Finnish Innovation Index: Finnish heritage companies are the most innovative according to Finnish consumers
The FII 2022 ranking is based on more than 17.000 responses from approximately 3.100 customers who evaluated the innovativeness and attractiveness of 61 companies and organizations in 17 categories. The 10 most innovative companies in Finland are (ranked): Marimekko, Ikea, F-Secure, Fiskars, Wolt, Fazer, Finlayson, Lumene, Netflix, and Verkkokauppa.com. The results show that especially technology and creative design determine the companies that are performing well on the FII.
“We are very honored by this accolade. At Marimekko, innovation is embedded in our creative culture, in our DNA. One of our values is courage even at the risk of failure – without courage there is no creativity and innovation. This has been also a key for us in our long-term brand and collection modernization work which has centered on how we can open up our brand to empower and bring joy to the everyday lives of even more people around the world”, says President and CEO of Marimekko Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko.
Courage and outside-the-box thinking represent key ingredients connecting the companies on the top10-list.
“Verkkokauppa.com has been a challenger throughout its history, doing things in its own way. Experimenting with new things and using various technologies is in our DNA. Not being afraid of failing is a mantra we want to maintain”, states Panu Porkka, CEO of Verkokauppa.com, as a reason behind their success on the index.
The Finnish Innovation Index is developed by Hanken School of Economics in collaboration with the Norwegian School of Economics (Norway), Karlstad University (Sweden), Aarhus University (Denmark), and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business (USA). This collaboration aims to stimulate public discussion around the strategies for innovation in different companies and industries across countries.
“The FII is unique in its measurement of perceived innovativeness from the customer point of view rather than relying on consumers’ general attitudes, expert opinions, or R&D investments. Perceived innovativeness is a subjective measurement of how customers perceive companies’ capability to develop and offer novel and useful solutions”, says Professor Kristina Heinonen who is leading the research team involved in developing the FII.
New for this year: Social Innovation Index
Innovation is necessary for companies to be able to survive and grow. One dimension of innovation is social innovation, meaning the extent to which companies through their innovations benefit society and the environment. For many companies this is a core value but also an expectation from customers. The FII Social Innovation Index quantifies the perceived contribution to society through innovation. It is unique in its focus on not only environmental sustainability but also social good.
Lumene is the top performer on the Social Innovation Index.
“Social innovation is not limited only to products, it’s covering much more, like the way we communicate and act in the society, how we treat topics like inclusion and respect for the consumer regardless of their social or ethnic background”, reasons Johan Berg, CEO of Lumene.
The results of the survey were announced on Thursday 9 June 2022. A select number of the best performing companies were invited to Hanken to a panel discussion about the key success factors of firm innovativeness. You can see the recording of the event here:
Finnish Innovation Index 2022 Opens in new window
The goal of the Finnish Innovation Index Opens in new window is to promote discussion about innovativeness in industry and society more broadly, with the purpose to nurture and strengthen the innovation capacity of Finnish business.