Results from the Self-evaluation Process C O N T E N T S

Foreword From 1997 onwards, the Finnish Government decided to allocate additional funding to research and development and launch a new type of programmes, cluster programmes. The Finnish Forest Cluster Programme (Wood Wisdom) is one of these eight cluster programmes. The aim of the cluster programmes is to generate new knowledge and services by breaking the traditional barriers between disciplines and operating sectors and by building closer links between researchers and the users of the research results. Wood Wisdom collected participants and funding widely from the forest value-adding chain. According to the assessment report of the additional appropriation in 2000, cluster programmes have made it possible to initiate fruitful cooperation between various sectors and to provide a valuable link between technology and public services. When this assessment was made, however, it was too early to forecast the final results. The final evaluation of Wood Wisdom was made in 2002, just after the programme ended. It is future-oriented in two ways. It aimes not only to assess the results and outcome but also the likely impacts of the programme. Another aim was to reflect the strategy and results of the programme on the future vision of the Finnish forest cluster. The assessment was done as a participatory self-evaluation. The assessment process was managed and the evaluation report written by a team of evaluation experts. The assessment process involved almost 100 people, comprising members of the Advisory Boards of the programme and project managers from research organisations. Tekes wishes to thank most warmly all those who took part in the evaluation for their valuable contribution, without which the assessment process would not have been possible. Our special gratitude is due to the evaluators for their inspiring work and conclusions for the benefit of the Finnish forest cluster. This report presents findings from the self-evaluation process of the Finnish Forest Cluster Research Programme Wood Wisdom. For the most part, these results are based on a series of fifteen workshops which were attended by the project managers , members of the Advisory Boards, the Programme Coordinator and the evaluation team. Additional information was obtained through a questionnaire survey which was sent to the managers of selected projects. Thus, the findings are the outcome of a self-evaluation process, as most of the information was collected from the participants themselves. The overwhelming majority of the evidence accumulated through this process suggests that Wood Wisdom was quite successful …