Business Finland can grant research and development funding in the form of grants and loans. 

Grant

Grants can be awarded for critical research that aims to acquire at least new information for the industry and that creates capabilities for later development work, but which does not yet result in a finished product or service.

We grant 50% grants for research projects in SMEs. When the content of the project is entirely industrial research*, we grant a grant of 60% of the total eligible costs of the project. For midcap companies, the grant is 40% for research projects. When the project content is entirely industrial research*, we grant a grant of 50% of the total eligible costs of the project.

With the increased level of grants, we aim to encourage companies to invest in long-term research work and enable greater risk-taking in the content of the work. We will pay the grant retrospectively based on the actual costs you report.

Loan

The loan is intended for your company's development and piloting projects. As a rule, it can cover a maximum of 50% of the total cost of your project. For a justified reason, the loan can cover 70% of the total project costs. Your company can receive 30% of the loan financing granted for the project as an advance at the beginning of the project, and we will pay the rest based on the actual costs. Loan financing is inexpensive: the interest rate on the loan is three percentage points lower than the base rate in force at the time, but at least one per cent. The current base rate can be checked on the website of the Ministry of Finance. As a rule, the loan is granted without collateral. As a rule, the loan period is seven or ten years, of which there are three or five instalment-free years – or more, if necessary. If the project fails or its results cannot be utilized in your business, the loan may be partially waived.

With loan financing, your company can, for example, verify the functionality of the solution in cooperation with the customer, develop new products or services, or speed up access to the market.