New competitive edge for the European defense industry

The European Defense Fund National Co-Funding

With national co-funding that complements the EDF funding, Business Finland can increase public funding up to 90% of the project costs. Business Finland can process co-funding applications quickly, as the EDF has already carried out a substantive assessment of the project. Business Finland can also provide de minimis funding for the preparation of EDF projects.

The European Defense Fund is an EU budget-funded programme, launched in 2021. EDF aims to increase the competitiveness, efficiency and innovation capacity of the European defense industry and research community.

Who is the national co-funding for?

The European Defense Fund national co-funding is intended for Finnish startups, SMEs and large companies as well as Finnish research organizations for defense R&D projects. The projects aim to increase Europe's defense capabilities and technological self-sufficiency significantly. The economic potential of the project results is not assessed.

For what purposes can the national co-funding be used?

The costs approved by the European Defense Fund incur from research and development activities related to new defense products or improvements to existing defense products. The activities to be funded may range from research to product testing and certification.

The European Defense Fund may fund research projects with 100 percent of the eligible costs and development projects with between 20 percent and 100 percent of the eligible costs.

How to get national co-funding?

The defense administration coordinates the participation of Finnish actors in the European Defence Fund projects. The defense administration can support a project with national counterpart funding, military guidance, or a support letter. Support from the defense administration is granted on a case-by-case basis, based on the performance and research objectives of the defense forces, and considering the industrial policy significance of the project proposals.

Project-specific support requests are asked to be submitted to the Ministry of Defense by September 1, 2024. The Ministry of Defense will forward the support request to Business Finland if deemed necessary after the assessment done by the defense administration.

The 2024 EDF call is open for applications to the Commission until November 5th, 2024. The Commission is expected to publish the results of the 2024 EDF call in May 2025. Applications for Business Finland complementary funding must be submitted within 90 days of the date of the funding agreement with the Commission. Business Finland complementary funding will be determined by the funding agreement with the Commission. Guidelines for applications will be updated on this website.