Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• Business incubator services for start-ups, business expertise for commercialis-
ing, training and consultancy services, etc.
• Networking services: domestic and international contacts.
• Facilities for innovative companies.
• Implementation of national programmes. E.g., Centre of Expertise programme
(OSKE).
Technology transfer and support in creating new high-tech companies is one of
the key actions of the TEKEL members. TEKEL belongs to the EEN network
(Enterprise Europe Network), which is the widest business and technology transfer
network in the world. The EEN network has its technology transfer roots started in
1995 in Europe as an Innovation Relay Centre (IRC) network. The activity has
been co-funded since the beginning by the European Commission and nowadays it
has spread widely around the world.
6 Tekes
Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is the main
public organisation for research, development and innovation in Finland. Tekes
provides funding for innovative projects aimed at generating new know-how and
new kinds of products, processes and service or business concepts. The aim is to
renew industries, increase value added and productivity, improve the quality of
working life as well as boost exports and generate employment and wellbeing.
Tekes works with the top innovative companies and research units in Finland.
Tekes participates actively in the planning and implementation of technology and
innovation policy in Finland. More than half of corporate R&D and innovation
funding granted by Tekes goes to small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Tekes employs over 380 people. Along its Helsinki-based headquarters Tekes
works in close co-operation with the 15 regional Centres for Economic Devel-
opment, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) throughout Finland and six
offices abroad in Beijing, Brussels, Tokyo, Shanghai, Silicon Valley and Wash-
ington D.C. Tekes funds its target projects through low-interest loans or grants,
depending on the stage of the innovation and the nature of the proposed project.
Tekes also awards financing to foreign-owned companies registered in Finland.
Foreign companies with R&D activity in Finland are not required to have a Finnish
partner to be eligible for funding. The financed project should, however, contribute
to the Finnish economy. In 2010, Tekes was actively funding nearly 1,900 projects
with €633 million altogether and had a total of 1,535 completed projects.
SHOKs or Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation carry out
long-term co-operation in fields most crucial for the future. The results are
breakthrough innovations of global importance, which can be agilely transformed
into growth in business life and wellbeing in society (Tekes
http://www.tekes.fi
)
.
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