Innovations generating new international business

Apply for Co-Innovation funding when:

The joint project promotes cooperation between companies and research organizations

• The research topics are based on research ideas and needs developed jointly by research organizations and companies.
• Companies accelerate the use of research expertise and solutions in their innovation activities and at the same time make headway with their own R&D objectives.

The project has a large impact on the international business of companies

• The results of the joint project have a significant impact on the companies' competitive edge in international markets, and the targeted turnover increase from exports is large.

The consortium is appropriate for the implementation of the project

• The participants in the consortium have sufficient expertise and resources to achieve the goals of the joint project. Each participant has a legitimate role to play in the implementation or utilization of the joint project.
• The joint project significantly promotes the international competitiveness of the companies involved and the renewal of the large companies involved in the consortium. In practice, good business partners already have some expertise in export or international business.
• A joint project may be formed by at least two cooperating companies. If the project involves one or more research organization, at least three companies must also have an own R&D project in the cooperation. At least two of these companies must apply for funding for their research and development project from Business Finland, and the projects of the companies must be eligible for the funding. Often the appropriate consortium size is significantly larger. Companies participating in the consortium without an R&D project of their own can finance the research or bring in other in-kind investments such as offering data, software, materials or equipment.
• It is usually more appropriate for startups to launch their own separate project than to participate in a Co-Innovation joint project. However, startups that have received sufficient private funding may participate in joint projects for legitimate reasons, such as because of their specific expertise.

There is demonstrated demand for public research

• Business Finland funds problem-oriented, internationally competitive research by research organizations conducted in close international cooperation.
• The results of the public research project must also be widely available for use outside the Co-Innovation consortium. If the research takes advantage of case examples or research problems received from companies, the results must be freely available for publication and available for use by research organizations.
• The Co-Innovation plan includes a plan to disseminate the results. Companies should note that researchers often publish research results already during the project, but the participants in the joint project may mutually agree on the specifics of publication. The public research project is steered by companies that could potentially find the research results useful.
• Companies that finance research organizations' research projects and carry out their own R&D projects alongside them have the primary right to negotiate the use of the research project's results, unless otherwise agreed by the participants in the joint project.

Public research involves close international cooperation

As a rule, the research projects to be funded are required to be closely engaged in international cooperation, and only in exceptional cases can national cooperation be accepted for obtaining funding.

The normal level of funding for a research project associated with the Co-Innovation joint project is 70%. In exceptional cases, we may also grant funding to research projects without international cooperation with a reduced funding level of 60%. For research projects involved in close international cooperation, Business Finland's contribution is 80%. The level of funding is determined on a project-by-project basis. This means that research projects in the same joint project may have a different level of funding.

The following qualifies as close international cooperation:

• A joint project with common goals and measures and a common joint project plan with a foreign organization. The partner has a credible financial plan for its own sub-project.
• Mobility of expertise to or from Finland, at least 24 man months researcher exchanges (in the joint project, the researcher exchanges of all research organizations are added together, in which case those research institutes with at least 3 man months researcher exchanges are entitled to the increased funding level). Only researcher exchanges lasting 3 man months or longer are counted as researcher exchanges, not visits shorter than this. The key content of the researcher exchange and its impact on achieving the project's goals are clearly described in the project plan.

The joint project may relate to an ecosystem of leading companies

It is possible to integrate the Co-Innovation project into the ecosystem of a leading company. In addition to a Co-Innovation joint project, research organizations may also exceptionally form a Co-Research project without business R&D projects when the project is related to a special funding call such as the Partnership model funding call for leading companies, the theme is related to an ecosystem of leading companies and the themes of a roadmap, and it focuses on a strategic research area for which it is still impossible to find business partners. The funding terms and conditions for Co-Research projects differ in some respects from those of a Co-Innovation joint project. Review them.

• Applications for Co-Research projects related to the ecosystems of leading companies have set deadlines, typically 2 deadlines annually.
• Whenever a Co-Innovation joint project is expected to involve leading companies, you should first examine the ecosystem of leading companies and determine whether the joint project has something in common with the roadmaps of leading companies.
• Before submitting the funding application, you must discuss the content and implementation of the project with the contact persons at Business Finland and the leading companies.

A Co-Innovation project consists of research projects conducted by public research institutes and R&D projects conducted by companies, with the members of the consortium engaging in close cooperation. Each party must describe in their own application how their project is linked to the joint project.

In a Co-Innovation joint project, resources allocated to the research and business projects must be appropriately balanced in relation to each other. The greater the emphasis on applied research, the higher the share of business projects in a Co-Innovation joint project. For future-oriented high-risk joint projects, the share of research may be higher. However, the combined total budget of the research projects or the share of a single business project cannot exceed 70% of the total costs of the joint project.

Research projects

• The research must be carried out in close international cooperation.
• Business Finland's contribution to the research organization is 60% to 80% of the total costs approved for the research project, depending on the amount of international cooperation. The normal level of funding for a research project under the Co-Innovation joint project is 70%. In exceptional cases, we may also grant funding to research projects without international cooperation with a reduced funding level of 60%. For research projects involved in close international cooperation, Business Finland's contribution is 80%. See funding terms.
• The total duration of the project is typically 2 to 3 years.
• The research project must have a high-quality dissemination plan for the results.
• The projects of the research organizations are subject to Business Finland's general funding terms and conditions for public research.

Companies' R&D projects

• Companies' R&D projects are in line with the companies' own growth targets and strategies.
• The funding for companies complies with the forms of funding granted by Business Finland to companies and the assessment criteria for research and development funding.
• The levels of funding are based on the size of the company and the content and goals of the project.
• The company must have sufficient resources and self-financing for carrying out the project.

Research organizations: Before applying for funding, discuss the planned project and application with the research support services of your own organization.

Companies: Companies can contact their own Business Finland account responsible or contact person.

• Funding instructions for projects by SMEs and midcaps
• Funding instructions for projects by large companies

If discussions with your organization's research support services lead to further preparation of the idea, the research support services will direct your idea to Business Finland, which will appoint a contact person for your Co-Innovation project. Prepare to present the consortium and joint project plan to your contact person at Business Finland before submitting your funding application. Before the application is submitted, Business Finland also comments on the R&D project plans that are part of the project. It is useful for the participants in the Co-Innovation joint project to designate a lead coordinator for the project from among their members.

Make sure there are no obstacles to being funded

We cannot grant the funding if:

• The project does not seek significant international growth or it does not describe how to achieve this growth.
• The export and turnover potential of the project is small compared to the business R&D funding required.
• The joint project does not have enough participants to credibly achieve its goals. This can lead to a lack of expertise or a small impact (see previous paragraph).
• The company has outstanding arrears without a payment plan (VAT, employer contributions, unpaid tax debt) or its equity has been lost. The company lacks the financial preconditions for financing its own project or suitable human resources for the implementation of the project or the preconditions for international business. If any of the key participating companies leaves the project, this will have an impact on the joint project plan.
• The participants in the joint project do not have a clear role or purpose in the cooperation activities in achieving the joint project's goals.
• The scope and impact of the network cooperation between large companies is limited (purchase services from SMEs and research organizations are limited or the scope of parallel projects is limited).
• The company already has many projects funded by Business Finland underway, so it is not always appropriate to fund additional projects for the company at the same time.

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.

Funding terms and conditions for public research (pdf)

Funding terms and conditions for companies' R&D projects (pdf)

Read more about the assessment criteria

We will evaluate your joint project as a whole and take into account the other applications competing for funding.

Key evaluation areas are:

• The impact of the joint project's results on the companies' competitive edge in international markets and the targeted increase in exports relative to the investments required.
• Implementation of the joint project:
  • Does the joint project have the correct parties to achieve its goals?
  • How close and concrete is the cooperation in the joint project?
  • Will activities be divided reasonably considering the targeted results?
  • Are the companies' investments reasonable in relation to the targeted results and uses?
  • What impact does the project have on developing the business operations of SMEs and midcaps?
• The extent and quality of international cooperation in public research.
• The quality of the dissemination plan for the results of the public research project, the key measures and channels for the utilization of the results and the dissemination of the knowledge generated
• The novelty value and competitive edge of the solution, impact on modernization in business life, market potential, societal impact, and international project cooperation.

In companies' projects, we also assess how the project contributes to the company's own growth goals and generates international competitive advantage and exports. The company must have sufficient resources and self-financing for carrying out the project.

In the projects of research organizations, we evaluate how the public research lays the foundations for new innovations and expertise, and how the economy can utilize the results. R&D activities for companies cannot be conducted in a public research project. The results of the research project serve as a basis for the companies' own development projects.

Funding for a Co-Innovation joint project can be applied for continuously.

Preparing and submitting a funding application

The funding applications are made in Business Finland's online service. The coordinator fills out the main Co-Innovation application form, and all the participants applying for funding fill out the Co-Innovation participant application form. Please also read the instructions on how to fill in the application form.

1) The coordinator submits the main application

To launch a joint project, the coordinator first fills out the main application, which summarizes the Co-Innovation project. The coordinator is the organization that has assembled the project's participants. The coordinator indicates the number of participants in the application and sets a deadline for the completion of the participant applications. The coordinator also provides the participants with the joint action ID, which the participants use to associate themselves with the project. The coordinator can monitor the status of the participants' applications in the main application.

If the coordinator applies for funding for a research or R&D project of its own, it must also complete the participant application form. Coordinating itself is not funded as an R&D project. The participants share the coordinating costs with one another if, in addition to the participants' own project management, they want to involve an external coordinator or other jointly utilized services in the joint project, for example.

The joint project plan (see Appendix 1) is attached to the main Co-Innovation application.

2) The participants in a joint project submit their own applications

Each participant applying for funding for its own sub-project in a joint project submits their own participant application and attaches the joint action ID provided by the coordinator to the application. In this way, the participants join the joint project and the parties filling out the participation application can see the deadline for submitting the application.

Companies also submit their own detailed project plan as an appendix to their application. 

• SME and midcap company: See the instructions for the project plan in the Apply for funding section. 
• Large company: See the instructions for the project plan in the Apply for funding section. 

In general, the plans of the research participants are only described as a part of the joint project plan.

The participants of a joint project cannot see the content of each other's funding applications or funding decisions.

Companies and other organizations participating in the joint project with in-kind contributions (e.g., research financing) submit their notification of participation in a separate attachment without completing their own funding application (see Appendix 3). The forms are attached to the application of the associated organization such as a research organization. The funding applications submitted by the parties applying for funding serve as notifications of participation. Therefore, the parties applying for funding do not need to submit any other notification of participation.

3) The coordinator submits the application package to Business Finland

The coordinator may submit the application package to Business Finland immediately after the deadline or when all the applications have been completed. All applications associated with the main application are then transferred to Business Finland for processing simultaneously. The allocation of costs to the projects of the companies and research institutes involved in the project can begin, at the earliest, when the coordinator has sent the application package to Business Finland and Business Finland has all the information necessary for evaluating the project. The main application must not be submitted to Business Finland if it has no participant applications associated with it.

After the applications have been submitted for the first time, it is still possible to supplement both the main application and the participant applications on request and attach documents to the participant applications. Business Finland may request the parties to supplement the applications. The request for supplementation is sent by email to the person in charge of the application, and the content of the request for supplementation appears on each page of the application. The supplement is made by using the application form, which is finally submitted back to Business Finland.

New participants may join in the Co-Innovation project after the first submission of the application package during the application processing phase. Permission to join the project afterwards is granted by the project's main processor, a financial advisor at Business Finland. When joining the project afterward, use the Co-Innovation participant application. The joint project ID must also be used when joining the project afterwards.

Go to the Online service

Joint project plan

The joint project must have a joint project plan describing the entire project.

• Please also provide a summary of the project plan in the main application of your joint project. The main application cannot have attachments.
• The joint project plan does replace the main application for the joint project.
• The larger joint project plan must be attached as a document to the coordinator's participation application.
• The maximum length of the joint project plan is 20 pages. In addition to this, the companies have their own more detailed project plans. It is recommended that a description of the research be included in the joint project plan.

In the joint project plan, describe the concrete implementation and resourcing:

• What is the internationally recognized problem that the project aims to solve? What is its economic and social significance? What is the role of the Co-Innovation joint project's research and business projects in solving the problem?
• What are the goals of the Co-Innovation joint project and the cooperation conducted? How do you monitor and measure the achievement of the goals (e.g., what will you achieve at the end of a successful project and what KPIs are used to measure the achievements)?
• How would the Co-Innovation joint project promote the growth and renewal of the international business of Finnish companies (qualitatively and in euros)?
• Which parties are involved in the joint project, what kind of expertise do they bring to the project, and what is their role?
• What measures will be taken and by whom? What kind of research is conducted in the project and which companies will it benefit? What kind of concrete cooperation does the project involve? Description of the implementation (work packages: who will do what and when, what are the expected outcomes and pursued results), resources, and costs (work carried out by the different parties, purchased services).
• What kind of international cooperation do the public research and joint projects involve, and how will it support the achievement of the project goals?
• Which parties are applying for Business Finland's funding and which parties are otherwise involved in the project (e.g., in-kind contributions or companies funding public research)? A brief explanation of what the different participants bring to the project, what their expectations are, and what their budget and goals are.
• What measures will be taken and by whom? What kind of research is conducted in the project and which companies will it benefit? What kind of cooperation does the project involve? What are the plans for international cooperation? Description of the implementation (work packages: who will do what and when, what are the outcomes generated and pursued results), resources, and costs (work carried out by different parties, purchased services).
• Which results of the joint project will be actively disseminated and used during and after the project? Describe the measures to disseminate the research results of the project academically (e.g., workshops or conference presentations) and to companies (e.g., seminars, articles, or other publications). Please also include a publication plan concerning the results.
• The steering group for the Co-Innovation joint project

Cooperation agreements

The parties to the joint projects should conclude a mutual cooperation agreement on matters such as

• the management of the joint project
• the allocation of ownership and access rights for the results
• the principles on the exchange of information
• how the participants in a joint project share major procurements
• responsibilities should any of the participants leave the project.

Cooperation agreements will not be sent to Business Finland unless specifically requested.

Contract templates

The contract templates have been drawn up in cooperation between certain universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutes. Business Finland is not responsible for the content of the templates, their suitability for the intended purpose, or their updating, and is not a contracting party to the cooperation contracts.

• Joint action model agreement (en) Core
• Joint action model agreement (en) General clauses
• Joint action confidentiality agreement (en)
• Yhteishanke mallisopimus (fi) Ydinsopimus
• Yhteishanke mallisopimus (fi) Yleislausekkeet

Notification of participation in a project

• Yritysten ilmoitus projektiin osallistumisesta – Notification of participation in a project (docx)

Coordination and reporting in a joint project

The coordination of large joint projects is a demanding task, and participants in joint projects must demonstrate that they have enough time and expertise to manage the project.

• The participants in the joint project must mutually agree on which of the participants will coordinate the preparation and implementation of the project. The project coordinator represents the joint project to Business Finland and reports on the progress of the entire project to Business Finland (as part of the reports on its own sub-project).
• The consortium may mutually agree that the coordinating participant will charge the other participants in the joint project for the costs of coordination, such as for the legal services related to contract negotiations (often a university). The costs will be eligible under the other beneficiaries' own projects. The service provided by the participant coordinating the joint project is an economic activity and not part of the coordinator's own project.
• The coordination of the joint project does not cover organization-specific internal project management and reporting to Business Finland. The funding decision is organization-specific, and each beneficiary is responsible for reporting its own sub-project subject to the funding decision to Business Finland. Administrative costs are included in the overhead costs of the participant's own project.

As a rule, the participants in the joint project submit reports on their own project and the cooperation simultaneously in accordance with the reporting schedule mentioned in the funding decisions. Simultaneous reporting facilitates the monitoring of the joint project and its goals.

Eligible costs

Eligible costs for public research projects (e.g., for research organizations)

All costs incurred must be related to the implementation of the project. We accept costs in accordance with the Funding Agency's general terms and conditions for public research. Eligible costs may include:

• salaries and wages
• indirect costs (general costs and indirect personnel costs)
• travel expenses
• costs of materials and supplies
• research equipment (see the funding terms and conditions for more detailed information)
• purchased services necessary for the implementation of the project

The following costs are not eligible in the project:

• unrequited expenses such as grants, donations, awards
• the costs of economic activities (including representation costs);
• advertising or marketing costs

Eligible costs for companies' R&D projects

The content and goals of the project determine which project costs can be accepted. We accept costs in accordance with Business Finland's general terms and conditions for companies' R&D funding. We accept costs at the earliest from the date of submitting the application to Business Finland.

In research and development projects, eligible cost types include:

• salaries and wages
• indirect personnel costs
• overheads
• travel expenses
• costs of materials and supplies
• equipment purchases
• depreciation and lease of equipment
• purchased services.

Costs of piloting projects may include:

• Costs of materials and supplies
• Facility design costs
• Productization services
• Operating costs during piloting
• Costs of R&D activities related to the piloting or demonstration project
• Removals or rentals of land, buildings and machinery and equipment during the project

If the beneficiary receives income from a prototype, demonstration project, or production testing created in the project during or immediately after the project, the beneficiary must report this to Business Finland immediately or no later than during the final report. If the income is significant, we may refuse to accept any costs related to commercial activities.

Please also read these instructions

• Guidelines on compliance with the Procurement Act in projects funded by Business Finland (pdf)
• Guidelines for open access scientific publishing (pdf)

A 'research and information dissemination organization' refers to any entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer bodies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative communities), irrespective of its legal status (whether governed by public or private law) or its mode of funding, the main purpose of which is to independently conduct basic research, industrial research, or experimental development, or to disseminate the results of such activities through education, publications, or the transfer of knowledge. Where such an entity also carries out economic activities, separate accounts must be kept for the funding, costs, and revenues of these economic activities. In such an entity, companies exercising decisive influence, for example as shareholders or members, must not have preferential rights over the results achieved.