Foundation for Economic Education Grant Programme (Finland)

For 105 years, the Foundation for Economic Education has supported Finnish economic development through grants for business research and education. Grants can be applied for by individuals, research groups, and organizations. A grant applicant’s background may be from disciplines other than business economics, embracing fresh interdisciplinary approaches.

Focus Areas

• The grant focus areas of the Foundation for Economic Education reflect the change in the current operating environment. Researchers are encouraged to carry out pioneering research and to compile and acquire new materials and databases, with the aim of integrating research into innovation ecosystems. The focus areas are interrelated, and their cross-cutting theme is future orientation of research and education with an emphasis on responsibility and the promotion of entrepreneurial ecosystems.
  • Business renewal
    • How to make effective use of new business opportunities?
    • What are the internal mechanisms for corporate renewal?
    • Geopolitical challenges. How can one better understand and manage the changing business environment?
  • Entrepreneurship, scaling and growth
    • How do startups become SMES?
    • How to get companies to grow and scale more in large numbers?
    • How to create entrepreneurial ecosystems?
    • What is the role of ownership in companies?
    • How do changes in ownership affect different (growth) stages of companies at different levels?
  • Future sustainable environment
    • How can the business be developed towards responsibility?
      • The link between climate change, natural loss and resource over-consumption in business: a study of the circular economy.
      • How to promote the convergence of technology and sustainable development?
    • Green transition and its financing.
    • How is the normative environment developing alongside technology?
    • Development of the risk analyzes of the security of supply and cyber security.
  • Industrial dynamics
    • The impacts of digitalization, artificial intelligence, and data on industry dynamics.
    • Competition policy and regulation.
    • Private and public sectors.
    • Changes driven by geopolitics and the new opportunities it presents.
    • The green transition as part of industry dynamics and a driver of growth.
  • Leadership competence
    • How do one develop management skills in different sectors, in addition to companies in public organizations?
    • How should telecommuting and remote work be managed at both the operational and board level?
    • How do one develop risk management?

Grant Purpose

• Individuals and working groups can apply for grants for doctoral or post-doctoral research. Research groups can include doctoral and post-doctoral researchers working on grants. Besides working grants, a separate application can be made for one conference trip.
• Other use: they encourage the building of international research consortia/networks, in particular through international cooperation between researchers and research groups.
• Organizations can apply for targeted grants for organizing conferences or other specified purposes.

Grant Types

• Innovations, Commercialization and Growth
  • The thematic special project Innovations, Commercialization, and Growth by the Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) is an important development area for enhancing Finland’s competitiveness. With the grants awarded during 2024 to 2026, the Fund aims to support high-quality business research on this theme.
  • In enhancing the competitiveness of Finnish companies, commercialization is often related to:
    • successful scaling of companies’ business operations, innovation management, manufacturing, services, and business concepts in international markets
    • successful utilization of digital channels and concepts
    • as well as successful pricing.
• Research group applications
  • The Foundation for Economic Education encourages research groups to carry out pioneering research and to compile and acquire new materials and databases. The aim is to integrate research into innovation ecosystems. The three-year research group grant can be applied for by groups of individuals led by a Principal Investigator (PI).

Funding Information

• Research group applications
  • The three-year grant to be applied for is EUR 150,000─EUR 300,000 (EUR 50,000─EUR 150,000/year)
    • The size of the researcher member’s grant share follows the annual grant level for post doc and PhD research as announced by the Foundation for Economic Education (PhD research EUR 26,000 and Post doctoral research EUR 30,000).
    • The application budget breaks down the working shares of all researcher members and the common expenses of the research group.
    • The shares of the research group members are divided in the grant payment as personal grants to the researchers. Alternatively, the research group may have an account management agreement with a research institution or university, under which the Foundation for Economic Education pays the grant to a research account maintained by the institution.
    • The common expenses are paid to the host organization. Note, that no percentual overhead is used.

Grant Period Length

• Grants are awarded for projects in 2025, either as working or targeted (expense) grants. Personal grants can last from 4 to 12 months. Research group applications cover a 36-month period from 1.1.2025 to 31.12.2027. The research group’s PI must specify the planned working periods for members, ranging from 12 to 36 months. Targeted grants for conference trips, organizing conferences and seminars, and research visits can start from 1.10.2024.

Application Criteria

• Research group application
  • Please note the following research group application criteria:
    • The application is submitted by and the person responsible for it is the PI (Principal Investigator) of the research group
      • The PI is employed by a domestic university or other host organization, in which case the PI himself does not work on the project with the research group grant (cost shares are possible for the PI).
      • The PI names all the researcher members and defines their working months and the corresponding grant contributions.
      • The researcher members working on the grant can be from different organizations but in the project, they join the group’s host organization.
    • The research group’s three-year grant application is submitted by the research/working group’s application form
      • The application must state any supplementary salary funding of the group members as well as other tasks and time allocations during the grant period.
      • The community or cooperation network cannot apply for a research group grant.
      • The Foundation for Economic Education can also award shorter grant periods from the applications.

For more information, visit Foundation for Economic Education.