Buy new information and expertise for your company with the Innovation voucher

Apply for the Innovation voucher when your company has a new product or service idea intended for international markets.

You want to evaluate the viability of the idea and you need external expertise for this.

In which situations can the innovation voucher not be granted?

• Your company is not in the prepayment register.
• Your company's credit rating (Rating Alfa) according to Suomen Asiakastieto is below A.
• Your company has violated its obligation to notify or has tax debts for which a payment plan has not been agreed with the tax authorities, or the plan has not been followed.
• Your company is over 5 years old, a medium-sized or large company, a sole trader, a public or non-profit organization, a foundation, an association or an Åland company
• Your aim is to get information about new export markets.
• The content of external expertise funded by the Innovation voucher is not new compared to your company's own expertise.
• Your company has no plans for internationalization.
• Your company operates in an industry that is excluded from de minimis funding (primary production of agriculture, fishery and aquaculture).
• Your company's quota for de minimis funding is exceeded.
  
  • Please note that de minimis funding granted for companies belonging to the same group or controlled by the same party is added together.
• Your company has already been granted an Innovation voucher by Business Finland (or Tekes).
• Your company has received funding from Business Finland in the current or previous year, or a project funded by Business Finland is ongoing in your company, or another application sent by your company to Business Finland is yet to be processed.
  
  • Exception to this: Funding decisions, applications or ongoing projects regarding Energy aid, Production Incentive for the Audiovisual Industry financial services Talent Explorer, Group Explorer, and Exhibition Explorer are not an obstacle to applying for an Innovation Voucher. Also, Market Explorer is not an obstacle for an Innovation Voucher if it has been issued in 2022 or earlier.
• Your project focuses on examining funding possibilities for your company, product or service or acquiring such funding, or the aim is to map the scene for sponsors, investors and shareholders.
• You want to use the Innovation voucher to purchase services from a company associated with your company through ownership, membership of the board of directors or a family relationship, for example.

The Innovation voucher is intended for purchasing expert services from an external service provider to support your company's innovation activities. Innovation activities refer to measures by which your company develops new products, services and processes, or acquires new knowledge and competences required for these activities as a service. The Innovation voucher can be used to acquire services from companies, universities, universities of applied sciences or research organizations.

Uses of the Innovation voucher are:

• development of product or service prototypes for testing the functionality and user experience of the solution
• examinations of the protectability of industrial rights (patents, utility models, design protections, trademarks) and the application process for these first applications
• measurement and testing services related to innovation activities

Please note, that in the final report, the beneficiary must be able to present the results of the project. Attach a report from the service provider, a measurement report and/or a picture of the prototype to the report.

What can the funding not be used for?

The Innovation voucher is not intended for further developing, or renewing a product or service already existing on the market. It is intended for promoting a brand-new idea.

You cannot use the Innovation voucher to develop your company's overall business operations or to acquire consulting related to product or service development if the product or service is for your company only (not for sale).

The Innovation voucher cannot be used for the following:

• developing the sales model of an existing product or service product (for example, franchising)
• the company's internal salary costs, travel, materials, equipment, rents or equipment purchases
• development of industries and functions excluded from de minimis funding (primary agricultural production, fisheries and aquaculture)
• expert services unrelated to innovation activities
  • general business consulting services
  • basic operations in sales, marketing and communications
  • personnel training
  • consulting and development related to basic IT systems (e.g. consulting and development related to webpages, online sales, creating a mobile sales channel or ERP and financial management systems).

General requirement for financing

Business Finland will not grant funding if:

• Suomen Asiakastieto Oy's Rating Alfa for the company is below A
• the company has arrears, payment defaults or other outstanding financial obligations related to previous loans granted by Tekes or Business Finland
• the company has not submitted its financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office in accordance with the Limited Liability Companies Act
• the company's financial statements have not been audited in accordance with the Auditing Act
• the company is not in the prepayment register
• according to the Finnish Tax Administration, the company has overdue taxes or payments for which a payment plan has not been agreed upon
• the company has neglected registration, notification or payment obligations related to other statutory obligations (till exempel anmälan om förlust av aktiekapital eller anmälan om förmånstagare till Handelsregistret).

Check de minimis funding

This funding is de minimis support. Your company can receive de minimis funding no more than EUR 300,000 over any period of three years. De minimis funding is granted by a range of public organizations such as Finnvera and the ELY Centers. At the application stage, your company must assess how much de minimis funding it has received during the analysis period. Please note that de minimis funding granted for companies belonging to the same group or controlled by the same party is added together.

Read more about de minimis funding

Find a suitable service provider

You can freely choose a service provider that suits your business.

The condition for granting funding is that the service provider has sufficient know-how and experience in developing prototypes, protecting industrial rights and/or measuring and testing services related to innovation.

The service provider must be a company or small entrepreneur that has an invoicing service in use.

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.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

Send your application via our online service. Please note that the accountable project leader must be employed by the applicant company. You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.

Go to the online service

Eligible costs

Business Finland can accept costs starting from the date the application was submitted, at the earliest.

Eligible costs in the Innovation Voucher project are purchases of expert services and official fees related to first applications for industrial rights.

The following costs cannot be accepted as project costs

• your company's salary costs, travel, equipment and rents
• expert services unrelated to innovation activities such as:
  • general business consulting services
  • basic operations in sales, marketing and communications
  • personnel training
  • consulting and development related to basic IT systems such as creating webpages, online sales or a mobile sales channel, or consulting and development related to ERP and financial management systems.