The Finnish Startup Community proposes that the next government appoint a Minister for Growth with overall responsibility for the government’s growth policy and for removing barriers to growth across ministerial boundaries. The natural home for the role would be the Prime Minister’s Office. The Minister’s remit would be to promote economic growth across Finland.
Finland’s economic growth has been weak for a long time. Mounting pressure on the public finances makes it essential to reverse this trend during the next parliamentary term.
In the coming years, growth policy must be managed more effectively as a coherent whole. Decisions affecting growth are made across several ministries, but overall responsibility is fragmented.
Barriers to growth do not respect administrative boundaries. A company’s investment or growth may be held back by several factors at once, such as permit processes, regulation, access to finance or skills shortages. As individual issues fall under different ministries, responsibility for resolving the wider problem can fall through the gaps.
“Policy affecting the conditions for growth remains too fragmented. If an investment stalls or a company’s growth is obstructed by barriers spanning several areas of government, someone must take responsibility for resolving the problem. That is why Finland needs a Minister for Growth,” says Riikka Pakarinen, CEO of the Finnish Startup Community.
The Minister for Growth would be responsible for growth across the economy
The Minister for Growth would work to improve the ability of companies of all sizes to grow and renew themselves, while strengthening Finland’s capacity to attract new investment. The Minister would take an economy-wide view of growth and focus particularly on problems that require action by several ministries.
“As a startup community, we naturally also look at growth policy from the perspective of new growth companies. But Finland’s growth will not come from startups alone. We need more investment, SMEs that are renewing themselves, growing mid-sized companies and internationally competitive large companies. The Minister for Growth would be responsible for creating better conditions for all of these businesses,” Pakarinen says.
The Minister for Growth would not replace the functions of ministers responsible for areas such as economic affairs, research, finance or the interior. Their responsibility would be to ensure that policies across different areas of government support a shared growth objective.
Technological transformation is an economy-wide issue
The Minister for Growth’s remit would also include coordinating technology and AI policy from the perspective of growth.
Technology and AI should not be treated as a separate area of policy or as ends in themselves. What matters is whether new technologies can improve productivity in businesses and the public sector, renew existing businesses and generate new growth in Finland.
“AI is developing so rapidly that Finland cannot treat it simply as an isolated technology policy issue. We must seize the opportunities created by this transformation while preparing for its risks,” Pakarinen says.
Rapid technological development is changing the entire economy and the way businesses operate, regardless of sector. The transformation affects not only technology companies, but the wider business community and the public sector as well.
The Minister for Growth would be responsible for ensuring that Finland can harness this transformation to strengthen growth and productivity.
Growth must be led across ministerial boundaries
The natural home for the Minister for Growth would be the Prime Minister’s Office. The Prime Minister’s Office is already responsible for coordinating the government’s work and monitoring the implementation of the Government Programme. Locating the Minister there would provide a position from which growth policy could be considered across the boundaries of individual ministries.
“A new ministerial title would achieve nothing on its own. The Minister for Growth must have a genuine political mandate to identify barriers to growth, bring different ministries together and put solutions before the government for decision. Otherwise, we will simply have created another title within government, which serves no one,” Pakarinen says.
The Minister for Growth’s responsibilities could include removing barriers to investment and business growth, accelerating the adoption of technology and AI, and coordinating issues relating to talent, capital and research that are crucial to growth. The Minister would also be responsible for developing Finland’s policy position on AI safety and preparedness for the most significant risks.
The aim would not be to transfer administrative responsibility for these policy areas to the Minister for Growth, but to ensure that the relevant decisions support a shared growth objective.
International examples point the way
Elsewhere, the economic impact of technological transformation has also begun to influence the structure of government.
In the United Kingdom, the minister responsible for AI works at the intersection of central government and policies relating to business, innovation, science and trade. In Singapore, strategic direction of AI policy has been elevated to prime ministerial level. In Canada and Ireland, AI and digitalisation have been linked more directly to productivity, competitiveness and business renewal.
The Finnish Startup Community’s proposal differs from these models in that the Minister’s primary responsibility would be economic growth rather than technology.
“Governments around the world have recognised that AI and the wider technological transformation also require political leadership. Finland should take an even broader approach. We need a minister whose role is to ask, in every major reform, whether it improves Finland’s prospects for growth and what can be done to remove the barriers standing in the way,” Pakarinen says.
One of the next government’s most important tasks will be to put the Finnish economy on a sustainable growth path. This will require not only individual measures to promote growth, but also stronger leadership and clear overall responsibility