Finnish-German partnering for joint innovation funding
“ZIM” stands for Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand, which
means “Central Innovation Programme for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs)”. It is a funding programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
that aims to foster the innovative capacity of SMEs. It launches
several thousand new projects every year all around Germany, making it
the country’s largest innovation programme for SMEs. The ZIM is open to all technologies, topics and industries. Several bilateral agreements with other countries facilitate synchronised funding with foreign national programmes.
Business Finland provides funding for small and medium-sized enterprises that have the know-how and desire to expand into export markets. Business Finland funding is available for companies registered in Finland. Business Finland R&D funding enables companies to develop products or services, production methods, and business models. It is also possible to test and demonstrate the operation of a new, innovative solution and evaluate the benefits together with customers.
The bilateral German / Finnish call will be open until 28 February 2021.
Recording of virtual information session
The virtual information session took place on 20 October 2020. The recording is available here. You have to register on this platform to have access.
The session provides information on the Finnish-German call for R&D cooperation projects and the funding schemes in both countries. You will learn more about best practices and be able see the pitches of organizations that are looking for a partner.
Virtual matchmaking sessions
In addition, we offer several virtual matchmaking sessions that bring together companies from Finland and Germany:
- 20 October 2020 - 12.00 to 15.00 (German time) / 13.00 to 16.00 (Finnish time) (afternoon of the virtual information session)
- 29 October 2020 - 9.00 to 12.00 (German time) / 10.00 to 13.00 (Finnish time)
- 12 November 2020 - 9.00 to 12.00 (German time) / 10.00 to 13.00 (Finnish time)
- 25 November 2020 - 9.00 to 12.00 (German time) / 10.00 to 13.00 (Finnish time)
These targeted 1:1 meetings offer the opportunity to find partners for joint proposals. In addition these matchmaking sessions offer the general opportunity to generate new business contacts in Finland or Germany.
Why is Finland especially attractive for a cooperation in the field of healthcare?
Finland is the most advanced digital economy in the EU (DESI). Finland is a pioneer in digital health and the first country in the world that has digitized national health registries originating in the 1960’s, along with digitized biobank data dating back to the 1920’s. The combination of Finland’s digital mindset and approach to solving healthcare problems with our rich data repositories has enabled us to address patients' problems utilizing real-world data. There is 100% penetration of electronic health records (EHR) and Finland has the only EHR in the world where clinical and social data are layered on top of each other. Furthermore all Finns have 100% access to their EHR and encouraged to contribute to it.
In May 2019 Finland approved legislation on the secondary use of health data, which elevates research and innovation opportunities across health and wellbeing, disease prevention, and predictive and personalized medicine including new methods of treatment.
Findata, the Health and Social Data Permit Authority, is a one-stop shop for the secondary use of health and social data. The data permit authority’s operation is regulated under the Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data, which came into effect 1st of May 2019. Its goals are to enable effective and safe processing and access to data, eliminate overlapping administrative burden, enhance data protection and security and improve register data quality. In short, Findata 1) grants data permits 2) collects and processes the data and 3) provides the data in a secure IT-environment for data users – all this with fixed time limits.
