Here’s how to get funding from Tekes
Jerri Laine is the CEO at Innavation Manager where he helps companies with their Tekes and T&E-Centre funding proposals.
Tekes, shorthand for the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is publicly funded expert organisation for financing research, development and innovation in Finland.
I have been asked this question dozens of times - as in the past I have been working in Tekes for seven years in evaluating all kinds of project proposals.
Since the year 2000 Tekes has grown to an icon of Finland’s innovation success story and it has had its implications. Tekes’ budget has grown remarkably, it’s staff has been grown and changing and it has got a lot of new norms, instructions and directives from it’s owner Ministry, from internal inspections and of course from EU. In short Tekes has got bureaucratic.
This means that when you as an entrepreneur go to discuss about your opportunities in getting funding for projects. You get loaded with vague instructions and terminology which may not be too familiar to you. This is understandable because, as neutral official the Tekes employee can not advice you too much in detail in order not to give too much advantage for one specific company. This has led to a situation where the entrepreneur is sometimes left with more questions than answers.
However, Tekes gives a lot of opportunities in addition to traditional hard core research and development. As an example it gives seed funding for start-ups, funding for business development, funding for new services as innovations, etc. In fact, Tekes has so many different funding opportunities that in principle if you are a company which has plans or actions for the future, you can get funding for it. To be short, Tekes gives funding to any kind of development activity, business development, process development, technology development, you name it. The problem is how you get an insight of this vast array of funding opportunities and especially their decision making criteria.
Tekes announces that it selects for funding projects that create in the long-term the greatest benefits for the economy and society. Does this help you much – I doubt? In practice Tekes makes the decisions based on your company’s financial status and both technological and business innovativeness (ways of doing things differently). Then there are the common mantras and special bonus attributes which are good for you to get attention:
Research collaboration. The research community in Finland has been benefiting from Tekes since its foundations. Also there are quite a lot of studies and statistics that when researchers and business people collide there will be new innovations. I do not have any personal preferences, but the involvement of researchers from universities or other research organizations in you project has a clear bonus effect from Tekes side.
Internationalization is a must, because no one believes our markets in Finland can be a basis for anything big. Also, Tekes still believes that Finnish companies are handicapped with foreign markets, so they must be supported.
Networking, we all know that one can not survive alone. So does Tekes and therefore networking have a special bonus effect. However this need to be done in a way that there’s not too much travelling allowed or similarly other services shouldn’t be acquired outside the borders of Finland. Of course, the best case is that you can network for free.
Innovativeness of course. The problem is what does it really mean? Anyway if you are verbally good enough and think big enough, this should not be a problem for you
Risk is poison for the bankers, but Tekes loves it. The more risk you take, the more challenging your project is, the better. Tekes wants to profile itself as a key funder in high risk and/or long term development projects. This is a fact and must be applauded.
With these topics in mind and something real going-on in your company, you should have the basics for getting your share of the cake. Anyway, if you don’t try you won’t get anything. Good luck.
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There's also a post on Tekes by serial entrepreneur Taneli Tikka here: http://tane.li/2008/getting-tekes-money-and-other-government-financing
Internationalization is a key topic for any Internet entrepreneur due the intrinsic global essence of digital business, not merely because "markets in Finland can be a basis for anything big". The point of view is quite different: from general > particular or from local > global.
"Tekes still believes that Finnish companies are handicapped with foreign markets..." so maybe it's not only about economic support but localisation know-how. Is Tekes also advising in this sense?
I should also mention that aside from the Tekes funding mentioned above, there is Tuli funding. This is also Tekes funding up to €55k but it's for people at universities and polytechnics. You can read more here: www.tuli.info.
My understanding is that some institutions are more flexible with this funding than others.
Jon,
Thanks for the useful links.
Delfin,
For 'localization know-how' you should turn to Finpro at http://www.finpro.fi/en-US/Finpro/default.htm
My comment was more for Tekes' point of view of supporting internationalizable projects despite "...Finnish companies are handicapped with foreign markets..." so I assume their position is to support projects that can benefit Finland's image abroad, which is totally OK, but what an adjective!
Good topic, but please, start proofreading your blog posts! This one was quite painful at times.
I would be MUCH happier to rely on innovation-manager services, if on their webpage there were even slightest information about the people behind it.
Hi,
I saw a lot of people taking notes at the Open Coffee talk yesterday and would be thankful if somebody would share them online. You with the laptop, please speak up! :)
No funding, no fee! The speaker from Innovation Manager was really precise, helpful, and direct to the point -- no pomp, no frills! I think with more practical guidance like this one, Open Coffee meetings will generate tangible benefits and will be well-attended just like yesterday!
[...] Here’s how to get funding from Tekes This means that when you as an entrepreneur go to discuss about your opportunities in getting funding for projects. You get loaded with vague instructions and terminology which may not be too familiar to you. This is understandable because, as neutral official the Tekes employee can not advice you too much in detail in order not to give too much advantage for one specific company. This has led to a situation where the entrepreneur is sometimes left with more questions than answers. (tags: funding tekes vc finland) [...]
You are absolutely right Matti,
Here are the contacts:
Jerri Laine
jerri.laine@innovation-manager.com
Regards, Jerri
Valid point Mikko! Sometimes you get blind to the backward grammar and typos in the wee hours of the night when putting the next day's post together.
A bad excuse, I know. We'll try to do better job in the future.
Thanks for keeping us in check!
To give little background on what Sheila talks about: For those interested in Open Coffee in Helsinki, you can sign up here to get the updates http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2901077446
Tekes,
I have been following the company operation since last year but i think its funding should be open to non finnish residents but have business partners in Finland.As a researcher that deals with communication and technology research i feel tekes should be flexible.
Then,
What do i require to get funding for an on-going project and how long does it take to get the fund for the work.
Similar anonymous attempt to advertise was made in the Linkedin Group "Finnish Hi-tech Start-up Community".
It beats me how someone in their right mind offers assistance related to financing without proper identification and contact details.
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