Science, Technology and Industry Co-operation in Finland - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 442

10 Funding of Innovative Growth Companies
Tekes established a new funding concept having the objective to generate new
high growth enterprises to Finland. Tekes funding accelerates the development of
enterprises which pursue for rapid international growth. The funding is adopted to
the fact that only few enterprises can develop to a real success story. To ensure the
process there must be more start-ups getting the possibility to grow and based on
the concrete results the companies can obtain more funding even up to €1 million.
This ''funnel'' model can be seen in the structure of the funding.
The requirements for funding are:
• a small company
• has been of existence for less than 6 years at the time when the aid of the first
phase is granted
• is innovative on the basis that R&D expenses represent at least 15 % of its total
operating expenses
• is fully committed to the necessary development activities
• has sufficient resources and credible chances to achieve its' business goals
including fast growth and internationalisation.
Until April 2011 there were 104 companies receiving funding and from which 4
companies reached full €1 million funding. The total funding from Tekes was €74
million.
Expertise and innovation are increasingly important competitive factors for
Finland. Finnish innovation is based on solid expertise, cross-sector innovation