Facilitating the participation of civil society in regional planning: Implementing quadruple helix model in Finnish regions

The engagement of a wide range of stakeholders has become a key element in regional planning, particularly in the development of regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialization (RIS3) in Europe. The quadruple helix model from the literature on regional innovation systems has been raised on the forefront of RIS3. This comes in spite of the fact that the literature surrounding the quadruple helix model (i.e., the collaboration among the university, industry, government, and civil society) is still in its infancy compared to the well-established triple helix model. Our paper addresses this gap and explores how regional authorities can facilitate the participation of the fourth helix (civil society) and ensure democracy of the participatory policy process. We adopted a grounded theory approach and collected primary data through interviews with regional authorities in Finland. Based on 28 interviews from all 18 Finnish mainland regions, we identified three mechanisms for facilitating the participation of civil society: information exchange, feedback, and co-creation. For policy-makers, our paper provides recommendations on how to overcome impediments in the engagement of civil society in regional planning.