New operating models to accelerate international growth

• The company has planned concrete development measures in advance and defined the results they aim for
• The company is a limited company and is registered with the Employer Register
• The company has more than 10 employees
• The company has a credible financial plan and the prerequisites for profitable business and growth.

Innovativeness and competitive advantage

• Your company’s business idea or operations stand out from its competitors and enable it to thrive in international markets.
• You know which customer needs your product or service idea will address.
• Your company's goal is significant international growth and an international working community.
• Your company has a realistic view of its competitive advantage in the markets and the required competences.
• You have identified a potential customer base and revenue model.
• You have estimated the size and business potential of the target markets.

Committed team

• A typical recipient of the funding is a company with more than 10 employees that is renewing its operating practices to international growth.
• The key personnel works in Finland and is committed to the company and its growth strategy.
• The company employs a dedicated team in which at least one person has a full-time job developing the business, and the team has complementary expertise from members in other areas.

• The purpose of the funding is to accelerate the renewal of the operating practices and management of companies that are branching out to international markets. The funding may focus on competence management, corporate culture, improving recruitment capacity, and/or the employer image.
• All funded projects must promote the international growth of the company and the diverse use of talent.

Examples of development areas include

Development of international competence management

• Development of management and new operating practices the organization based on the development needs identified before the project
• Development of the operating practice for global competence management
• Development and piloting of a management that supports versatile skills
• Development and piloting of work organization practices needed by an internationally operating company

A corporate culture that supports international recruitment

• Development of operating practices to combine the skills of people from different cultural backgrounds

E.g., building an international working community's operating practices and related experiments or piloting. Operating practices with which new international experts promote the company's access to new markets.

International recruitment capability and processes

• Creating a recruitment strategy for new talent
• Anticipating skills needs for the coming years
• Development of the recruitment process
• Planning the induction path

E.g. how can a company find suitable experts from the international labor market? What kind of expertise does the company need over the next 2-3 years? How are new employees introduced to the work community?

International employer image and communication

• Developing the employer image
  • Creating your own employer story
  • Developing the employer image and indicators
• Developing employer communications
  • Current status and development of employer communications and communications management
  • Developing communications that contributes to finding and attracting talent

E.g., building an internationally attractive employer story. How should the company develop its communications to create an attractive employer image, and what indicators could be used to measure the success of this?

Ensure sufficient self-financing

• Your company must have sufficient self-financing for the implementation of the project.
• We will pay the grant after the end of the project and the approval of the report on the basis of the costs incurred.

Secure self-financing for the project

The company must have secured sufficient funds to implement the project and carry out its other activities. Sufficient financing means that your company can cover the total costs of the project prior to receiving funding from Business Finland.

The total costs of a Talent project cannot exceed EUR 100,000, and the funding will cover 50% of the costs. The company will not be paid an advance, so it needs self-financing equal to the total cost of the project. We also take into account the financing needs of the other activities of the company that will continue alongside the project.

Business Finland assesses the company's financial situation on the basis of the balance sheet ledger attached to the application: an income statement dating back no more than two months, a balance sheet for the current financial year, and a cash flow statement.
(See section Apply for funding, Annex 2.)

General requirements for financing

Business Finland will not grant funding if:

• 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.

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 for companies belonging to the same group or controlled by the same party (e.g., by majority ownership or by contract) is added together.

Your company must assess, at the application stage, how much de minimis funding it has received in the previous years. Such aid is granted by a range of public organizations, including Finnvera and the ELY Centers.

Read more about the de minimis funding

Read more about the terms and conditions of the funding

The terms and conditions of the funding describe the costs that Business Finland can fund, how the project costs are monitored, and how the progress of the project is reported.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

Send your application and attachments via our online service. In your application, describe the current state of your company’s business activities, your personnel and resources, your future growth vision, the work to be carried out during the project, and your project’s goals and costs. You can follow the processing of your application in our online service.

Go to the online service

Set goals for your project

Set two to five measurable goals for your project in the application. The goals must be linked to the development of the company’s business and concrete outcomes of 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 significant factor in deciding whether your company can receive possible further funding from Business Finland.

Examples of project goals:

• created a new operating practice: talent management, a corporate culture that supports internationalization, international recruitment capability, or an international employer image,
• drawn up or updated a strategy for combining versatile expertise;
• created and/or piloted a global operating practice for its different locations,
• created/updated its recruitment strategy,
• completed a development plan for its employer image.

ANNEX 1 Project plan

The project plan is a mandatory attachment to the application. If you wish, you can use the attached template.

• Talent funding project plan instruction and template (docx)

ANNEX 2 Information about your company's finances

The Talent funding application must be accompanied by a profit and loss statement and balance sheet for the current fiscal year, which are no more than 2 months old. Also attach a cash flow statement to the application, which takes into account the costs of the Talent project.

A cash flow statement (xlsx)

Eligible costs

The minimum amount of acceptable costs is 40,000 euros and the maximum amount is 100,000 euros. Costs are accepted starting from the day on which the application was submitted. Eligible costs include:

Salaries
Of a person’s salary for his or her total working hours, the proportion that is allocated to the project.

Indirect personnel costs
Indirect personnel costs cannot exceed 30% of the paid salaries.

Purchased services
The services must be specified in the project plan: service, service provider, cost. The purchased services must be expert services. Services purchased from associated companies are not eligible. Do not conclude a binding contract for the provision of services before submitting the application.

Other costs
Other costs are accepted up to 20% of the total sum of salaries and purchased services. These costs do not need to be specified.

The following costs are not eligible as project costs:

• preparing current state assessments and identifying development needs
• sales and product expertise development or training
• implementation of recruitments
• company’s regular operational activities
• export support, export marketing or market studies
• building a distribution channel or partner network
• product or service development
• vocational training