A quick research online turns up many references to the Finnish economy as one that was able to successfully transform its industries from being resource-intensive to the high tech ones today that created Nokia and Linux Operating Systems.
This seems pretty much like an ordinary success story until one digs deeper and realises that this transformation was executed during one of the worst recessions that Finland (or any of the OECD countries since WWII) experienced. What Finland did was both "major industrial restructuring and building the attitudes of its citizens in favour of innovation". During the downturn, Finland's government's expenditure on R&D and education in all sectors increased.
Maybe it is during the worst crisis that such painful and large-scale transformations can take place swiftly. Innovation, in the case of Finland, clearly transformed the country into one of the top economies in the world today.
Some articles here and here for reading, from the UK National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).
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