Develop shipbuilding innovations

Apply for shipbuilding innovation aid for your company when:

You are going to develop innovative shipbuilding products and methods in the project

• The product or process will be technically new or significantly better than the current leading solutions in the European Union's shipbuilding industry.
• The product or process involves a risk of technological or industrial failure.

There is a significant Finnish interest in the project

• Your company is registered in Finland and it has an office in Finland.

The funding will have an incentive effect on your company's innovation performance

• In series-produced vessels, the incentive effect will be considered as fulfilled for the first vessel in the series. However, if new innovative solutions are tested and built on later ships in the series, which were not included in the first ship, a sister vessel may be treated as a new project.

Your company has the potential for continued profitable operations

Innovation aid for shipbuilding is intended for innovation development in ship projects. The aid is restricted to the investment, planning, and testing costs that are directly and exclusively related to the innovative part of the project. Grants may only be awarded for activities that take place after the application has been submitted.

Aid may be granted to projects that include

• Experimental development using existing knowledge to develop new or improved products, processes or services, prototypes and pilot projects including digital products, processes or services. Experimental development does not cover improvements related to existing products, which can be classified as normal and necessary development.
• Shipbuilding, which involves building self-propelled commercial vessels containing innovations.
• Ship repairs, where the repairs of self-propelled commercial vessels are carried out in an innovative way.
• Structural modifications of ships, where the structure of self-propelled commercial vessels is significantly changed (gross tonnage > 1,000 tonnes).
• Construction of floating and moving offshore structures intended for the exploration, utilization, or production of oil, gas, or renewable energy.

Get these financial matters in order

We cannot grant your company funding if:

• Your company has not submitted financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, or your company's financial statements have not been audited in accordance with the Auditing Act
• Your company has tax debts for which a payment plan has not been agreed on with the tax authorities
• Your company has arrears, payment defaults or other outstanding financial obligations relating to previous loans granted by Tekes or Business Finland.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

The Funding Terms and Conditions specify the costs for which Business Finland can provide funding, how we monitor your project costs, and how you should report on the progress of your project.

Funding terms and conditions

Send your application and attachments via our online service.

Please note the changes related to applying for funding. As of 18.3.2025, the application template for the selected funding service can only be created by a responsible person of the company registered in the Trade Register who has the right to represent the company alone, or a person who has been granted a Suomi.fi authorization. Go to the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations page, where you can give or request authorization for "Applying for corporate financing". Read more

You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.

Go to the online service

Eligible costs

Business Finland awards grants only for activities taking place after the application has been submitted.

Eligible costs include the following costs related to the project:

• Salaries and wages
• Indirect personnel costs
• External purchased services
• Materials and supplies
• Equipment purchases, depreciation, and rentals

The entities the innovation aid relates to must be separated from the rest of the construction project. The development activities which the innovation aid has been granted for must have their own cost center and job number assigned, and you must keep records of the development activities during the project. If your company is liable to pay VAT, VAT related to costs is not included in acceptable costs. Costs based on an order placed before the start of the period cannot be allocated to the project except when the order includes a cancellation clause linked to the start of the project.

Eligible costs for a new type of vessel and offshore structures

1. the costs of the development, design, functional design, or detailed design of the product concept
2. the costs of studies, testing, and designs and other similar costs incurred by
3. the development and design of the vessel
4. the costs of design and design implementation as well as product testing and experimentation
5. increased staff and overhead costs of the implementation of technical innovations, limited to the minimum necessary.

The costs referred to in paragraphs 1 to 3 above that are comparable to the conventional ship design of a previous vessel type are not eligible costs.

Series-produced vessels/structures

The additional costs arising from the construction of the first vessel of the new vessel type may include the difference between its personnel and indirect personnel costs as well as overhead costs and the corresponding costs of subsequent vessels in the same series (sister vessels).

The costs of the construction of a new type of vessel may only amount to a maximum of 10% if they are necessary for the practical implementation of the technological innovation and are estimated to exceed 3% of the production costs of the sister vessels to be manufactured at a later date.

Eligible costs for new components or systems

The following costs that arise from new components or systems eligible for the innovation aid are eligible to the extent and for the period that the components or systems have been used in the project, provided that they are directly linked to the innovation:

1. Planning and development costs
2. testing costs and models for the innovative component
3. material and equipment costs
4. in exceptional cases, the building and installation costs of a new component or system are required for the practical implementation of the innovation, provided that the costs are limited to the minimum necessary.

Eligible costs for new methods

The following costs arising from new methods eligible for innovation aid are eligible to the extent and for the period of time that the methods have been used in the project, provided that they are directly linked to the innovation process:

1. planning and development costs
2. material and equipment costs
3. where appropriate, the costs of testing the new method.