Manufacturing sector is very important to our economy: it accounts for about half of Finland's exports and almost 30 % of the GDP. The Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program focuses on renewing business models and increasing productivity, while actively seeking solutions to the challenges of climate change. These new solutions will develop into significant export products for Finland.
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Manufacturing industries are the backbone of the Finnish economy. According to Technology Industries of Finland, its member companies employ 300 000 people directly and 700 000 people in total. This equals to about 30% of the entire Finnish labor force. The technology industry makes up 51% of Finnish exports.
Accelerating productivity growth requires active efforts from companies. In the long term, the program aims help to create a more positive atmosphere and favorable conditions for the growth of production activities in Finland.
The program is targeted to manufacturing ecosystems. Although the program covers manufacturing industries widely, emphasis is placed on machine tool industries, (opto) electronics and photonics, and companies in the industrial digital transformation industry.
Companies and research organizations of all sizes are invited to participate the program. We are looking for collaboration that provides industry with new solutions to increase efficiency, productivity and environmental friendliness.
The program helps companies in finding partners and building networks. In addition, the program provides funding for R&D&I activities, and offers help in improving the project plan before submitting the funding application. For collaborative projects, the consortium can apply for Co-Innovation funding. For individual companies’ projects, e.g. by TEMPO funding would be an option.
More information: Business Finland funding services
The program helps companies in utilizing EU funding instruments and European cooperation networks. This includes Sustainable Manufacturing EU themed events, that are tailored to meet the needs of Finnish manufacturing industry.
International networking events
EU funding instruments offer numerous opportunities to Finnish manufacturing companies, ranging from scientific to rather close to market actions.
The Finnish national level EU funding advisory service offers free general-level information and advice on EU funding programs and instruments. The most relevant funding instruments for the manufacturing industry include:
Horizon Europe is the largest RDI funding instrument in Europe. The National Liaison Office for the Horizon Europe EUTI and national contact points (NCP's) operate in Business Finland and offer free-of-charge services to all Finnish actors interested in Horizon Europe funding.
EUREKA is the world's biggest public network for international cooperation in R&D and innovation, present in over 45 countries. Contact EUTI (euti (at) businessfinland.fi) for advice.
The program helps companies to find partners and build networks, to enable sharing of ideas for accelerating innovations as well as building new value chains. The current target countries of the program are Germany, France, Poland, Japan and Turkey, and there will be more target countries as the program goes on. Sustainable Manufacturing program organizes company delegation visits and activities to groups of companies in each of the target countries. To find out more, please contact the Head of Program Toni Mattila.
Germany
German Machine and Equipment business sector is leading in Europe with its EUR 229 bn. value. Germany has a high export rate with relatively low rate of digitalization. Current trends in manufacturing industry are supply-chain diversification, automation and electrification. The program is launching new activities related to Smart Manufacturing in Germany in June 2023.
France
The second largest economy in the EU offers many opportunities for Finnish manufacturing companies. The manufacturing industry represents 10 % of France’s GDP and invests annually 23 billion to R&D. Growing challenges in France include relatively low rate of digitalization especially amongst large and mid-cap manufacturing companies, industrial automation and IoT, private networks, connectivity and robotics.
Japan
Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world with 20,7 % of GDP manufacturing industry and 747 million DX related investments (2019). The manufacturing industry in Japan employs more than 10 million people. Current trends in Japanese manufacturing include decline in facility investments, outdated existing manufacturing machines and needs to re-build resilient supply chain, influenced by external factors such as covid crisis, global economic instability and climate change.
Türkiye
Türkiye is the 2nd largest country in Europe with 18 % of GDP manufacturing industry and 8,5 % GDP growth. Growing challenges in Turkish manufacturing include strengthening the international competitiveness and criticality of increasing exports. Current trend in the market is investing in advanced manufacturing solutions, such as cloud/SaaS, IoT platforms and connectivity, analytics & AI and data visualization.
Business Finland's Talent Boost program supports Finnish manufacturing companies looking to hire international experts. In practise, companies can
The program helps foreign companies to find partners and business opportunities in the Finnish networks. Companies get support in starting a new business in Finland.
A Material Audit investigates the amount of waste generated by your business operations, the costs of the waste, and measures for reducing waste.
Business Finland provides Material Audit funding. The Material Audit is carried out according to the systematic model developed by Motiva. Material Audits are performed by auditors trained by Motiva.
The aim of the Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program is to help Finnish manufacturing companies grow and internationalize. Companies that are eager and ready to grow and willing to find new markets are welcome to join the program activities. All the activities Sustainable Manufacturing program is organizing can be found below.
You can also subscribe the Business Finland Bioeconomy and Cleantech newsletter here and the Sustainable Manufacturing Finland newsletter by emailing to anna.nikkila (at) businessfinland.fi.
Companies can also apply for funding. Please contact our expert through this site.
sanna.nuutila (at) businessfinland.fi
Tel. +358 50 5577 717