Collaboration with universities is a win-win for businesses and students

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to Finland’s economy. They play a significant role in driving the country’s growth, and pursuing internationalisation is a key component in strengthening their competitiveness in global markets. Olli Kuivalainen, professor of international marketing and entrepreneurship at Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT University) in Finland, believes higher education partnerships can support SMEs, maintaining dynamism in the country’s business ecosystem while creating pathways for graduate employability.

The university and LUT Business School work hand-in-glove with SMEs on a range of joint research projects. The university has introduced a number of initiatives on campus to help SMEs flourish.

“If you think about SMEs and their needs for internationalisation and export assistance, universities can support with that,” says Kuivalainen. The university has an early-stage funding company to assess if an idea is viable and invest in the venture. “LUT University has prototyping labs, which companies are welcome to use in projects together with students.” 

The Green Campus Open initiative, launched by the university’s innovation services, works to commercialise research output from the university, administering intellectual property patents and working with the government to secure external funding.

“The good thing about the Finnish entrepreneurial ecosystem is that Business Finland provides support to universities and companies,” says Kuivalainen. “The university has an incubator centre operating in areas such as sustainable business. There is an early-stage funding company that supports the innovation stemming from the university’s research.”

Kuivalainen is the head of the master’s programme in International Marketing Management at LUT Business School. Students taking this programme benefit from hands-on learning experiences. Every year, the school invites companies and its alumni to apply for collaboration, creating opportunities for students to undertake a project on behalf of organisations. “They would build internationalisation strategies and international marketing plans. They also do market research and present it to companies,” says Kuivalainen, who describes these student-university-business collaborations as a win-win for everyone.

“Students get industry experience. Companies get relevant information and knowledge, and sometimes, very concrete things such as websites and enhancement projects,” Kuivalainen says. “It is nice when there is research cooperation too. We can use them as case studies for academic research.”

SMEs tend to have simpler operational structures than larger companies, often allowing them to be more creative. Working with universities is a great way for them to access not only the support higher education institutions can provide but also innovative ideas emerging from students and academic research. The industry-academia partnerships can help create highly trained graduates, building a talent pipeline based on what businesses need. It also helps mould the next generation of entrepreneurs looking to bring their ideas to the world.

Find out more about LUT Business School.