Develop the competence, products and services of a large company

Apply for funding for research, development, and piloting for your company, for example, when:

You are aiming for international growth

• Your company is striving for significant international growth, and this is a key part of the company's growth strategy.

You want to develop your own competitive edge and the competence of the SMEs in your network

• Your company is about to implement a challenging research and development project that will affect both your own and your networks' success.

You want to create new products, services, production methods or business models

• Your company aims to accelerate product development or update products, services, production methods or business models, or develop completely new ones

You are looking to gain a new competitive edge through competence

• Your company requires such new know-how that gives it a competitive edge in international markets

You want to prove the effectiveness of your solution in a real environment

• Your company wants to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of a solution close to the commercialization phase in a real environment through a piloting project.
• Your company requires feedback from customers on the effectiveness of your innovative solution.

Here are some examples of research and development projects that your company can receive a Business Finland grant or loan for:

Research and information acquisition

• Creating new information that gives your company and network an international competitive edge in cooperation with universities or research institutions, for example

Business Finland provides funding for new creative research through aid.

Product or service development and solution piloting

• updating current products, services, production methods or business models, or developing completely new ones
• testing the functionality of a new, innovative solution with customers
• quick experimentation (e.g., in the software sector) or a longer development process (e.g., in the energy or process industries)
• for example, testing a new innovative product, production method, processes or technology at a plant
• developing and testing a new innovative operating model or system in a real operating environment, such as a part of town, in traffic or customer's business operations
• developing a new innovative service and ensuring its effectiveness in the customer's operating environment and processes
• piloting and development can also be carried out abroad

Business Finland finances development and piloting with a loan.

Ensure sufficient self-financing

• Your company must have sufficient financing of its own for the implementation of the project.
• We pay aid afterwards based on your project's realized costs.
• You can receive 30% of a loan as an advance loan, and the remaining loan amount based on realized costs.

Get the following financial matters in order

We cannot grant the 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 related to previous loans granted by Tekes or Business Finland.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

The Funding Terms and Conditions describe 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. You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.

Go to the online service

Set goals for your project

In the application form, please define 2–5 goals for the project to be measured at the end of the project. The goals must be linked to concrete outcomes of the project and the development of your business during the project. The project's goals are recorded in the funding decision, and Business Finland will monitor their achievement. The achievement of the defined goals is a factor in deciding whether your company can receive possible further funding from Business Finland.

The concrete goals of the project may relate, for example, to the following themes:

• creating new business models and solutions
• creating new information
• increasing productivity
• creating a new management or operating model
• strengthening your partner network
• increasing the number of customers
• developing of turnover/exports
• which product and/or service was developed

APPENDIX 1: Project plan

Please submit a project plan as part of the application. You can attach the plan as a separate file to the application.

We would like you to explain at least the following in the project plan:

• Your company's growth or modernization vision, and the role of the project funded by Business Finland in achieving it
• Project Goal
• Project implementation (work packages), resources, and schedule
  • what is being done in concrete terms
  • who will carry out the project, and the estimated workload in person-months
  • any external services your company needs: what kinds of skills or activities does your company need to buy, what are potential service providers, and what is the estimated price of the purchased services
  • schedule
• Project network impacts
  • what kind of new network the project aims to acquire to support the company's development work
  • which actors the network consists of and how the project affects the business of the network companies and/or the development of the expertise of the research organizations;
  • how the solution and network to be developed in the project will reform the industry/market: how the operating models of the industry will be reformed, what new competence or combinations of competences are needed
• Next steps: what will be done after the completion of the project, how will your company exploit the project results

Eligible costs

The content and goals of the project determine which project costs can be accepted.

In research and development projects, eligible cost types include:

• Salaries and wages
• Indirect personnel costs (at most 50% of salaries and wages allocated to the project)
• Overheads
  • less than 10 persons:
    • 10% if the company's overhead costs are small (for example, the company has no premises)
    • 20% if the company has premises for which it pays a fair price and its accounting is outsourced)
  • 10–19 persons: 20%
  • 20–49 persons: 30%
  • 50 persons or more: 50%
• Travel expenses
• Costs of materials and supplies
• Equipment purchases and depreciation
• Equipment rents
• Purchased services

R&D funding is intended to cover the costs of research and development. As part of the project, Business Finland may fund customer and market analyses related to the solution being developed, as well as other measures supporting the utilization of the solution being developed, such as the development of the organization's operations or management. The portion of these measures cannot exceed 20% of the approved cost estimate.

Costs of piloting projects may include:

• Costs of materials and supplies
• Facility design costs
• Productization services
• Operating costs during piloting
• Costs of R&D activities related to the piloting or demonstration project
• Removals or rentals of land, buildings and machinery and equipment during the project

The following costs cannot be accepted as piloting project costs:
If you receive income from a prototype, demonstration project or production testing created in your project during or immediately after your piloting project, it must be reported 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.