Ilkka Lakaniemi (2/4): Innovating in Small Units
Channel: World Bank Group Jobs
Date: 24/05/2012

Ilkka Lakaniemi, Director of global policy initiatives for Finland's Nokia Siemens Networks, discusses how his company invests in innovation in small units.

When his company enters a country's labor market, Lakaniemi says, they look for an available skills base and potential for greater skills base. They then mold that skills base according to their expectations and often create "positive surprises."

One example of this "positive surprises" model could be entering a country without a significant university or technology community. If a company opens a small research & development hub with a sales and marketing office, they will often realize there are many good ideas and entrepreneurial people in the area. As companies slowly expand their operations, it becomes clear a leading university near business operations isn't a necessity.

Information communications technology (ICT) is often the reason strong educational facilities are no longer a requirement. Lakaniemi calls this the "second unbundling" of manufacturing, which means companies can work in small-scale environments with rapid innovation as small, connected teams.