The Foundation for Economic Education has on 28 November 2025 awarded a total of €5.00 million in grants. Grants were awarded to 348 projects, covering 13 percent of the €38.4 million applied for. The number of applications reached a record high: 1,026 applications, which is 21% more than in 2024. Half of the awarded sum consists of personal grants for doctoral or postdoctoral work, 30% is allocated to research groups, and 20% is for research visits, conference trips, organizing conferences and seminars, and other targeted grants.
Innovation, Commercialization, and Growth
In the Foundation’s thematic special project Innovation, Commercialization, and Growth a total of 48 grants were awarded worth €1.07 million (21% of all grants). The initiative supports business research that helps improve the competitiveness of Finnish companies. Research topics include, among others, the use of artificial intelligence in business management, science-to-business innovation pathways, sustainable value creation chains, and the impact of regulation on the internationalization of companies.
Research Groups
12 research groups led by Principal Investigators (PIs) were awarded a total of €1.52 million for projects lasting 1–3 years. The 2026–2028 projects will examine, among other things, the effects of geopolitical change on technology entrepreneurship, the development of entrepreneurship education in the Finnish technology sector, the sales of sustainable solutions in business markets, and the use of AI in measuring and predicting workplace well-being.
Focus Areas
The grants are primarily allocated to the Fund’s five focus areas: Future Sustainable Environment (24.9 %), Business Renewal (21.4 %), Entrepreneurship, Scaling, and Growth (18.8 %), Leadership Competence (14.0 %), and Industrial Dynamics (10.6 %). Other applicant definitions accounted for 10.2% of the grants.
» Read more about the Focus Areas
Special funds
Titulatory and designated purpose funds established from donations received by the Foundation for Economic Education account for €1.95 million (39.0%) of the grants. Of the special funds’ grants, €111,500 was awarded in the pooled funds Forest Bioeconomy, Circular Economy, and Clean Transition Value Chains.