different cross-cutting issues of international research, innovation and development cooperation addressing global challenges on November 12 – 13 2014 in Helsinki Congress Paasitorni. We were happy to see that the seminar gathered together over 160 participants from different sectors to share experiences, debate and network over the two days.

The aim of the seminar was to consider how international and intersectoral partnerships, interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cutting themes have been taken into account and implemented in the Finnish response to global challenges. To approach the question from a variety of perspectives, the program was built around joint key note sessions, break-out sessions consisting of thematic working groups and workshops, as well as time for informal networking. The seminar concluded with a high-level panel discussion.

Understanding the context of collaboration and partnerships in addressing global challenges – players, needs and approaches

Paul Engel, the Director of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) kick-started the first day with an inspiring presentation about international cooperation under the post-2015 SDG Agenda. Engel stated that the post-2015 global development agenda is ambitious and much more political than the MDG’s. It goes beyond financing and stretches towards use of resources and markets. It also requires a change from all actors to be more transformative, and to acknowledge that it is a universal agenda – everyone will be affected. To address the new agenda also requires a more comprehensive approach.   He highlighted 6 challenges that the current SDGs face in the context of International Cooperation:  

1.      Relevant parties and resources are yet to be mobilized for its implementation
2.      There is still a great need to move further from single actors to multi-stakeholder, multi-sector approaches and partnership 3.      The need to take a more ‘transformative’ approach – focus on how to change sectors, conflict problems, capacity and governance
4.      Move from technology transfer approach to the support of interactive, multi-stakeholder social innovation
5.      Move further into interdisciplinary, problem oriented research; and
6.      The need to achieve coherence across external and with internal policies  

He further discussed the issues surrounding these challenges in regard to international research cooperation and it’s actors and gave examples of the kinds of changes that are needed to address them. To implement the SDGs goes beyond financial commitment; it requires a broader approach involving global governance, finance and trade regimes. Multi-stakeholder and sector partnerships also require transformative approaches. Typical CSR actions that were deemed as serving development are not applicable in Developing Countries – instead, cooperation should look to engage core business and while motives for engaging in partnerships differ, they should all be aligned to development.   Traditional methods of attempting to support technology know-how through technology transfer have proven to be unsustainable. The change needed is in creating enabling environments for innovation, investing in local research and innovation and addressing the social side of innovation. It is important to understand that the countries in question do have local capacities and ideas on how to solve many of their own problems. Mr. Engel concluded his presentation by pointing out that the new SDG requires greater investment in research and innovation.  



The second key note speaker was Vlasta Macku from UNCTAD Vi discussing the experiences of the UNCTAD Virtual Institute in building capacity on trade for development.  Ms. Macku’s presentation on trade geared towards the approaches on building capacity on trade for development; comparing traditional and new forms of capacity building in light of the existing global challenges.   Traditional forms have normally advocated for building capacity at top levels, targeting only government officials and have had goals which have specifically aimed at gaining knowledge only necessary for bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with no long-term interventions. Macku’s presentation counteracted this approach with the new forms that are more long-term and are integrated in the national development strategies. This approach also advocates for horizontal capacity building targeting, not only government officials, but also academics, private sector and civil society actors in the countries. Macku expressed the need for strengthening this approach putting into consideration the low-levels of trade experts that are, for instance found in Africa. The Virtual Institute as a key player in building capacity has also emphasized and created an environment that supports North-South and South-South learning.   While the UNCTAD VI has been successful in changing the approach to building capacity, Macku concluded by giving examples of some of the challenges that face the implementation process:

·         Reconciling the long-term nature of capacity building with expected short-term results
·         Reconciling the nature of Vi activities with the expectation to produce top quality outputs
·         Addressing the gap of quantity and quality – in-depth face-to-face training has been seen to have more impact than mass training
·         Institutional impact vs individual impact – institutional impact is more long-term but more difficult to achieve ·         Challenges of bridging the gap between academics and policy makers
·         Matching the needs to resources – needs are always bigger than resources  

The session ended with a commentary on the presentations from gender inequality expert Danai Mupotsa, University of Witwatersrand. Mupotsa’s commentary focused on questioning the contexts under which we discuss terminologies such as social innovation and capacity building. In her view, for social innovation to have impact, it should go beyond short-term support that only initiates the process of providing a solution and not taking it further. Social innovations and building capacities should be discussed in the contexts of all factors that affect a society for instance, gender, education, policy etc. 

 

After lunch it was time for the parallel thematic sessions, where participants had the chance to present their own work and discuss specific topics in more depth. The sessions of the first day included:

WG1: Do Interdisciplinary, Intersectoral Partnerships work? Chaired by Melissa Plath from UniPID,
WG4: ICT Partnerships for Development and Societal Challenges Chaired by Joseph Fakayode from Goly Oy, Mika Välitalo from Plan Finland and Andrés Moreno from University of Eastern Finland,
WG2: Global environmental problems – How can interdisciplinary research provide solutions to tackle them? Chaired by Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki and Janna Pietikäinen, University of Helsinki Centre for Environment (HENVI ),
WG7: Successful collaboration with local Partners in Ecocity projects chaired by Pekka Huovila and Carmen Antuña Rozado from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, as well as
WS 1: Incorporating gender and other cross-cutting objectives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland into development cooperation projects chaired by Ulla Helimo from Conservation International Peru/University of Turku     

The festive Master’s Award ceremony followed by dinner and evening programme of dance and music topped off the first seminar day.    

Moving Towards Innovative Multi-Sector Partnerships 

The second day started with two Finnish keynote speeches, Rector Kalervo Väänänen from University of Turku and Maria Ritola, Head of the Resource Smart Economy research area at Demos Helsinki think tank.  

Rector Väänänen’s presentation on innovative partnerships across national, sectorial and disciplinary borderlines gave vivid examples from the University of Turku – Indo-Finnish Diagnostic Alliance, Turku-St. Petersburg Pharma Alliance – and the lessons learnt.   He went on to point out 5 different levels that can facilitate or prevent creation of fruitful partnership activities:

1.      Individual relations
2.      Intra-university relations
3.      Inter-university relations
4.      Relations between institutions in different countries,
5.      National relations  

Väänänen was keen to emphasize that successful partnerships are formed out of a common need and interest, if they are based on other motivating factors they are in most cases likely to fail. He also stated that there is great need for Universities to shift their current mindset and be more active in starting innovative ideas – the mentality that action can only take place when a 3rd player (funder) is involved, needs to change. Rector Väänänen concluded by saying that institutions have to create innovative ways of building partnerships and above all, successful partnerships stem from respect of all partners.

 

Maria Ritola concluded the keynote presentations of the seminar with a case presentation on Sustainable Lifestyles in light of climate change and a shift from resource driven economies. Focusing on high-income countries, research shows that climate change and natural resources are directly linked to people’s lifestyles (housing, transport, food). The need to address climate change from this perspective has led to the design of different models however there is no one single model/case of a sustainable lifestyle that can be applied to all situations.   In her presentation, she quoted the Nordic Innovation report 2012 – ‘All companies see green business as an opportunity to counter the growth risks that are caused by technology changes, customer demands and reduced resources’ - to show case the new opportunities that are emerging from global challenges for the private sector. She was however quick to point out that such green economies can only thrive in new innovative eco-systems. Innovative eco-systems are multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral and are created by mapping the players in a society, understanding their different motivations and co-creating. The speaker presented the Smart Retro Program as an example that creates an enabling environment for innovations addressing global challenges and bringing together different sectors and individuals.    

After the keynote session, the group divided into parallel thematic session again. The sessions organized during the second day included:

WS2:  HEI partnerships for sustainable global development chaired by Johanna Turunen and Melissa Plath from UniPID,  
WS3: Models for Renewable Energy partnerships with Africa chaired by Peter Kuria from HAMK and Kim Jansson from VTT, as well as
WG3: Global Literacy chaired by Professor Heikki Lyytinen from University of Jyväskylä and
WG6: Invaluable Water Services as a Fueling Agent in Development chaired by Adj. Prof. Katko Tapio and Adj. Prof. Jarmo Hukka from Tampere University of Technology and University of Tampere. 



The seminar culminated in a panel discussion that aimed to address the Finnish approach to innovative partnerships across national, sectorial and disciplinary borderlines to address global challenges.   The panel was moderated by UniPID Chair, Professor Markku Kanninen, and the panelists were:  

Senior Adviser Aki Enkenberg, Information Society and STI for Development at Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Counsellor of Education Jaana Roos, Dept. for Higher Education and Science Policy, Ministry of Education and Culture   Advocacy and Policy Officer Outi Hakkarainen, KEPA, The umbrella organization for Finnish civil society organizations   Professor Liisa Laakso, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki  
CEO Sami Juola from Earth House Ltd.  

The panel sparked a lively discussion during which for example the tuition fees of non EU/ETA students were debated.

UniPID and FinCEAL wish to thank all the speakers, working group and workshop leaders and presenters, panelists and of course all the active participants of the seminar. We were happy to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback for the event, confirming the fact that the event was successful in bringing actors from different field together for sharing experiences and building new partnerships for future collaboration.



Pictures: Tommy Standún