The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation

 

www.tekes.fi/eng

 

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is the main public organization 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.

 

Budget
Euro €606 million in year 2010

 

Staff

300 in total, out of whom 16 abroad. In addition, some 90 persons in regional ELY Centres offer Tekes services.

 

Activities

    * Tekes programmes are forums for the exchange of information and networking between companies and research groups. They provide opportunities to carry out ambitious innovation projects and international cooperation. The programmes are a gateway to best research groups and innovative R&D companies in Finland.
    * Tekes coordinates and finances Finnish participation in international technological R&D cooperation, like COST, EUREKA, EU research programmes and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Tekes office in Brussels creates and maintains contacts to the EU institutions and European R&D players.
    * Tekes finances the research programmes and projects of The Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation (SHOKs), which are cooperation platforms for innovative companies and spearheading research.
    * Tekes has six overseas offices. The offices in San Jose, California, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Washington D.C. promote cooperation and technological development between highly regarded institutions in the area and with their Finnish counterparts.
    * Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (known as the ELY Centres) also offer Tekes services throughout Finland. The ELY Centres are tasked with promoting regional competitiveness, well-being and sustainable development, as well as curbing climate change.
    * Tekes’ global operations are part of the FinNode, a global network of Finnish innovation organisations. The FinNode network operates in the United States, China, Russia, Japan and India. FinNodes connect Finland and Finnish companies to a global innovation network and also provide a window onto the Finnish innovation system.

 

Contact
Marita Paasi
Tekes
Kyllikinportti 2, P.O.Box 69, FIN-00101 Helsinki Finland
phone: +358 10 605 5724
mobile: +358 50 5577 724
fax: +358 9 694 9196

 

www.tekes.fi/eng