Academy of Finland Proof of Concept Funding

The Academy of Finland is preparing a new funding opportunity that will promote the utilisation and commercialisation of research as well as other societal impact. The benchmark for the scheme is the European Research Council’s Proof of Concept Grant. The new funding opportunity will be piloted with a call for applications in 2023.

The “Academy of Finland Proof of Concept Funding” call is designed to promote versatile utilisation of research results. The funding encourages researchers to, for example, test their research results in practical settings or develop new approaches to address the needs of industry, public administration or the third sector.

As the call will used to test a new funding scheme, it is targeted at a limited number of applicants. According to the current plan, the funding may be applied for by principal investigators working with Centre of Excellence funding from the Academy and researchers selected by the Academy’s Finnish Flagships. The funding can be used to advance the utilisation of research results produced by Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships.

The Academy’s funding budget for the pilot call in 2023 is 10 million euros. The call text will be published in May 2023, and the call will close in September 2023. The funding decisions will be made in December, and the funded projects can start in January 2024. The Academy will continue to develop the new funding opportunity based on experiences gained from the first call.

The Academy of Finland and Business Finland work closely together at the interface of research and innovation. The Academy provides funding for the utilisation of research results from high-quality projects that engage in scientific research. Business Finland, on the other hand, provides funding for research whose results can be utilised by companies in their export business.

Explore Business Finland’s financial services that support the preparation of the commercialisation of research results and the cooperation between companies and research organisations: Boost for research utilisation.