Deadline Date: September 11, 2026
The Challenge Competition 2026 is offering to support companies in Finland by boosting research and development investments that drive innovation, create new business ecosystems, and strengthen long-term competitiveness.
The key focus areas of this competition include increasing research, development and innovation investments in Finland, creating new jobs, developing large-scale business ecosystems worth billions of euros, addressing major future challenges and technological missions, improving Finland’s competence and competitiveness, supporting ecosystem-based innovation, enabling global expansion of companies, and increasing total RDI expenditure commitments by participating companies.
The Challenge Competition 2026 for leading companies is designed to encourage significant investment in research, development, and innovation activities within Finland. The programme aims to support ambitious projects that create new economic opportunities and strengthen the country’s global competitiveness.
The projects submitted under this competition must address major future challenges or significant technological missions. They are expected to generate meaningful impact on Finland’s innovation capacity, international competitiveness, and overall investment in RDI activities.
The competition is structured to support companies operating globally that have the capability to make substantial additional R&D investments in Finland. It also emphasizes the importance of ecosystem collaboration, where partner organizations contribute to large-scale innovation development.
Funding support varies depending on the category of participation. In the first category, leading companies may receive up to EUR 20 million, while ecosystem partners may receive approximately EUR 50 million. Companies that have previously received funding under this category can apply for increased support, raising total funding up to EUR 35 million for the leading company and approximately EUR 75 million for ecosystem partners, provided they commit to increasing their R&D expenditure in Finland.
A second category supports companies aiming to grow into global players by solving targeted challenges in collaboration with ecosystems, developing new business opportunities, or strengthening their role within international groups. In this category, leading companies may receive up to EUR 10 million, with ecosystem funding of approximately EUR 25 million. Previously funded companies in this category may also apply for increased funding up to EUR 20 million, with ecosystem support reaching approximately EUR 50 million under the condition of increased R&D investment commitments.
The competition is open to all industries and R&D topics, with no restrictions on sector participation. The total planned funding for the programme is EUR 80 million, and supported projects are expected to run for a duration of three to five years. Joint applications between two companies are also allowed in both competition categories.
For more information, visit Business Finland.
