International evaluation of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 2009

The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) was evaluated by an independent international evaluation group of experts (IEG) appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The evaluation covered FIOH's activities in 2006–2008: policy relevance and results, and operational efficiency in innovations and quality.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health regularly conducts evaluations in its sectoral institutions. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health has been previously evaluated twice; in 1994 (follow-up in 1997), and in 2004. Since the previous evaluation, FIOH has undergone a massive reorganization of its activities and strategy.

The report concludes that FIOH has been successful in restructuring its activities and organization to meet society's needs. Thanks to its reorganization, FIOH will play a key strategic role in responding to the needs of Finnish work life in the future.

Although the evaluation group's general estimate can be regarded as positive, FIOH still faces a number of challenges. The IEG provided a number of recommendations for further development of FIOH's activities. The IEG evaluation report and FIOH's self-evaluation report for the basis of the evaluation have been published as one report which is available on the internet pages of both FIOH and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The international evaluation group consisted of the following experts:
Göran Bondjers, Nordic School of Public Health, Sweden (Chair)
Paulien Bongers, TNO, The Netherlands
Marilyn Fingerhut, ex-National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); USA
Timo Kauppinen, ex-Eurofound
Stavroula Leka, University of Nottingham, UK
Paul Schulte, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); USA
Hannu Uusitalo, The Finnish Centre for Pensions, Finland
Vappu Taipale, ex-STAKES, Finland

Executive summary
The report of the international evaluation group includes, as an annex, a self-evaluation report produced by FIOH experts themselves (pp 83-327).
Evaluation Report: Meeting Future Needs of Finnish Working Life Through a Healthy Workforce (Pdf, 1,45 MB)

Special reports
FIOH experts produced six special reports as the material for the evaluation:
1. Bibliometric analysis (Pdf 431 KB)
2. Customer and market analysis (Pdf 258 KB)
3. Finnish Research and Development policy issues (Pdf 113 KB)
4. Impact and Innovations – Thematic Areas as a pilot of the innovation endeavour at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Pdf 373 KB)
5. Participation in working life and employment development (Pdf 193 KB)
6. Trends in Finnish working life (Pdf 223 KB)