New international expertise for business needs

You can apply for Co-Research funding when:

The project will generate new knowledge and expertise in areas of expertise anticipated to be important for business  

• The research topics are based on the research ideas of research organizations and the anticipated needs of companies.
• Research institutes generate new knowledge and expertise.
• A broad range of potential utilizers of the results is committed to the steering group and the financing of the research project.

The results sought are expected to have high export business potential

• It is anticipated that the project’s results will have a large long-term impact on companies’ competitive advantage and competitiveness in international markets, and that the research results will have high export business potential. The research focuses on disruptive and strategic research topics that develop strategic competence.

The consortium is appropriate for the implementation of the project

• The participants in the consortium have sufficient expertise and resources to achieve the goals of the joint project. Each participant has a legitimate role to play in the implementation or utilization of the joint project.
• The project will contribute significantly to the creation of new expertise that companies expect to be able to use later in their R&D activities and business to renew their operations. Good financing companies can utilize the new research knowledge created by the project in their export-oriented R&D activities and business.
• A Co-Research joint project may be formed by at least two cooperating research organizations.
• The project must be linked to a special funding call that mentions the possibility to use the funding (e.g., the Partnership model funding call for leading companies). Typically, the project should also involve at least three companies that could utilize the results. These companies must contribute to the financing of the project or provide the research organization with another contribution to compensate the costs of the research organizations. The financing is free of charge, and the companies cannot demand consultation or other services in exchange for it. The appropriate number of companies that could utilize the results is often significantly higher. The financing shares may vary in size depending on the size of the company, for example. The project may also involve companies or other participants such as trade associations that contribute to it by other means. Their role and contribution must be described, and they must complement and further the project goals.
• If the research conducted in the project takes advantage of case examples or research problems received from companies, the results must be freely available for publication and use by research organizations without restrictions. This use must directly address the research hypothesis and cannot aim for case-specific, consultative solutions targeted at only one company.
• A Co-Innovation joint project is usually more appropriate than a Co-Research joint project when the companies have an interest and the ability to utilize the results in their own R&D activities at the same time as part of the joint project.

There is demonstrated demand for public research

• Business Finland funds problem-oriented, internationally competitive research by research organizations conducted in international cooperation.
• The results of the public research project must also have broad applicability outside the Co-Research consortium.
• The public research project is steered by companies that could find the research results useful. Companies should note that researchers often already publish research results during the project, but companies participating in the financing of a joint project may agree the specifics of publication with the research organizations. The publication of a public research project’s results cannot be prevented except insofar as the research results or source material contain trade secrets concerning the companies. The use of such material in research should be avoided.
• Unless otherwise agreed by the participants, companies financing the research projects of research organizations take priority in negotiating the use of the research project’s results.
• Research organizations must have the right to use the source material or necessary intellectual property rights to produce and disseminate new knowledge and expertise, including the commercial use of the generated knowledge and expertise.
• The project plan must include a plan for disseminating the results.

Public research involves close international cooperation

As a rule, the funded research projects should always engage in international cooperation. Funding is granted for national cooperation only in exceptional cases. The international cooperation must be based on the project goals. It is often helpful when you want to introduce significant expertise developed elsewhere to Finland. The minimum level required of international cooperation is an organized exchange of information that aims to systematically obtain knowledge useful for the project during the project. This requirement applies to all the projects in the consortium. It is considered beneficial for the project if the minimum level is exceeded through researcher exchange, a joint international research plan, or other international cooperation, for example.

The normal level of funding for a Co-Research research project is 60%. For a research project involving close international cooperation, Business Finland’s contribution is 70%. The level of funding is determined on a project-by-project basis. In other words, projects under the same joint project may have a different level of funding.

The project involves close international cooperation if at least one of the following criteria is met:

• A joint project with common goals and measures and a common joint project plan with a foreign organization. The international partner must have a credible financial plan for its own sub-project.
• Mobility of expertise to or from Finland, at least 24 man months researcher exchanges (in the joint project, the researcher exchanges of all research organizations are added together, in which case those research institutes with at least 3 man months researcher exchanges are entitled to the increased funding level). Only researcher exchanges lasting 3 man months or longer are counted as researcher exchanges, not visits shorter than this. The key content of the researcher exchange and its impact on achieving the project's goals are clearly described in the project plan.

The project may be related to an ecosystem of leading companies or other calls if this is mentioned in the call for applications

It is possible to link the Co-Research project to an ecosystem of leading companies if this is mentioned in the call for applications. Research organizations may set up a Co-Research joint project if it is related to the themes of a roadmap, and if it focuses on a strategic research area for which it is still impossible to find business partners.

• Applications for research projects and Co-Research joint projects related to the ecosystems of leading companies have set deadlines (typically 2 to 3 deadlines annually).
• Whenever you are planning a Co-Research project, you should first examine the ecosystems for leading companies and determine whether the project has something in common with the roadmaps of leading companies.
• Before submitting the funding application, you must discuss the content and implementation of the project with the contact persons at Business Finland and the leading companies.
• To grant the funding, several companies must commit to participating in the steering groups if the projects of the research organizations lack parallel business projects (Co-Innovation). Financing provided by companies for research projects is a good, clear, and practical indicator of commitment and interest.

Please note, that it is also possible for research organizations to form Co-Creation projects in some special funding calls that are related for instance to new programs. In these cases, this is mentioned in the call for applications. The call may also provide more specific instructions and other restrictions on the use of the funding.

A Co-Research project is a research project conducted by a public research organization. Co-Research projects may form a joint project that involves close cooperation between the participants. Each party must describe how their project is linked to the joint project in their own application. The consortium must have a joint research plan, which sets out the common goals and adequately explains the role of each participant in the project. Sub-project applications may also contain more detailed plans specific to the sub-project.

Typically, the project should also involve at least three companies that could utilize the results. These companies must contribute to the project’s financing. The financing is provided as gratuitous, and the companies cannot demand consultation or other services in exchange for it. The appropriate consortium size is often significantly larger. The financing shares may vary in size depending on, for example, the size of the company. The project may also involve companies or other participants, such as trade associations, that contribute to it by other means. Their role and contribution must be described, and they must complement and further the goals of the project.

To meet the requirement of international cooperation, you may include organized information exchange, researcher exchange, and the costs of the Finnish participant in the joint research project. Usually, the project cannot include subcontracting of research from other Finnish research organizations outside the consortium. In other words, the research organizations must be part of the consortium. In addition, the funding cannot cover the costs of research carried out by a non-Finnish research organization. By contrast, costs related to researcher exchange, such as the obligatory fees of a non-Finnish research institute, may be eligible. You may procure services related to conducting the research from companies and other research institutes, as long as the procurements are small in relation to the overall budget.

The costs of disseminating the research results may be part of the funded project. On a case-by-case basis, the preparation of a new research project as part of the funded project may be eligible.

All measures for which you apply funding must be presented in the project plan. You can apply for changes to the financing plan during the project for well-founded reasons.

If the research conducted in the project takes advantage of case examples or research problems received from companies, the results must be freely available for publication. This use must directly address the research hypothesis and cannot aim at case-specific, consultative solutions targeted at only one company.

Research projects

• The normal level of funding for a Co-Research project is 60%. For a research project involving close international cooperation, Business Finland’s contribution is 70%.
  • The total duration of the project is typically two ̶ to three years.
  • The research must involve international research cooperation.
  • The research project must have a high-quality dissemination plan for the results.
  • The projects of the research organizations are subject to Business Finland's general funding terms and conditions for public research.

Research organizations: Before applying for funding, discuss the planned project and application with the research support services of your own organization.

If discussions with your organization’s research support services lead to further preparation of the idea, the research support services will direct your idea to Business Finland, which will appoint a contact person for your Co-Research project. Prepare to present the project plan to your contact person at Business Finland before submitting your funding application. It is useful for the participants in the Co-Research joint project to designate a lead coordinator for the project from among their members.

Make sure there are no obstacles to being funded

We cannot grant the funding if:

• The project’s long-term business potential is small compared to the funding required, or if the research topic is common.
• The research expertise and international research cooperation planned for the project are insufficient for credibly achieving the project goals.
• The parties conducting the research lack the sufficient intellectual property rights for the research topic.
• The number of companies that could utilize the results of the joint project is limited, or one company dominates the potential utilization of the results.
• The financial situation or other business-related reason of at least one of the companies that could utilize the results constitutes a material barrier or risk to the potential utilization of the results in Finland, leading to a significant overall risk for the utilization.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

The funding terms and conditions describe the costs that Business Finland can fund, how we monitor your project costs, and how you should report on the progress of your project.

Funding terms and conditions for public research (pdf)

Read more about the assessment criteria

We will evaluate your project or joint project as a whole and take into account the other applications competing for funding.

Key evaluation areas are:

• The disruptive nature of the research and its impact on creating strategic competence.
• Long-term impact of the project’s results on the companies’ competitive advantage in international markets and the targeted export potential.
• Implementation of the project or joint project:
  • Does the joint project have the correct parties to achieve its goals?
  • Will activities be divided reasonably considering the targeted results?
  • Is the financial contribution of the companies appropriate and sufficiently extensive in relation to the topic and goals of the research?
  • How does the project affect the development of expertise in Finland?
• The extent and quality of international cooperation in public research.
• The quality of the dissemination plan for the research project’s results, the key measures and channels for the utilization of the results and the dissemination of the knowledge generated.
• The novelty value and competitive edge of the solution, impact on modernization in business life, market potential, societal impact, and international project cooperation.

In the projects of research organizations, we assess how the public research lays the foundations for innovations and expertise, and how the economy can utilize the results. R&D activities for companies cannot be conducted in a public research project. The results of the research project serve as a basis for the companies’ own development projects.

Funding for a Co-Research project is only available when this is expressly mentioned in the call for applications.

Preparing and submitting a funding application

The funding applications are completed in Business Finland's online service. All participants applying for the funding use the Co-Research application form. Please also read the instructions for filling out the applications.

The participants in a joint project submits their own applications

Each participant applying for funding for its own sub-project in a joint project submits its own participant application. It is an advantage for the project if the parties use the same title for their projects.

Please see the project plan guide. The plans of each research participant may be described in the joint project plan, but the applicants may also attach their own detailed project plans to their application.

The participants of a joint project cannot see the content of each other’s funding applications or funding decisions.

Financing companies and other organizations, as well as entities participating in the joint project with in-kind contributions, submit their notification of participation as a separate attachment without completing their own funding application. The notifications of participation are attached to the application of the party responsible for the relevant project. Some of the notifications of participation may be shared by more than one project. The breakdown must be presented in conjunction with the financing plan.

Each applicant may send its application with the attachments to Business Finland either before the end of the application period or when all the applications have been completed. All applications associated with the main application are then transferred to Business Finland for processing. At the earliest, the allocation of costs to the projects of the research institutes involved in the project can begin when the applicant has sent the application and the attachments to Business Finland, and Business Finland has all the information necessary for evaluating the project.

After the applications have been submitted for the first time, it is still possible to supplement the participant applications and attach documents to them. Business Finland may request the parties to supplement the applications. The request for supplementation is sent by email to the person in charge of the application, and the content of the request for supplementation appears on each page of the application. The supplement is made by using the application form, which is finally submitted back to Business Finland.

New participants may join the Co-Research project after the first submission of the application with its attachments during the application processing phase. Permission to join the project afterwards is granted by the project’s main processor, a financial advisor at Business Finland. When joining the project later, use the Co-Research participant application. You should also use the joint project title when joining the project later.

Go to the Online service

Joint project plan

The joint project must have a joint project plan describing the entire project.

• The larger joint project plan must be attached as a document to the participant application.
• The maximum length of the joint project plan is 20 pages. In addition, the parties may have their own more specific project plans.

In the joint project plan, describe the concrete implementation and resourcing:

• What is the internationally recognized problem that the project aims to solve? What is its economic and social significance? What role does the research conducted in the Co-Research project play in solving the problem, and what is the participating companies’ potential to utilize the results?
• What are the goals of the Co-Research joint project and the cooperation conducted? How will you monitor and measure the achievement of the goals (e.g., what will you achieve at the end of a successful project, and which KPIs will you use to measure this)?
• How will the Co-Research project promote the growth and renewal of the international business of Finnish companies (qualitatively and quantitatively)?
• Which parties are involved in the joint project, what kind of expertise do they bring to the project, and what is their role? Which parties are applying for Business Finland’s funding and which parties are otherwise involved in the project (e.g., in-kind contributions or companies funding public research)? A brief explanation of what the different participants bring to the project, what their expectations are, and what their budget and goals are.
• What measures will be taken and by whom? What research will be carried out in the project, and what kind of business will it contribute to? What kind of cooperation does the project involve? What are the plans for international cooperation? Description of the implementation (work packages: who will do what and when, what the expected outcomes and pursued results are), resources, and costs (work carried out by the different parties, purchased services).
• Which results of the joint project will be actively disseminated and used during and after the project? Describe the measures to disseminate the research results of the project academically (e.g., workshops or conference presentations) and to companies (e.g., seminars, articles, or other publications). Please also include a publication plan concerning the results.
• Co-Research project steering group

Cooperation agreements will not be sent to Business Finland unless specifically requested.

Cooperation agreements

The parties to the joint projects should conclude a mutual cooperation agreement on matters such as

• the management of the joint project
• the allocation of ownership and access rights for the results
• the principles on the exchange of information
• how the participants in a joint project share major procurements
• responsibilities should any of the participants leave the project.

Cooperation agreements will not be sent to Business Finland unless specifically requested.

Contract templates

The contract templates have been drawn up in cooperation between certain universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutes. Business Finland is not responsible for the content of the templates, their suitability for the intended purpose, or their updating, and is not a contracting party to the cooperation contracts.

• Joint action model agreement (en) Core
• Joint action model agreement (en) General clauses
• Joint action confidentiality agreement (en)
• Yhteishanke mallisopimus (fi) Ydinsopimus
• Yhteishanke mallisopimus (fi) Yleislausekkeet

Notification of participation in a project

• Yrityksen ilmoitus projektiin osallistumisesta – Notification of participation in a project (docx)

Coordination and reporting in a joint project

The coordination of large joint projects is a demanding task, and participants in joint projects must demonstrate that they have enough time and expertise to manage the project.

• The participants in the joint project must mutually agree on which of the participants will coordinate the preparation and implementation of the project. The project coordinator represents the joint project to Business Finland and reports on the progress of the entire project to Business Finland (as part of the reports on its own sub-project).
• The consortium may mutually agree that the coordinating participant will charge the other participants in the joint project for the costs of coordination, such as for the legal services related to contract negotiations. The costs will be eligible under the other beneficiaries' own projects. The service provided by the participant coordinating the joint project is an economic activity and not part of the coordinator's own project.
• The coordination of the joint project does not cover organization-specific internal project management and reporting to Business Finland. The funding decision is organization-specific, and each beneficiary is responsible for reporting its own sub-project subject to the funding decision to Business Finland. Administrative costs are included in the overhead costs of the participant's own project.

As a rule, the participants in the joint project submit reports on their own project and the cooperation simultaneously in accordance with the reporting schedule mentioned in the funding decisions. Simultaneous reporting facilitates the monitoring of the joint project and its goals.

Eligible costs

Eligible costs for public research projects (for research organizations)

All costs incurred must be related to the implementation of the project. We accept costs in accordance with the Funding Agency's general terms and conditions for public research. Eligible costs may include:

• salaries and wages
• indirect costs (general costs and indirect personnel costs)
• travel expenses
• costs of materials and supplies
• research equipment (see the funding terms and conditions for more detailed information)
• purchased services necessary for the implementation of the project

The following costs are not eligible in the project:

• unrequited expenses such as grants, donations, awards
• the costs of economic activities (including representation costs);
• advertising or marketing costs

Eligible cost types for research projects may include:

• salaries and wages
• indirect personnel costs
• overheads
• travel expenses
• costs of materials and supplies
• equipment purchases
• depreciation and lease of equipment
• purchased services.

If the beneficiary receives income from a prototype, demonstration project, or production testing created in the project during or immediately after the project, the beneficiary must report this to Business Finland immediately or no later than during the final report. If the income is significant, we may refuse to accept any costs related to commercial activities.

Please also read these instructions

• Guidelines on compliance with the Procurement Act in projects funded by Business Finland (pdf)
• Guidelines for open access scientific publishing (pdf)