The application must be submitted to Business Finland's online service no later than the day before the start of the trade fair. The application can be submitted earlier as soon as the company has decided to participate in the trade fair and has made an estimate of the costs of the services to be purchased.
Travel expenses are only accepted in connection with trade fairs in the creative industries (music industry, audiovisual sector). For this reason, the application related to the fair of creative industries must be submitted before traveling to the fair and no later than the day before the start of the fair.
Each enterprise submits its own application in the online service. We will start processing the applications once we have received at least four applications for the same trade fair event. If your company does not have any audited financial statements yet, please submit, along with your application, an income statement that is no more than two months old, and a balance sheet ledger for the current accounting period. To make the funding decision, we may ask your company for additional information.
You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.
Go to the online service
Fill in the application
When you apply for the funding, select the official name of the trade fair event as the project name of your application and complete the application in accordance with the instructions provided.
Duration of the project
The costs must be incurred during the duration of the project. With the exception of registration and booking costs, costs are accepted from the day you send us your application at the earliest. For this reason, it is recommended that the starting date of the project is the date of submission of the application.
Note:
- in projects that include freight costs, the return freight must be received in Finland during the duration of the project.
- in projects in the creative industries (music industry, audiovisual sector), travel days must be included in the duration of the project.
Define your goals
Define 2–5 goals for the participation at the trade fair of which at least one is measurable. The goals will become part of the potential funding decision and Business Finland monitors their achievement. Examples of goals:
- the company met x potential new customers at the trade fair
- the company met x potential resellers at the trade fair
- the company identified x new potential partners or R&D partners at the trade fair.
Describe the implementation
Answer all of the questions included in the application's Implementation section.
Itemize the eligible costs of the purchased services
Costs are accepted starting from the date on which the application was submitted, at earliest. We employ a simple cost estimate in Exhibition Explorer funding. Registration and booking costs may nevertheless by accepted, even if they arose prior to the submission of the application for funding.
Itemize the costs of the purchased services (itemization of purchased services: what was bought and from whom, and a euro-denominated estimate/value [0% VAT]). Purchases from companies of interest are not permitted.
Enter the costs of the purchased services in the cost estimate as follows:
- Purchased services: Enter solely the eligible costs of the purchased services and freight arising from the trade fair stand (found in the section "What can the funding be used for?").
- Other costs: Enter the computed (i.e., "flat rate") 20% proportion of the purchased services.
- Salaries in money and indirect personnel costs: Leave this empty.
If you are participating in a trade fair event of the creative industries (music industry or audiovisual industry) in which your company does not have a trade fair stand, enter the sum total of the participation/registration, travel and accommodation costs in the space for the project's purchased services. In this case, leave the space for Other costs empty.
Costs for purchased services added to the project after the funding decision cannot be accepted. The amount of aid mentioned in the decision is the maximum aid granted to your company. You can specify the estimate on the costs of the purchased services during the application's processing phase.
Other costs
Other costs incurred by your company from the trade fair participation can be approved based on a flat rate, which is at maximum 20% of the sum of the aforementioned purchased services. These costs may include:
- travel, accommodation, and interpretation costs
- the expenses of a possible consultant/administrator
- marketing costs related to the trade fair, including promotional videos, brochures, calling cards, and roll-ups.
Other costs do not need to be itemized in the application, nor do they need to be included in the project accounting.
For example: If the estimate concerning the costs of the trade fair stand is EUR 10,000, other costs account for 20%, or EUR 2,000, of that. SMEs account for 50% (or EUR 6,000) and midcap enterprises for 40% (or EUR 4,800) of an aid sum of EUR 12,000.