From research to growth and impactful solutions – Business Finland invests in even closer innovation collaboration

The goal of Business Finland’s new strategy is to build more impactful collaboration between research organizations and companies. This is pursued, for example, by increasing RDI investments, investing in more ambitious research and innovation activities, and building new growth sectors based on Finland’s strengths. At the same time, Business Finland is renewing its funding, programs, and services, and its authorization to grant research funding will increase by 50 million euros for 2026. In addition, R&D funding targeted at companies will increase by 63 million euros.

“The renewed strategy emphasizes even closer collaboration between companies and research organizations. The goal is a ‘level leap’ in innovation collaboration, where research is conducted from the very beginning together with the companies that can utilize the results in practice”, Lahti‑Nuuttila says.

The practical impacts of the strategy can be seen, for example, in how research projects will be planned in the future: business expertise will play an increasingly central role. For researchers, this means new kinds of questions already at the early stages of research. For whom and how is the research useful? What kind of product or service could be built around it? How would the new solution be marketed?

“Business expertise should be a cross‑cutting element throughout the entire research process”, Lahti‑Nuuttila says. “This includes a wide range of skills, from branding to creating business models and pricing. Design thinking is also at the core, including a deep understanding of the target group.”

Collaboration opens opportunities for all parties

Through collaboration, both companies and researchers gain impact, new opportunities, networks, and funding for their work. For example, according to Business Finland’s impact report, small and medium‑sized enterprises that have received research and development funding have grown significantly faster than average. Therefore, both the University of Oulu and Business Finland hope to see even more research collaboration taking place. Teija Lahti‑Nuuttila believes that researchers and companies share many common interests and opportunities for mutual benefit.

According to another Business Finland study, as many as 88 % of large companies that have received RDI funding develop innovations that are strongly or partially disruptive –not just small improvements to existing solutions. For researchers, this means that collaboration with companies is an opportunity to develop entirely new innovations and impactful solutions.

“There are enormous numbers of interesting opportunities and challenges within companies, and research expertise to address them within universities. It’s important to communicate interests on both sides so that opportunities for collaboration are recognized and seized. When a company and a researcher share a common vision and a problem to solve, collaboration often emerges naturally.”

The emergence of collaboration therefore requires, for example, an understanding of companies’ current needs and directions. One interesting instrument is funding for leading companies, where companies’ challenges are clearly defined. In this model, companies create roadmaps for developing solutions, which are easy for researchers to engage with.

Companies’ research needs can also be inferred, for example, from Business Finland’s recent report on private‑sector RDI activities. According to the report, Finnish companies especially need research expertise in the areas of digitalization, the green transition, energy expertise, data utilization, and new technologies.

“Finland has a great deal of expertise that is needed right now, both locally and globally. We have all the prerequisites for success. We just need a little more ambition and courage”, Lahti‑Nuuttila says. “That can be achieved, for example, through high‑quality innovation collaboration.”

A clear path forward through different funding instruments

To move from promising ideas and basic research to concrete products and services, Lahti‑Nuuttila emphasizes the need to create as clear a path forward as possible for researchers and companies. Strong networks and cooperation with organizations such as the Research Council of Finland also support this process.

“At Business Finland, we invest in ensuring that projects don’t end, but have a clear continuation”, Lahti‑Nuuttila says. “Already in the research plan, it should be defined what happens after the project. Could the results lead to a new research project, a pilot, company collaboration, a patent, or a commercialization project?”

University innovation services, such as the Oulu University Innovation Centre, also play a key role.

“Cooperation with innovation service units is extremely important to us. Their experts help researchers identify suitable funding opportunities and maintain dialogue in both directions”, Lahti‑Nuuttila says.

Wide range of funding opportunities

Lahti‑Nuuttila encourages researchers and companies to follow Business Finland’s new funding opportunities.

In particular, the following instruments are worth keeping in mind:

• Research to Business funding is intended for public research organizations for projects that aim to build new business from research and commercialize product or service ideas arising from research.
• Co‑Research and Co‑Innovation projects promote the creation of significant new expertise for business needs and accelerate the renewal and international growth of Finnish companies.
• Leading company ecosystems address major societal or industrial challenges.
• Rise to Challenge funding supports ambitious, long‑term research initiatives without thematic limitations.

“The most important thing is to understand what stage your idea is at and which funding instrument supports the desired next step. University innovation services, for example, can help clarify this.”

Interested in Business Finland funding or research collaboration? Get in touch with the experts at the Innovation Centre:

Kaisa Still,Customer Manager, Company Collaboration
kaisa.still@oulu.fi
+358 40 150 8741

Petri Leukkunen, Customer Manager
petri.leukkunen@oulu.fi
+358 29 448 1162

Maria Juurikka, Customer Manager
maria.juurikka@oulu.fi
+358294487646