Develop your company's innovation expertise for growth

Apply for Into funding, for example, in the following cases:

You want to make changes to your operations

• Your company is shifting from making minor product or service concept improvements to the development of entirely new business models and solutions.
• Your company wants to systematically take advantage of new ideas and market knowledge to develop business operations.

You want to develop innovation competencies

• Your company needs to develop its employees' innovation competencies and create a more systematic innovation process.

You are aiming for international growth

• Your company is aiming for international growth and the company's key personnel is committed to making changes.

You want to improve IPR related issues

• Your company wants to prepare an IPR strategy
• Your company wants to investigate questions related to IPR and patent management.

Into funding is intended for increasing your company's innovation competencies and for developing your innovation activities in a comprehensive and versatile manner. Your company's development project can focus on one or more topics.

Below you can find some examples of development projects that are eligible for Into funding:

Developing innovation activities with the help of external expertise

• Development of your company's innovation strategy and process in a systematic way with the help of an external expert
• Development of new business, product and service concepts
• Training for developing your personnel's innovation competencies
• Market research for developing your company's innovation activities
• Laboratory and office expenses related to your company's innovation expertise
• Use of data banks
• Investigations on standards or on using quality marking and certification services
• Advisory services on acquiring and exploiting research results
• Preparing an IPR strategy and investigations on acquiring and licensing of IPRs

Protecting and acquiring intellectual property

• Acquiring, enforcing and expanding patents, licenses and other intellectual property on the condition that they strengthen the company's innovation activities and research and development.

A borrowed expert from a large company or a research institute

• Obtaining results of completed research
• Acquiring advisory services on the exploitation of research results
• Hiring a fixed-term expert from a large company or a research institute
  • The expert must have a tertiary education degree and a minimum of five years of work experience.
  • The expert must be hired to work in your company in a new position related to research, development and innovation.
  • The expert has the right to return to their former position.

Ensure sufficient financing of your own

• Into funding is a Business Finland grant which is paid retrospectively to your company based on the actual costs you have reported.
• Your company must have sufficient financing of its own for the implementation of the project. Sufficient financing means that your company can cover the total costs of the project prior to receiving funding from Business Finland.
• Business Finland can provide funding for up to 50% of the total project costs. No maximum project budget has been set, but the smallest possible project budget is €30,000, meaning that the minimum grant is €15,000. When purchasing consultancy services, the Into funding can cover costs up to €200,000.

Resolve the following financial matters

We cannot grant your company funding if:

• Your company has not submitted the financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, or the financial statements have not been audited in accordance with the Auditing Act.
• Your company has tax debts for which a payment plan has not been agreed with the tax authorities.
• Your company has arrears, payment defaults or other outstanding financial obligations from previous Tekes or Business Finland loans.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

The funding terms and conditions describe the costs that Business Finland can fund, how we monitor your project costs, and how you should report on the progress of your project.

Read more about the funding terms and conditions

Send your application and attachments via our online service. You can also keep track of the processing of your application in the online service.

Go to the online service

Set goals for your project

In the application form, you will be asked to set 2–5 measurable goals for your project. These goals must be linked to concrete outcomes of the project and the development of your business. The project goals will be recorded in the funding decision, and Business Finland will monitor their fulfillment. The achievement of set goals is a significant factor in deciding whether your company can receive possible further funding from Business Finland.

Examples of project goals:

• Creating new business models and solutions
• Protecting essential intellectual property rights
• Creating a systematic process for innovation
• Productivity growth
• Creating a new management or operating model
• Preparing a strategy or updating an existing strategy
• Strengthening your partner network
• Increasing the number of customers
• Increasing turnover

APPENDIX 1: Project plan

As a part of your application, please submit a project plan. The plan can be either entered directly in the application form fields or attached to the application as a separate file.

Please detail at least the following items in your project plan:

• Your company's vision and the role of the Into project in achieving that vision
• Project implementation, resources and schedule
  • Goal
  • What will be done?
  • Who will carry out the work?
  • Schedule
• Next steps: what will be done after the completion of the project, how will your company exploit the project results?

APPENDIX 2: Information about the company finances

Please submit the following financial information on your company with the application:

• An income statement dating back no more than two months
• A balance sheet for the current financial period from the accounting ledger

In order to make the funding decision, we may ask your company for additional information if necessary.

Eligible costs

Business Finland can accept costs starting from the date the application was submitted, at the earliest. Costs related to acquiring, applying for, reinforcing or expanding IPRs cannot exceed 50% of the total project budget.

Examples of eligible costs within an Into project:

Purchased services
Advisory and support services, acquiring IPRs and intellectual property, purchasing specialized training.

Travel and salary costs
Travel and salary costs are eligible is they are linked to hiring a fixed-term expert or applying for a patent or another industrial property right.

Indirect personnel costs
Indirect personnel costs cannot exceed 50% of the paid salaries.

Overheads

• 1–19 people: 20%
• 20–49 people: 30%
• 50 people or more: 50%

The following costs cannot be accepted as project costs

• The company's own salary costs arising from the use of advisory and support services (e.g., salaries for the period when the personnel has participated in specialized training)
• Costs related to quality marking, testing or certification if this is done for marketing purposes or to meet legal requirements
• The company's routine expenses, or costs incurred in supporting export or direct investments
• Costs related to defending IPRs