Global perspectives for growth from Business Finland, services for developing markets from Team Finland 

As part of Business Finland’s strategy and organizational renewal, functions of Developing Markets Platform were transferred to other Team Finland organizations. 

The new organization of Business Finland began at the beginning of 2026. Our core mission is to create prosperity for Finland by promoting the renewal and sustainable growth of companies and the diffusion of knowledge in society. As part of the organizational reform, Business Finland’s foreign operations related to export promotion transferred to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  

Developing Markets Platform operated from 2020 to 2025 as a joint initiative between Business Finland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with a focus on emerging and developing markets. It provided companies with innovation funding, information and advice related to sustainable market opportunities in developing markets – such as in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Europe.

Perspectives for Innovation and Growth -series continues at Business Finland with a global perspective. 

The series encourages strategic reflection among Finnish companies on potential future growth opportunities and customer needs. It includes concise Snapshots of global long-term trends. 

Initiated in the framework of Developing Markets Platform, the first three Snapshots focus on emerging and developing markets: 

Snapshot 1 highlights that emerging and developing markets especially in Africa and Asia are expected to account for most of the global population growth in the future. 

Snapshot 2 highlights that economies of emerging and developing markets grow faster than in developed markets and several developing markets are among the largest economies in the world.  

Snapshot 3 highlights that many emerging and developing markets are attracting increasing international investments and some have become home economies for global investment outflows. 

Long-term demographic or economic trends or changes in investment flows shape the demand for products, services and infrastructure differently across markets. These developments can bring new opportunities for internationalizing Finnish companies, while changing or eroding currently strong business.

End-customer needs in new or changing markets may differ from those of today – creating both the need and the space for innovation. Global developments also influence where international partners, investors, employees or competitors of Finnish companies will come from in the future. 

Companies can still apply from Finnpartnership top-up innovation funding linked to research and development (R&D) projects funded by Business Finland. 

The R&D funding by Business Finland helps companies to accelerate product development, renew or develop entirely new products, services, production methods or business models. The funding enables companies to test and verify the functionality of their new solutions with customers. With the complementary innovation funding by Finnpartnership, companies can further develop their solutions together with local partners in emerging and developing markets.

Since the beginning of 2025, innovation funding by Finnpartnership has succeeded the previous top-up funding for developing markets granted by Business Finland in the framework of Developing Markets Platform. 

From the beginning of 2026, Finnish companies have received foreign services related to export promotion from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finland’s diplomatic missions around the world. This covers opportunities related to the United Nations (UN) and international financial institutions (IFIs). These were previously part of Developing Markets Platform.