Creating opportunities

In April 2026, Business Finland announced the first funding decisions for new lead company programmes as well as expansions of ongoing ones. These decisions scale up the programme to an unprecedented level and further strengthen the role of research–industry collaboration in Finland.

Could your research lead to a potential drug candidate? The Finnish Drug Discovery Center (FDDC) visited the University of Oulu on 20 May to support researchers in taking the next step towards new drug innovations.

The city of Oulu recently made a decision to finance Proof-of-Concept activities for the next three years at the University of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences and OSAO. The total amount is €150,000/year, of which the University of Oulu shares €100,000.

Rise to Challenge is by far Business Finland’s largest funding instrument for research organizations: project funding for five years can amount to as much as 5–10 million euros.

Business Finland and several European partnership programmes are currently offering a wide range of funding opportunities for researchers and research groups

The latest Business Finland Research to Business call closed on March 4, 2026. Researchers from the University of Oulu submitted a total of six applications. Experts at the Innovation Centre encourage those interested in the next call, opening in May, to get in touch as early as possible.

The PoC (Proof-of-Concept) funding for the year 2026 is now open for applications. It aims to execute the first implementation of an invention or idea having commercial potential.

Rise to Challenge generated great interest among researchers at the University of Oulu — and no wonder, as it is Business Finland’s most significant investment in research organizations.

The new R2B funding call is open until March 4th.

The University of Oulu will receive a total of 900 000 € in Kasvukipinä funding from LähiTapiola.

Kick off the summer season with the Innovation Centre team! Join us to explore, play, brainstorm ideas, or simply enjoy the relaxed summer atmosphere.

When planning a new research project, you are often asked to provide a list of background data. In the funding application, you must also describe what kinds of results data the project will produce. The webinar is useful for researchers who are preparing funding applications, for example to EU programmes or Business Finland.