Artificial intelligence has entered a phase defined by agentic AI, multimodal AI, and physical AI. At the same time, new AI-native business models are emerging and changing the global business landscape. These trends offer opportunities for Finnish growth companies to build scalable, globally competitive offerings where intelligence, automation, and data-driven services form the core of growth and monetization.
Funding call for ambitious R&D projects
Business Finland's Generative AI program is launching a funding call for ambitious R&D projects focusing on cutting edge AI.
The aim of the call is to initiate forward-looking AI projects that enable companies to achieve significant leaps in productivity, competitiveness, and capability to create customer value. BF wants to fund bold and ambitious projects that aim to transform the company’s operations and products and challenge the business logic of its industry.
In accordance with Business Finland strategy 2030, Business Finland wants to leverage the desire for growth and raise the level of ambition. We want our customers' projects to be even more ambitious, and for our customers to boldly seek greater growth opportunities in innovation.
The target group of the call are strongly growth-oriented companies, i.e. fast-growing, innovative growth companies seeking rapid growth and a significant international market position. The call is aimed at growth companies characterized by the following indicators:
- annual revenue at minimum of 2 million euros (estimate for 2025)
- personnel of at least 10 persons (at the time of applying)
- annual revenue growth at least 20% during 2023-2025
The high-growth company term refers to a group of rapidly expanding companies which account for an above-average proportion of the economic growth. The high-growth companies are companies growing from 10 to 5.000 employees and beyond, having specific requirements for management, skills, capital and organizational processes.
Project content
The project must primarily address one of the following:
- Increasing significantly the value of an existing product, service or business model, or
- Developing a completely new product, service concept or business model, or
- Conducting industrial research related to such products, service concepts or business models.
The solution must have a clear and significant positive impact on your company’s international competitiveness and exports. The project must involve researching, developing, or using modern AI technologies.
Type of funding
Funding can be provided either as a grant or as a loan, depending on the nature of the project. Normal Business Finland R&D funding criteria apply.
Grants can be awarded for industrial research that aims to acquire new information for the industry sector and that create capabilities for later development work, but which does not yet result in a finished product or service. R&D loan is intended for your company's development and piloting projects.
For SMEs, the grant is typically 50% of the total eligible project costs. For midcap companies, the grant is 40%. The loan can cover 50% of the total eligible costs of the project. For a justified reason, the loan can cover 70% of the costs.
In case the company is applying for grant-based funding, the majority of the project should be industrial research. Business Finland uses TRL levels (Technology Readiness Level) for assessing the nature of the project. For a project to be eligible for grant-based funding, over 50% of the project activities should be on TRL levels 2-4. It is worth noticing that an R&D project may include both research and development activities. Read more on TRL levels (pdf, horizoneuropencpportal.eu). Note that the document is incomplete in describing services and business models.
The call is based on Business Finland's R&D funding criteria. Read more about Business Finland’s funding terms: Funding terms and conditions: Funding for companies’ research and development activities (pdf)
Business Finland funding is competitive and discretionary.
Read more: Research, development, piloting for SMEs and midcaps
Before submitting an application
Before applying, your company must contact Business Finland.
Before you do so, please answer the questions below:
1. The project idea and plan
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- What problem will the project solve?
- What is the proposed solution?
- What are the concrete, measurable goals of the R&D project?
- What work packages or phases does the project consist of?
2. AI technologies
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- Which AI technologies will be used?
- What data and/or language models will be used to train the AI?
- How will the results be tested?
- What competing solutions exist or are being developed globally? Briefly describe how the competitive landscape has been evaluated, for example by referring to relevant prior art studies, market or technology scans, or other background work that demonstrates the state of the art in the market.
3. The business impact
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- How will the results be used and monetized?
- How will the project improve your company’s competitive advantage in global markets?
- What is the estimated revenue (€) the project aims to generate?
4. The company
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- Current state of the company (brief description).
- Annual revenue in the last three years (based on the latest approved financial statements).
- Number of employees.
- Confirmation that the company is eligible for funding.*
When submitting an application, the company must have a good understanding of the problem and customer needs as well as the necessary data available. The data can be company's own or the company can use data produced by others for which the company holds the commercial rights.
Additionally, a computing grant may be granted on a case-by-case basis for LUMI supercomputer to computational-intensive research projects where computational costs exceed 15.000 euros. The computing grant is 100 percent of CSC's (CSC – IT Center for Science) computing costs if the maximum support intensity allows. The size of the computing grant may be up to a maximum of 100.000 euros. The typical amount of a computing grant is usually 15.000 – 30.000 euros. Read more about the computing grant (pdf)
Schedule of the funding call
The funding call will be open from February 2, 2026 to April 15, 2026. We will process applications and make decisions continuously while the funding call is open. If necessary, the application period can be extended.
If you think your company and project fits the aforementioned description, first answer the questions above and submit your answers via email to Business Finland to: bfgenai (at) businessfinland.fi. We will contact you. Coaching discussions are ongoing.
*Basic eligibility requirements for Business Finland funding: adequate competences and resources (self-financing); the novelty value of the project, the impact on international competitive edge and international growth.